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the boat deck on the port side also aft of the same grille. The two guards who were off duty, Nizam Din, Guard No. 66, and Hayat Khan, Guard No. 299, were in their room which was on the boat deck aft of the engine room skylight.
The course of the ship was set for the south-west corner of Lantau Island. voyage to Hongkong was expected to take about four hours from wharf to wharf.
On this evening the weather was fair. Sunset occurred at 5.39
p.m.
The
The pirates commenced operations shortly after sunset and while it was still day- light, the ship being in a "Danger Zone" as defined by the Piracy Regulations.
It was customary on this ship for fares to be collected on board during the voyage, tickets being issued to passengers and collected subsequently from them. The first and second class passengers' fares and tickets were collected by the Purser. The third class accommodation was farmed out to the Ship's compradore. The moment chosen by the pirates coincided with the time when the compradore had finished collecting the tickets from third class passengers and was returning from the lower deck to the main deck by one of the after companions.
The pirates' attack commenced on the main deck among the second class passengers, and there only. It does not appear that any simultaneous steps were taken by them among the first class or the third class passengers. The pirates fired on the two Indian guards posted on the main deck; Rakhman Shah was hit while Noor Mahomed escaped unhurt on to the boat deck through the after companion on the port side. Pirates theu came up on to the boat deck by both companions. They were all armed with firearms of different kinds. One Indian Guard, Cheggattah Khan, was seen to go down to the main deck from the boat deck by the port side companion in order to deal with the trouble below, but he would seem to have returned to the boat deck where he was afterwards observed lying wounded.
The initial attack upon the engine room and the bridge seems to have been conducted by not more than ten pirates who fired on the two guards on duty on the main deck and then proceeded to the boat deck.
On the boat deck shots were exchanged between the guards and the pirates. Immediately on realising what had happened the Master ordered his guards to follow him to the bridge. He ran towards the bridge along the boat deck on the port side, but was almost immediately shot from behind and fell near the engine room skylight. Cheggattah Khan, who had returned to the boat deck, was also shot down aft of the engine room skylight. Noor Mahonied and Fazal Din fought a retiring action. Noor Mahomed observed a pirate standing over Captain Birss and shot him, inflicting a wound. He himself was shot down near the smoking room, Fazal Din was wounded, but reached the bridge. He had expended all his revolver ammunition, and while he was loading his rifle which had been carried, by order of the Master, unloaded he received a blow on the head from the butt end of a revolver and was rendered unconscious. The two guards who were off duty were at once overpowered.
The guards who were on duty were armed as follows:----
(a.) Noor Mahomed, Guard No. 256. One six-chambered revolver loaded with
six rounds of ammunition.
(6) Rakhman Shah, Guard No. 211. One six-chambered revolver loaded with
six rounds of ammunition, also four additional rounds of ammunition. (c) Fazal Din, Guard No. 13. One six-chambered revolver loaded in four chambers only, also six additional rounds of ammunition, also one rifle, unloaded, with twelve rounds of ammunition.
(d) Cheggattah Khan, Guard No. 46.
amount of ammunition unknown.
One revolver and one rifle with au
His rifle also was unloaded.
All guards on duty were provided with whistles.
:
3
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The surviving guards who were armed and on duty made full use of their revolvers. Two guards, namely, Rakhman Shah and Cheggattah Khan are presumed to be dead. Their bodies were not found on board after the pirates left the ship.
room.
The guards who were off duty were unarmed but had loaded revolvers in their
The Master and other certificated officers were carrying no arms at the commence- ment of the pirates' attack,
Of the attacking party, four entered the engine room from the skylight, and shots were fired into the engine room from the boat deck. The Second Engineer and his Chinese staff were unarmed and could do nothing. Other pirates of the party went for- ward and obtained control of the bridge. At one time an armed pirate was to be seen On the bridge in command of each of the three after windows of the smoking room. itself there were the Chief Officer, the Second Chinese Quartermaster and the guard Fazal Din who had retired to the bridge. The Second Chinese Quartermaster, who was steering, jumped from the bridge on to the main deck forr'ard and took refuge in the fo'c's'le. The guard had fired off all four rounds from his revolver and was in process of loading his rifle. Two or possibly more pirates came on to the bridge. They did not fire, probably because they had expended all their ammunition. They snapped their revolvers without result. They therefore put the Chief Officer and the guard out of action by blows struck with their revolvers. One of the passengers Mr. S. E. G. Hawthorne attempted a plucky resistance by attacking one of the pirates and in endeavouring to throw him overboard he was shot down. Several passengers received bullet wounds.
In the meantime a panic had occurred on board, but it seems likely that the remainder of the pirate gang did not declare itself until the success of the attack upon the engine room and upon the bridge had been confirmed. A number of first class passengers on their own initiative assembled in the saloon, and it is shown by the evidence of eye- witnesses that a considerable interval, two or three minutes, elapsed before the appearance of any pirates in the saloon itself. The pirates who came into the saloon came from the boat deck through the smoking room.
No attack was made on the bridge from the forr'ard main deck. The plan of the pirates was to advance along the boat deck from the after companions.
We are not satisfied that any person travelling among the first class passengers took part in the piracy, nor are we convinced that there was a woman among the pirates. It appears that several of the pirates during these proceedings wore women's clothes, probably taken from passengers.
We have found no reason to suppose that any member of the ship's crew was privy to the piracy,
The pirates obtained control of the bridge and the engine room in a very short time indeed. The surprise was complete and successful.
The Second Engineer and his staff worked the engines under compulsion by the pirates. On the bridge the wheel was taken by passengers and by the Second Chinese Quartermaster under the directions of the pirates.
No further resistance was offered. The pirates, whose numbers have been variously estimated from 35 to 50, proceeded to rob the passengers and rifle the ship.
The active proceedings of the pirates continued through the night until 5 a.in. the following morning. The pirates left the ship at about 7 a.m. in Bias Bay. After exchanging signals with the shore they left in fourteen sampans.
When the piracy began the ship would have been about eight or nine miles from her wbarf in Macao. Her engines were going full speed ahead, and her course was laid for the southern route between Hongkong and Macao. She continued to go at full speed. Within half an hour of the commencement of the piracy all lights on board were
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