DESPERATE PIRATES.

Patea Mail, Volume XXXIX, 13 July 1914, Page 1

DESPERATE PIRATES.

CHINA SEA OUTRAGE,

SUPPOSED LOSS OF 145 LIVES.

Startling details concerning the burning and sinking of the Yik On 8.6. Com* pany’s Tai On, a steamer of 706 tons, the death of Mr Evans, the chief officer, the wounding of Mr McCartney, the' chief engineer,, and the supposed loss of 145 lives, were brought to Sydney by the Aldenham, from Hongkong. The outrage, following the case of the Ohildar, on March 18, when the captain and the moat desperate act of piracy committed on the China seas for the past 80. years. The Tai On left Hongkong on April 27, bound for the West river. The passengers included 300 or 400 Chinese. Her officers were: Captain Weatherell, Mr Evans (chief officer), and Mr T. D. McCartney (chief engineer); and a crew »f Chinese. “ FIGHT FOR ifm BRIDGE.

The first signs of trouble were noticed when the steamer was about three hours out. The captain, who had been lying down, heard i a rush on deck, and looking out, saw that pirates were making an attack, and that a number of them were attempting to scale the bridge by means of stanchious, the ladder having been taken down. With a duck-shooting gun in his hand, the captain rushed along to the bridge himself, and, meeting the first pirate who had got up there, shot him dead.

Hostilities were then commenced in real earnest, and a Portuguese guard who was on the upper part of the Tai On opened fire on the marauders and killed several of them. It was in this encounter that the chief engineer, Mr McCartney was shot in . the buttock Captain Weatherell was uninjured in the fight, but ihe was struck in the chest with a detonator, which exploded in the first attack, and his face wsa badly singed. In the defence of the bridge the captain was gallantly assisted by the Portuguese guard named Dias. He twice repelled the attacks of (he pirates, who, it is stated, werr* armed with Mausers. The fight lat ted abput half an hour, and when the pirates bad retreated, it was found that Mr Evans the chief officer was missing. During the melee, the pirates had possession of the engine-house, and they put out the electric lights and damaged the steering gca£ PIRATES EIRE THE SHIP. Convinced that there was little hope for taking the bridge, the pirates retreated and took refuge under the gunwales of the boat, where they were out of I 'range of the guns on the bridge Then, in spite and rage at not being able to take the craft, they set fire to the vessel in the stern. Seeing what had happened, anti recognising the seriousness of the situation, the captain brought the ship’s head up to the wind,

t 6 prevent the conflagration spreading too quickly to the fore part. The flames, however, spread with great rapidity. There was a panic amongst the passengers, and some in their fright jumped into the flames and were incinerated before the horrified eyes of their companions, who huddled up near the centre part of the ship. Meantime,. Captain Weathcrell, had cent up rockets and was burning iblus lights, and in a very abort time the Shun Lee, the Halsang, and the Kwong Wai were racing towards the Tai- On, which was by now a mass of flames. Captain Weatherell and hia crew stay* ed on board the Tai On until the last posible moment, and then jumped into the sea, and later was picked up, with four Chinese, by the Kwong Wai, clinging to the rudder. They had been in the water about half an hour. They were transferred to the 'Haisang, and brought back to Hongkong.

A SCENE OF HORROR. The passengers had by this time tumped into Hie water, and were found by the Shin Lee and the other steamers' which had come to the rescue, clinging to the wreckage. The scenes in and about the Tai On were almost indescribable; the flames shot mast-high, and the smoko hindered greatly the rescuers in their work and to a great extent obscured their vision. The wails and cries from the hundreds in the water were heartrending, and as the boats drew •lose to the Wai On, desperate people clung to the sides of the boalt, and made frenzied efforts to gain security from the muddy waters. The rescuers worked from llo'cloek at night until four o'clock in the morning, and managed' io save many lives. By morning the Tai On had gradually settled down and sunk, only her funnel showing above the water.

Some of these picked up were pirates, and these were placed under arrest. On learning of the outrage the authorities despatched two torpedo boats to the scene of trouble, but when the Aldcaham left nothing further had been heard as to whether any more of the marauders had been captured.