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Hello and welcome to the history of China.

Mr. Glasspool and the Chinese pirates, being the narrative of Mr. Richard Glasspool of the ship

Marquis of Eli, together with extracts from the China records and the log of the Marquis of

Eli. Written by Richard Glasspool, 1810, published by Owen Rudder, 1935.

A brief note before beginning, the term La Drone frequents this first-hand

account of being taken by the Red Flag Fleet. It's originally a Spanish term, though used

colloquially at that time by sailors of many nationalities, and for our purposes, simply means

pirate. Also, as this is a primary account,

some details are not fully in keeping with the more widely understood disposition

of the Chinese pirates Glasspool was a guest among,

or indeed, in many cases, who exactly he was addressing or speaking to among them.

Anyways, without further ado, here is the narrative.

On the 17th of September 1809, the Honorable Company's ship, Marquess of Eli,

anchored on the island of Sam Chow in China, about 12 English miles from Macau,

where I was ordered to proceed in one of our cutters to procure a pilot,

and also to land the purser with the packet. I left the ship at 5 p.m. with seven men under my command

well armed. It blew a fresh gale from the northeast. We arrived at Macau at 9 p.m. where I delivered

the boat's sails to sleep under the company's factory, and left the boat

in charge of one of the compador's men. During the night, the gale increased. At half-past three

in the morning, I went to the beach, and found the boat on shore half-filled with water, in consequence

of the man having left her. I called the people and bailed her out, found she was considerably damaged

...