Battle off Mukah
Encyclopedia
The Battle off Mukah was a naval engagement
fought in 1862 between the navy of Sarawak
and pirates. After the kidnapping of Sarawakian citizens some time before, their navy dispatched two small warships which encountered the pirates off Mukah
on the northern coast of Borneo
. In an unusual action, the Rajah Mudah
, Captain
John Brooke, then the heir apparent to be white rajah
of Sarawak, led his force in the defeat of six pirate ships and the rescue of captured civilians.
Sulu
, or Moro
, pirates from the southern Philippines
. They had raided several coastal settlements in 1862 and the years preceding so many men and women were being held prisoner or worked as galley slave
s on board the pirates' prahu
s. A prahu was a type of large primitive sailing ship, with about a ten foot beam and usually over forty feet long, they could also be propelled by oars and the pirates armed theirs with three brass swivel gun
s each. The prahus had crews of over 100 men and were roofed by a bamboo
cover to protect the ammunition and provisions from rain and to provide a platform to fight from. Sulu pirates sheltered in bays along the coast during the trading season to prey on merchant shipping passing from places like Singapore
, Penang
, or China
back to Americas
or Europe
. In response to the affair, Captain
Brooke headed down the coast from the town of Sarawak
, in November 1862 to build a fort at Bintulu
and release the captives at Mukah. He had with him his eighty foot screw-steamer named Rainbow, armed with two 9-pounder cannon
s, one 12-pounder and one 4-pounder, the latter two were meant to be offloaded for use at the fort. There was also a gunboat
named Jolly Bachelor, under the command of a Captain Hewat, and armed with two brass 6-pounder guns and two small swivels.
While in transit the captain was informed that six prahus were anchored off the port of Mukah, and their crews were raiding the town. So when he arrived at Bintulu the laborers were put ashore to construct the fort and ten Sarawakian soldiers joined the Rainbows small crew to strengthen it before the coming battle. The Sulus themselves were heavily armed with muskets, pistols, swords, knives, spears so the men of the Sarawakian vessels placed mattresses and other improvised bulwarks on the upper decks to protect their legs from "ugly hits" according to Bishop
Francis Thomas McDougall
of Labuan
, who was present during the battle on board the Rainbow. In all there were eight Europeans involved and a few dozen Sarawakian soldiers and sailors.
Captain Brooke's plan, after casting off the Jolly Bachelor, would be to ram the prahus while keeping them engaged so as to prevent the pirates from boarding and overwhelming the Sarawakians. McDougall wrote; "Our plan of action was to silence the brass guns with our rifles, to shake them at their oars with grape and round shot, until we could run into them without their being strong enough to board us. The steamer was kept dodging about within range until the time came to run in; then we got into a good position to put on all steam and given them the stem, which was always admirably and coolly done Captain Hewat whenever the order was given by the Rajah Mudah." After the first prahu got away the attention was turned to the second boat which was sailing for the shore and when the Rainbow was 200 yards away the Sulus opened fire with all of their guns. For the next few minutes Brooke chased the prahu at full speed before running right over it and sinking her. The Sarawakians called out to the survivors to hang on to the wreckage and wait for rescue, they then went after the third prahu but the Rainbow ran aground in less than two fathoms of water.
The guns were still operable so Brooke had his men return the pirates' fire. No hits were made but near hits forced the pirates to leave their wounded and abandon ship without fighting. Brooke then decided on rescuing the survivors though most of the Sulus took their weapons into the water and continued to fight. The captain also had his men refloat the steamer which was done somewhat easily. Few pirates were recovered according to McDougall and when they saved all that could be, the Rainbow and the Jolly Bachelor continued on slowly down the coast. During this time one of the pirates said that there were three more prahus nearby which were waiting for the three already engaged to rejoin them. After an hour the weather was very calm and a lookout at the masthead spotted the three enemy ships to the starboard, lining up to bear their bow guns on the approaching steamers. However, when the wind picked up again the pirates changed their tactics and hoisted sail to move their ships into broadside position. As the Sarawakians neared the pirates they opened up with their swivels but Brooke waited until his ships were 250 yards away before he gave his men the order to return the fire.
