Page 286 - INDIANNAVYV1

254 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. ;
the same name in the island of Borneo. This prince, who was
one of the principal chieftains of Borneo, had, for a long period,
been gnilty of various acts of piracy, so that it was very unsafe
for trading vessels to venture near any part of the extensive
coasts of this great island, particularly of the north-west por-
tion ; here armed proas were continually on the watch, both in
Sambas and the Borneo river, and the Dyak pirates not only
j)lundered the vessels, but put the crews to death under circum-
stances of horrible barbarity.
In 1804, the brother of the Rajah of Sambas, a desperado as
brave as he was cruel, captured the ship ' Calcutta,' and
murdered all the crew. On hearing of this catastrophe, the
Lieutenant-Governor of Prince of Wales' Island and its depen-
dencies, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas Farquhar, who, up to the
conclusion of the peace of Amiens, had been British Resident
at Amboyna and Chief of the Moluccas, directed Lieutenant
Robert Deane, of the Bombay Marine, commanding ' Les Freres
Unis,' of sixteen guns, under the orders of the Penang Govern-
ment, to proceed through the Straits of Malacca to the west
coast of Borneo, where he was to cruise in search of the
' Calcutta,' which he was informed was " strongly manned and
armed." The Lieutenant-Governor says in his letter of in-
structions, dated the 20th of March, 1805 : — " It is of the utmost
importance that this freebooter should be seized ; and you will,
therefore, use your utmost endeavours to apprehend him by
visiting all the haunts and ports along the coasts of Borneo.
If you meet the ' Calcutta ' at sea, there can be no doubt of
your being able to make an easy capture of her. Should she be
in port, you will endeavour by some well-concerted plan to cut
her out, for which purpose, principally, you have been provided
with a strong detachment of marines. So soon as this service
is performed, you will be pleased to return to this port through
the Straits of Banca, where you are to gain every information
in your power respecting the enemy, particularly their naval
force in Batavia, or in the Eastern seas. In the prosecution
of the foregoing orders, you are to make every possible search
after, and destroy, all piratical boats that may be infesting the
Straits of Malacca, providing this can be done without deviating
from the main object of these instructions." Lieutenant Deane
did not find the 'Calcutta' at sea, but receiving information
that she was in the Sambas River, proceeded thither, accom-
panied by the armed ship ' Belisarius,' Mr. Lynch, with the
intention of attacking the pirate chief. He soon found the
' Calcutta,' which had taken up a strong position, supported by
most important ; Borneo Proper and Tampasuk, where there were four hundred
proas, both places being under the Rajah of Borneo Proper ; the Pasir pirates
the Soloo pirates : the Illano, or pirates in the isle of Magindanao, on whom
Captain Hayes had inflicted a severe defeat some years before. There were also
the smaller ports of Liugin, Rhio, and Billiton.