Blue Jackets; or, The Adventures of J. Thompson, A.B., Among "the Heathen Chinee": A Nautical NovelGreey, Edward
General
Blue Jackets; or, The Adventures of J. Thompson, A.B., Among "the Heathen Chinee": A Nautical Novel
Greey, Edward
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Fiction; Seafaring life -- Fiction
When all was quiet, they carefully examined the prize, which was found
to be filled with valuable plunder; then they threw the dead overboard,
and taking her in tow, proceeded towards Amoy, where they arrived within
eight-and-forty hours after the capture of the junk.
The notorious Yaou-chung and his associates were duly handed over to the
Taontai, after which the Stinger refitted and stopped up the shot-holes
in her sides. She had been hulled eighteen times, but upon mustering her
crew after the action, only thirteen casualties were reported, not one
of which proved fatal. One man lost a limb, and another three of his
fingers, but otherwise the wounds were slight. Of course it was by the
merest good fortune they escaped as they did, for had the ship, when
between the junks, been but for a moment in such a position that their
shot could have taken effect, no doubt her decks would have been swept.
It was a bold action, and the merchants of Amoy, to show their
appreciation of Woodward's gallantry, offered him a service of plate,
which he courteously, yet firmly, declined, alleging that his officers
and men had quite as much to do with destroying the pirates as himself.
He, however, did not object to their presenting his crew with a
gratuity, which amounted to over three thousand dollars; and as he knew
how slow the prize courts were, he told his men to clear out all they
wanted from the junk, after which he despatched her to Hong-Kong, where
she was condemned and sold. Not a bale of silk or ball of opium would he
keep for himself, being too proud to share in the plunder; and beyond a
few flags, taken from the various pirate junks he had destroyed, he
returned home no richer than he came, his principles being totally
unlike those of his predecessor, who upon one occasion, after taking a
junk, coolly appropriated a number of balls of opium, which for security
he stowed in the lockers of his state room, the said opium being
described by him as "his perquisites."
After remaining in port a few days, a grand banquet was given by the
Taontai, to which the captain, officers, and crew were invited; and as
he was instructed to be upon friendly terms with the Chinese
authorities, Woodward accepted the invitation, little dreaming of the
surprise which the Celestials had in store for them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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