Sessional_Paper_1923 — Page 12

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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 in command of each of the three after windows of the smoking room. On the bridge 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.m. 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 wharf 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