DESPERATE FIGHT WITH PIRATES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10065, 10 June 1910, Page 7

DESPERATE FIGHT WITH PIRATES.

A remarkable slory ccmes from Port Said cf a fre3 fignt at sea between a Britisher and four Ameri- j cans oa the one side, ai d a crowd cf native boatmen o ; the other. The incident occurred when tha Americans, who were University studerts, named Henry Holtbaus, W. Henry Miller, Michael Kaufmann, Bitus Stol), and the British subject were returning from Es Samak (Lake Tiberias) to Haifa, by train. About 7.3 i) p.m., says the Britisher in relating their adventures, we engaged a boat to j take us to the Khecivial nail steam-; er Saidieh, lying in Hafia Harbour, I and due to sail at 9 p.m. We made j an agreement as to the charge. Two- j thirds of this amount were demanded ; from uh at once, and given. We er-| tered the boot, and all went well ur.» 1 til we had got halfway, when mo;e than three times the amount wss demanded from us, and the boatmen (two men and two boys) refused (o take us any f'jriher unless we forth- j with paid it, and . THEY LAID DOWN THEIR OaRS. j We remonstrated with them for a good time, but all in vain. Ttitn ue told them if they did not proceed we must take the oars ourselves and reach the steamer. Imrc;ediattly : they shouted for ether boatmen, snd i two boats containing twelve to fi • teen men came to their aid. All be- i gan to beat us with oars and short j bludgeons, and for half an hour i we fought desperately, and it wrs a fight for our lives, for we were in the hands of a band of piratical savages. It was dark, and thus the ' field of tattle—a boat with three or four rows of seats —was very un- j favourble to us, while, on the other han3, our aggre.sjrs were in their native element, and oJtnumb:r3d us j by more than three to one. In the etruggla Henry Holthau3 got overwhelmed by three or ioar men in one . orner of the boat, thrawn down, 1 and all thay could finrl upm him w< s j taken from him. A good few of the boatmen bad long knives, which they brandished, and it was probably train one of the3e that He.u j j sustained A SEVERE WOUND IN TOE I HEAD. I here was no '-"'n f>r n=>, and even- , tually wo : „..e up coin aftn ; ! coin of ou„ raonev until they were ' satisfisd. Even when wa were embarking on the steamer they demanded, and exacted with knives raised : over our heads, backsheesh for each j article of our luggae. In so exhaus- : ted a condition did we gft on board that the agent of the Khedival Line at Haifa who happened to be on board, and the captain deemed it nec- 1 essary to send ashore for the American and British Vice Consuls. The American Vice Consul came at once, but the British Vice-Consul had to be sent for a second time before he came.