The war maker

by Horace Herbert Smith

With provision made for all of the deception and trickery which experience and foresight could suggest we headed for Singapore, to begin a career of adventure such as my wild mind never had conceived, even in its dearest dreams. On the long trip out I whiled away the time in an effort to evolve a torpedo of a new type. I had been interested in high explosives all my life and had long believed that a non-dirigible torpedo could be devised which would be an improvement on our own Harvey,—which was towed in a bridle and was not practicable for a greater distance than two or three hundred yards,—and which would have advantages over the dirigible type. To facilitate my experiments I had on board a lot of sheet brass and before the end of the trip I had developed a torpedo that I regarded as perfection and which I afterward used with success, though it finally got me into trouble in South America. It was six feet long, thirty inches in diameter, and shaped like a fat cigar. The inside was lined with air cylinders to give it the required buoyancy, and inside of these was packed the explosive charge, of wet gun-cotton or dynamite. It was towed by a wire or small rope attached to the blunt nose, from which projected six spider-like arms two feet long, and alternating with these were six shorter arms extending outward from the thickest part of the torpedo. The forcing backward of any one of these arms cut off a shear pin and released a spring which set off a fulminate of mercury cap. This exploded a disc of dry gun-cotton which set off the main charge. The shear pins were of copper wire of any desired thickness, but were intended to be only thick enough to prevent the arms from being forced backward, and the torpedo discharged, by the current of a river or by the resistance of the water when being towed or by small driftwood which might be encountered.

The buoyancy of the loaded torpedo could easily be calculated and by means of the air cylinders it could be kept awash or floated just below the surface, the latter being the preferred method when it was to be used during the day. The towing wire or rope was kept on the surface or just below it by small floats, distributed at such distances that they would attract no attention even in the improbable event of their being seen. The torpedo was intended to be towed across the course of the vessel that was to be destroyed. The moment the ship’s bow picked up the towing rope her fate was settled, for whether the rope was fifty yards or five miles long it was simply a question of time until the torpedo was dragged alongside and exploded by the pressure of one of the arms against the side of the vessel. The torpedo could be towed astern of a ship or a launch or even an innocent rowboat. In river work it could be stretched across the stream with a line at each end, the shorter one being only strong enough to withstand the current, so it would part easily when the unfriendly ship picked up the line attached to the nose of the torpedo. I was greatly pleased with my invention and it was not long until I had an opportunity to prove that it was a complete success.

We reached Singapore more than a month ahead of the “Florence” and on our arrival there Norton unfolded his whole scheme to me. The gist of it was that we were to prey on the pirates who infested the China Sea, and particularly that part of it lying between Singapore, Sumatra, and Borneo, which was dotted with islands and beautifully suited by nature to their plundering profession. Every ship going to Europe from China, Indo-China, Siam, and from the Philippines and the network of islands to the south of them, as well as vessels coming up from the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Sunda, between Sumatra and Java, had to run the gantlet of this piratical nest, and many were the good ships that ended their cruises there, along with their passengers and crews. It was here the pirates held out last in their long and bloody fight against civilization, as the present state of mankind in general is called. The British Government had been trying for years to put an end to their operations but there were so many of the islands, and the opportunities for concealment and escape were so numerous, that the undertaking was a gigantic one. It was not until years after my tragic appearance on this stage that it was officially announced that piracy had been suppressed. Even that long delayed declaration was not altogether true, for in that accursed region, now well known but yet mysterious, piracy is still being carried on, even to this day, though in a small and desultory way. There were a few islands farther north, off the southern coast of Indo-China, among which the pirates sometimes rendezvoused to lay in wait for their prey, but in ordinary weather it was easy for ships to keep clear of these danger spots. But they could not avoid those islands lying northeast of Singapore, and it was there that most of the merchantmen were looted.

