LIKE OLD TIMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12213, 7 March 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

LIKE OLD TIMES.

A BUDDING NELSON'S SPLENDID • • , VICTORY. DASHING SEA EIGHT WITH GUN RUNNERS. A little ceremony took place recently on board H.M.s. Perseus, serving on the Red Sea, station, which serves to illustrate the varied incidents by which the gunboats engaged in patrolling the Red Sea littoral continue to break the monotony of their routine work. For some months past the Arab merchants who indulge in the profitable industry of gun-running in the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, and generally throughout the Red Sea waters, have been unusually active in plying their trade, and large quanties of arms have been passed through Jibutil and Illig. Since the operations in Som.vliland assumed more definite shape the trade in arms has received a filip, and it lias been found necessary to increase to six the number of police dhows which are employed to patrol the coast for the purpose of checking this trade. Originally there were but two dhows, and it was in connection with one of these, Kitty, officered by Lieutenant Bevan and six bluejackets, that all hands were piped aft one morning on the Perseus to listen to the reading of official letters of thanks from the Admiralty to the commander and crew of the Kitty, in recognition of their services. It was stated in the Admiralty's communication ' that nearly £400 of prize money was to be divided among them. It was how some weeks since the little engagement occurred. The Kitty, which had been patrolling the littoral for some three weeks, espied a large dhow bearing on a course which l would make the two boats pass within hailing distance of one another. The Kitty promptly became to all appearance a helpless cripple; it appeared that her sail was carried away, and that she was lying in the trough' of the seas waiting for assistance. The big dhow came down with the wind at her heels, driving her more into the heavy waves, and tossing clouds of spray about her bows. Signals of distress lmng out from the hapless Kittv. while a Somali in her ringing waved his loincloth to attract attention. The stranger held on her way, and the distance which separated the two boats gradually lessened, until, of a sudden," when the stranger was some 200vds distant, the Kitty awakened into activitv. She was no longer the windswept derelict, but. by the twist of a rope, she displayed her flag from the stern and threw a blank shot across the bows of the curious craft which was now confronting her. The heads of some 20 men could be counted upon the big dhow, and, as the sun Hinted upon the barrels of their rifles which thev were holding, the Kitty became aware that it was not improbable that she had tackled an ugly customer and a valuable prize. , It was not lonsr before the enemy showed that she possessed a full claim to both these qualifications. The blank shot was answered with a volley which raked the dhow. Lieutenant Bevan and his petty officer Halstead were standing together waiting developments when the bullets passed between them. The moment to try conclusions with the stranger had indeed arrived. . A handy man jumped to an 8-pounder, and the Kittv began to give what she was willing to receive. The big dliow drew off a little, and, having both the wind and heels of the Kitty, slowly circled round her little antagonist, drenching her with volleys, shredding her sail, and piercing the frail timbers of her side. However, Jack is never happier than when he is driving a hard bargain, and while the Kitty, defiant and coquettish, asked for more, she returned the salutations of her enemy with signal emphasis. Six times the mast of her opponent was struck by shells, while alternately the missiles dropped about the bows, the stern, and midships, wrecking the gear of the craft, and touching up. the crew with ugly gashes. Lieutenant Bevan was now master of the situation, and, in spite of the odds against her, the Kitty made desperate efforts to board her enemy. In this, however, the ironv of circumstances was against her, for Allah, having instilled into the souls of thw gun-runners the wish to fight, now prompted them to scuttle. As the boats drifted nearer to the coast, it was evident that the big dhow was seeking an opportunity to make a dash for freedom, and, after an ingenious feint towards the shore, she took the jvind of her adversary and beat out to sea. The manoeuvre was in part successful, but, .as she drew off, a shell, prettily planted against her stem, played sad havoc with her mainsail halyards ' and the helmsman, and she was compelled to postpone her departure, and, in a change of tactics, present a fresh front to the attentions of the Kitty. Her mainsail was now adrift, and after a few minutes she slackened fire. The Kitty made alongside with a wish to board, but keeping a lookout for a ruse. . A couple of dead hung across the stranger's gunwale, and a wounded man lav bv the tiller. She wore an air of submission, and an Arab standing at the poop waved to the Kitty and waited patiently for her arrival. An end of the fight seemed to have arrived, when hostilities began afresh at close range, by the Arab on the poop making an effort to fire at- Halstead.' The man discharged his rifle in the air. and Lieutenant Bevan bowled him over with a bullet through the arms and chest from his revolver. Further opposition was now useless, and the Kitty came abreast, the men from the dhow throwing tlitemselves into the sea to escape capture. It now remained for the Kitty to take the prize into Aden, where, after due examination, she was found to possess French papers, and to have come from Jibutil. She contained some 80 modern French rifles. 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 7000 rounds of revolver cartridges, 24 ba.rrels of powder, and four tons of lend, all of which was confiscated by the British authorities, while the dhow herself was burned.