THE LAST OF THE WORLDS PIRATES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 154, 20 June 1908, Page 4

THE LAST OF THE WORLDS PIRATES.

details readied here to-day." a n n ivnt despatch from Shanghai staled. -( is piratical outrages committed wilhin tli .* last few days on the Crand Canal, eig! e I hours' journey from the city. The e lacks were the most daring known .sine y the (lavs of the Kiplings. Three to.v v' I,f crowded launches coming from Kasi - ing were held up by hundreds of pirate? t who are believed tu j,e soldiers tha l have deserted from the disaffected di: i*j triets ol Chekiang. All the passenger -j refusing to immediately deliver up the; •i valuables were mercilessly shot.'' i , hasn't, been so long since Chinese pirate; l infested the seas along th'- coast o ; that country, and ventured far frun [ land in tlieir uulawful practices. Ke pressive measures aimed at piracy idm the high seas have been so universal;', adopted of late that most of the bee caneering Chinese have been conlininp their operations to little-freipieiK.'o . harbours and to long river stretches ii; side of headlands. At the same tim. few ships are absolutely safe in certain Chinese waters. A JirHish vessel, for example, laden with goods consigned t.» towns "up the river," may come all the way from Liverpool to Hong-Kong unmolested by pirates. At. JJang-Kong transhipment to smaller boats and junks of the river trade is necessary for a large part of the goods, j Hardly have the goods left Hongkong when they are subjected -to the risk of being seized by pirates, and in I throe eases out of live consignents for I | up-river towns never reach "their destination. The Chinese pirates travel light in long, swift river junks. Theif favourite trick is to wait the coming of night in one of the lagoons of the Canton delta, and then slip up to a laden, boat as it pushes its way slowly up the river, board it and slay the crew. Then that boat disappears from the register of the Far Eastern trade and her goods are never more seen by the owners. There are many reasons why the pirate remains on the Chinese coast line and in the interior. Almost every Pacific ocean port has its quota of soldiers of fortune, but most of these are now gathered in Chinese ports. They organise raids, plan piracies, aim engage in a virtual war against natives, but they are eareiul to employ native cut-throats and marauders to carry out their plans. These may mean the capture and looting n f a coastwise vessel or attacks upon river craft proceeding from seaport towns to the interior, h the capture is made without bloodshed, ' good and well. So much less is the ' chance ol discovery, tint even of late years most, daring attack* have been made bv Chinese pirates upon vessels im the high seas. One might eile. for instance, (he capture ol the lirilish >teainer Sian.uu by buccaneers near Canton not. many years igo. Murdered by the pirates were the liev. Dr. Mac Donald, a missionary, and four Indian members of the crew.' while the commander of the vessel. Captain loslin. was seriously wounded. In this instance the outlaws secured about .CSOO iu money ami some ammunition. It was supposed that the Chinese prouncial authorities had intended to ship Thout CSUOO by the steamer, although when the crucial time came it was found that little of the money -was aboard. 'I his robbery differed from most ot the operations of the pirates n that a number of the piratical «an» took passage on the steamer and arose io capture it when an opportune time

One of tlie boldest deprcdalions ever oinmitled was aboul two years ago, I'hen two steamships were captured bv he pi-aies. •hist below Wuchow was the British teamcr Fienain. in. need of a crew, hie night a junk came alongside with large force of Chinese, who voluneerea for service. Once on deck they ook possession. They overcame ami ied up the olliiers and crew and drove lie passengers into their staterooms, rhere they were speedily robbed of all ■aluables. While this act of robbery vas going on—the vessel was then'oil he high sens—another steamer was icen approaching. It was a larger and 'aster steamer, the Chanfook. With ;reat skill, the pirates steered the 'ienam alongside the Chanfook, until lie ships touched, and then, with wontcrliit pluck end audacity, they leaped lpoil the other vessel. Capture of the 'haiifuol; was comparatively easy under he circumstances. The siiip was surirised, and that was all there was to it. Later the pirates abandoned the l'ie.llllll and betook themselves to the L'hanfook, which they afterwards rail isliore. In one day's work these robbers secured about C2OIIO. There, was no redress; they vanished among the hills as soon as llicv reached shore. While the Chinese C'overnnicut might have been true in trying to trace them, nothing ever came of the pursuit. Selilom has anything ever come of Chinese pirates, unless that pursuit was by war vessels of a foreign nation. In the southern waters the French have been wiping out, with commendable industry, piratical lairs and fleets. Knglish cruisers have kept, down buccaneering raids in the north, and English authorities are now arousing Chinese ire by threatening to patrol the rivers mud canals in order to wlipe out the remaining freebooters of the . sea who persist in plying their trade upon the inland water-courses. So strongly has the habit of piracy become ingrained in the Chinese character that uproot it.' Time was when all the adjacent waters of the l'aeilic were cruising grounds for piratical junks, and many a merchant-vessel has fallen il prey to the slant-eyed bandits of the sea" A hundred years ago the bloodiest pirate licet in Chinese history was commanded by Woo-fhe-tsing. who assumed the romantic title of "Scourge of the Eastern ,Scas." At times thousands of junks were under command of this man. About this time, too, one of the most, adventurous and daring women pirates 'ot all time sprang into the limelight. In 1807 the chief outlaw of all the Chinese coast, Cliing-yih, perished in a vio- ' lent gale. His widow at once took command of the pirate licet, and in more than a hundred tights showed that her teeth were those of the barbarian. She. was the "new woman" of her time in the Iv.isl, Men feared her and obeyed, even the most uncontrollable and bloodthirsty. Itigid discipline and exact submission. were, demanded by her and readily given. She paid for what supplies she demanded ashore, but was merciless in her exactions from prizes alloat. Of late years there have botpi comparatively few piratical outrages on the high seas ot!' China's coast. But the . old pirate system of robbery has been | working at. full Mast in scores of secluded harbours am! on the rivers and canals of the interior. Almost any piratical expedition may he organised at Shaii'diai. There one may find the tlotsam and jetsam of the world awaiting buccaneers. These become, oil, occasion, modern buccaneers. They organise raids and plan piracies, and engage ill any desperate enterprise that promises large returns. They are simply following the ■ example set'for them by their prede- . cessors. i Hut. the main obstacles that the lia-

- lions of the world have to overcome are those that have to do with the real Oriental character. Driven, virtually, | ' from the high seas, the Chinese pirate :> ha- now taken to tlie rivers and canals, ~ iiri , |„ng stretches of these water t courses where there are no reprcsentaV lives of law and order. Accordingly, r the pirate may hold up travelling junks i- as he will. ' He may l>iH«g« to his r. I heart's content and escape into the ln- .. terior. «afc from pursuit. It may be , hill" time before this form ot piracy I- is discounted and slopped. It is the ,e inst form of the .famous piracies o el china anil those piracies arc the la*t ,n piracies of the world. Dillieull, indeed. H I, IU it been to convince thlse people to n,,,). their buccaneering exploits were to unlawful without endorsement of civiled isalion and abhorrent to mankind. 1 hey ml have been pirates for centimes, tin,, ■re J wish to be pirales st'di. and they resell of biilerh- Ihe edict of civilisation that lie. thev shall no longer lie the scourge ol ec- tne eastern seas.