ORIENTAL PIRATES. No. VI. IN CONTINUATION OF PIRATES AND PIRACY FROM THE EARLIEST AGES. HAVING pursued the Uscocchi, Buccaneers, Marooners, and Barbary Corsairs to their extinction, we now propose to introduce our readers to some of the most remarkable of the numerous hordes which infest the Indian Ocean, where roving is more general, and on a more frightful increase than elsewhere. The extensive shores and innumerable islands of the Oriental seas, from their configuration and locality, are peculiarly adapted for the seat of piracy; and as a large proportion of the population is at the same time confined to the ports and estuaries as fishermen and mariners, it is not very surprising that the piratical character should have been fostered among a people barbarous and poor, therefore rapacious and sanguinary. Our early voyagers found those regions infested with rovers at sea, and gangs of treacherous decoyts on the rivers; but as our ships were then more equipped for fighting the Portuguese than for commerce, the evil was not much felt in the commencement. The pirates of the Coromandel coast were soon reduced, or driven among the sunderbunds and recesses of Chittagong; but those of Malabar long lorded it from Cape Comorin to the Gulf of Cambay. From thence towards the shores of Persia every creek of the Guzerat and the Delta of the Indus, swarmed with Ballowchee, Makran, and Waral freebooters, some of whose nakhardahs, or captains, were of considerable talent, having given Captain Keeling, who conducted the Company's third voyage in 1607, the earliest instructions we had received respecting the periodicity of the monsoons; a subject which must have been a serious stumbling-block to the English navigators of that day. Among the most ferocious of these pirates were the Sanganians, whose hardy bravery still lives in song, and is even recorded in our naval annals. Their principal resort was the port of Baet, or Batia, and their object was to board all ships; previous to entering into action, they maddened themselves with bang, and during the time they let their long hair hang loose they gave no quarter. In 1686, a small vessel of theirs, mounting only eight guns and manned with 300 men, attacked the Phoenix, of 42 guns, commanded by Captain Tyrrel, who, by the way, acted as a bit of a buccaneer on occasion himself. The assailants quickly discovered their mistake, but escape being impracticable, they fought till their ship sunk under them, and though boats were immediately sent to their rescue, most of them refused quarter, so that only about 70 were taken alive.* The Malabar and Guzerat cruizers frequently made common cause, but the blow which they received from Admiral Watson, in the capture of Fort Gheriah, and the total destruction of the famous Angria's fleet, in 1756, dissolved their confederacy; and the unceasing efforts of the Company's armed craft contributed to clear the coasts. Yet Carsten Niebuhr, in 1764, complaining that the In this action Lieutenant George Byng, afterwards the celebrated Admiral, was dangerously wounded in one of the boats. whole shore, from Bombay to Bussorah, was infested by pirates, asserts that they might easily be exterminated by the British squadron, "but it is the Company's interest to leave those plunderers to scour the seas, and hinder other nations from sailing in the same latitudes." Thus flippantly is a weighty and groundless charge brought against the very men who were then, at great cost, establishing the Bombay Marine, or "Grab service," for the express object of annihilating the marauders. By the vigorous methods pursued, piracy was driven from the Peninsular coasts into the bays and bights of the opposite shores of Arabia, and the keys of the southern creeks and shallows of the Gulf of Persia, where they were received by a people among whom the system had universally flourished, as our early navigators found to their cost. In 1608, the natives of Pemba made a most daring attempt to seize the Company's ship Ascension, which was saved only by a resolute defence and the slaughter of "near forty" of the treacherous Moors, including some "white rogues" who were afterwards discovered to be of the blood-royal. In the following spring, the Union, consort of the Ascension, having put into the bay of Vohemare, had her Captain and six men trepanned by the "king," as every petty chief was called. "No sooner was the doleful news communicated," says Henry Morris, "than we saw such prodigious numbers of praws and large boats coming out of the river, as were quite wonderful. The Master gave immediate orders to the gunner to get the ordnance in readiness, which was done with all speed. The vast fleet of infidels came rowing up to our ship as if they would have immediately boarded her; but by the diligence and skill of the gunner and his mates, sinking some half dozen of the boats, they were forced to retire like sheep chased by the wolf." In like manner the gallant Sir Henry Middleton, in 1610, was decoyed by specious kindness into the power of the Governor of Mocha, and after eight were slain was, with fourteen of his companions, thrown into prison, heavily ironed, and sorely wounded. "Having thus succeeded in the first act of their treachery, they now aimed to gain possession of our ships and goods. For about ten o'clock that same night they manned three large boats with about 150 armed men, in order to take the Darling, which rode somewhat nearer the shore than our larger ships. The boats put off from the shore together, and that they might be mistaken for Christians, the Turks took off their turbans, and all boarded the Darling." This attack was so sudden that three Englishmen were instantly slain, but the rest gained their close quarters, where they plied their weapons so well, that most of their enemies were killed or drowned. After a cruel imprisonment of five months, Sir Henry effected his escape to the ships, while his guards were carousing, and with as much ability as gallantry compelled the Moors to render him full satisfaction for his sufferings and losses. Several ships that were necessitated to water between Cape Guardafui and Ras-Haffan had been circumvented and cut off. Nor were the Arabians altogether contemptible as national foes, as the Portuguese bitterly experienced, after their Governor had lost Muscat by the unpardonable folly of sending a piece of pork to the Mahometan chief. In 1670, the Imaum's troops surprised Diu, robbed the rich churches, and loaded their vessels with plunder,-a blow from which that magnificent city never recovered; and twenty-four years afterwards they made a descent on Salcette, sacked the villages, burnt the churches, and carried off 1400 captives into irredeemable slavery. Such was their power at sea, that in 1715 the Muscat fleet