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for on her capture she was placed in an iron cage and paraded for several weeks through the districts near her one-time stronghold. The pirates took pains to make it clear that resistance to their attacks on river craft did not pay. Quiet surrender would only involve the removal of the well-to-do for ransom. Resistance might mean the extermination of the remaining crew and passengers. In August, 1924, over 300 men, women and children were slaughtered as a punishment for resistance by guards in the leading junk of a Canton-Kongmun tow, which the towing launch, in collusion with the pirates, had diverted into Sandpiper Creek.
PIRACY PREVENTION REGULATIONS OF HONG Kong GOVERNMENT.
The Piracy Prevention Ordinance of the Hong Kong Govern- ment issued in August, 1914, and its dependent regulations confer wide powers of search on the police, provide that ships trading from Hong Kong shall carry armed guards and be fitted with grills for restricting the movements of passengers and for protecting the bridge and engine room, and require certain arms, ammunition and rockets to be carried on board. There is also a clause in the regulations which directs that British mercantile marine officers should resist piratical attacks to the utmost of their power.
WEST RIVER PIRACY,
After the war, as conditions in South China became confused and control by the Canton Government relaxed, piracy in the Canton Delta gradually increased. Throughout 1923, despite continuous patrols by gunboats, the depredations of pirates had a very serious effect on the volume of trade. This state of affairs did not, perhaps, attract as much public attention as it deserved, for since British shipping was rarely attacked, political issues were not raised in an acute form, and the loss caused to British trade which was carried for the greater part in Chinese owned craft was not generally realised. At the beginning of 1924, however, attacks on British shipping brought matters to a head, particularly as they coincided with the piracy of a British coasting steamer shortly after it had left Hong Kong for the port of Swatow.
Naval resources in the West River. At the end of 1923 the Naval forces available for work in the West River were the gunboats Tarantula, Cicala, Moorhen and Robin. The gunboat Moth was in reserve and except during the refit of one of the larger gunboats could only be put in commission if personnel was provided from the fleet.
The Insect class gunboats, though fast and heavily armed, were unable to navigate many of the waterways of the delta owing to their length. Robin, with her light draught and small turning circle, was admirable for work in the small channels, but her maximum speed was only 7 knots in favourable conditions.
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The plan facing page 27 gives some idea of the extent of the waterways to be protected, although it has not been possible to show the smaller channels and creeks on a plan of this convenient size.
The gunboats' duties were, of course, not confined to the hunting down of pirates: they had to show the flag on the river, visit the Treaty ports, and protect the interests of British subjects in the area generally. Political events in Kwantung, with occasional skirmishes between rival generals, were a continual drag on their freedom of movement. Their activities were limited to the river and its delta. Except in co-operation with the Chinese authorities and with their consent, the gunboats could not fire on persons or places ashore unless to return fire or in the hot pursuit of undoubted robbers who were making their escape after an act of piracy. Armed parties were only to be landed on receipt of a request from a consular officer to protect British lives and property. Moreover, in addition to the task of protecting all river traffic from piracy, British shipping needed protection from the numerous independent military leaders who were apt to commandeer ships for the trans- port of troops, private trading, etc., regardless of their nationality. The flat nature of the country immediately surrounding the main channels of the delta made it difficult to take the pirates unawares; the gunboats' masts were visible from a great distance, while numerous foothills provided convenient look-outs for the pirate gangs, for whose activities convenient cover was in certain places afforded by the high crops. Even if surprised, it was often easy for the pirates to slip up some small creek or channel where the larger gunboats could not follow, or they could get away ashore and lose their identity among the peasants of the district. The terrorism which the pirate gangs established cloaked their opera- tions and made it impossible to obtain reliable intelligence of their movements. On the other hand, the pirates' own intelligence system was excellent, and they had a remarkable knowledge of traffic movements and the consignment of cargoes.
In certain places a gang several hundred strong would establish a definite stronghold which, since it was defended with machine guns, and in some cases field guns, the Chinese soldiery were very loath to attack.
It may be gathered from the above that while the operations of the gunboats alone might keep piracy within bounds, the pirates would never be exterminated until their strongholds were destroyed and a reasonable degree of order was established in the region of the delta.
Events at the beginning of 1924.--On 19th January two launches belonging to the Asiatic Petroleum Company were seized by pirates and two days later the Chinese-owned s.s. Tai Lee, flying the British flag, was pirated on the Hong Kong-Kongmun run by men who had embarked as passengers at Hong Kong. In the case of the Tai Lee some of the crew were also implicated. These piracies, coming so close together, and at a time when piracy in
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