THE POWER of
the pirates and murderers had been broken by 1850, as
you learnt in the least chapter. Many were still
alive, however; they waited for opportunities to
begin their cruel trade again. In this short chapter
we shall lok forward into quite modern days in order
to see how they were finally suppressed.
Because
of the action taken by the Royal Navy all along the
coast from Sarawak to Marudu Bay, the west coast of
the whole island of Borneo was cleared of pirates.
Many of them therefore made their way stealthily to
the east coast and set up their headquarters at
Tungku near Lahad Datu. The Navy had vast areas to
patrol from India to China; it was not easy for it to
send ships over to Tungku and it did not want to do
so. In 1852, however, a hurried attack was made on
Tungku, but it was not successful. After this,
conditions on the east coast become very bad; not a
ship could put to sea in safety. The Spanish forces
still controlled the Philippines and by 1874 they had
put up with more than they were willing to accept.
The Spanish Navy therefore forbade any native ships to
put to sea near the Sulu Islands; any ships found at
sea would be destroyed. We can understand the
justifiable anger which drove the Spaniards to this
decision, but it was very hard on honest traders. Tt
crippled their trade completely. However, this state
of affairs did not continue for long.
The
British Navy, which for so many years had tried to
ignore the Tungku pirates, was goaded into stern
action five years later in 1879. Her Majesty's Ship Kestrel
made a sudden attack on Tungku: sixteen pirate
warships were sunk, many pirates were killed and all
of their buildings destroyed. They fled in terror.
Never
again would they terrorize the waters of Borneo, for
within ten years North Borneo had entered on a new
lease of life under a real government. The day of the
Chartered Company had arrived.
QUESTIONS
