THE CAPTURE OF A GUNBOAT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 283, 22 April 1911, Page 9

THE CAPTURE OF A GUNBOAT.

I AX AMAZIiNG iSTfcß'i' OF MODERN PIRACY'. One morning, early in March, I'JIO, Senor Sigilla, a naval ollicial of the Republic of Honduras, sat in his ollice at Puerto Cortez, listening to a strange story of the sea. The teller was a young lieutenant, Ilanna by name, who for a little over a year had been attached to Urn State gunboat Tatubla, and whoso services had been so exceptionally brilliant that he had been marked down at headquarters for early promotion. No one, seeing him in his present condition, would ever have given him credit for a good record and line prospects—that is to say, no one who did not know him as well as Senor Sigilla did. There was the mark of a nasty blow on his left cheek-bone; his face "was lined with suffering and fatigue;,his hair was matted; his unitorm torn and stained with sea-water. Even Senor Sigilla himself had at first suspected that lie was an impostor. Could it be possible, he thought, as he sat intently listening to I lamia's narrative, that this ,was°the brilliant young officer whom he had seen only a few months before promenading the decks of the Tatubla, then anchored in the waters of Puerto Cortez? Haima told his tale with characteristic! brevity and straightforwardness. Al! times it sounded like an official .report, prepared for the members of a committee of enquiry; at others—and Sigilla's questions strengthened the illusion—like the declaration of a witness in a court of law. But every now and then there was a catch (some people would have called it a sob) in the narrator's voice, and this personal note took the chill off' the interview. "ft is just three months and three days since you last saw the Tatubla," began the lieutenant. We were anchored out there in the roads, waiting for orders to move, and when they arrived from headquarters you yourself brought them on board, and we said good-bye. An hour later we were under full steam for Truxillo, the first of the ports of call mentioned in the instructions. You know what those instructions were, and you will remember that the captain said our cruise would last about two months and a-half. We ought, indeed, to have been back at Puerto Cortez a fortnight ago. But T fear that you will never set eyes on the Tatubla again."

"Never see the Tatubla again!" exclaimed Senor Sigella, starting with astonishment and leaning a little nearer. "I am sorry to hear this news, Hanna. Where was she wrecked?" "Wrecked! Would to heaven that she was, and lying in a hundred fathoms of water! There might have been no dishonor in that. No; the Tatubla has not gone on the rocks. She is afloat at this very minute. But all the same she is lost—and in such circumstances that the Government will never forgive those who are responsible." Senor Sigilla was distinctly puzzled. He knitted his brows and looked still more fixedly at the speaker. It was the first time that he had heard of a State gunboat being lost in time of peace without being wrecked. What was the answer to this extraordinary enigma? It was evident that Hanna was neither an imposter nor suffering from mental derangement. He . must therefore be in possession of some important piece of news. What was his secret?

"The Tatubla has been captured by pirates," said Lieutenant Hanna, and proceeded to tell the following amazing story:—

"This terrible affair happened whilst we were on our return voyage, and when only a hundred miles away from Puerto Cortez. W 7 e were returning, as you know, with a valuable cargo of sugar, tobacco and coffee—provisions for Government stores; and both on the outward and homeward voyages all had gone well. About a fortnight ago, whilst steaming at 14 knots, with a fairly calm sea, the men at the lookout sighted a ( boat. .She was several miles away, but well on the line of our route, and on coming up with her—which we did very quickly—we found that she contained a dozen men, all of whom appeareu to be in a state of great exhaustion. Two of the most energetic of them signalled to us by waving their oars, and some of the others raised their arms, as though imploring us to come to their assistance.

I Our captain at once gave orders to stop the vessel, and on getting alongside the boat we entered into conversation with its occupants. They were all of them dark-skinned fellows.'and there was hardly one who hadn't a face which you could call distinctly evil. In fact, personally, I did not 'like the look of any of them, and 1 told the captain so. Nearly all of them, too, were armed; though, as the first lieutenant remarked, there was nothing very surprising in that, considering, the necessity there is for everybody trading in these parts to be prepared to meet undesirable characters. The two men with the oars—who, like their red-capped, bare-breasted companions, wore sombreros, striped woollen shirts, and coats—acted as spokesmen. They and their comrades, they said, were the owners of a small coasting vessel named El Baja. Three days before, after night had set in, fire had broken out on board, and, as there was a fresh wind blowing, had spread so rapidly that they had only just time to lower themselves into their boat and escape. With the very scantiest of provisions they had pushed off into the darkness, and ever since they had been at the mercy of the waves and adverse I currents. They had already sighted two vessels, but neither had taken the slight- ■ est notice of them. They thanked the captain for showing more heart, and implored him to have still further pity upon them by taking them on board'. A little bread and water—for they were dying of hunger and thirst—was all they required. In return for tlieir food an'd passage to Puerto'Cortez they would willingly do any work that was set them. The story seemed to be a truthful one, and, coupled with the men's dejected appearance, it touched the captain's heart. But I did not like the look of the fellows at all, and as some of the red-capped ones—they were the ugliest rascals of the lot. and wore large ear- ! rings—came up the rope ladder that had | been thrown down to them it .struck me that they showed more agility than was consistent with their alleged fast. However, as I had told the captain and thrown out a hint to the first lieutenant, it was not for me to do anything more in the matter except obey orders. The captain gave instructions that the men were to be taken to the sailors' quarters, where rations were to be served out to them, and they were to be given a reasonable time to recover from their fatigue. Th(! captain ordered, too, that rum should be given to those who needed it —a very unwise thing to do, seeing how prone our men are to become victims to the temptations of drink. But he forgot—and this was the gravest fault of all—to order that all arms were to be) laid aside. 1

