PIRACIES
(Contd.)
225790
"One fellow had confessed to being concerned in the piracy of the "Grayhound," and had turned informer, by which means seven of the crews of the junks which took off the pirates from the Namoa were arrested as well as the man who was supposed to have shot Capt. Focock of that vessel. The other six had been convicted of various offences in Chinese territory."
It might be added that several Europeans crossed over from Hong Kong to witness the executions. And thus was closed one of the worst chapters in the history of piracy on the China coast.
Recent reference to the notorious "Namoa" piracy recalls various episodes of a sensational nature which occurred on the China coast in the old days of the Colony, and in which a number of desperate characters had been associated. In an early article of this series reference was made to the implication of European and American seafarers in cases of piracy, and it is known that several such men had Chinese crews whom they commanded in various enterprises, redolent of the stories which in our younger days we read with such relish. Some day a writer in search of material for a stirring tale of the type will turn his attention to this part of the world and amid the old newspaper files and other records, if he finds the leisure, will be able to cull material for a volume of the most exciting form of narrative.
The names of William Fenton and Eli Boggs, two individuals whose trial took place in the Hong Kong courts, will always be remembered and their notoriety has, in fact, already found its way into a recently published work: a little more about them may not be out of place in these comments on Old Hong Kong, as piracy appears to be always with us; and the affair in which a number of foreigners including several Germans, were involved off Japan only recently breaks a long spell during which freebooting of a murderous type has been left entirely to Chinese.
Within a few years of Hong Kong being founded, there were rumours of white men being seen associated with the Chinese pirates in these waters, but confirmation was lacking. However, it is evident from the records that several "enterprises" of this nature were traceable to Hong Kong residents and to residents of Macao, who appear to have fitted out expeditions of a doubtful nature to say the least. We read in 1851 of undoubted piratical deeds in which white men were concerned, it being stated, "it was known that three or four of such (Chinese) lorchas with Englishmen in nominal, if not actual command, had for some time been scouring the coast, robbing traders and fishermen, and otherwise committing more extensive piracies on valuable junks." And further, "Some of these lorchas had even come into Hong Kong, disposed of their goods refitted, and then again left on some other scouring trip, without even arousing the suspicion of the authorities."
The earliest of actual convictions against a European appears to have been in the case of a gunner from the schooner "Ariel," named Henry Daniel Sinclair, who was tried at the Criminal Sessions of Hong Kong in June, 1845, on a charge of piracy, found guilty, and sentenced to transportation for life, which meant in those days that he was sent later either to the Cape of Good Hope or to Van Diemen's Land (now known as Tasmania) to complete service of his term.
His case does not appear to have excited much notice: neither did that of a Session of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Hong Kong, held in October 1848, when a Captain Cole and his crew, of the schooner "Spec" were tried for piracy, but were acquitted. There was a certain amount of comment at the time on this case, but as it fell through we are not able at this period to judge of the justification for the original arrest.
It appears to have been largely a case of suspicion. Several British warships and auxiliary craft were out looking for pirates, and