The pirates were chiefly Chinese, with a considerable number of Malays and some Dyaks. As to bravery and bloodthirstiness there was little choice between them. They were all desperate villains and their thirst for gold was exceeded only by their truly Oriental cunning. When they fell from wounds they would watch for an opportunity to hamstring their opponents or disembowel them with their long, crooked knives, which were as sharp as razors. After we discovered this devilish trait no quarter was ever shown them. When one of them fell he was shot through the head or stabbed, to make sure that he would do no further harm. Nothing else could be done with such an enemy. The Chinese operated chiefly in large junks, with which they could go well out to sea. Most of them carried guns of considerable size, while all of them were supplied with a multitude of stink-pots,—their favorite weapon. These were round earthenware pots, twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, filled with a black mixture of the consistency of moist earth, which was lighted just before the missile was thrown. They were handled in a sling, such as every small boy has used but on a larger scale, and could be thrown with great accuracy for one hundred feet or more. When the pot struck the opposing ship it broke open and the contents spread out on the deck, giving off a thick, pungent, and vile-smelling smoke which would quickly produce complete asphyxiation if it was inhaled at close range. If the smoking mass was left long enough undisturbed it would set fire to the ship. The pirates themselves were largely immune to this horrible smoke and under its cover, following a rain of stink-pots, they would board a ship almost unseen and have her defenders, whom they always outnumbered, at a great disadvantage from the start. When fighting at close quarters the Chinese used long, curved swords, something like a Turkish yataghan, while the Malays were armed with the krese, a short, double-edged sword with serrated edges. Both were murderous weapons and the pirates were graduated experts in the use of them; in fact, they preferred their butcher knives to firearms, for they were miserable marksmen. As soon as an engagement became general they would throw away their guns and pistols and use their swords, with both hands, striking powerful, chopping blows.

The Malays and Dyaks used proas or feluccas, light, strong, low-lying vessels from sixty to one hundred feet in length, from ten to sixteen feet wide, and five or six feet deep, with less than three feet draft. They were rigged with two large lateen sails and were very fast. The only material difference between them was that the proas were supplied with long sweeps with which they could be driven along at a fair rate of speed when there was no wind. The junks were used for outside work, while the proas and feluccas kept close inshore, seldom going more than fifteen miles out. On account of their shallow draft they were easily hidden in the mouths of rivers and creeks, and when so concealed they could not be seen at a distance of half a mile.

It was this ease of escape, and the fact that unless they were caught red-handed conviction was impossible, which combined to make the stamping out of the pirates such a tremendous task. The junks always carried just enough cargo to enable them to pose, technically, as peaceful traders and, with the aid of their friends afloat and ashore, they could easily prove an alibi, or anything else that was needed. When closely pursued by a suspicious warship and certain to be overhauled and inspected, they would throw overboard their surplus of arms and, if necessary, any loot they happened to have on board, to remove all incriminating evidence. Through an elaborate system of spies the pirate chiefs were constantly advised as to the movements of the warships and kept their craft as far away from them as possible. Thus it was that unless a cruiser happened along just as a merchantman was being looted, and her crew butchered, or immediately afterward, the chance of capturing the scoundrels was remote. Even with the large retributive fleet of cruisers and gunboats that finally was established in those waters, beauteous and romantic but thickly dotted with villainous havens, the number of piracies that were punished, including the joyous justice which Norton and I meted out, was trifling when compared with the total of murder and robbery.

The chief of a large section of the Chinese pirates was old Moy Sen, a rich Chinaman who lived in a handsome home in Canton and posed as a legitimate trader. He owned a large fleet of junks and one steamer, and there was not a ship that left Hong Kong with a rich cargo that he did not know all about. The evil genius of the Malays was a shrewd scoundrel known as Leandrio, and he and Moy Sen operated under what would be known to-day as a “gentlemen’s agreement,” by which they divided up the territory, in a general way, and did not interfere with each other. As a matter of fact there were practically no honest trading ships in that section, with the exception of the big merchantmen engaged in the export trade. All of the coasting ships were either pirates themselves, when the conditions were favorable, or were in league with the pirates, to whom they carried information as to the value of cargoes being prepared for shipment and their probable date of departure. The result was that there was not a ship, except the easily distinguished merchantman, which we did not come to regard as legitimate prey.

