Copy,
Translation.
WAI CHIAO PU TO H.L.MINISTER.
May 9th, 1914.
Sir,
612
I have received the following telegram from
the Tutu of Kuangtung.
"The S.S."Tai On", flying the British flag sailed on the evening of April 27th from Hongkong and was off Ch'i-ao when pirates who come on board dis- guised as passengers began to plunder the ship. The ship's Captain and Engineer and others fired upon them and killed a considerable number. The pirates and their associates then set fire to the ship and over one hundred of the crew and passengers perished in the flames; 100 more leaped into the sea and were drowned. The steamers Shao An, Shun Li, and Ho Kuei, which happened to be passing at the time, rescued over 200 persons;
10 or more pirates were killed as well. On hearing this news I, Lung Chikuang, immediately despatched a gunboat and a torpedo Dost in pursuit of the pirates and issued orders to the naval and military forces near the spot to effect their arrest. It appears that the piracy of this steamer was effect- ed by pirates who boarded the ship at Hongkong dis- guised as passengers and suddenly burst out into plundering at midnight when the ship was sailing on the high seas.
Consequently Chinese officials and
military were powerless to prevent it. The hulk of
the
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