Part 5

The barge was now prepared for the expected attack of the prahu, which by this time had approached within point blank range of the barge's gun, which was a brass six-pounder. Observing, it is to be presumed, that the boat was so well-armed, and the men were loading the gun, the prahu ceased pulling, and hoisted Dutch colours. They were ordered to pull for the Gilolo shore, which they did; a rocket fired at them quickening their speed considerably. At 3 P. M. the observations being completed, the astronomical instruments were re-embarked on the barge, and the captain quitted the gig and went into the barge. Both boats were pulled towards the main land. On the in-shore side of the small island I have mentioned, we discovered a village consisting of fifteen or twenty houses. The gig was despatched with two officers to burn the village, which was done; the natives who were in the huts escaping into the jungle. In the mean time, the barge proceeded towards a large village in search of the prahu. On their way they fell in with a large canoe, at anchor in one of the creeks.

Taking the canoe in tow, we again took to the oars, and in a short time perceived the natives hauling the prahu into a creek. A round of grape quickly decided the matter; the natives fled, and the prahu was quietly taken possession of by our crew. Having effected our object, we proceeded along the coast with our two prizes in tow. At sunset, after rifling the boats of arms, flags, and gongs, we set them on fire, and made sail to the southward; the gig, which had rejoined us, being in company. About midnight we anchored in a small and lonely bay,--I should say, twenty miles from where the above occurrences took place. We took our meals, but did not attempt to repose till after two in the morning, although we were quite tired after the events of the day before. We then lay down, and composed ourselves to sleep.

We had not, however, been recumbent long, ere the sounds of gongs were heard at a distance; and shortly afterwards the man on the look-out reported that three prahus were coming into the bay. A short time sufficed to have every thing in readiness for the expected conflict.

The foremost of the prahus approached within ten yards of the barge, lowered her sail, and rounded to. A native, one of the chiefs we presumed, inquired in broken English if we belonged to a ship. The captain would not satisfy him on that point, but desired him to go away.

The other two prahus, having been joined by a third (making four in all), had now closed within half pistol shot, and lowered their sails.

Seeing that we were completely enclosed, a musket-ball was fired over the largest prahu. The men in the prahus gave their accustomed yell, and the whole force advanced towards us.

The six-pounder, loaded with round and grape, was now fired into the largest prahu; the cries and confusion were great; the crew of the prahu leapt into the water, but few arrived on shore,--they sunk under the fire of our muskets. The three other prahus then commenced a spirited fire from their guns and small arms, assisted by a flight of arrows and spears.

Pulling within twenty yards of them, we plied them alternately with grape and canister from our six-pounder. The engagement continued with great vigour for some time, when their fire slackened; and shortly afterwards two more of the prahus were deserted by their crews, who made for the shore; the fourth made off. The three prahus were taken possession of, towed into deep water, and anchored. Leaving the gig in charge of them, we went in pursuit of the fourth prahu, and soon came up with her; but her crew escaped by running the boat on shore.

Another prahu now hove in sight, pulling, or rather paddling, towards us. Leaving our prize, we faced our new antagonist, saluting her with grape and musquetry, and causing so much havoc, that, shrieking and yelling, they made for the nearest shore without returning a single shot. We followed her, firing into her as fast as possible. On coming up with her we found her aground, with six dead and one mortally wounded; the remainder of the crew had saved themselves by wading to the shore. After getting this prahu afloat, we brought the other prahu, which we had just before captured (No. 4.), alongside. This boat was crowded with dead and dying. Among the latter was a female child, apparently about eight months old, in a state of nudity. The poor little creature's left arm was nearly severed from its body by a grape shot. She was removed into the boat, where the rest of the wounded were placed, with as much care as possible. A low moaning sound escaped from her lips, her eyes were glazed, and she evidently was fast dying: it would have been a mercy to have put an end to her sufferings. The dead were then thrown overboard, and the prahu set on fire; the last prahu, containing the wounded, was left to her fate.

It was now daylight, and on looking around we perceived five more prahus off a point between the gig and ourselves in the barge and several others pulling in from seaward. We gave way for the five prahus, which were drawn up in a line ready to receive us. Notwithstanding their fire, assisted by their spears and other missiles, we pulled within fifteen yards of the outermost prahu of the five, and discharged our gun, accompanied by a volley of musquetry. The other prahus now closed and poured in a heavy fire; but, although the barge was struck, not one of our men was injured. The repeated fire from the boats soon caused the people in the prahus to make for the shore through the water, when many of them fell from our musquetry. It was now about six o'clock in the morning, our last charge of canister shot was in the gun, the last rocket in the tube, and nearly all the percussion caps expended. The barge was pulled closer to the nearest prahu to give more effect to the discharge, and the captain was in the stern of the barge with the rocket tube in hand, when one of the prahus on shore fired her swivel; the ball struck the captain, and knocked him overboard. He was hauled in, and we found that he had received a severe wound in the groin, which was dressed by the surgeon.

