a great extent. There is no trouble about getting on board a ship. The pirates book as passengers at some convenient port, and seize the ship during the voyage. They have discovered that steam, wireless, and increased traffic have made it necessary to conciliate the crews. They are not used to handling steamships, and require the knowledge and experience of the engineers; but the old sailing ship idea prevails that all authority and initiative rests with the master and him alone, that whilst the master is helpless, so is the ship.

Though submission renders the pirates lenient, resistance turns them into the most vindictive devils under the vault of heaven. Probably the worst example of this occurred in 1914, when the officers of the Tai On resisted an attack of pirates in the West River. The pirates in revenge set fire to the ship, thereby burning over a hundred men, women, and children alive, and causing a hundred and fifty deaths from drowning and through engulfment in the quicksands which formed the shore.

This method of shipping as passengers was the one the pirates followed in the case of the Sunning. For months their spies had been studying the ship, travelling backwards and forwards, pumping the crew, making arrangements. In this manner over three thousand dollars had been laid out, and the pirates were waiting the

news of a rich cargo to lay hands on their prize.

Just at the last minute, before the vessel left Shanghai, a large consignment of treasure that should have been shipped in her strong-rooms was diverted to another steamer. This was not done through any particular suspicion of pirates, but is a step often taken to throw would-be thieves off the track, and render the movements of specie more difficult to follow.

The pirates, however, learnt from their spies only about the first arrangement, and at Amoy they joined the ship as peaceful Chinese passengers, convinced that they were about to make a great haul.

The Sunning left Amoy at ten o'clock in the morning on the 15th November 1926, and at twenty minutes to four the same afternoon the third engineer, Mr Duncan, was taking his last look round prior to handing the watch over to the second at four o'clock. The second engineer was looking regretfully at the clock. The chief officer was just finishing his afternoon tea, and the master of the ship was stepping through the communicating door from his cabin to the chartroom to look for the Lammocks. On the bridge Mr Hurst, the second officer, was also looking intently in the direction where the Point should soon be visible, when suddenly his feet were whipped from under him and the deck hit him a hard smack on the nose. Half stunned and

bewildered, he looked up to find two Chinese ruffians covering him with revolvers. Pirates ! In angry compliance he allowed himself to be driven down to the chart-room on the deck below. "Pirates ! he shouted to Captain Pringle, but the warning was too late. The pirates had them both covered, and the logic was unanswerable. They wanted the captain's rifle, revolver, and ammunition, and, aided by pantomime in lieu of English, their ugly weapons proved good interpreters.

In the meantime their brothers of the skull and crossbones were busy too. Mr Orr, the second engineer, hearing a rumpus on deck, poked his head through his cabin window to see what was the matter. No sooner had he done so than one of the pirates brought down a heavy glass decanter on the back of his head. Only the fact of his position being such that his body gave with the blow prevented his skull being fractured. As it was he was only momentarily stunned. The pirates entered his room, took his rifle and revolver and the regulation rounds, and forced him, dazed and uncomprehending, to the next room.

Mr Beatty, the chief officer, was more fortunate. Looking out of his door he saw the second engineer being driven by his gang of captors towards his room. For a moment the mad idea rose in his mind of slamming the door to and putting up a fight for it, but

the futility of the idea was almost immediately apparent. It was not a case of keeping them outside the grilles as was the case on the Tai On. They had already got inside, and were in command of the ship. Resistance merely meant his own death and the murder of his shipmates and passengers. The pirates had already covered him, and his own weapons were unloaded, even had he been able to reach them in time. He submitted with as good a grace as possible, and handed over his weapons and ammunition.

From other parts of the ship various gangs forced Mr Cormack, the chief engineer, Mr Lok, the Chinese wireless operator, Mr Lapsley, a retired official of the Eastern Telegraph Company, and Mrs Proklofieva, a Russian lady passenger, into Mr Beatty's room.

Down in the engine-room Mr Duncan had been surprised by an armed gang, and was now going about his duties with a revolver pointed at him. All the Europeans had been surprised one by one, and were now accounted for. An essential part of the wireless gear had been taken away, and it was out of action. four Indian guards, who were supposed to guard the grilles and give the first alarm, had been disarmed without a shot; but it is a point of interest that they were not tackled until the bridge had been taken.

The

How did the pirates in such a body get past the sentry in

Captain Pringle and Mr Hurst were driven at the point of the gun up to the bridge, which was occupied by four or five armed pirates. The leader was a well-to-do Chinese, dressed in the sedate but rich garments the better-class Chinese affect. He wore tortoise-shell rimmed glasses of the Harold Lloyd type, and addressed the master of the vessel in Chinese, meanwhile tracing out a course on the chart with his pipe.

Now a man can spend a lifetime in China and never learn even one dialect of Chinese. The medium of intercourse between Chinese and foreigners and between Chinese of different provinces is pidgin English. Captain Pringle was stumped. At this juncture the young Chinese wireless operator was forced on to the bridge, and to him the pirate chief addressed himself, speaking in the Hakka dialect. At first Lok refused to answer, but a knock across the head caused him to change his mind, all the quicker because a tall Chinese with a nasty smile stuck the point of his revolver in the skipper's belly, and looked hopefully towards the No. 1 for the necessary instructions. The zealous fellow was doomed to disappointment. No. 1 had use for the master and officers. He was relying on them to navigate the ship. A pirate with a bit more technique than the enthusiastic one pushed the barrel of

the threat had been effective. Lok had found his tongue, and Captain Pringle submitted to the inevitable, and promised to navigate the ship to Saimun or Pinghoi. To refuse would have been suicide.

