Modern Pirates Of The Pacific

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 142, 18 June 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

Modern Pirates Of The Pacific

The Kubara's Treasure

By J.C.

"TT makes me hot under the 1 collar," said my neighbour, the retired master mariner, "to read of those British merchant service men at Barcelona who've got to stand target for the Dago bombers without being able to hit back. "It sets an Englishman's blood boiling, it does! The poor old British lion's getting a bad spin these days. "Sou remember the old song the fellows used to bawl out at the smoke concerts and the camp, 'Oh, the British Lion is a noble beast/ and so on—"But, beware, oh, beware—Beware how you tread on his tail!' Good old jingo song it was. But now—not only does he get his tail trodden on, but he gets well kicked by any cheeky little foreigner who likes to put in the boot. Is there a roar out of him? Not even a good hearty growl— just a bit of a squeak he calk a strongly-worded protest." "You're severe," I said; "the old fellow is sharpening his claws. You ■wait. He won't take it lying down always." "Well," said the old sailor, "we'd like at any rate to see the British Navy take a hand and protect its nationals. I don't doubt that that's exactly what the Navy is dying to do, but it's restrained by this infernal shush-shush of the ruling politicians." "The Navy must be boiling over like you to try its anti-aircraft guns on them. But it seems to me the only way to make our trading service safe and respected is to arm every ship and give the big merchantmen anti-aircraft guns and naval reserve gunnere." ' "That's exactly my view, too," said the captain. "Make every ship selfdefensive, within limits, of course. I don't know that all big ships could carry the gtins required to hit back at those sky ruffians. Still, the general |g. idea is something that will appeal to |i|g«y fttilormtn worth the name. jfc|l™g§£r' r ,tJ|at or the old plan of convoys HHHteiSfig*} escort, but, heavens, how carried on _ under such aeroplanes ready."

i Our talk passed on to the great liner Empress of Britain, which we saw in New Zealand waters recently. Did she carry anything at all to protect herself in an emergency?" "There might be two or three revolvers, in the captain's and officers' lockers," said my friend. "There might even be a service rifle. And there's a ship worth a million, with a load of millionaires oozing money." "And that German liner that was in these parts at the same time, would she by any chance carry arms?" "Too right slie would!" the captain replied. "I'll warrant she had a handy four-point-seven or two, or even a bigger gun stowed below, with all the gear ready up on deck, and ammunition. And a supply of small arms, too. The Germans are too alert a nation, and''too suspicious, to take any risks on a long voyage when anything might happen before they got home again. I don't doubt that she could be turned into an armed cruiser at short notice." It was recalled that the captain of the Empress of Britain said in an interview that the day of the battleship had gone, and he hoped that the vounger generation would be taught to build ships which were speedy and which i could be armed, and allow aeroplanes to

do the rest. "It was not battleships, but the old East India Company that made the Empire what' it is to-day." The commander meant armed merchant ships; he must have had the famous Commodore Dance in mind. "Remember," said the captain, "it's not onJy political enemies. The liner on _ a long voyage might quite easily be bailed up and sunk, and not a soul the wiser for it outside, if she were taken by surprise. Do you remember the mysterious disappearance of the Asiatic Prince, a liner with all the modern devices, which disappeared on her maiden voyage, Seattle to Shanghai? That was 12 years ago. She had European passengers and officers and a large Chinese crew. The vessel gave a radio distress signal when within a few days of her destination, then it suddenly stopped. The searching ships found not a trace of her. One theory was that the Chinese were a piratical gang. They looted the vessel, sank the ship with all hands and sailed away in the boats. Why ? Because in the ship's strongroom there were silver bars worth a quarter of a million. Heavy loot, still there are hiding places in those China Seas." "Yes," I said, "we know that anything may happen at sea. Imagine a smart gang getting to work on that little lot in the Empress of Britain. "And there was the case of the Kubara, you know?"

"The Kubara? Never heard of her," said the captain. ( "Nevertheless, there she was," I said. "It was a perfectly antazing simple hold-up—a huge fortune collared and not a soul hurt. Robbed by a pirate schooner in the Pacific in the cheekiest way imaginable." "Never heard of her," the captain persisted. "Still, if it was in the war days, it is quite likely enough. I was busy in another place then, dodging submarines." "It was kept secret, I believe, for international reasons," I said. "The countries chiefly interested kept quiet about it, hoping no doubt to catch the pirates, and it was never officially released. However. 11l give you the story as I set it down, and vou'll find it confirms your view. The moral of it all is unimpeachable, as you will see." Three Sailors of Apia Just about the time Samoa was beginning to accustom itself to the dramatic change in government, and the German flag had disappeared from the Apia beach parade, a certain rovin" sailor, trading by the name of Jimmy Dawson—he may have had other names elsewhere—came into the port in his schooner. We find him quietly relaxing after a strenuous cruise up to tile clouds of islands in the North-west Pacific.

His rather stumpy, rotind figure belied lug strength as he sprawled at ease in a cane armchair. Captain Dawson was a tough customer when need came for rough stuff. Just now he looked the most amiable felJow in the world, with a glass of something long at his elbow. He looked out from the balcony of the old International Hotel; it faced the harbour, where his schooner, Leading Wind, lay at anchor. Dawson, emptying his glass, picked up a San Francisco paper from a pile on the table and turned first to the shipping page. He was interested in the list of charters of American schooners for timber to the South Seas and copra back. Presently he came upon a paragraph that provoked an ejaculation. "Three-quarters of a million! To think of all that gold going past our doors to the Dutchmen!" He read the news item intently. Two men, in comfortably crumpled near-white suits and wide soft straw hats, came out on to the balcony and, casting round for familiar faces, brought up at Dawson's retreat. The sailor looked up from his newspaper and lifted a welcoming hand. 'Must in time to join me in another," he said. "Touch the lali, Doyle, and stretch your lazy self on something soft if you can find it." (To be continued.)