Hunting Chui-A-poo: The Royal Navy’s Suppression of Piracy in the South China Seas, 1849

Chui-A-poo

During the 1840s and 1850s, the recently acquired British colony of Hong Kong became a centre for piracy in the South China Seas. Here the Chinese pirates would off-load their booty to shopkeepers and other merchants who would then sell on the stolen goods to their eager European and Chinese customers. The pirates also targeted European and American seamen on shore leave in Hong Kong, encouraging them to desert their ships and join pirate vessels in return for the promise of riches...