64 



ANNUAL REGISTER, I8l6. 



persons on board, and then pro- succeeded by a voice saying, "We 

 ceedcd to rununage the vessel, will murder them all;" which 



led the crew to the resolution of 

 lighting for their lives, if the ves- 

 sel was atten)pted to be scuttled, 

 as tlicy a])prehended. In the 

 mean time the villains broke open 

 the hatches with a crow-bar, and 

 proceeded to runmiage the hold. 

 Their alarm, however, was so 

 gre.it, that they hurried into their 

 craft only 7 chests of the doUais 

 out of the 13 on board. In each 

 cliest were contained four bags, 

 ■with 1 ,0(X) dollars in each, so that 

 tiic whole amount of the booty 

 obtained would amount to about 

 7,0001. The robber}' being thus 

 eomj)leted, the piiates ran the 

 hoy on slioie, (o prevent any im- 

 mediate puisiiit. The same day, 

 'J'hursday, a \igilant search was 

 set on foot by the police after the 

 jobbers, but without success. 

 A deposition to the above effect 

 was given at the Thames police- 

 office on Friday by the master and 

 crew of the hoy. On following 

 up the incpiiry, it ai)pears, that 

 nine bags of tlie dollars have been 

 recovered ; but we have reason to 

 believe that none of the actual de- 

 jjredators arc yet in custody. It 

 w ould seem that, from the speedy 

 approach of day-liglit, and the 

 slackness of tlie tide immediately 

 iifter the robbery was committed, 

 the villains were afraid to venture 

 on shore with their stolen pro- 

 perty, and iiad therefore deemed 

 it expedient to sink the whole or 

 ))art of the chests, as they sup- 

 posed, within low ^vatcr mark, in 

 (iallion-reaeli ; iiir about seven 

 o'clock, at low water, three of 

 the chests were observed un- 

 covered on the shore, where they 

 had been just left by the tide. 



The 



Tlieir alarm, it seems, however, 

 was so great, tliat they hurried 

 on board the cutter only seven 

 chests of the dollars out of the 

 twenty, and hastily rowed oil'. 

 The dollars carried off on the oc- 

 casion arc estimated to be %vorth 

 7,0001. 



11. Farther Jccou/it. — Tlie 

 house of Mcsbr.= . Fairly and Co. 

 liaving occasion to send to their 

 establishment at Calcutta 13 

 chests of dollars by the Lady 

 Campbell, lying off Greenwich, 

 they were put on board the Com- 

 j)any's hoy Coromandcl, fur the 

 purpose of conveying them to 

 that ship. As the trust was \alu- 

 ablc, the U'sual caution on such 

 occasions was observed, and the 

 crew on Ijoard was increased, and 

 supplied with additional arms. It 

 was between two and tluee 

 o'clock on Thursday morning, tlie 

 9th, when the hoy reached Bug- 

 by's-holc. A small ciaft came 

 along side on ])retcxt of asking 

 questions. As only two men ap- 

 peared in view in the boat, no 

 serious alarm was excited, until a 

 tarpaulin was hauled on one side, 

 and discoveicd about the munber 

 of "20 more, 'i'lie iioy was now 

 on the alert, but it was too late ; 

 the pirates were soon on board, 

 and placing a pistol to the head 

 of Mr. Abbot the master, de- 

 manded his suljmission. Mr. 

 Abbot, with jNIr. Champion, the 

 CcDRipany's officer, and the crcAV, 

 were driven into the cabin, from 

 whence they discharged se\eral 

 blunderbusses at the banditti on 

 deck. The five was returned ; 

 and an exclamation was made as 

 if a person was wounded ; it was 



