The pirates own book : $b authentic narratives of the most celebrated sea robbersEllms, Charles
History
The pirates own book : $b authentic narratives of the most celebrated sea robbers
Ellms, Charles
Pirates
It is utterly impossible for Europeans who have seen these pirates at
such places as Singapore and Batavia, to form any conception of their
true character. There they are under immediate control, and every part
of their behaviour is a tissue of falsehood and deception. They
constantly carry about with them a smooth tongue, cringing demeanor, a
complying disposition, which always asserts, and never contradicts; a
countenance which appears to anticipate the very wish of the Europeans,
and which so generally imposes upon his understanding, that he at once
concludes them to be the best and gentlest of human beings; but let the
European meet them in any of their own campongs, and a very different
character they will appear. The character and treacherous proceeding
narrated above, and the manner of cutting off vessels and butchering
their crews, apply equally to all the pirates of the East India Islands,
by which many hundred European and American vessels have been surprised
and their crews butchered.
On the 7th of February, 1831, the ship Friendship, Capt. Endicott, of
Salem (Mass.,) was captured by the Malays while lying at Quallah Battoo,
on the coast of Sumatra. In the forenoon of the fatal day, Capt.
Endicott, Mr. Barry, second mate, and four of the crew, it seems went on
shore as usual, for the purpose of weighing pepper, expecting to obtain
that day two boat loads, which had been promised them by the Malays.
After the first boat was loaded, they observed that she delayed some
time in passing down the river, and her crew being composed of Malays,
was supposed by the officers to be stealing pepper from her, and
secreting it in the bushes. In consequence of this conjecture, two men
were sent off to watch them, who on approaching the boat, saw five or
six Malays leap from the jungle, and hurry on board of her. The former,
however, supposed them to be the boat's crew, as they had seen an equal
number quit her previous to their own approach. In this they were
mistaken, as will subsequently appear. At this time a brig hove in
sight, and was seen standing towards Soo Soo, another pepper port,
distant about five miles. Capt. Endicott, on going to the beach to
ascertain whether the brig had hoisted any colors, discovered that the
boat with pepper had approached within a few yards of the Friendship,
manned with an unusual number of natives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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