ATTACK BY PIRATES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 365, 16 April 1910, Page 10

ATTACK BY PIRATES

INCIDENT IN THE RED SEA.

CREW ESCAPE IN A DHOW

Melbourne, March td. The steamer l\ilburn, wtiicn arrived from Greys Haruor to-day, was the <xutral fijjure in an evciting incident 111 me Red he* recently. lhe Kilbum was on a voyage from the United Kingdom to Japan with a Tamable cargo, and had the liiisi'oriune to bump on a reef in the Red Sea, in the vicinity of the Sarsan Islands, about ID miles from the mainland of Arabia, and 300 or 400 miles nwth of Perim. The collision tore a large hole in her hull, and her engine-roum and holds were soon awash with sea-water. The reef, however, held her up, but the orew were powerless to do anything else other than "ait back" and wait for assistance. One or two Arab dhows hove in sight and came alongside, their owners being friendly, but 110 stumer was seen.

For a iweek the crew were idly awaiting a steamer, l'he heat was almost unbearable. The pitch bubbled in the deck seams, and the crew gasped as they lay in a state of nudity under rigged canvas awnings. The .-hip was as safe as a newly-built house. The reef was a firm foundation for her. and the sea being like glass, there was no danger of her breaking up. One solitary Arab dhow had remained with her, in the hope of taking them as passengers to Perim. "But," said ChiefOfficer Hember to-day, "we were not going to desert the ship for some other fellow to come along and claim salvage. Then came a worning on which we found ourselves in trouble, and we were mighty glad that that rotten-looking old dhow had stuck to us. From behind one of the islands there were nearly 60 boats crammed to the gunwales with yelling ■ Bedouins armed with scimitars, daggers, spears, rifi>-,s, revolvers, and almost every kind of weapon the world has known. They had paddled out from the shore during the night, and awaited the early morning. Most of them were naked to the waist, but the chiefs wore long, flowing robes and turbans. They did not leave us :n doubt long as to their intention, f or they opened fire on us immediately. There must have been 800 of them, and you will see the marks of their bullets on our hull yet. We returned their fire, let we could see that in their overwhelming numbers they were much too strong for us, with our limited company unl arms and ammunition; and as our friend, the Arab with the dhow, was in a hurry to get away, we skipped over the aide and left with her. It was our only chance of saving our lives. A day c two later we were picked up by a smail steamer and landed in Perim, and our captain the piracy, and arranged for the salvage' of the vessel, and to return to the ship and patch her up. On board we had a company of Turkish soldiers to recapture her, and when we reached the ship we found that the pirates had left, but they had stripped her of every bit of woodwork, copper pipes, and much other valuable material. Luckily the holds and engine-room were not interfered with, probably because they were flooded. As far as I know, the pirates were not captured, but the British Government has taken possession of the Sarsan Islands as a result of our experience, and they are now visited at intervals, to prevent a recurrer.cj of piracy. The ship was patched up, pumped out, then refloated, and towel to Perim for temporary repairs."