History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea From 1807 to 1810

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Various. History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea From 1807 to 1810

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

YING HING SOO's PREFACE

KING CHUNG HO's PREFACE.21

BOOK FIRST

BOOK SECOND

APPENDIX

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In the summer of the year Ke sze (1809),16 I returned from the capital, and having passed the chain of mountains,17 I learned the extraordinary disturbances caused by the Pirates. When I came home I saw with mine own eyes all the calamities; four villages were totally destroyed; the inhabitants collected together and made preparations for resistance. Fighting at last ceased on seas and rivers: families and villages rejoiced, and peace was every where restored. Hearing of our naval transactions, every man desired to have them written down in a history; but people have, until this day, looked in vain for such a work.

Meeting once, at a public inn in Whampo,18 with one Yuen tsze, we conversed together, when he took a volume in his hand, and asked me to read it. On opening the work, I saw that it contained a History of the Pirates; and reading it to the end, I found that the occurrences of those times were therein recorded from day to day, and that our naval transactions are there faithfully reported. Yuen tsze supplied the defect I stated before, and anticipated what had occupied my mind for a long time. The affairs concerning the robber Lin are described by the non-official historian Lan e, in his Tsing yĭh ke, viz. in the History of the Pacification of the Robbers.19 Respectfully looking to the commands of heaven, Lan e made known, for all future times, the faithful and devoted servants of government. Yuen tsze's work is a supplement to the History of the Pacification of the Robbers, and you may rely on whatever therein is reported, whether it be of great or little consequence. Yuen tsze has overlooked nothing; and I dare to say, that all people will rejoice at the publication. Having written these introductory lines to the said work, I returned it to Yuen tsze.20

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There was a temple in Hwy chow dedicated to the spirits of the three mothers,42 near the sea-coast, and many came thither to worship. The pirates visited this place whenever they passed it with their vessels, pretending to worship; but this was not the case – they thought of mischief, and had only their business to attend. Once they came with the commander at their head, as if to worship, but they laid hold on the image or statue to take it away. They tried in vain from morning to the evening, – they were all together not able to move it. Chang paou(7 r.) alone43 was able to raise the image, and being a fair wind, he gave order to bring it on board a ship. All who were concerned in this transaction feared to find, from the wrath of the spirit, their death in the piratical expeditions. They all prayed to escape the vengeance of heaven.

On the seventh moon of the thirteenth year, the naval officer of the garrison at the Bocca Tigris,44 Kwŏ lang lin, sailed into the sea to fight the pirates.45 Chang paou was informed by his spies of this officer's arrival, and prepared an ambush in a sequestered bay. He met Kwŏ lang on a false attack, with a few vessels only; but twenty-five vessels came from behind, and the pirates surrounded Kwŏ lang's squadron in three(7 v.) lines near Ma chow yang.46 There followed a fierce battle, which lasted from the morning to the evening; it was impossible for Kwŏ lang to break through the enemy's lines, and he determined to die fighting. Paou advanced; but Lang fought exceedingly hard against him. He loaded a gun and fired it at Paou, who perceiving the gun directed against him, gave way. Seeing this, the people thought he was wounded and dying; but as soon as the smoke vanished Paou stood again firm and upright, so that all thought he was a spirit. The pirates instantly grappled Kwŏ lang's ship; Paou was the foremost, and Leang po paou the first to mount the vessel; he killed the helmsman, and took the ship. The pirates crowded about; the commander Kwŏ lang engaging with small arms, much blood was shed. This murderous(8 r.) battle lasted till night time; the bodies of the dead surrounded the vessels on all sides, and there perished an immense number of the pirates. Between three and five o'clock the pirates had destroyed or sunk three of our vessels. The other officers of Kwŏ being afraid that they also might perish in the sea, displayed not all their strength; so it happened that the pirates making a sudden attack, captured the whole remaining fifteen vessels. Paou wished very much that Kwŏ lang would surrender, but Lang becoming desperate, suddenly seized the pirate by the hair, and grinned at him. The pirate spoke kindly to him, and tried to soothe him. Lang, seeing himself deceived in his expectation, and that he could not attain death by such means, committed suicide, – being then a man of seventy years of age. Paou had really no intention to put Kwŏ lang to death, and he was exceedingly sorry at what happened. "We(8 v.) others," said Paou, "are like vapours dispersed by the wind; we are like the waves of the sea, roused up by a whirlwind; like broken bamboo-sticks on the sea, we are floating and sinking alternately, without enjoying any rest. Our success in this fierce battle will, after a short time, bring the united strength of government on our neck. If they pursue us in the different windings and bays of the sea – they have maps of them47– should we not get plenty to do? Who will believe that it happened not by my command, and that I am innocent of the death of this officer? Every man will charge me with the wanton murder of a commander, after he had been vanquished and his ships taken? And they who have escaped will magnify my cruelty.48 If I am charged with the murder of this officer, how could I venture, if I should wish in future times, to submit myself? Would I not be treated(9 r.) according to the supposed cruel death of Kwŏ lang?"

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