Copy
(F 4313/8/10)
FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1.
29th August, 1950.
50
Dear Fenner,
I am now able to reply to your letter of the 14th and 22nd
July about the provision of Russian guards on British ships
in Chinese waters.
The facts are these.
Piracy is, as you know, unfortunately rife on the
China coast and usually takes the form of an outbreak by a
gang of pirates travelling in the ship as passengers.
If
there is the slightest effort at resistance, ruthless and
savage brutality is a feature of such outbreaks in order to
obtain the maximum effect of surprise against the ship's
officers. The pirates usually have their headquarters at
the notorious Bias Bay, or some other suitable fastness on
the China coast, to which they compel the ship to be
navigated and where they go ashore with the loot. The
efforts of the Chinese authorities to cope with the shore
establishments of the pirates have met with little success.
It was, therefore, decided at an emergency measure to
supply temporarily armed guards from His Majesty's Forces
to British merchant ships permanently trading on the China
coast. The object of His Majesty's Government in making
this temporary arrangement was to provide internal
security in British ships during the period required by the
shipowners to provide, train and establish their own guards
and to carry out other anti-piracy measures recommended by
A. Fenner Brockway, Esq., M.P.
the/
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