Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1915-05-20
Writes Of Old
Boat

Ming POI, the Oldest ship afloat. is
now on exhibit in the harbor at San
Diego, Cal. She made the trip of
1000 miles under her swn sail, although
she is now 1872 years old. She was for
years the fastest and most dreaded
pirate ship of the Yellow sea. This
vessel was built in the year 1853 when
tools and workmanship were very
crude, built mostly of Camphor and
Ironwood, the latter being proof against
the Toredo, the fttlel boring worm of
the ocean that is so destructive to mo-
dern wooden ships. And 80 today after
over century and half of piracy,
slavery, smuggling and fighting is one
of the preserved relics Of ancient and
by-gone days in the wocld.
The red record of this old ship tells of
deeds of piracy, opium smuggling, slave
traffic, riots, rebelIions and m'ltiny.
Her rough huge beamed Camphor-
wood ribs have been crimsoned with
the blood of the most desperate outlaws
in the Orient as we'll as that of helpless
slaves. Launched in 1853 as a Chinese
merchant ship and named Kin Tai
Foong, this vessel was soon known as
the fastest in Chinese waters and quick
| ly developed into a smuggler and SLAYER.
It was only short step then to piracy.
She then became the terror to the ship
ping along the coast and even attacking
defenseless villages. Equipped with
the most modern and efficient arms to
be had in China at that time, when one
of the most frequent rebelliOns or out
breaks would occur, the big pirate
being the fastest craft on the coast
would become fighting ship. Finally
she became the b8ne of the East India
company, British organization which
up to 1884 had a monopoly on the Chin
ese opium trade, as result of her
depredations.
{ Friction between England ard China
grew so keen that the former sent
Lord Napier to China to adjust condi-
tions. The British arbitrator promptly
ordered the seizure of the ship as a
pirate. But in 1886, Lord Napier hav-
| ing died in 1885, she resumed her career
of crime. She was captured soon after
by the Chinese government and became
a prison ship at the mouth of the let
SIGH river. On her Chinese pirates and
smugglers were confined. 1t was here
that the bloodieBt chapter in her tragic
history was enacted. Finding it ex-
pensive and inconvenient to feed 90 many
prisoners on board the Chinese Captain
ordered a wholesale execution and 158
pirates were beheaded on her decks.
The big beheading knife with which
the pirates were put out of the
way is still hang ing in the officers cab
in of the Ning-Po together with mote
ly election of bone breakers, starving
cage, "Kang" and spears, formerly US
ed for impaling victims of Chinese
Justice.
The old pirate was sliced by the reb
els in the TAPPING Rebellion in 1861, and
converted into transport because of
her size and speed. She was soon capt
ured by Col. Peter (Chinese) Gordon a
British soldier who had succeeded Ger
Frank Ward, a Yankee from Salem,
Mass, in command of the Imperial
forces against the TAPPING rebels
Gordon disliked the name of KIN
Tai Foong and ordered the name chang
ed to Ning-Po after the city, Ming Pc,
From 1864 to 1910 the Ning-Po was
alternately smuggler and pirate Her
last military service was in the rebel
lion against the Manchus six years ago
when the ancient guns were numbered
against the Republicans
The old ship has nine water tight COM
apartments extending from the main
deck to the keel, the first example of this
kind in ship building; was modelled af-
ter the Chinese idea of a sea monster,
with the open bow representing the
mouth, the bullying eye defining the
head; the Chinese believed she
could not go without eyes as he
says 'No eyes, no see, no avy. "
The masts and sails representing fins
and the high stern Enthusiastically carved
the mighty tail frisking aloft. The
flag at the mask called Pah-Kwa was
designed by Fuh-Hl in 1922 B. C. and
is the first known emblem the Chinese
dragon.
The ship was brought to America for
exhibition purposes by a party of
Englishmen and sailed from Shanghai
June 6, 1912 was wrecked in typhooR
June II, two of the crew being lost at
sea, put back to Shanghai for repairs
and again sailed Sept. 10Th with Chi
nese crew. Wrecked again in a ty-
phoon Sept. 25th and crew mutinied
during the storm which left her float