BATTLE OF KUHLAN -(contd.)
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"We found that the large steamers could not get within five miles of Kuhlan, so it was determined by Captain O'Callaghan, of the Encounter, to proceed in the morning with the small steamers towing the armed boats of the expedition. Mr. Sarratt of the Spartan spent the greater part of the night in a small boat sounding the bay of Kuhlan, within musket-shot of the piratical fleet.
"Long before daylight on the morning of the 12th, I was aroused from my slumbers by the rattling of muskets and cutlasses, each man procuring his own arms. Our paddleboats, with a 24-pounder howitzer in each, and pinnace with a 12-pounder, were ready alongside. Having dressed and swallowed a cup of coffee, I took up my position in the pinnace, with my side-arms and surgical instruments; the small steamers towed the boats within 2,000 yards of the pirate fort, and cast them off. Meanwhile the Portuguese war lorcha, Amazona, armed with 10 howitzers, sailed in, and anchored within 600 yards of the fort; she had just joined us from Macao.
"The island of Tylo is about fifty miles to the south-west of Hongkong and twenty south of the Portuguese settlement of Macao. It is irregular in shape, and very hilly, one range of hills extending the entire length of the north, another on the south, and between them a pretty valley winds round jutting rocks, spreading occasionally into broad paddy fields, and narrowing again for the passage merely of a fresh-water stream. At either end of the valley is a sandy beach, dry for a considerable distance at low water, and at full tide a large boat could get within 200 yards of the shore. On the west, both ranges of the hill jutted out for about 800 yards, into bold headlands, and formed the boundaries of a crescented bay; on the side of this an artificial basin, with locks, was formed for the reception of junks requiring repair, and near it fifty piratical junks were at anchor.
"An embankment was thrown up from side to side, behind which twenty guns peeped from their embrasures; this protected the approach to the village of Kuhlan, which was built on a gentle inclination of the north side of the valley. The houses were very good and uniform in size, and, for a piratical village, very neat. The pirate flag, black, waved from every eminence, and at each embrasure of the fort a man stood waving the flag of defiance.
"Ere the armed boats had reached within range of the fort, the pirates opened fire, from all their guns, on the little lorcha. The latter treated them with contempt, not deigning to return a single shot till she received the signal from Captain O'Callaghan to 'engage'; when with quickness and precision she returned the fire: the line of boats also opened fire, advancing as they fired.
"In the meantime a party of marines under Lieut. Burton landed on the north side, accompanied by a rocket party. Finding the fort getting too hot to be comfortable, the pirates gradually slackened their fire, and a large number of them issued forth to meet the marines, who were steadily advancing on the fort. The boats, running aground, were left in charge of boat-keepers, whilst the crews, with musket and cutlass, took the water and were soon on shore.
"About 200 of the pirates retreated to a battery near a temple, placed on an elevated terrace, whilst the rest scampered away in all directions, chased by bluejackets. Those in the battery, urged to fight by the exhortations of their chief, who was arrayed in a robe of scarlet, maintained their position till fairly driven out by the bayonets of the marines."
An account was given yesterday of a combined naval attack (British, American, Portuguese and Chinese) on the pirates at Kuhlan, Tylo Island, in November 1854; and the narrative is concluded to-day. The description is by an eyewitness, J. M. Tronson, apparently a surgeon aboard H.M.S. Barracouta at the time, and is extracted from his book published in 1859. Mr. Tronson continues:
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