Exactly what happened when our men and those we had picked up got together no one ean say. But 1 shall not lie far wrong, T think, in saying that they fraternised, that the bottles of rum were freely passed round, and that the wily pirates—for pirates they were—allowed the sailors of the Tatubla to have the major portion of the liquor. Anyway.

when the iirst act in the tragedy came, a couple of hours or so after we had resumeu our voyage, it was evident that our men were in an advanced state ot intoxication, whereas the others were in complete possession of their powers. l was walking the upper deck, feeling very uneasy in my niiiiu, when suddonly ', J heard a sharp cry of pain from the - Bailors' mess-room. Almost aimultanet ously there was the crash of a breaking i bottle, a confused sound of angry voices, ? 11 nd hand-to-hand lighting. flushing •■ down the companion ladder, i came with- > in sight of tlie entrance to tlie mess-room 1 just in time to see one of our crew dash ■ forth, bleeding from a wound in his ' neck, stagger a few yards, and then fall ' heavily on hi.s face. Hardly had he i fallen when others followed him—a. veriti able human torrent, drunken and tcrrori stricken. \ea,rly every man had a bottle i in his hand, nearly all were wounded, '■ and oil their heels, in hot pursuit, came i it couple of the red-capped demons whom we had befriended. 1 drew my revolver and shot the foremost. As lie fell lii.s ; companions, with pistols, rille or knife in band, rushed forth on to the deck, ami ■ the captain, my fellow ollicers, and the men who were on duty, having assembled 1 on hearing the uproar, we faced the ' band of pirates. From the outset, however, the light ; was u terribly uneven one. We Jiau been taken completely by surprise. Our drunken men, possessed of hardly enough sense to draw their swords, we're worse than useless; they only got in the way, and oni! of them, mistaking me for an enemy, even made a wild hit at my head with an empty rum bottle. Ten niinutes sulliced to sec the end of the encounter. The captain was the first to go. He fell without a. word, with a bullet in his head. One by otic L saw my four brotherollicers wounded to death. ■ The same thing overcame the handful of sailorsmost inadequately armed—who supported us. Save for a blow on my cheek, I had so far escaped unhurt; but I should undoubtedly have been killed had I not quickly made tip my mind to try to save myself. During the course of the light we had gradually been driven back and forced to seek any place of safety we could find, When the last of my companions fell >I saw that it was useless to hold out any longer, so, an idea suddenly coming into my head, I dodged behind one of the guns, and, fortunately unobserved, made rapidly towards the stern, where I remembered that the pirates' boat was in the tow. By this time the Tatubla was rapidly slowing down—a sign that the engineers had either abandoned their posts or been overpowered. Without a moment's hesitation I trusted myself to the thin, though strong, rope j which attached the boat to the ship, and. at the expense of cut hands and a ducking'! somehow managed to reach it in safety. I then severed the cable with a stroke of my sword, seized tlie oars, which were lying in the bottom of the boat, and began rowing with all my might in the opposite direction to that of the Ta-

tulila. 'Mentally anil physically I strain od after one object—to get as" far awaj from her as possible and carry the news home. Mow I prayed that niy escape—a truly miraculous one—might be un observed. After a few minutes I had thf satisfaction of seeing the Tatubla entirely change her course, and, once more at her top speed, rapidly steam away. T did not reach land until two days later, and then not entirely through my own efforts. I rowed until nightfallrowed until my arms were powerless to pull another stroke. Darkness came on. and a dozen times during the night 1 thought the. boat was going to capsize At daybreak I was too exhausted to care what happened, and in this semi-insen sible condition I was found at 10 o'clock in the morning by the owners of a small fishing vessel. They took me on board, bro.ught me back to my senses, and landed ine at night time, 'at a little hamlet on the coast. There I remained for a week, suffering from high fever. As soon as I was able to leave my bed I made my way along the coast, travelling as rapidly as a penniless man can in this country. I reached Puerto Cortez, and carried out my first, duty, Senor Sigilja—to report myself to you. Needless to say, the capture of the Tatubla—the most daring enterprise ever recorded in the annals of the Republic of Honduras—created a most painful impression on the Government officers at Tegucigalpa. Senor Sigilla telegraphed a full account to his chiefs; Lieutenant Hanna sent in his signed statement; and the authorities having put their heads together, the Government at once issued instructions for what the newspapers called an "implacable" chase after the pirates. Two of the Republic's fastest gunboats went in pursuit, and well within the week, thanks to the information received from passing vessels, the Tatubla was sighted. She was slowly steaming along in company with a sniail sailing vessel, the one which the pirates had alleged was burnt, and which they had kept out of sight until their trick to obtain possession of the gunboat had succeeded. On the vessels coming well within range the pirate must have realised that the game was up, for they made a very feeble attempt to escape, and offered only the very poorest resistance where fire was opened upon them. The management of a modern war boat was evidently not in their line, and the entire band was captured without further bloodshed. Less than a month later they paid the penalty for murder and robbery on the high seas. Tt was discovered that this was by no means their first act of piracy, and that they had for years been carrying on extensive smuggling operations all along the coast of the Carribean Sea.—Sydney Sun.