Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-05
Experiences Of 7aOo Ships Officers
WhoWereAttacked, DraggedFrom Their
Vessel andHeM in Captvity- One Of a
Series of True AdOenture articles Pbear-
ing in The Stars Magaztne.

upon our dock. AS though at signal her side
became alive with yelling Chinese, who fired
pistols and rifles fast they could pull
the triggers.
Realizing that at this crisis my place was
on the bridge with the captain, lost no time
in getting there Meanwhile the junk drifted
alongside and made fast, and in another mo-
ment the crew came piling over our sides In
true piratical fashion. Most of them were
armed with pistols, several had rifles, others
carried stout poles and pieces of lead pipe.
If this were piece of fiction suppose
Capt. Haarland and would have stood on the
bridge and fired into that bowling crew until
our pistols were red hot But it happens to
be a true story, and as matter Of fact, we
did nothing of the kind.
The pirates were firing at us from both sides
of the bridge, and the captain shouted to
to offer no resistance, but to endeavor to parley
with them. He hoped that, if we handed over
few gifts-blankets, lamps, and so on-they
might sail away and leave u.s.
These visitors of ours were obviously bad
hats" CARRIED in patched-up bits of odd-col-
ored clothing, they looked most tatterdemalian
crowd; but noticed that their rifles were all
modern and that they were well supplied with
bandoljers full OF ammunition. They were evil
IDENTIFY former soldiers-one of the many bands
of deSerters who roam the interior OF
war-torn China, bandits one minute and law
abiding natives the next-untn the coast Is
clear for further robberies!
A LII this time the bullets were coming closer.
and following the captains example,
presently raised my hands above my head in
token of surrender. Thereupon the leader ap-
preached us, with mob of villainous-looking
followers at his back. We did our best to
parley with them but entirely without success.
The leaders first act on entering the chart
house was significant of what was to follow.
Raising his pistol he brought the butt down
~ noG
out of action. He then fired the weapon into
the controls running to the engine room, while
his attendant rascals, following his lead, broke
up everything else within reach. They tore
our charts into tiny pieces and scattered them
about the floor; they ripped up the signal flags;
they even took our pencils and childishly broke
them.
While all this was going on, the captain and
I stood back up against the wall, with half
dozen pistols covering Parleying was out
of the question, and realized were in the
hands Of experienced pirates For the next
two hours the rufians ranged all over the
Botnia, carrying out the same systematic de-
struction as in the chart house.
Then, by means of much prodcing with the
butts of their rifles they forced the captain
and me aboard their junk, and we had to stand
by helplessly and watch them load her up with
whatever loot struck their fancy-oars from the
lifeboats sack of potatoes, barrel of -four,
our bed clothing, all sorts Of odd things. Late
IN the afternoon, having competed Lnelr WORK.
they cast of from the unfortunatae Botnia and
sailed away, taking us with them. What fate
was reserved for us I could not imagine, nor
did I care to think about it.
For an old man, Capt. Haarland had stood
the buffeting we were subjected to exceedingly
well. Our coats had been ripped OF our backs
early in the proceedings The pirates had also
knocked the captain down and removed his
shoes and socks, so that he was now barefooted.
1t was not very long. moreover before the same
treatment was melted out to me.
After time the pirates bundled the pair of
us into narrow compartment down below
which was small that we could not sit up
right, but were forced to lie at full length.
Guards were posted on each side of us with
pistol in their hands. That evening we smelled
food being cooked, but none of it came our way.
The next day was made up of bouts of sailing
interrupted by occasional anchorings, and
dozen excited conferences above our heads.
Guards were always with us, amusing them
selves by kicking us whenever we appeared
about to drop of to sleep.
A BOUT noon the third day. the junk anchor
ed again, and Capt Haarland and were
taken out of our cubby hole and marched up on
deck. 1t felt good to stand erect again, but was
beginning to feel the pangs of hunger. The
captain was muttering under his breath, and
I knew that he was suffering We were bun
died into boat and taken ashore.
Then there started a series of long marches
through swamps, fields and small rocky
hills. Our captors were always close behind,
prodding us onward with their bayonets, and
our unprotected feet were soon in baG way.
The captain is Short stocky, and rather stout,
and very soon his weight began to tell. He
held up his bleedingNfeet to show the pirates
that he was in a bad way, but they paid not
the slightest attention.f
We marched all that, day and well into the
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