“PIRATES NOT TOO BAD”

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18236, 3 November 1933, Page 2

“PIRATES NOT TOO BAD”

; OFFICERS’ ; STORY “THEY TAUGHT US CHINESE NEWCHWANG. Sept. 9. In a quiet, unemotional way, the three British officers of the steamship Nanchang, who arrived here to-day, described their experiences during their .captivity in the hands of Chinese pirates. It is a tale of British endurance in the face of hostility, disease and hunger —the tale, too, of men who maintained their faith that, despite starvation and threats of death, rescue would come sooner or later. Release came on the 163rd day of theiir ordeal. ...... Their appearance when they arrived revealed immediately what they had suffered, They, were heavily bearded; their hair was long and shaggy; they looked thoroughly unkempt, and they were suffering badly from mosquito bites. . Having enjoyed the luxury of a bath, a, shave, and a.-meal and a drink, the three officers—W. E. Hargreave, of Ripon. Clifford Johnson, of Colwyn Bay. and A. D. Bine, of Glasgow—were in a mOod to make light of their experiences. * Mr. Hargreave said: “After wo were kidnapped wo spent some months in junks in the local bay (at the month of the River Liao), Then we were taken inland, and we and our captors wandered round the bandit villages. ARMS TIED : HEADS SHAVED “We had our arms tied at the beginning and that was rather unpleasant.. We all had our heads shaved in Chinese fashion. But our hair grew again and they seemed to get tired of cutting it. They allowed it to grow at random and our hair-cut and shave to day was a real luxhrv. “We were not really treated, too badly. Though the food given us was poor, we did have it three times a day. But -there was no torturing, and we were even allowed to play cards. “Our worst enemies were not the bandits who first ‘got’ us nor the bandits who. ‘stolee’ us from the first gang, but the mosquitoes and the fleas and the bugs. We had no idea there were so many in China. Every place we were taken to seemed to he alive with them.” THEIR, ONLY DRINK Then, in unison with Mr. Hargreave. the two other officers agreed that really the worst hardship of all they had to endjire was totali.abstinence. ‘.‘For five months;’’ they declared, “we have drunk nothiry? hut water—and 1 that hot water. “The bandits were decent enough to offer us samshn (a Chinese spirit), but 1 we did not like the look of it. One of us tasted it,. That was enough,, and all three of us decided to stick to water. ‘ “And now—well: now—-what a strange taste, whisky seems to have I” When-.they were asked about their future plans,- all replied that, of cotirso, they were not giving tip the sea. Tlio kidnapping was an incident in their career. However, in future, they mean to carry guns if they should serve in Chinese waters. Further, they added that they hail learnt a great deal of Chinese. * They bad “conversation books" with them, and all. made good headway with the language—the bandits often'taking the part of teachers! The three officers paid tribute to the authorities responsible for sending them parcels of food, etc., and all agreed that the most welcome item in the parcels was—soap.. _ , s . rn . ,