The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-20
HAVE A
 RICH. PARADISE Daring Buchaneers Still Prey On Merchantmen THRONG CHINESE COAST Helpless Vessel Attacked by Arabs in the Red sea-Big lndiaman Z Looted-Tramp Steamer
 Ashore.
THRoNG CHINESE COAST

From the Saturday Journal, Not a few persons have been surprised to learn recently that, in spite of our 2 elaborate system of customs officers and coast guards, smuggling is still carried on around our coasts. The bold snug gler has long been relegated to the good old days, and with him the bloodthirsty pirate of the high seas. But the buccan-. eer is still very much in evidence, and | all the greater powers are obliged to | maintain gunboats in out of the way seas | to put down piracy as determined as any that preyed upon shipping in the stirring | days of the Barbary corsairs
 It seems only the other day the huge
 P. & O. liner China was in trouble in the ! Red sea- Down swooped flight of ! Arab dhows upon the helpless monster, | like guls on a stranded whale Long
 before a gunboat could be summoned from Alden the rich prize was stripped of her Indian silks of opium, tobacco,
 tea, coffee, and spices, with gold and sil- ver and passengers baggage worth | thousands of pounds. The pirates were even stripping the big Indiaman of her
 copper fittings, and scudding under mat | sails over to the Arabian coast, when the | destroyer Vixen came tearing along, to
 open fire with her primary battery, sink
 ing and cripplng practically all the buc- | cancers.
 In Sight of Gibraltar.
 True, the once dreaded salee rovers no longer roam the sea, and the maritime blackmail paid for immunity to the deys | of Algiers and the deys of Tunis is a | thing of the past; yet it is not long since a heavily laden tramp broke her propel- 1 Ter shaft between Gibraltar and Tan | gier and drifted helplessly ashore near | the foot of the Anjera Hills, at point
 barely 20 miles from Britain's stupendous | fortress in southern Spain. The Riff l pirates saw her coming. Boats were
 manned and armed and put off, and up | the sides of the helpless steamer
 swarmed the yelling savages.
 | By the merest accident the lookout on
 Gibraltar saw the vessels plight and
 heard the crack of rifles. sharp
 alarm was sounded. and in @ few min-
 utes 30-knot torpedo boat was unleashed
 from the dockyard. Within hour the | black low-hulled racer was only a pis-
 tol shot away from the wreck, yet by 1 that time the pirates had footed her from
 stem to stern, and beaten and bound the | master with all his officers and crew.
 But after all, what has been for ages | and will be for generations-the paradise | of pirates is the southern coast of | China.
 The capture of the British steamer | Ffenam, just below Wuchau, lends point ] indeed to the doings of these buccaneers If fo1o afr j,1t,l ,taft1 i,cr hnt-1n | of savage and muscular pirates drew alongside the steamer which they knew was in need of hands for unloading. l Thinking the pirates were laborers the 1 captain took them on board, whereupon | they disposed themselves strategically | all over the vessel and on a given signal | from the leader flashed revolvers. With | in few minutes they had control of the | vessel.
 Made Two Captures.
 I Not content with this, however, the I pirates sighted another and still larger l steamer, the Chanfook. And with mar velous skill and audacity they maneuver- | ed their latest capture alongside, and l then 1eaped on board to loot their second ] prize. The Chanfook was a bigger and | faster ship than the Fienam, so the ma | rauders transferred all their prisoners, | wrecked the engines of the smaller ves- l sel, and then turned her adrift. | In the gathering dusk they sighted l third victim, ran the Chanfook along | side and leaped on board. This was a | hornets nest, however, for the ruffians | were met by a terrible fusillade. They | had boarded the cutter of revenue com | missioner, and eight soldiers were on l board, armed with repeating rifles, for 1 there was a valuable cargo to protect. A | really fierce and determined battle en- 1 sued and at length, when quite dark, the I ,,ir atac ha 1 fcok, leaving seventeen dead and wound ed behind them. The cutter unable to | follow them was obliged to let them go on their way.
 l At in the morning the buccaneers | came upon the steamer Saiyik, and | boarded her as usual. Naturally the | crew were unprepared and fell easy vic- | tins. They were beaten and bound, all l their property and cash seized and after | that the Saiyik's machinery was crippled | and the vessel turned loose Finally the l Chanfook was run aground on beach | near Fongchaien, and the pirates made | their escape in an ordinary matsailed l junk, which was waiting for them as if l by prearrangement.
 Overwhelmed Crew. | It was only in 1906 that the bark l Troughton came limping into Hongkong l from Singapore a pitful wreck from ene-. l mics of many kinds First, she had been l OVefldken Dy d lypHOOH, Ter HldSlS | wrenched out and bulwarks torn off. | Her exausted crew would not forsake her, | however, they kept her afloat with the | pumps, and rigged a sail on jury mast i that they might reach land. Yet in spite | of all their previous sufferings a new enemy awaited them here fin the form | of the pirates of southern China, who | know mercy where possible loot Is | concerned Two piratical luggers came | boldly alongside and poured a swarm of | Celestial cutthroats on board the bat tered bark. Before the captain and mate could fire a shot 200 pirates had over whelmed the crew and lashed them to the | splintered decks. Master and mate fought | desperately for their ship, and even tried to blow her up for she cArried near | ly ton of gunpowder. But they in turn were overwhelmed, bound, and thrown into the waterlogged hold, exhausted from the loss of blood and in grave dan ger of drowning inside their own ship. Lic afaS I owar Than Eonopanv,c