McDougall reported that the final three prahus did not attempt to escape like the first three had and they fought with determination even after all of the Sarawakian guns were brought to bear on them. One of the prahus was run over just as the second and split in two while the largest and final vessel was destroyed by gunfire and sank with a valuable cargo of gold and jewels. McDougall later said: "The poor captives, who were all made fast below as we came up to engage them, were doubtless glad when our stem opened the sides of their ships, and thus let them out of prison. Few, comparatively, were drowned, being mostly all good swimmers. All those who were not lashed to the vessels, or killed by the Illanuns, escaped. Our decks were soon covered with those we picked up, men of every race and nation in the Archipelago, who had been captured by the pirates in their cruise, which had already lasted seven months." McDougall also confirmed the loss of at least one dead and two wounded while several of the pirates were killed or wounded, most having been hit by cannon and rifle fire. In all at least 100 Sulus became casualties while many others escaped to shore and retreated into the jungle.
subjects as well. They described to the bishop the ways in which they had been tortured by the pirates. One way was that the Illanuns had them drink salt water only, mixing four parts of salt for every three parts of fresh water. They would also rub cayenne pepper
into the eyes of their slaves whenever they became too tired to continue rowing. The prisoners could not escape because if they had a chance to jump over the side, the Sulus had a three barbed spear ready and if struck by one the victim could "no longer swim nor run" and would either drown or be retaken. McDougall helped the wounded after they started to come aboard and he described one Malay women as nearly starved to death. Father McDougall claimed he never missed one shot out of the eighty rounds he fired with his rifle. He also said that by the end of the battle, all of their ammunition for the 9-pounders was gone and there were only a few caps and cartridges remaining for the small arms.
The 12-pounder was also knocked out of action early in the engagement and apparently could not be repaired. The bishop said that had another prahu been found, they would have had a difficult time in repulsing or destroying it. When the fighting was over both of Brooke's ships were damaged in some way so he set a course for home and successfully delivered the captives to safety without further opposition from the Sulus.
Naval battle
A naval battle is a battle fought using boats, ships or other waterborne vessels. Most naval battles have occurred at sea, but a few have taken place on lakes or rivers. The earliest recorded naval battle took place in 1210 BC near Cyprus...
fought in 1862 between the navy of Sarawak
Kingdom of Sarawak
The Kingdom of Sarawak was a state in Borneo established by Sir James Brooke in 1842 by receiving independent kingdom status from the Sultanate of Brunei as a reward for helping fight piracy and insurgency...
and pirates. After the kidnapping of Sarawakian citizens some time before, their navy dispatched two small warships which encountered the pirates off Mukah
Mukah
Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia, is a coastal town which serves as the administrative center of the Mukah District in Mukah Division, Sarawak. It is located by the South China Sea, about 2.5 hours by road from the town of Sibu. Mukah is also accessible by air by MASwings from Kuching and Miri. The...
on the northern coast of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
. In an unusual action, the Rajah Mudah
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
John Brooke, then the heir apparent to be white rajah
White Rajahs
White Rajahs refers to a dynasty that founded and ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946, namely the Brookes, who came originally from England. A Rajah is a monarch in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.-Rulers:...
of Sarawak, led his force in the defeat of six pirate ships and the rescue of captured civilians.
Background
The pirates who participated in the battle were IllanunIllanun
The Iranun are an ethnic group of Mindanao, Philippines and the west coast of Sabah, Malaysia, in 25 villages around the Kota Belud and Lahad Datu districts; also in Kudat and Likas, Kota Kinabalu. Their current population is estimated to be around 1,000,000-1,500,000 .For centuries, the Illanun...
Sulu
Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast.Sulu Sea contains a number of...
, or Moro
Moro Pirates
The Moro Pirates, also known as the Sulu Pirates, were Muslim outlaws of the southern Philippines who engaged in frequent acts of piracy, primarily against the Spanish, beginning in the late 16th century...
