633 
THE PIRACY AND SLAVE TRADE 
they would be destroyed if they made the slightest resistance. 
At the moment the detachment left the Fathal Barie, the pirate 
chief pronounced from the deck of the vessel some unintelligible 
words in a loud voice, but which were afterwards found to be an 
order to commence the massacre (a?nok). A number of pirates 
were secured, their krises, which they wore concealed, taken from 
them, and they were put in irons, while the boat returned for a 
second load of pirates. Their chief probably seeing by these 
effectual measures his project frustrated, then repeated his cry of 
amok , and drawing a kris which he had hitherto kept out of sight, 
threw himself upon Major Gey, who, with his back turned* 
superintended the execution of his orders, and he would have 
certainly been stabbed had not the captain of the vessel been 
on his guard, and floored the pirate by a blow from a gun 
ramrod which he had in his hand. The other chief who was 
standing near the bow under the guard of two soldiers, struck them 
successively with his kris and threw himself into the water, but he 
soon sank under a shower of balls. The death cry had been heard 
on board the prahus at the moment when a portion of the detachment 
was on board the pirates. A number of the pirates who had hitherto 
kept themselves concealed below the deck now suddenly shewed 
themselves, armed with pistols, klewangs, and krises. In spite of 
the superiority of the pirates and the fury of their attack the party 
from the ship kept their ground for sometime, but the increasing 
numbers of the enemy and the loss of several of their own men 
forced them to retreat. They then drew off' to a little distance 
and opened a well~diiected and sustained fire upon the pirates. 
The sails of one of the pirates was all at once seen to be on fire 
and the flames spread so rapidly that the vessel was soon in a 
blaze and sank after an explosion. The boat still fired upon the 
other pirate and upon the crew of the sunken vessel who had 
thrown themselves into the sea and were trying- to gain their 
consort This prahu however took to her oars,' and although 
the other boats of the Fathal Barie joined in the chase, she 
succeeded in escaping, but much crippled by the fire of the ship 
and her boats. 1 
1825. In the commencement of this year Mr Angelbeck was 
sent to Rhio and Singapore, with a view amongst other things 
to obtain the cooperation of the English authorities in the 
suppression of piracy. Mr Angelbeck reports to the Governor 
General that he thought it “ a favorable opportunity to converse 
with Mr Crawfurd, the English Resident at Singapore, on the 
subject of piracy, and to inform myself through him if the superior 
authorities in Bengal had any intention of taking measures for 
its repression ; shewing him how much more interest than formerly 
Jiis government had that the navigation and commerce in the 
Archipelago should not be disturbed, I represented to the Resident 
what a sinister influence this scourge exercised upon the prosperity 
