get to Hong Kong before the drafts could be cashed and stop payment. He decided that the men should ac- company them to the pirates lair, where the drafts could be posted to the relatives of the prisoners to cash and the money sent to the robbers
as ransom.
Mr. Bird Gets $10 Tip. On Saturday morning at about 1 a.m. the Anking anchored at Ross Head, in the North of Honghai Bay. The pirates then make pre- parations to leave the ship. Four life boats from the Anking's davits were lowered and the crew was made to transfer the loot and the hostages into two of the boats while the gang occupied the other two. Mr. Bird was made to accompany the pirates ashore so as to ensure that the life boats were not fired at from the ship.
After the brigands had left the ship, Mr. Bennett cruised around for an hour while waiting for Mr. Bird's return. He did not think it was safe to remain stationary and thus offer a chance for another band of pirates to attack them once
more.
Towards daylight Mr. Bird re- turned with the boats and the boat- swain. He was given $10 "tip " by the pirate chief and the Chinese hoatswain received the same.
The Booty.
It is estimated that the pirates must have got away with about $100,000. Money and jewellery taken from officers and passengers totalled about $80,000 and the arms and ammunition and other pro- perties were reckoned at about $20,000. Six cases of cargo were also opened. The pirates took away with them woollens, blankets, and tweeds. Some shellac and rubber
shoes they did not take the trouble
to remove.
Bodies Dumped Overboard. The bandits threw the dead bodies of the Chief Officer, the Chief Engineer and the Chinese quartermaster overboard on Thurs- day night. One of the pirates told a member of the crew that they had to get rid of the bodies be- cause they were approaching places where there were likely to be men- of-war and that they did not wish to leave any evidence behind.
The Officers.
Captain C. E. Plunkett-Cole is a resident of Hong Kong. He first joined the China Navigation Co. in 1901 and was promoted to master in 1909. He took command of the Anking in 1927.
The late Mr. D. C. Jones joined the C.N.C. in 1923 and was pro- moted to chief officer in 1925. He was only transferred to the Anking in June this year.
The late Mr. Henry Thomson was a native of Greenock. He was in his home town when the Anking was being built there. He joined the C.N.C. in 1902 and was made second engineer in 1905 and became first in 1915. His brother by a sad coincidence also lost his life in a Hong Kong ship, going down in the Loong Sang.
The s.s. Anking is one of the largest and newest addition to the C.N.C. fleet. She is a well-appoint- steamer of about 3,000 tons.
THE
ANKING'S" NEW
CAPTAIN.
When
our representative again visited the ship yesterday afternoon the steerage passengers had settled down. They were eating their even-
and ing meal
everything normal.
was
One of the officers remarked that the ship was due to sail this (Mon- day) afternoon. Captain T. John- stone, of the Company's s.s. Kalgan, had already been appointed master, and Mr. Richards was taking over as chief officer.
The passengers bound for Hoihow had already been landed and were proceeding by the s.s. Chinhua to their destination. The officers were decidedly reticent about details of the piracy. It was pointed out, however, that there were no grilles and the promenade deck, though it had barred gates over its ladders fore and aft, was not protected in any way. The bridge was also open to attack, and exposed to small arm fire.
"
"We are not in the Piracy zone, remarked one officer with mild irony, "and so
no protection is necessary and we don't carry guards.'
that It was not very long ago a consignment of arms was found in the Anhui at Singapore. It was only that discovery which saved a same gang was at work. piracy in that case and probably the
"There is no difficulty in getting on board. They stream up fore and aft as fast as you can count them and some times faster. Their bag- gage is already on board and for all we know any number of pistols may be smuggled in. Hong Kong is the only place where any sort of effective search is made."
That a new and still more serious
phase of Chinese piracy may be expected was obviously in the minds of the officers. They felt deeply the helplessness in face of a large armed gang and the futility of re- sistance.
"The worst thing that can happen is for a warship to inter-
"" said
"These one officer. vene,' pirates mean business. They made it plain that they would kill every- one if we were challenged by a naval ship. If that had happened they would have got on board to find no European officers there at all and the pirates all mingled in with the passengers who would be too frightened to give them away.”
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