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17.- The Commodore asked whether, if the Chinese claimed to have captured the leader, the Captain and Chief Officer of the "TUNGCHOW" could be sent at once to identify him. Mr. 3wire replied, yes. The C.G. Canton was informed that the stipulation would be that the pirate or his body must be identified by Firm's representatives.
18.- Kuinam
Failure to communicate.
The Commodore said that he attributed some of the frequent failures of ships to communicate to the fact that the W/T operator was usually also one of the ship's officers. He considered that an independent W/T operator should be carried in each ship. Mr. Neale said that he had never heard of any difficulty. In the case of the "MUINAM", she was a Danish ship on charter, and in ships of this nationality the 3rd Officer was always navigator and W/T operator. The 3rd officer has just been relieved: he had carried out his duties excellently. The new 3rd Officer was making his first trip. Mr. Neale had seen the out- going officer before he left and asked if his relief knew his duties, and had been told that he did. The Commodore said that the ship would be boarded at Singapore and enquiries made. The Firm stated they would also make enquiries.
NOTE.- The weak spot here is that Mr. Neale did not personally see the new officer.
19.-
Guards provided from Regular Forces.
Throughout the conference Mr. Swire referred to the immunity which had been enjoyed when ships carried British troops as guards.
20.- He also defined the Company's hope as being to obtain recognition for their ships amongst pirates as being hard to pirate; pirates would then look round for something easier.
Once pirated, the only thing to hope for was to get the pirates out of the ship with as little fuss as possible in order to save life. One and all agreed that the last thing the ship's officers and passengers wanted was a warship or an aeroplane to appear before the pirates had left the ship.
NOTE.-
This is the opinion of all officers in the
China Coast Trade.
NOTE 2. The schoolmaster and schoolmistresses subsequently
informed the Commodore that they had been praying all the way down that no man of war would appear before the pirates had left the ship safely, as they were in deadly fear lest the children should be shot.
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