, pirates from the southern Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. They had raided several coastal settlements in 1862 and the years preceding so many men and women were being held prisoner or worked as galley slave
Galley slave
A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley. The expression has two distinct meanings: it can refer either to a convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar , or to a kind of human chattel, often a prisoner of war, assigned to his duty of rowing.-Antiquity:Contrary to the popular image of the...
s on board the pirates' prahu
Proa
A proa, also seen as prau, perahu, and prahu, is a type of multihull sailing vessel.While the word perahu and proa are generic terms meaning boat their native language, proa in Western languages has come to describe a vessel consisting of two unequal length parallel hulls...
s. A prahu was a type of large primitive sailing ship, with about a ten foot beam and usually over forty feet long, they could also be propelled by oars and the pirates armed theirs with three brass swivel gun
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
s each. The prahus had crews of over 100 men and were roofed by a bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
cover to protect the ammunition and provisions from rain and to provide a platform to fight from. Sulu pirates sheltered in bays along the coast during the trading season to prey on merchant shipping passing from places like Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, or China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
back to Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
or Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In response to the affair, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
Brooke headed down the coast from the town of Sarawak
Kuching
Kuching , officially the City of Kuching, and formerly the City of Sarawak, is the capital and most populous city of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is the largest city on the island of Borneo, and the fourth largest city in Malaysia....
, in November 1862 to build a fort at Bintulu
Bintulu
Bintulu is a coastal town, and the capital of Bintulu District in the Bintulu Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. It is about 650 kilometers from Kuching and about 215 kilometers from either Sibu or Miri....
and release the captives at Mukah. He had with him his eighty foot screw-steamer named Rainbow, armed with two 9-pounder cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s, one 12-pounder and one 4-pounder, the latter two were meant to be offloaded for use at the fort. There was also a gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
named Jolly Bachelor, under the command of a Captain Hewat, and armed with two brass 6-pounder guns and two small swivels.
While in transit the captain was informed that six prahus were anchored off the port of Mukah, and their crews were raiding the town. So when he arrived at Bintulu the laborers were put ashore to construct the fort and ten Sarawakian soldiers joined the Rainbows small crew to strengthen it before the coming battle. The Sulus themselves were heavily armed with muskets, pistols, swords, knives, spears so the men of the Sarawakian vessels placed mattresses and other improvised bulwarks on the upper decks to protect their legs from "ugly hits" according to Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Francis Thomas McDougall
Francis Thomas McDougall
Francis Thomas McDougall was the first Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak from 1849 to 1868.MacDougall was born in Sydenham and educated at King’s College London and Magdalen College, Oxford...
of Labuan
Labuan
Labuan is a federal territory in East Malaysia. It is an island off the coast of the state of Sabah. Labuan's capital is Victoria and is best known as an offshore financial centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990 as well as being an offshore support...
, who was present during the battle on board the Rainbow. In all there were eight Europeans involved and a few dozen Sarawakian soldiers and sailors.
Battle
When the two steamers began their journey down the coast again, it wasn't long before they found three of the prahus. The water was shallow so the Rainbow had the Jolly Bachelor in tow and her captain, the rajah mudah, intended to release the other ship as soon as they were in a good firing position. Brooke then asked his Sarawakian followers if the three vessels in front of him were that of pirates, to be sure, and they said yes, so as soon as the Sulus realized they were under attack they began killing the captives while fleeing to dangerous waters. Father McDougall later wrote the following; "So we took to our stations, loaded our guns, and prepared for action. The leading boat had already gained on the other two and was going nearly as fast as the steamer herself. I never saw fellows pull so. We put on all steam, cast off the Jolly, and tried to get in between her and the point, but she beat us, and passed inside of us into shallow water, where we could not follow. Then she opened her fire upon us, which we returned with interest. She, like the others, had no heavy guns, but they all carried three long brass swivels, called lelahs, and plenty of rifles and muskets." The bishop went on to say that one of the captured pirates revealed to him that each of their swivels took seven men to lift and there was forty rifles and muskets aboard each boat, or more.Captain Brooke's plan, after casting off the Jolly Bachelor, would be to ram the prahus while keeping them engaged so as to prevent the pirates from boarding and overwhelming the Sarawakians. McDougall wrote; "Our plan of action was to silence the brass guns with our rifles, to shake them at their oars with grape and round shot, until we could run into them without their being strong enough to board us. The steamer was kept dodging about within range until the time came to run in; then we got into a good position to put on all steam and given them the stem, which was always admirably and coolly done Captain Hewat whenever the order was given by the Rajah Mudah." After the first prahu got away the attention was turned to the second boat which was sailing for the shore and when the Rainbow was 200 yards away the Sulus opened fire with all of their guns. For the next few minutes Brooke chased the prahu at full speed before running right over it and sinking her. The Sarawakians called out to the survivors to hang on to the wreckage and wait for rescue, they then went after the third prahu but the Rainbow ran aground in less than two fathoms of water.
