2-979-642 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The War in China - Fleet of Chinese Pirates Preparing to Attack, 1857. 'One of the greatest evils the merchants' commerce of the China Seas has to contend with is the immense number of pirate craft which infest the channels of the numerous islands of that country; scarcely a bay or inlet affording a chance of cover or escape from an attacking force but swarms with hordes of these miscreants...their great speed under sail or propelled by sweeps, light draught of water, and the quantity of combustible annoyances with which they are always provided, make them the most dangerous adversaries which the cruisers for the protection of the traders can fall in with...The lorcha is the class of vessel generally used for their purposes, and some of these are of great size, and mount several guns - pieces of cannon as heavy as 68-pounders having been found on them when captured'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.