_Lieutenant Baugh_ now took the command, and the gun was discharged with good effect, and all the people on board of the prahus, who were able to escape, made for the shore. One of our marines was wounded in the neck with an arrow, and, with the exception of the captain, no other casualty took place.

The fight would have been continued with the round shot still left in the barge, but the assistant surgeon was anxious that the captain should return to the ship and have the ball extracted. The barge therefore pulled for the ship, whose royals were just visible above the horizon. The pirates, finding that we were retreating, returned to their prahus and fired their guns at us, but without effect.

We arrived on board about 9 A. M., and the ship's head was put towards the scene of action, while the barge and two cutters were despatched in search of the gig, of whose safety we had great doubts. About 11.30, A.M., the second cutter, being in advance, discovered a sail in shore, and which, by the aid of our telescopes, we made out to be the gig. When we closed with her, and found that all was right we were greatly relieved. We heard from Mr. Hooper, the purser, who was in her, that after waiting in vain for the barge's return, he set fire to the prahus. In one of them he found a woman and child alive, whom he landed at the nearest point. He then pulled in the direction we had gone, being guided by the sound of our guns. On his arrival in the bay we were not in sight, and perceiving several prahus with flags flying and gongs beating, he naturally concluded that we had been overpowered, and he was making the best of his way towards the ship. The boats continued pulling towards the shore, leaving the gig to return to the ship and ease the minds of the ship's company respecting her safety.

On our arrival in the bay with the barge and cutters, we found that the prahus had hauled into a creek, on the banks of which was a masked battery, which opened a spirited fire upon us as soon as we came within range. After an hour's cannonading on both sides we were joined by the gig, with orders for us not to land, but to return to the ship at sunset. This order was not received with pleasure, as we hoped to have a chance of punishing the fellows a little more. We pulled a short distance along the coast, and entered another bay, in which we destroyed two prahus; after which we returned to the ship. Calms, and a strong current setting to the northward, detained the ship near the scene of action for several days. We at length passed through the straits of Patientia, but did not get the breeze until we sighted the Isle of Bouro. Passing through the Bonta passage, straits of Salayer, and Java sea, we arrived at Sincapore on the 28th of June.

Here we found the Harlequin, which had had a brush with the pirates on the coast of Sumatra. The Harlequin, Wanderer, and Diana were sent to the villages of Micedo and Batta, to demand the murderers of an English captain. On the rajah refusing to deliver them up, the vessels opened their fire and burnt the villages. The Harlequin lost two men killed and five wounded; among the latter was Lieutenant Chads, whose arm was nearly severed by a Malay kris. While here the Superb arrived from Hong Kong on her way to England; the Driver, with Sir Henry Pottinger on board; and the Cambrian, Commodore Chads. Also the Iris from England, and the Dido from Hong Kong, which latter vessel sailed for Sarawak.

I may as well here remark, that the Dutch made a formal complaint against our captain for having attacked their prahus, which they asserted were not pirates, but employed by them against the pirates. It is but fair to give the arguments that were used against us, particularly as the authorities at Sincapore appeared to think that we were to blame. They said, you were in boats, and you touched at Gillolo; the natives, accustomed to be taken off by the Illanoan pirates, were naturally jealous and suspicious, seeing no vessel. They came alone, armed, to ascertain who you were. At 100 yards they stopped; you signalled them to go away, and they advanced nearer to you, but they committed no act of hostility. You fired a volley at them, and they retreated. Here the aggression was on your side.