After a conference, the subject of which was most probably the master's obvious reluctance to lend his assistance, the pirates explained that they would only require him to navigate the ship to Chilang Point, after which they would take charge themselves. In the meantime they were suspicious of the course he had just set, fearing that they were being led into some trap. They ordered the quartermaster to lay off three points, which caused the master a new anxiety. The course the pirates had set would run the ship on the rocks and lose her, and the prospect of the pirates allowing anybody to use the ship's boats except their own gang was more than remote. It meant without a doubt the loss of the vessel and cargo, and no survivors to carry tales.

After seizing the bridge and accounting for all the Europeans, the pirates were not very long in seizing and disarming the Indian guards. These were stationed, one at the bottom of the ladder leading to the bridge, and one at the door of the grille.

A word or two on the antipiracy regulations might not be out of place.

So common did piracy be

come in the vicinity of Hong Kong a few years ago that the trade of Britain was seriously interfered with, and a Commission was set up to devise means to deal with this grow ing menace. The well-meaning inexpert members of the Commission recommended that the ships' crews should resist to the utmost, and planned an utterly impracticable and footling cast-iron system of defence which interfered with the working of the ship, and left the officers without chance or initiative.

The expert members of the Commission walked out in protest, and prepared a minority report, in which they pointed out that protection of our trade routes was the work of the Navy, not a domestic concern for half a dozen merchant service officers who were bound in every case to be taken by surprise, only two being on watch at a time, and the rest either asleep or resting.

The diplomatic majority report, designed to throw the onus of defence on civilians and spare the feelings of parliamentary sentimentalists, was promulgated in the form of an ordinance of the Hong-Kong Government, known as the Hong-Kong Government AntiPiracy Regulations. Merchant Jack was thrown to the lions again to please such humanitarians as love lions. An hour's bombardment of the pirates' lair for each piracy would have solved the whole problem. All ships coming under the Hong

Kong Anti-Piracy Regulations are fitted with grilles which extend across the deck from one side to the other, thus shutting off the after-part of the ship, in which Chinese passengers travel, from the navigating part and crew's quarters. On each side of the ship when under way, a hinged wing projects in order to stop anybody climbing round it. This wing terminates in sharp points, and is often tangled with barbed wire. The whole effect is that of a monkey cage at the Zoo. There are two doors in the grilles which are opened in port, but under way one is locked permanently, and the other is fitted with a snap lock and guarded by an Indian sentry with loaded rifle and revolver. Four Indian sepoys are carried on each ship, taking watch and watch, one on duty at the grille and one at the ladder leading up to the bridge. These men are part of the Hong-Kong police force, and do not come under the orders of the officers of the ship. The idea is presumably that on an attack by pirates they are to slam the gate to and give the alarm, thus giving the ship's officers a chance to seize their arms and gather together for organised action. The idea has never worked. In every case the ship's officers have been surprised one by one. Each European officer is armed with a rifle and a revolver, with twenty-five rounds of ammunition for each. There is also a shot-gun and spare arms and

ammunition in the armory, but they might as well be peashooters for the chance any one gets of using them. The methods of the pirates are always the same. They fix on a passenger vessel which is in the habit of carrying valuable cargo, specie, or bullion. Their scouts make two or three trips on her to study the lay of the land. Having got all possible particulars and made arrangements for smuggling arms aboard when required, the pirates proceed in force to Shanghai or Amoy. Their scouts wait until they get wind of a rich shipment, when the pirates ship along with it, disguised as passengers. Needless to say, they do not know each other. Their arms are smuggled aboard to them by itinerant vendors. All they have then to do is to wait for a propitious time, when the signal is given, and every man performs his allotted part. Some are told off to cow the legitimate Chinese passengers. This platoon waits until the European officers have been surprised, when some of them fire their guns at random to create a panic, whilst others rifle the passengers' belongings. Yet another platoon charge of the comprador's department. The comprador is an important man aboard the ship. Besides being chief stevedore, tallyman, and cashier on passenger ships, he is subcontractor for the Chinese passenger space. That is, he pays the company a flat rate per month, and books as many

takes

When

passengers as he can. bullion or specie is shipped, the comprador keeps one key of the strong-room; the mate keeps the other. Both keys are necessary to open it. The comprador has more men under his charge than all the other departments put together. In the way of business he often has a considerable sum by him in ready cash in his own safe. This is often sufficient to pay the expenses of the pirates' venture, leaving the other loot as clear profit.

To return to the chief officer's room. Besides the ship's officers there were two European passengers: Mr Lapsley, who had just retired on pension from the service of the Eastern Telegraph Company; and the other a Russian lady, who was on her way to Australia to seek a quiet life away from revolutions and disturbances. Some time before, in Russia, she had seen her husband shot before her eyes, and this fact may have more or less prejudiced her against the Marxian Utopia. Finding China was already saturated with Russians-White Russians, Red Russians, Pink Russians, Green Russians, Russian princes and Russian peasants, Russian bootblacks and Russian ballet dancers-she decided to try her fortune under strange and different stars. She had another anxiety besides the pirates. Any delay in the voyage meant that she would miss her passage which had been booked on a certain vessel from Hong-Kong. Her slender