I Sailed with Chinese Pirates

9780195852974

0195852974

In the late 1920s, gangs of ruthless and heavily armed pirates plagued the Pearl River delta in China, controlling fishing fleets, terrorizing villages, and hijacking steamer ships. Commissioned to investigate this practice, the intrepid American journalist Aleko Lilius was able to record first-hand the final days of traditional piracy. This book, a rip-roaring tale of adventure on the high seas, is the result of his heady and perilous undertaking. The experiences recounted here include a journey on the assault ship of the notorious queen of the Macau pirates, assignations in the murky opium dens of Macau and Canton, incarceration in a Hong Kong Prison, and abduction by the pirates themselves--during which time Lilius witnesses extortion and even murder before making his dramatic bid for freedom. Rooted in the bygone era of hard-nosed adventuring, I Sailed with Chinese Pirates is a gripping yarn, as riveting and hard-to-put-down as the most sensational fiction.