A BRUSH WITH PIRATES.

Southland Times, Issue 1071, 11 December 1868, Page 3

A BRUSH WITH PIRATES.

The ' China Mail' gives a description of a real battle with pirates. The gunboat Alai-rine, Lieutenant Domiviile, com- '■ mander, was the tictor. The junk had 7 already been captured. At daylight on c Sunday, the 21st of May, the gunboat <* r.gaia set out, this time directing her " course from Stanly to the west coast. S Dodging into Macao for further informa- >* tion and fresh water, she afterwards made >s direct for IS"ainoa, and it was on her Q return from that place (between IXamoa. and St. John's) that she met her oppon--8 ents in the shape of a large fleet of eight 8 heavily-armed piratical craft. « This was on . Wednesday the 3rd, about three '» 6 1 clock in the afternoon. On hailing the r junks, and asking "whither bound and I were from ?" Lieutenant Domville rea ceived the reply " From Macao to ? Hainan ;" but, on being asked for then* 5 i papers, they refused point-blank, defied * j the Gun-boat, and threatened to blow k I the diminutive " Fan-kwwei" out of the 0 i water. This wa3, however, a task not V quite so easy of accomplishment; and T the little gun-boat at once sent a ' feeler' fc in the shape of a shot between • two of the pirates' junks. Thus 1 challenged, the pirates, now in full k line, immediately opened a brisk fire 1 upon the gunboat, which was returned k by the Algerine in a general sort of way, ■ with shot and shell, for about two hours, 3 at the end of which time the little gun--1 boat was as far from being blown off the 1 scene as ever. All this time the gunboat k was rolling heavily, but, in spite of this, 1 her gunnery told #ith considerable effect ■ upon the sails and hulls of the opposing ; junks. One of the latter, while trying 5 to skulk in towards the land, was cut off ; and boarded ; her papers were found in a ! measure correct, but as she had been also > engaged,herguns were tumbled overboard, ' and her captain taken prisoner on board ■ the gunboat. The Algerine next gave chase to the remainder of the fleet, which in the interim had sheered off to the 1 westward, and came up to them about dusk when it appears one of the briskest engagements with Chinese on record ; eusued. Having hailed the pirates with i the same result as before, Lieutenant ; Domville and his men began work in earnest at close quarters ; the Algerine's fire was quickly returned, the ' result of which was that some sails were cut and the fore-rigging was considerably damaged, and this lasted for about an hour and a half. During the early part of this scrimmage the pirates are said to have manoeuvred their craft with considerable skill, but the volleys of grape and canister from the big gun of the ' Algerine at pointblank ranges appear to have been too much for them. As dark--1 ness was now coming on, and they were getting into shallow water, while at the same time the Chinese were beginning to show signs of having had quite enough of it, the chase was given up. The junk which had been crippled at the commencement of the action was now found to be trying to get off to seaward ; but the gunboat, too quick for her, immediately gave chase and succeeded in capturing her about two hours after dark. She was found to be well armed, with eight guns and 21 of a crew, besides the captain previously captured, and to have on board a miscellaneous cargo of about §7,000 in value. At midnight she arrived in tow of the gunboat. The prisoners are a sorry-look-ing set of fellows, as they now appear on board bound to various places on deck, and two of them are severely wounded by the bursting of shells. They will most probably be forwarded to the Chinese authorities. It is said that the Chinese have never been seen to stick to their guns so pluckily as they did on the present occasion, they having fought well, and never whispered of surrendering. Considering the long odds between the combatants, the result is, to say the least, most satisfactory, and reflects no small credit upon the lieutenant commanding and the officers and men of the Algerine. That no casualty occurred on board the gunboat is owing to the fact that the pirates fired at much too high a range, and consequently damaged the rigging only. It is calculated that the Chinese must have numbered over 800 men and about 130 guns, while the Algerine, with her " Big Ben" and two small guns, has a complement of only eighteen or twenty, all told.