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the Diplomatic Body at Peking, the Chinese s.s. Hsinchi, Shanghai to Fuchow, was pirated and taken to Bias Bay, and a week later the British s.s. Yatshing, Swatow to Shanghai, suffered the same fate.
A Naval punitive expedition was accordingly despatched to Bias Bay and a party of 500 men, landing at dawn on 1st September, destroyed houses in two villages and junks in the harbour.
A month later on the arrival in Hong Kong of another pirated ship (the Chinese s.s. Hsing Fung) seaplanes were sent to Bias Bay to reconnoitre, but no activity was observed ashore.
It was then decided to provide a submarine patrol off Bias Bay whenever this could be done without interfering with other Naval requirements. In accordance with this arrangement L.4 was off the entrance to Bias Bay on the night of 20th October and at about 8.20 p.m. observed a darkened ship entering the bay. When at a distance of about a quarter of a mile the ship was ordered by signal to stop instantly, and as she paid no attention to this and a further signal, a blank round was fired. The ship, however, continued on her way and was not brought to until two rounds of explosive shell had been fired into her. She was by that time well on fire and complete confusion reigned on board. Every effort was made by L.4 to save the crew and passengers and the submarine went alongside the burning vessel for this purpose. It was impos- sible for any officer to take charge in the ship itself, as the pirates had been in control up to the moment of capture and had also added to the general terror by firing indiscriminately before they abandoned the ship. It is in fact surprising that so few lives were lost in the general sauve qui peut which followed, for actually out of the 261 souls on board 237 were saved, 222 being taken on board L.4.
The ship turned out to be the Chinese s.s. Irene, 828 tons nett, on passage from Shanghai to Amoy with a mixed cargo of no special value. The pirates had made their attack on the second day out from Shanghai and had seized the ship without casualties on either side, except for one Chinese steward killed by a stray bullet. After the rescue of the crew and passengers endeavour was made by other warships which had reached the spot to get the fire under control, but they were too late to save the Irene from complete destruction.
If was unfortunate that such great loss attended this successful attack on the pirates, in which it is believed that all members of the gang were either drowned, burned or captured. Of the 24 persons missing, eight belonged to the crew and 16 were passengers, but how many of the latter were pirates is not known. Of the eight suspects taken prisoner, seven were found guilty and con- demned to death. They belonged to a notorious gang of pirates and several of them had taken part in the attacks on the Seangbee, Solviken and Yatshing.
There has been no further case of piracy since this incident.
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Conversations at Peking continued throughout November with a view to joint action by the Powers, but there was never great hope of anything tangible resulting. The end came when America, though sympathetic, declined to participate, for France and Italy would only participate if unanimity was reached. The result of the negiotiations was, however, satisfactory; for the Japanese and British, who would in any case have had to do the work, agreed to co-operate in a patrol off Bias Bay. Whether this will result in the pirates taking ships elsewhere remains to be seen it will be remembered that they used Kiau Island in 1926-but in any case a concrete example of Anglo-Japanese co-operation is bound to have an excellent political effect.
OIL PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT. (Extracts from Report of Petroleum Department on the Oil Situation for the period 1st July, 1927, to 31st December, 1927.)
The year ending 31st December, 1927, has seen a considerable increase in the production of crude petroleum, the world's output being estimated at 170 million tons as against about 150 million tons for 1926. If this forecast proves to be correct, 1927 will show the largest annual production since the inception of the industry in 1861. At the same time, owing to overproduction of oil in the United States, it has been a period of low prices and the oil industry has generally been in a some- what unsettled condition. The only country which has shown a marked falling off has been Mexico, but the decreased production from that country has been more than offset by the increases which have taken place in the United States and by a significant advance in the development of Venezuela and Colombia.
The situation created by excessive production in the United States has been intensified in Europe by the larger exports of oil from Russia where abnormal economic conditions at present prevail. A feature of the year which must prove of great future importance has been the discovery of oil in what appears to be commercial quantities in the Near East in Iraq in two localities,
As far as the British Empire is concerned, while production is unfortunately negligible as compared with its requirements, it can be said that the output of oil from Sarawak and Trinidad has been well maintained, but the production of India shows a slight tendency to decline. Active exploration for oil is proceeding in parts of Canada which are referred to in detail in the report below. A geological reconnaissance for petroleum is about to be undertaken in Uganda, in the neighbourhood of Lake Albert, and in Somaliland,
In Europe, both France and Germany have shown signs of anxiety as to their dependence on foreign sources of supply, Germany having been endeavouring to stimulate the production of oil from coal, and France to ensure that refineries shall be established within her own borders by the enactment of legislation governing the importation of petroleum.
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