At the same time, you say, a war prahu pulled round the point, and approached to within range; when the prahu was close to you she ceased paddling, and hoisted Dutch colours. You desired it to pull for the Gillolo shore, which it did. There was no aggression in this instance, and nothing piratical in the conduct of the prahu. After she had obeyed your order to pull to the Gillolo shore, you wantonly fired a Congreve rocket at her; your conduct in this instance being much more like that of a pirate than hers. In the afternoon you pull along the Gillolo shore, and you discover a village; you send your boat ashore and set fire to it. Why so? You state that you were attacked by Illanoan pirates, who reside at Tampassook, some hundred miles from Gillolo, and you then burn the village of the people of Gillolo, and that without the least aggression on their part. Is it surprising that you should be supposed to be pirates after such wanton outrage? To proceed: you state that you then go in search of the prahu which you ordered away, and that on your way you captured a large canoe, which you take in tow, and afterwards perceive the pirates hauling their vessel into a creek. You attack them, and they run away, leaving the prahu in your possession, and, as usual, after rifling the prahu and canoe, you set them on fire. Up to this point there has been nothing but aggression on your part; and it is not, therefore, surprising that you were supposed to be pirates, and that the communication was made along the coast, and the vessels employed against the pirates were summoned for its protection. Again, the prahus came out and surrounded you; they did not fire at you, but hailed you in English, requesting to know if you belonged to a ship. Now, if any thing could prove that they were not pirate vessels, it was their doing this; and had you replied, they would have explained to you what their employment was: but you think proper to give no answer to this simple question, order them to go away, and then fire a loaded musket into them, which brings on the conflict which you so much desired. That these observations were true, it must be admitted, and the complaint of the Dutch, with the hoisting of the Dutch flag, gave great weight to them: however, pirates or no pirates, the Admiralty Court, on our arrival in England, considered them to have been such; and, as will be seen by the extract from the "Times" below, awarded head money to the amount of about 10,000l. to the captain and crew of the Samarang, and for his wound received, our captain obtained a pension of (I believe) L250 a year.[1]

"ADMIRALTY COURT.

(_Before Dr. Lushington._)

"ILLANOAN PIRATES.--BOUNTY.

"In this case a petition was presented by Sir Edward Belcher, the captain, and the rest of the officers and crew of Her Majesty's ship-of-war Samarang, setting forth that on the 3d of June, 1844, the Samarang being then engaged in surveying duties, and near the island of Gillolo, on her passage towards the Straits of Patientia, Sir E. Belcher, with two officers and four men, quitted her in the gig, accompanied by the second barge, armed with a brass six-pounder gun and small arms, and manned with twenty officers and men. While engaged on the extreme side of a reef, extending from a small islet, in taking astronomical observations, they were disturbed by an extraordinary yell proceeding from about forty men of colour, who were advancing from the islet along both sides of the reef, with the evident intention of surrounding Sir E. Belcher and his party, on nearing whom they commenced hurling spears and arrows, though without effect. They were soon repulsed and put to flight by musketry. In the course of the day several large prahus made their appearance, manned by large crews of Malay pirates, and severe conflicts took place between the respective parties, in one of which a ball from the leading prahu struck Sir E. Belcher on the thigh, and knocked him overboard, severely and dangerously wounding him; but, having been lifted out of the water, and dragged into the barge, _he shortly after resumed the command_, and ultimately succeeded in destroying all the prahus.

"Dr. Addams applied to the Court to award the bounties specified in the 6th of George IV. c. 49. for the capture and destruction of piratical ships and vessels. He submitted that the affidavits produced clearly showed the character of the persons on board the prahus, and that not less than 1,330 persons were alive on board the several prahus at the beginning of the attack, 350 of whom were killed.

"The Queen's Advocate, on behalf of the Crown, admitted that a very meritorious service had been performed, and made no opposition to the application.

"The Court pronounced for the usual bounties on the number of pirates stated."

[Footnote 1: The account of this transaction is taken from the private log of one of the officers who was present in the barge during the whole time. I was not there myself. In his narrative it will be observed that he makes no mention of the natives who came down upon them having _thrown spears_ at them, although in the extract from the "Times" it is so stated. It would appear also that there was some mistake as to the number of men on board of the prahus and the number killed. A war prahu generally contains from fifty to eighty men. Some are smaller, and occasionally they are larger, but not often. Capt. Keppell states fifty men to be the usual number in his work; and, in his conflict with the pirates, estimates the force accordingly. Now the first day there was one war prahu, which ran up a creek; and, on being fired at, the crew deserted her. On the second day there were five prahus, all captured. On the third day the five prahus engaged were not captured, the boat returning to the ship after the captain was wounded; so that in all it appears that there were nine prahus; and, allowing eighty men to each, the force would only amount to 720 men, or about one half of the number stated, viz. 1330. How the killed, amounting to 350, or about half the number, were arrived at and estimated, it is impossible to say; but in the narrative of the officer, which I have given, the major portion of the crews deserted the prahus and got on shore.]

