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carried off several Chinese passengers, an employee of
the compradore, and as much loot as they had been able
to collect. At the time of the incident there were two
Europeans on board the "Hsin Ming" Captain Soden, the
master, and Mr. Sinclair, the chief engineer, both British
subjects. Neither of these gentlemen suffered any
physical harm.
4. The second incident occurred on 28th January,
as the "Hsin King" was leaving Shanghai on her next
voyage to Foochow. On this occasion the ship happened
to have a guard of twelve soldiers, which had been placed
on board at Foochow after the first incident, and was
making the return trip to that port. When the steamer
was proceeding down the Whangpoo this guard undertook a
search of the passengers, with the result that several
persons were discovered in possession of arms and
ammunition concealed in their clothing and hand luggage.
They confessed that they had smuggled these on board at
Shanghai with the intention of pirating the vessel when
she got out to sea. At the time of this discovery the
vessel had not yet cleared the harbour limits, and she
was accordingly taken back to the China Merchants Company's
Wharf in the French Concession, where she was met by
representatives of the French and Chinese police. Five
persons were arrested and in due course handed over by
the French to the Chinese authorities.
5. The "Hain Ming" left again for Foochow on the following day, a guard of twelve soldiers being provided
by the Shanghai Garrison Commander in addition to those
supplied from Foochow.
This was done at the special
request of the Company's manager, to whom the crew had protested that they were unwilling to sail, being
apprehensive that yet a third attempt might be made to
pirate