201
Enclosure
6.0.
20427
405
with the Naval
Authorities in
the most stringent
measures
:for the prevention and punishment of outrage
on sea
and land. I shall take an
early opportunity of again
Caddressing you
ルル
072
this subject.
•
I have the honour to be,
Your
chr
Most Obedient
Humble Servant,
SM
Bowen
(
DARING PIRACY ON BOARD A BRITISH STEAMER.
MURDER OF THE CAPTAIN. The present time appears "big with fate" in this colony. On Saturday we had one of the gravest collisions that has ever occurred in the harbour, and yesterday morning news reached this colony of the most daring piracy that has occurred within these waters since the notorious Spark tragedy. There has been, in fact, a complete repetition of the Spark piracy on board the British steamer Greyhound. Captain Syder, which plies between this port and Hoihow and Pakhoi. The Greyhound left Hongkong at about six o'clock on Saturday morning with a general cargo, consisting of piece goods, rice, &c., altogether not of a particularly valuable charac- ter, and tickets were issued for about 110 passen- gers. It is believed, however, that none of the holders of these tickets were concerned in the
piracy, but that the pirates were men who came on board shortly before the departure of the ship, without tickets, in two batches, none of them having stockings on, and with no luggage but a few boxes, which are now supposed to have contained their weapons. Their passage money was collected on board. The Greyhound weighed anchor at 6 a.m., and got as far as an is- land called Kow Lan Tai Lo, which is abont seventy miles from this port, before any event of importance occurred. Between twelve and one o'clock, while the captain was on the bridge, the chief officer on the deck, and the second officer aft, the pirates rose suddenly. Up till then there had not been the smallest suspicion on board the steamer of any contemplated piraoy; no precau- tions had been taken, and no means were at hand to cope with any sudden rising. Not one of the ship's officers had a single weapon about him, and being scattered about the ship as they were at the time the outbreak occurred, the pirates had it all their own way from the very outset, The first intimation of the rising was a rush made by the pirates at the captain and officers, firing their weapons recklessly as they did so. Captain Syder tried to fight bis way to his cabin, doubtless for the purpose of obtaining his revol- ver, but he was fired at all the way, and on the starboard side of the deck he was shot down. The unfortunate man was then pounced upon, stabbed, and his body thrown overboard.
The chief officer got off the best of all. Ho had not so far to run the gauntlet of the pirates' firing, and he made his way below to his cabin without being hit at all, and there he secured his revolver and lay ready for all emergencies. The pirates knew that someone had got down below, and learning from one of the boys who it was, they sent down and parlayed with him, making an offer about to the effect that if he would come out peacefully, they would leave him unharmed. He was then put in the after- hold, along with the other officers and the Chi-
nese passengers.
The second mate was less fortunate in his ex- perience. The first thing he knew of the matter was receiving a shot in the back. He was stand- ing aft at the time, and seeing a number of armed; Chinamen about him, firing, he made a dart to get forward, but he had to run through a shower
of
dying bullets fired at him by the pirate gang as he ran, and he was very severely wounded, with not less than six shot wounds in the body. His injuries are so serious that it is feared he will not survive them. He managed, however, to get forward, and at length reached the forehold.
The chief engineer was standing by the engine. room door when he received a shot, and he dashed forward at once, and sought the same place of shelter as the second officer. He was rather more fortunate in his effort, as he did not get so badly hit, and he reached the forehold with only two wounds. His injuries, it is hoped, are not of a very serious character. Those two wounded men were not allowed to remain in their retreat very long, for the pirates had them out and pat them in the after part of the 'tween decks, along with the chief officer and the Chi- nese passengers.
The head Chinese fireman was also wounded; he received a shot while walking along the deck, but it is thought his injury is not a very bad one. The pirates baving thus killed and disabled most of the officers and secured the passengers, had then the entire command of the vessel. There wae no one to offer them the slightest resistance, for though the other Chinese passengers out- numbered them about four to one, and knew that they were likely to be sufferers at their hands, they did not attempt any resistance, but were completely intimidated at once. Nor were they really in a position to have done anything, as they were all unarmed, while the pirates were all furnished with firearms, and the chief officer said he saw that some of them had a revolver in each hand.
The whole affair occupied but a very short time, and almost immediately after the pirates rose, they wero in full possession of the ship. The second engineer was on duty in the engine room! at that time, and the pirates kept him there, They ordered him keep the engines at work, and when they had disposed of tho officers they pro- ceeded to look round the steamer for plunder. They had apparently received some information which led them to expect there was a great deal of treasure or other valuable cargo on board, and expressed great disappointment at being able to find only one box of treasure, containing $2,000, and nothing else in the cargo that they deemed worth their while to remove. They then proceeded to thoroughly ransack the whole of the passengers' belongings, and took whatever was worth appropriation, remarking the while that had they known the amount of plunder to be got was so small, they would not have taken the trouble to carry out their audacious enterprise.
Soon after the steamer was in their hands the pirates had her head turned round, and steamed! back towards Hongkong, threatening all the while to souttle the ship, and to burn her, but, for- tunately for the owners and for the crew, they attempted neither. When they had arrived within a short distance from this island they hailed a boat which was lying anchored, waiting for them, and then stopped the steamer and transferred their plunder on board the junk. They next went into the engine room, and removed the lever from the pump which supplies fresh water to
the boilers,
a step which they evidently believed would rep.
Der