Our captain having now nearly recovered from the wound which he had received, we found that our destination was Borneo; but previous to the ship getting under weigh, the boats were ordered to be manned and armed, to proceed on an excursion to Romania Point, distant about thirty miles from Sincapore. It was expected that we might there fall in with some of the piratical vessels which so completely infest the Indian Archipelago; and if so, we trusted to give them a lesson which might for a time put a check to their nefarious and cruel system of plunder and rapine. I found that my name was down in the list of the party selected for the expedition. Bidding, therefore, a temporary adieu to Sincapore, on the 2d of August we set off on the expedition, with a force consisting of two barges, one cutter, and a gun-boat belonging to the merchants of Sincapore, which had been expressly built to resist any attacks of these bold assailants.

Although the real object of the expedition was, as I have above stated, to fall in with the pirates, our ostensible one was to survey the islands off the Point Romania, which is the most unfrequented part of the Malay peninsula. We arrived there late at night, as ignorant whether the pirates were there, as the pirates would have been of our arrival. We had, therefore, nothing to do but to anchor close under the land, and keep a sharp look-out, in case of being the attacked instead of the attacking party. As we were not indifferently provided with the creature comforts which Sincapore afforded, we amused ourselves pretty well; but if we occasionally opened our mouths, we took good care not to shut our eyes, and were constantly on the alert. There is a far from pleasant feeling attached to lying in an open boat, in a night as dark as pitch, expecting a momentary attack from an insidious enemy, and wholly in a state of uncertainty as to from what quarter it may be made, or as to what odds you may be exposed. Under these circumstances, we remained in watching and silence during a night which appeared interminably long; and daylight was gladly welcomed by the whole party; and when it arrived we found ourselves anchored among a crowd of small islands, which were covered from the beach to their summits with the most luxuriant foliage. Within shore of us was a beautiful little sandy bay; while the whole coast, as far as the eye could reach, was one extended jungle, by all accounts extending many hundred miles inland, and infested with tigers and other beasts of prey. As for pirates, we saw nothing of them, or any signs of their having been in that quarter; either they were away on some distant marauding party, or, having received intelligence of our approach and force, had considered us too strong to be opposed, and had kept out of the way. Our warlike expedition, therefore, was soon changed into a sort of pic-nic party--we amused ourselves with bathing, turning of turtle, shooting, and eating the wild pine-apples which grew on all the islands. We remained there for three days, during which nothing occurred worth narrating, unless it is an instance of the thoughtless and reckless conduct of midshipmen. We were pulling leisurely along the coast in one of the boats, when we perceived a very large Bengal tiger taking an evening stroll, and who, by the motion of his tail, was evidently in a state of much self-satisfaction. We winded the boat's head towards him, and were preparing to give him a round of grape from the gun, but before we could get the gun well pointed, he retreated majestically into the jungle, which was in the bight of a small bay, and cut off from the main jungle by some large rocks. Three of our party immediately declared that they would have a tiger-hunt, and bring back his skin as a trophy. They landed, two of them having each a ship's musket, a very uncertain weapon, as they are at present provided, for, whether from damp or careless manufacture, the percussion caps will not often go off; and the third armed with nothing but a knife. On their landing, they took their position on the rocks, and were delighted to find that the tiger could not retreat to the main jungle without passing them. They had not long taken up their position before they heard the crackling of the wood in the jungle, announcing the tiger's approach towards them. They fixed their bayonets and cocked their locks; the young gentleman with the knife was also prepared; but the noise in the jungle ceased. Whether it was that the tiger was afraid to attack three at the same time, or was making a circuit for a more convenient spring upon them, certain it is that our three young gentlemen either became tired of waiting for him, or had thought better of their mad attempt. One proposed returning to the boat, the others assented; and after denouncing the tiger as a coward, and wholly unworthy of the name of a royal tiger, they commenced their retreat as the dark set in; gradually their pace quickened, in two minutes they were in a hard trot; at last the panic took them all, and by the time they arrived at the boats they could not speak from want of breath, so hurried had been their retreat. We sincerely congratulated them upon their arrival safe and sound, and having escaped without loss of life and limb from a very mad adventure. I subsequently related this incident to an old Indian sportsman, who told me that my messmates had had a most fortunate escape, as they would have had little or no chance had the tiger made his spring, which he certainly would have done had they remained much longer, and that one of them at least must have been sacrificed. On the morning of the fourth day, the ship, having made sail from Sincapore, hove in sight, and picked us up. The boats were hoisted in, and we steered for Borneo, to complete some surveys on the north-east coast.