The Algerine, gunboat, has again returned from one of those cruises for which she has now acquired a certain notoriety. On this present occasion, the object of the Algerine, when she left Hon; on the th ul-0, was to search for the missing French man-of-war Lo Inouye, which left Saigon on the Ist November for this point, and it is to regretted that, after careful research, nothing has been heard of the ill-fated vessel, whose loss may now he looked upon as cer Vhe Alyerinc, as above stated, left here on the Lth Jany., arm on board proceeded to Macao, and afterwards to St. John's Island, where enquiries were made, From this Island the A/gerine proceeded under sail to Nychow, a considerable town on the southern coast of the Island of Hainan, arriving there on the 17th January. Here, nothing whatever was known of the Lo Mongo, nor could any news be obtained, although the A/gerine cruised up the east of the Island, call at numerous places, which re found to be quiet. Ihe Algerine then loft the coast of Hainan, and called in at Kwan-chow-wan, where the commander learnt of a row havin tween some pilongs" and mandrait er putting to sea niier the tight, unboat then ran for lien-pak, arriving there th January, and found the C gunboat Tirnpo in the harbour, Here Lieutenant Grey learnt from Captain Longuevi that the M. I. steamer Tiyre, in her passage from Sar-gon, had picked up a boat in the Gulf of Tonquin. The boat was capsized, and had the letter M." marked on her bows; therefore, it is presumed, that she belonged to the missing Lo Mongo. At Tienpak, a num. Der of Malay seamen were found, who stated they belonged to the Siamese ship Queen of Barmah, and had been discharged in Vu-ling-kan Bay, where the ship had put in, and been condemned by'theeaptain, The discharges of the Malays were examined, and their story found to be true. The Queen of Burmahk was Dound from Singapore to Macao and put into Yul-ing-kan leaky, and was there condemned although there was no one in that port to hold any survey on her. The news that Lieut. Grey had heard of the fight at Kwan-chow-wan was known to the captain of the Yienpo, who said that round St. John's Island there were a consider: number of ' pilongs," who bad their "nest" o1 mqua Island, and that he himself intended paying the fellows a visit in a short time to urn the "The Alyerine left Lien-pak on the 30th January, and having called in at Hui-lin-san and Namoa, came to Tonqua Island on the 2nd inst. Lieut. Urey soon commenced operations. He landed with a small party of men on the Island, and the first thing he come upon were four large snakes boats, lying up on the beach near a little hut. The mandarin who sceumpanied the gunboat ordered the hut to be fired, and after this was done, the snakes boats were going to be treated in the same manner, when the Pirates, who were evidently on the watch, open a straggling fire from some rocks, about three hundred yards off. The Alyerine's party chased the fellows up the hill a short distance, gave them a little of the Snider rifle, but the rascals took care to keep at a respectful distance. The snake boats were destroyed after titis little deversion, and the party proceeded to the village of Chung-lat, but.on arrival there the mandarin would not authorise it being burnt. as he did not think it was piratical as reported. On the next day Lieut. Grey landed at a place called Yin-sing, with a rather large party of men, and finding more snake boats set them on fire, while doing which he was again fired upon by the pirates, who always on seeing the party approach ran to the hills, and watched from behind the-rocks. At this place there Was a small junk which bad been captured by the waa dene un-rine BA yet ray, with t ig to Maan small xan fled the gant Mawdarin that they had only mat got awa rates, who had captured their Junk on tie North-east side of the Island. The return to Macao was accordingly deferred, and the Alyerine went round to the spot were the jank was supposed to be, and on arriving there Lieut. Grey pat a party of men into the junk last roleos ceeding on shore, soon found two junks, from which the pirates ran away as soon as the Algerines came up. Leaving a few men in the released junk, Lieut, Grey pursued the fellows up a small creek, but the water soon became too shoal for him to proceed, and. he was forced to return without cing able to give the rascals what they deserved. On comi., back to the last found, the crews were discovered to be he-low, the large guns of the junks being pi: Ey By the time these operations were finish was found that the tide would aot penult of their returning to the Alyerine so the eunmander and his party were obliged to remain on beard the junk or the night, which was found to be rather poor lodge ing. The next morning (6th instant.) Lisut. Grey ined to have another try to" whip " the pirates, unt pte. same: anill creek: with his ty. They had not proceeded very far, however, before they observed men running fore them as if watching their movements, and shortly after this the pilongs" opened smart, and some-heavy fire from the front. The Sniders were called into requisition, aad a few of the rascals were seen to tumble over. The pirates, who were evidently fighting for something good, were bold enough to advance on the little band of Algerines, but they soon turned tail" when' a few more rounds from the Sniders had been administered. The party Grey then advanced up the creek, found Ly armed snake-boats, which were of course destroyed, and the party returned on board the gunboat. Thus four junks were liberated, and of these three were returned to the owners, but one junk was a rather suspicious one. The man who said he was the captain of her did not know what her cargo was, nor had he any knowledge of seamanship. This junk and her captain were therefore detained for further enquiry, and arrive hero with the Alprrine yesterday. fal s any which she lao been, and the results have This crusie of the Algerine ing perhaps been as fruit:
not been accomplished without much severe work and a The mumber of snake-boats destroyed was twelve, while five huts were burnt, and when the commander of the Algerine left the Islaad of Tonqua, he had the satisfaction of knowing that there were bub one or two, if so many, snake-boats left on the Island.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.