as close to you she ceased
paddling, and hoisted Dutch colours. You desired it to pull for the
Gillolo shore, which it did. There was no aggression in this instance,
and nothing piratical in the conduct of the prahu. After she had obeyed
your order to pull to the Gillolo shore, you wantonly fired a Congreve
rocket at her; your conduct in this instance being much more like that
of a pirate than hers. In the afternoon you pull along the Gillolo
shore, and you discover a village; you send your boat ashore and set
fire to it. Why so? You state that you were attacked by Illanoan
pirates, who reside at Tampassook, some hundred miles from Gillolo, and
you then burn the village of the people of Gillolo, and that without the
least aggression on their part. Is it surprising that you should be
supposed to be pirates after such wanton outrage? To proceed: you state
that you then go in search of the prahu which you ordered away, and that
on your way you captured a large canoe, which you take in tow, and
afterwards perceive the pirates hauling their vessel into a creek. You
attack them, and they run away, leaving the prahu in your possession,
and, as usual, after rifling the prahu and canoe, you set them on fire.
Up to this point there has been nothing but aggression on your part; and
it is not, therefore, surprising that you were supposed to be pirates,
and that the communication was made along the coast, and the vessels
employed against the pirates were summoned for its protection. Again,
the prahus came out and surrounded you; they did not fire at you, but
hailed you in English, requesting to know if you belonged to a ship.
Now, if any thing could prove that they were not pirate vessels, it was
their doing this; and had you replied, they would have explained to you
what their employment was: but you think proper to give no answer to
this simple question, order them to go away, and then fire a loaded
musket into them, which brings on the conflict which you so much
desired. That these observations were true, it must be admitted, and the
complaint of the Dutch, with the hoisting of the Dutch flag, gave great
weight to them: however, pirates or no pirates, the Admiralty Court, on
our arrival in England, considered them to have been such; and, as will
be seen by the extract from the "Times" below, awarded head money to the
amount of about 10,000l. to the captain and crew of the Samarang, and
for his wound received, our captain obtained a