NANKING PIRATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 232, 1 October 1928, Page 7

NANKING PIRATES.

BRITISH SHIP SEIZED

Two Chief Officers Ruthlessly

Shot.

BODIES THROWN OVERBOARD,

(Australian Press Assn.—United Service.)

(Received 11.30 a.m.)

SHANGHAI, September 30.

A wireless message from Honghai Bay, states that the officer commanding a British coastal vessel, the Anking. reports that the ship was attacked by pirates while en route from Singapore to Swatow on Wednesday.

The chief officer, David Clifford Jones, the chief engineer, Harry Thomson, and a Chinese quartermaster were killed, while the captain, C. C. Plunkett Cole, was seriously injured.

Details show that 40 pirates were concealed among 1400 deck passengers and captured the ship. They were desperately resisted by the foreign officers and engineers, but these were outnumbered and ruthlessly shot.

The fight occurred at seven on the evening of September 26 w-hen the officers were dining. A hand-to-hand struggle took place on the deck, the pirates finally securing possession of the vessel.

They seized the armoury and threw the bodies of the murdered officers overboard and kept Second Officer Bennett on the bridge for 54 hours, navigating the vessel and carefully avoiding the notorious pirate stronghold at Bias Bay, which is now patrolled by foreign warships.

The vessel entered Honghai Bay, where the ship was systematically looted. Cargo worth £20,000 was carried off in the ship's boats, and the crew was compelled to assist. Seven Chinese were kidnapped for ransom.

COWARDLY OUTRAGE.

Heroic But Vain Fight By British Officers. LOOT ESTIMATED AT £20,000. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 1.30 p.m.) RUGBY, September 30. An account of the capture of the steamer Anking by the Chinese pirates states that the captain and chief officer were on the bridge when the pirates suddenly rushed in. Opening fire at point blank range they killed Jones and shot the captain through both thighs. Simultaneously the pirates rushed the engine room and a wild fight took place. Chief Engineer Thomson, after putting up a fierce resistance, was fatally shot in the head and Second Engineer Bennett laid about him with a club before being overpowered. Third Officer Campbell was stunned from behind while resting in a deck chair, and when he recovered consciousncss and staggered to the bridge he was stabbed in the back.

All the passengers were lined up and searched, and their valuables added t-o the loot from the luggage and cargo which was taken ashore by the pirates in the ship's lifeboats. It is estimated they got away with £20,000 worth of goods. The Anking" then sailed to Hong Kong, where the wounded officers are in hospital. This is the first case of Chinese coastal piracy since the British naval and Chinese military force cleaned up the Bias Bay stronghold some months ano-