The guns were still operable so Brooke had his men return the pirates' fire. No hits were made but near hits forced the pirates to leave their wounded and abandon ship without fighting. Brooke then decided on rescuing the survivors though most of the Sulus took their weapons into the water and continued to fight. The captain also had his men refloat the steamer which was done somewhat easily. Few pirates were recovered according to McDougall and when they saved all that could be, the Rainbow and the Jolly Bachelor continued on slowly down the coast. During this time one of the pirates said that there were three more prahus nearby which were waiting for the three already engaged to rejoin them. After an hour the weather was very calm and a lookout at the masthead spotted the three enemy ships to the starboard, lining up to bear their bow guns on the approaching steamers. However, when the wind picked up again the pirates changed their tactics and hoisted sail to move their ships into broadside position. As the Sarawakians neared the pirates they opened up with their swivels but Brooke waited until his ships were 250 yards away before he gave his men the order to return the fire.
McDougall reported that the final three prahus did not attempt to escape like the first three had and they fought with determination even after all of the Sarawakian guns were brought to bear on them. One of the prahus was run over just as the second and split in two while the largest and final vessel was destroyed by gunfire and sank with a valuable cargo of gold and jewels. McDougall later said: "The poor captives, who were all made fast below as we came up to engage them, were doubtless glad when our stem opened the sides of their ships, and thus let them out of prison. Few, comparatively, were drowned, being mostly all good swimmers. All those who were not lashed to the vessels, or killed by the Illanuns, escaped. Our decks were soon covered with those we picked up, men of every race and nation in the Archipelago, who had been captured by the pirates in their cruise, which had already lasted seven months." McDougall also confirmed the loss of at least one dead and two wounded while several of the pirates were killed or wounded, most having been hit by cannon and rifle fire. In all at least 100 Sulus became casualties while many others escaped to shore and retreated into the jungle.
Aftermath
Of the rescued they were mostly from Singapore, including the women and children, though there were Chinese slaves and two BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
subjects as well. They described to the bishop the ways in which they had been tortured by the pirates. One way was that the Illanuns had them drink salt water only, mixing four parts of salt for every three parts of fresh water. They would also rub cayenne pepper
Cayenne pepper
The cayenne pepper—also known as the Guinea spice,cow-horn pepper, aleva, bird pepper,or, especially in its powdered form, red pepper—is a red, hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes and for medicinal purposes. Named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, it is a cultivar of Capsicum annuum...
into the eyes of their slaves whenever they became too tired to continue rowing. The prisoners could not escape because if they had a chance to jump over the side, the Sulus had a three barbed spear ready and if struck by one the victim could "no longer swim nor run" and would either drown or be retaken. McDougall helped the wounded after they started to come aboard and he described one Malay women as nearly starved to death. Father McDougall claimed he never missed one shot out of the eighty rounds he fired with his rifle. He also said that by the end of the battle, all of their ammunition for the 9-pounders was gone and there were only a few caps and cartridges remaining for the small arms.
The 12-pounder was also knocked out of action early in the engagement and apparently could not be repaired. The bishop said that had another prahu been found, they would have had a difficult time in repulsing or destroying it. When the fighting was over both of Brooke's ships were damaged in some way so he set a course for home and successfully delivered the captives to safety without further opposition from the Sulus.