CO129-508-4 Cases of attacks by pirates 6-11-1927 - 23-11-1928 — Page 58

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All

58

E.P. & A.L. Careless,

Solicitors,

Llandrindod Wells,

14th November, 1928.

Dear Sir,

On the 26th September last Mr. David Clifford Jones the

first Officer of the S.S. "Anking", a British Ship, was killed

by Pirates in the China Seas whilst on a voyage from Singapore

to Hong Kong. The facts of this outrage are as follows:-

When the S.S. "Anking" sailed from Singapore she carried

about 1200 Chinese passengers bound for Hong Kong. It is

believed that it is the custom to search all Natives for Arms

upon embarkation, and no doubt this was done in this case. All

went well with the Ship until the evening of the 26th September

when in the Bay of Tongking the British Officers were rushed by

some forty to fifty of the men who had come aboard as passengers.

Captain C.. Plunkett-Cole and the Chief Officer David Clifford

Jones were on the Bridge in charge of the Ship, and the first

act of the Pirates was to rush the ridge and shoot dead Chief

Officer David Clifford Jones and seriously wound Captain C.E.

They seriously wounded the Third Officer A.T.

Campbell and shot dead Chief Engineer Henry Thomson. The

Pirates gained complete control of the Ship and with lights

extinguished steered a course to Honghai Bay. They ransacked

the Ship and collected everything of value, and when they

arrived at their destination on the Chinese Coast in Honghai

Bay, they took ashore openly by means of the Ship's Boats

all the booty they had collected worth about £10,000, and also

took with them some of the Passengers as hostages. These

Passengers upon being searched by the Pirates were found to

Plunkett-Cole.

Captain Ernest Evans, M.P.,

House of Commons,

London.

hold/

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