Gunboat Chang An's Desertion of Admiral Tu Shih-kuei and Arrival in Shanghai The report that the Chinese gunboat Ching An, which had been ordered by Admiral. Tu Shih-kuei, the Commander-in-Chief, to proceed to Amoy to prevent the gunboats there from joining' hands with Admiral Wen Shih-teh, C.-in-C. of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's fleet in Canton, had arrived in Shanghai and declared its independence, is now confirmed.
The Ching An arrived in port on Friday and immediately joined. the independent ships under the command of Admiral Lin Kien-chang (K. K. Lin), local C.-in-C., who declared his independence in February. She is commanded by Captain W. L. Chu and has a complement of 300, Immediately upon her arrival Admiral Lin visited the vessel and paid the officers and men three months' salary.
Admiral Lin telegraphed to Admiral Tu stating that the Ching An had arrived in port safely and had joined the independent gunboats, hence there was no need for him (Tu) to go to any further trouble of giving orders to the Ching-an's men and officers as thay would not be heeded.
A circular telegram has been despatched by the crew stating that orders had been given by the Nanking C.-in-C., Admiral Tu, for them to proceed to Fukien -surgents. We are mostly Fu-and there fight against the inkiencse,"" the men state, "and it is our duty to look after the welfare of our fellow-provincials, Admiral Tu ordered us to fight against our own people, against his own people, for ho, too, is a Fukienese.... Rather than fight and have the people—suffer, therefore, we have come to Shanghai and have joined the independent fleet under the command of Admiral Lin, to whom we have handed over our ammunition."
A dinner was given by Admiral Lin to Captain Chu and his staff on Saturday night and there congratulatory speeches were made.
The Ching An is said to have had on board 80 machine guns, 25,000 rounds of: ammunition, a cannon and 200 other weapons. These, for tha most part, were taken from. the three vessels bought from Admiral Stark, the Russian, by Admiral Tu early this year.
The Chinese - press states that, upon receipt of the information the independent fleet, Admiral that the Ching An had joined Tu immediately issued an order proclaiming martial law at the different loyal forts and on board the various gunboats rer maining under his command. He has ordered these to fire on any Chinese gunboat that attempts to pass before permission - has
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