t
582
Piracy of 3.3. "Tai On".
Finding of Marine Court of Enquiry.
We find that the British S.8. Tal On, O.N. 95858,
of Hongkong, of which Robert Henry Wetherell, the number of whose certificate of competency as Master is 08651 of London, was Master, left Hongkong on the 27th April,
1914, on a voyage to Kongmoon, with a general cargo of about 100 tons, 395 passengers, of whom only 363 paid
any fares, and a crew of 38. At about 10 p.m., the ship
being then off the Island of Kiu Au, near the Swashway
entrance to the West River, some of the passengers who had embarked at Hongkong rose and attempted to gain pos-
session of the ship, being armed with Mauser and Brown-
ing pistols. They attacked the bridge, where the Master,
Mate, Chief Engineer, and two armed Portuguese guards were entrenched behind iron and barbed-wire grilles and loop-holed bullet-proof shields, who were able to repel
the attack of their asstelante, with the loss on their
side of one the Chief Engineer
-
al
-
slightly wounded.
The pirates then retreated below, and endeavoured to persuade some of the peaceful passengers to go up and call upon the master to surrender, and upon their refu-
sal to do so shot them. They then deliberately set the
ship on fire in two or three places. This was about
11 o'clock.
In the meanwhile the officers, in the intervals of
fighting, fired distress signals rockets, bombs and
coloured lights, which were seen and answered by the
British steamers Shun Lee, Shiu On, and Holsang, which
were on their way down the river, bound for Hongkong,
and
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