Eli Boggs

Last updated

Eli Boggs (fl. mid 19th century) was an American pirate, one of the last active ocean-going pirates operating off the coast of China during the 1850s. [1] Based near Hong Kong, Boggs constantly raided outgoing clipper ships carrying highly valuable cargo of opium throughout the decade. He is most particularly known for his cruelty, as in one recorded incident he had the body of a captured Chinese merchant cut into small pieces and had them delivered to shore in small buckets as a warning against interference in his criminal activities. In 1857, after a violent and bloody siege, Boggs was forced to swim ashore after his junk was destroyed by rival pirates. However, after holding his captors at bay with a knife, Boggs was finally apprehended and imprisoned in a Hong Kong jail for three years, eventually being tried for murder before his deportation to the United States in 1857. [2] The closing statement he made at his trial resounded with George Wingrove Cooke and triggered an investigation into one of Hong Kong's earliest political scandals: the collaboration between government's Daniel Caldwell and pirate Ma Chow Wong. [3] [4]

Contents

He was executed by hanging in 1861.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One country, two systems</span> Constitutional principle of the Peoples Republic of China

"One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Opium War</span> 1856–1860 war between allied British–French forces and Imperial China

The Second Opium War, also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted Great Britain, France, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Patten</span> British politician (born 1944)

Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life peer in 2005 and has been Chancellor of the University of Oxford since 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Repulse Bay</span> Bay in Southern Hong Kong

Repulse Bay or Tsin Shui Wan is a bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District, Hong Kong. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Hong Kong</span> Aspect of history

The region of Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Old Stone Age, later becoming part of the Chinese Empire with its loose incorporation into the Qin dynasty. Starting out as a farming fishing village and salt production site, it became an important free port and eventually a major international financial center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cantonese people</span> Han Chinese ethnic subgroup native to parts of Southern China

The Cantonese people or Yue people, are a Han Chinese subgroup originating from or residing in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, in Southern Mainland China. In a strict sense, "Cantonese" refers only to people with roots from Guangzhou and its satellite cities and towns, rather than generally referring to the people of the Liangguang region.

A hong was a type of Chinese merchant establishment and its associated type of building. Hongs arose in Guangzhou as intermediaries between Western and Chinese merchants during the 18–19th century, under the Canton System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleko Lilius</span>

Aleko Axel August Eugen Lilius was an explorer, businessman, diplomat, writer, journalist, and photographer of Finnish, Swedish, and Russian extraction. He has been described as an English journalist, a Russian Finn, an American of Finnish origin, a Swedish journalist and adventurer, and an intrepid American journalist. He is the author of I Sailed with Chinese Pirates, an account of the time he spent among pirates of the South China seas.

HMS <i>Pearl</i> (1855)

HMS Pearl was a Pearl-class 21-gun screw corvette of the Royal Navy launched in 1855, displacing 2,187 tons.

Events in the year 2008 in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lai Tung-kwok</span> Hong Kong civil servant

Lai Tung-kwok, GBS, IDSM, JP is a retired civil servant and principal official who held the position of Secretary for Security of Hong Kong between 2012 and 2017. He previously served as Under Secretary for Security from 2009 to 2012 and Director of Immigration from 2002 to 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chui A-poo</span> Chinese pirate

Chui A-poo was a 19th-century Qing Chinese pirate who commanded a fleet of more than 50 junks in the South China Sea. He was one of the two most notorious South China Sea pirates of the era, along with Shap Ng-tsai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Ty-ho Bay</span> Naval engagement in 1855 against Chinese pirates

The Battle of Ty-ho Bay was a significant naval engagement in 1855 involving the United Kingdom and United States against Chinese pirates. The action off Tai O, Hong Kong was to rescue captured merchant vessels, held by a fleet of armed war-junks. British and American forces defeated the pirates in one of the last major battles between Chinese pirate fleets and western navies. It was also one of the first joint operations undertaken by British and American forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Hong Kong</span> British colony and dependent territory from 1841 to 1997

Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire and later a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India and was causing widespread addiction among the populace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eli Avidar</span> Israeli politician

Eli Avidar is a former Israeli politician who founded the Israel Free political party in 2022. Prior to this, he was a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office from 2021 to 2022.

<i>North Star</i> affair 1861 piracy incident off Hong Kong

The North Star affair occurred in May 1861 when Chinese pirates attacked the British merchant ship North Star. Several men were killed in the incident, including a Royal Navy officer. The pirates escaped capture with 4,000 dollars' worth of gold.

Liberalism has a long tradition as an economic philosophy since the founding of Hong Kong as an entrepôt which cherishes private property, the free market, and free trade. In recent decades, Hong Kong has earned its international reputation as one of the "freest economies in the world". As a political trend, liberalism has become the driving force of the democratic movement since the 1980s which is mainly represented by the pro-democracy camp which strives for the universal suffrage, human rights and rule of law in Hong Kong.

Daniel Richard Francis Caldwell was a colonial government official in Hong Kong. He was Registrar General and Protector of Chinese from 1856 to 1862 and was involved in the notorious Caldwell Affair in the late 1850s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Thomas Bridges</span>

William Thomas Bridges was a lawyer and public servant in British Hong Kong, where he held the post of Acting Colonial Secretary from 1857 to 1858. He was born in 1820 or 1821 in Blackheath, Kent. Having studied at Winchester College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Bridges was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1847. He emigrated to Hong Kong in April 1851 and rose rapidly in local society owing to his special status as a qualified barrister in a colony short of legal experts, becoming Acting Attorney General within a year of his arrival. After a sojourn in England in 1856, where he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law, Bridges became a provisional member of the Executive and Legislative Councils upon his return to Hong Kong, and was appointed Acting Colonial Secretary while the incumbent secretary, William Thomas Mercer, was on leave in 1857.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esing Bakery incident</span> 1857 poisoning case in Hong Kong

The Esing Bakery incident, also known as the Ah Lum affair, was a food contamination scandal in the early history of British Hong Kong. On 15 January 1857, during the Second Opium War, several hundred European residents were poisoned non-lethally by arsenic, found in bread produced by a Chinese-owned store, the Esing Bakery. The proprietor of the bakery, Cheong Ah-lum, was accused of plotting the poisoning but was acquitted in a trial by jury. Nonetheless, Cheong was successfully sued for damages and was banished from the colony. The true responsibility for the incident and its intention—whether it was an individual act of terrorism, commercial sabotage, a war crime orchestrated by the Qing government, or purely accidental—both remain a matter of debate.

References

  1. "Eli Boggs History :: Stronghold Nation". www.strongholdnation.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  2. "Colonial Sense: Census: Eli Boggs". www.colonialsense.com. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  3. Joshua Berlinger. "The American pirate who kicked off one of Hong Kong's earliest major political scandals". CNN. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  4. "HERE!DG Way Back When: The PRD Pirate King". HERE! Dongguan. 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2020-12-23.