95
Anking was seized on the way to Hoihow and taken to
a point immediately North of Ross Head near the
Taichau inlet in Honghai bay.
The latter bay
is separated from Bias Bay by a narrow promontory
on which the more notorious pirate villages are
situated.
From the point of view of accessibility
to the pirate base it would seem to be equally con-
venient to bring a ship into Bias Bay or to the
Taichau inlet in the Fonghai bay. The statement in
the newspaper that Bias Bay has been effectively
cleared up by the Canton Government and that the
pirates have had to find another base is nonsense.
The base is still there, but the pirates have merely
used another approach to it round the corner.
3. In the struggle for the capture of the ship
the Chief Engineer, Mr. H. Thompson, the Chief
Officer Mr. D. C. Jones and a Chinese quartermaster
were killed. The master, Captain C. E. Plunkett
Cole was seriously wounded and the third officer
Mr. A. I. Campbell was slightly injured. mhe vessel
reached Honghai Bay at 1 a.m. on September 27th and
was not released until 2 a.m. on September 29th,
during which time the ship was looted and seven
Chinese passengers kidnapped for ransom.
4. On receipt of the news from Hongkong I
immediately called at the Chinese naval headquarters
accompanied by the Captain of the British gunboat in
port and asked that urgent steps should be taken to
intercept the pirates; the place where the latter
had!