consisted of one ship of 74 guns, two of 60, one of 50, eighteen of from 32 to 12, and a number of rowing vessels of from 4 to 8 guns each. Besides moral, there were also physical defences in their favour, presenting obstacles to an enemy, insurmountable except under the best pilotage. "These barren coasts," says Captain A. Hamilton, are needlessly secured by sandy banks, that run ten or twelve leagues off from the shore, which would make navigation impracticable, if it should meet with encouragement." After the taking of Armuz, by the troops of the famous Shah Abbas and an English squadron, the latter were admitted to great immunities, and allowed a moiety of the customs raised by merchandise, on condition that they should not only drive out the Portuguese, but also station vessels in the Gulf to protect trade. This agreement was punctually observed till 1680, when the Persians, finding that the Company's forces were too small for the increasing power of the Arabs their neighbours, took away the half customs. In these negociations the Sophi had conducted himself with singular faith and probity. The plunder of Armuz, which was very great, was equally divided between the English and Persians, though the former had but five ships, of 40 guns each, one with another, while the latter had an army of nearly 50,000 men. It is recorded that there was so much ready bullion found in the castle that it was measured by long-boats-full; and one boat being pretty deep, and an officer still throwing in more, made the coxswain swear, that for every shovelful that they threw more in, he would throw two out into the sea; for he could not tell what would satisfy them, if a long-boat of money would not. The state of society in Arabia seems to have continued nearly the same since the first mention of that country in history, and the wiles and depredations which our first voyagers encountered on its shores were precisely such as would be still met with, but for the vigilance and power of our flag. The population is divided into families, or clans, some of whom own the authority of such princes as the Imaum of Muscat, and the Shiekh of Sana; but the greater part are independent. The country is too arid to allure much attention to husbandry, and the principal object of their care is the produce of their flocks, which are driven from place to place as circumstances may require. Nomadic life engenders a tendency to plunder, and their predatory habits have made them warlike. The sea offered a richer field for plunder than the land; and, in order to destroy opposition, they were induced, like other barbarians in similar cases, to practise a system of terror, and endeavour to prevent resistance by the dread of their vengeance. They accordingly put to death all who opposed them, of whatever nation or persuasion, and committed every description of barbarous outrage. For some time their predatory excursions were confined to the Persian Gulf and the adjacent shores; but being almost invariably fortunate, success made them more bold and more powerful, till at last they issued forth and infested the whole coast of India as far as Ceylon. The exertions of the Company's Marine, and our alliance with the Imaum of Muscat, were checks upon them, but on the rising of the U. S. JOURN. No. 82, SEPT. 1835. D new sect called Wahhabis, a number of the Gohassins, the Bedows, the Jooffmils, Jokassimees, and other desperate tribes, were converted to the new faith; and they mutually supported each other, so that the terms Pirate and Wahhabi became almost synonymous in those seas. At this juncture the Imaum of Muscat, one of the most powerful princes in Arabia, and an ally of the British Government, was tottering on his throne, from the increasing influence of the new sect, and in 1809 implored the assistance of the Bombay Presidency against the people of Ras al Khymah, and other ports, associated with the Wahhabbis. As these sea-banditti had molested the trade of India for years, the request was acceded to, especially as at that moment the pirates had taken a fine ship, the Minerva, and barbarously slaughtered most of the crew. Two frigates and several Company's cruizers, commanded by Captain Wainwright, of La Chiffone, with a detachment of troops under Colonel Lionel Smith, were ordered upon this service. The squadron arrived off the place so appropriately named Ras al Khymalı, or Promontory of Pirates, on the 11th of November, but the shoalness. of the water prevented even the small vessels from approaching the town nearer than about two miles; while the pirates, to mark their contempt for the invaders, burnt the unfortunate Minerva the same evening. The gun-boats and small-craft, however, were warped close in, so as to take a proper station and open a bombardment; and on the 13th the town was stormed, the magazines destroyed, the guns spiked, the fortifications razed, and every vessel in the harbour burnt; with so trifling a loss on our side-one killed and ten wounded-that the fame of these marauders for courage was tarnished. It was supposed that the pirates would not again attempt to molest our trade; but this calculation proved to be erroneous: they were again strong on the sea in an incredibly short time; and as the shallows near Ras al Khymah offered great facilities for sudden ambuscades and safe retreat in case of repulse, they had allotted a third of their property and plunder to restore the fortress. Some hundreds of vessels were equipped, whose ravages upon commerce increased to so alarming an extent, that no ship could sail in safety without protection, and the attacks were equally audacious and adroit. The Bombay marine, having been parsimoniously reduced, was inadequate to the protection of the coasts; whence the insurance rose to such a rate that the premium to Kutch, five days' sail, was as high as to England. At length several atrocious insults to the Indian flag aroused universal indignation, and brought down vengeance on the aggressors. Three of the piratic cruisers, armed with six 9-pounders, and manned with 150 men each, captured the Company's ship Deriah, after a smart action, on the 6th of January, 1817, when eighteen of the crew were cruelly murdered and eight carried into slavery, while the rest, who were all wounded, were landed to the westward of Bombay. This was followed by an act of still greater temerity. A Company's cruiser fell in with one of the pirate grabs disguised as a trader, which requested to be convoyed up the Gulf by the cruiser. The implored protection was granted; and while both vessels were holding their course, the barbarian having contrived to drop alongside the other, by an unsuspected movement, instantly threw a body of men, hitherto concealed under hatches, on board the ill-fated cruiser, and carried her |