Norton argued that the pirates were bound to keep on robbing and burning and murdering in spite of anything we could do, and that we could derive plenty of excitement and large profits by robbing them. Incidentally, he contended, we would put a lot of them out of business for good and all, thus contributing to the end desired by all nations. I fell in with his plan heartily, for, while I cared little for the money that was to be made, it promised as lively adventures as I could wish for. It was arranged that I should pose as Dr. Burnet, a rich English physician who was cruising in his private yacht for his health. To make it appear that they were engaged in legitimate commerce, the “Florence” and “Surprise” were to carry some general cargoes from port to port among the islands but were to so shape their cruises that they would be at certain fixed points on or about given dates, so that we could keep closely in touch with them. They were to be given large crews and so heavily armed as to be safe from piratical attacks. The “Leckwith” was to do all of the preying on the pirates and the loot we took from them was to be turned over to the other ships at the meeting places. This would make it unnecessary for us to put into port often as we could use our sails a great deal and husband our coal. This arrangement, and the changes which could quickly be made in the rig of all the ships, would, we figured, remove us from suspicion, for a long time at least. Agencies for our legitimate cargoes were established in Sumatra, on the island of Banca, where there were extensive tin mines, in Borneo and Rajah Brooke’s independent government of Sarawak in North Borneo, and at other convenient places. It was arranged that the bulk of our loot should be sent to a firm of Chinamen at Singapore, who dealt largely in dishonest cargoes but were absolutely honest with their clients.

With the schedules of the “Florence” and “Surprise” established and with the “Leckwith’s” bunkers stuffed with coal, we headed for the islands in search of pirates. We then had a crew of about seventy-five men, though at different times we had as few as fifty and as many as one hundred, independent of the “black gang” in the fire and engine rooms. The crews of the three ships were frequently interchanged, except for about fifteen especially brave and reckless fellows who were always kept on the “Leckwith.” With all of our sails set and in the guise of a trading ship we sometimes trapped the pirates into coming alongside and grappling with us, which made it easy work for us, but when we had reason to think they had valuable booty on board we went at them full tilt under steam and took it away from them. All of our guns, which were always unshipped when we went into port, were close up against the rail and were concealed under what looked like deck cargo, but it was the work of only a moment to cast off their covering and lower a section of the bulwarks long enough to give them a wide radius of action.

Our first experience was a profitable one. When near the “hunting grounds” we lowered the smokestack, got up our canvas, and sailed along awaiting developments. We were getting in among the islands when we met a big junk which had just looted and scuttled a richly laden Brazilian barkentine. She had much more than enough on board to pay her for one trip, but cupidity got the better of her commander and he put about and came after us, thinking we were only a trading schooner but might have something on board worth taking. We made a pretence of trying to get away, which we could have done, for the “Leckwith” footed fast even under sail, but in reality we eased our sheets to hasten matters along. When he was close astern of us, with the wind abeam, we luffed up, got out guns ready for action in a jiffy and, as we crossed his bows, raked him fore and aft with our carronades, which were loaded almost to the muzzle with slugs and nails. Before he could change his course, with his decks littered with dead and mangled, we came about and gave him a broadside at close quarters, along with a deadly rifle fire from the hitherto unseen members of the crew who had been concealed in the ’tween decks. He replied to this blast with a lot of stink-pots, only a few of which came aboard and were tossed into the sea before any ill effects were felt from their nauseating fumes, and a weak and poorly directed fire from his guns. Taken completely by surprise and with more than half of their number littering the reddened deck, the pirates were panic-stricken. Before they could regain their senses we came about again and gave them another broadside which took all the fight out of them, if there had been any left, and put them at our mercy. As we ranged alongside, keeping up a rifle fire but disdaining any further use of our guns, they managed to launch a couple of boats and all who could get into them pulled for the nearest island. When we threw our grappling irons and hauled in on them the few survivors who had strength enough left to get to the rail threw themselves overboard and swam for it. The first man aboard of the junk had one of his legs almost severed by the wicked sword of a badly wounded Chinaman, and after that bit of fiendishness our men lost no time in making sure that the rest of them were really dead. We took out of the junk fully one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of specie, silk, tea, porcelain, and drugs and then set fire to her, leaving her to bury her own dead.