The Hoc Canton affair was a piracy and hostage incident that took place off the west coast of Atjeh in June 1886 during the governorship of General H. Demmeni, when the Toekoe Oemar — at that moment one of the most powerful and most distrusted Acehnese war chiefs — seized the chartered Chinese-owned steamship Hoc Canton at Rigas, murdered or captured several of those on board, including the Danish captain Hansen and his wife, and held the survivors to ransom. The episode, which Brooshooft called “a counterpart to the Nisero plundering,” demonstrated that Dutch concentration at Kota Radja had not put an end to coastal piracy and prompted a punitive expedition to Rigas.
Background
By the spring of 1886 the Dutch had, under the concentrated-line policy introduced after August 1884, withdrawn most of their forward posts and held only three coastal stations outside Great Atjeh: Edi on the east coast, Segli (also written Seyli) on the north coast, and Malaboeh on the west coast. The pepper port of Rigas, north of Tenom, was not occupied; its radja was considered friendly, but the notorious Toekoe Oemar exercised great influence over much of the population there, so that the Raja himself had little say.
In June 1886 the Penang trading house Jebsen & Co. sent a sailing vessel under Captain Roura to Rigas to buy a cargo of pepper. Roura had no cash with him, and the 5,000 dollars needed to pay for the pepper were dispatched a few days later by the steamship Hoc Canton, belonging to a Chinese company that regularly supplied the Dutch naval establishment at Atjeh. The Hoc Canton plied between Penang and Oleh-leh, arriving at the latter on Fridays and usually sailing again on Tuesdays, and Jebsen & Co. chartered her to use that interval for the six-hour steam to Rigas to pay for and partly load the pepper bought by Roura.
The Seizure
The Hoc Canton reached Rigas in the afternoon of Sunday 13 June 1886. Her master was Captain Hansen, a Dane, who had brought his young wife on board. Also on board were a German mate, two English engineers, the Chinese supercargo of the owning company, and a crew who, according to Brooshooft, behaved in a “cowardly” fashion and left their captain in the lurch.
Toekoe Oemar, who was staying on the coast of Rigas at the time and had long been aware through trade connections that the Hoc Canton was expected with a large sum of money, came alongside on Monday morning with a large band of followers and boarded the ship without resistance. According to Brooshooft’s narrative, based on the information available after the event:
- The pirates first emptied the supercargo’s safe, containing 1,000 dollars.
- They then attempted to reach the bridge, where Captain Hansen was guarding the remaining 5,000 dollars.
- The first engineer and the mate put up a heroic resistance but were both cut down and killed.
- The second engineer locked himself in his cabin and was taken prisoner there.
- Other pirates went for the captain and his wife. Mrs. Hansen was quickly tied to the bridge ladder. Hansen fired several revolver shots but was attacked from behind and received, among other injuries, a blow to the skull.
- Mrs. Hansen freed herself and rushed to help her husband; she, too, was slightly wounded. Both jumped overboard but were immediately overtaken by an Acehnese prahus and taken prisoner.
- The ship was thoroughly looted, the pepper already loaded was taken back out, and Oemar went ashore with his plunder and captives.
Captain Roura later came aboard, and the Hoc Canton was sailed back to Oleh-leh by the Chinese supercargo and Captain Roura. There happened to be no Dutch warship on the roadstead.
The Expedition of 20 June 1886
As soon as possible the Dutch dispatched the steamer Zeemeeuw to Rigas, carrying Controleur Kamp (charged with coastal affairs) and the Raja of Rigas, who had been at Kota Radja at the time of the attack. They tried to recover the prisoners peaceably from Oemar. Captain Hansen had already died of his wounds soon after being taken, leaving his widow and the second engineer, Faya (or Fay), alone in the hands of the pirates. Oemar had moved them into the interior for safety and demanded 50,000 dollars ransom per head — 100,000 dollars in all.
Instead of the ransom, Governor Demmeni sent a force of 400 men under Lieutenant-Colonel van Teyn aboard the steamer Devonhorst, departing 20 June 1886. The force was divided into three columns under Captains van den Bosch, Filipsen, and Stemfort. While Assistant-Resident van Lange, Controleur Kamp, and the Raja of Rigas kept Oemar talking ashore, two of the three columns — because of heavy surf — were landed with great difficulty at Telok Kloempang, north of Rigas, to take Oemar’s shore position from the land side, while the third column landed at Rigas to attack him frontally. The plan appears to have been betrayed: Oemar had fled by the time the troops arrived. In the hastily abandoned benting the Dutch found many weapons and munitions and, among other items, several articles of Mrs. Hansen’s clothing.
The troops pursued Oemar’s bands and met some resistance in the mountainous interior. Three officers and four other ranks were wounded, and two men were killed. Further pursuit of Oemar and recovery of the prisoners in the mountains proved impossible. Instead, about thirteen notable inhabitants of Oemar’s kampong, including several women and some of his relatives, were seized and taken away as hostages. After seven days the expedition returned. Embarkation and disembarkation were extremely difficult: a sloop carrying Lieutenant Matthes and six men capsized (all were rescued), and the captain of the Devonhorst was swept overboard from his bridge by the surf and drowned.
Release of the Prisoners
A negotiation similar to that after the Nisero affair then followed. Through the mediation of several chiefs, and particularly of Toekoe Baid, Mrs. Hansen and engineer Faya were exchanged for the hostages held at Kota Radja against a ransom of 25,000 dollars — a sum later recovered from Rigas district by coercive measures. The two captives had to make exhausting treks through the interior and finally reached Anak Paja in the IV Moekims. On 7 September 1886 Mrs. Hansen and her fellow captive arrived at Kota Radja. She was exhausted and had suffered particularly from thrush (spruw), but otherwise had been fairly and decently treated by Oemar and his followers. She was nursed at the Governor’s residence, gradually recovered her strength, and departed from Atjeh to Penang. Funds were raised in Deli and elsewhere to send her back to her native Denmark.
Aftermath
The Raja of Rigas was deposed and exiled because the piracy had taken place in his territory. Oemar himself remained at large. The incident, together with the December 1885 raid on Pulau Bras and continuing raids in Tamiang and Deli, was cited by Brooshooft as evidence that the policy of minimal interference on the coasts, while leaving trade largely free, could not prevent occasional outrages; but he argued that these could and should be suppressed by adequate sea-power and vigilance rather than by a renewed general offensive.
See Also
- Toekoe Oemar
- Demmeni
- Van Langen
- Van Teyn
- Rigas
- Tenom
- West Coast of Atjeh
- Malaboch
- Nisero affair
- Concentratie-stelsel (1884-1896)
- Oleh-leh
- Penang
- 13 June
- 20 June
- 7 September
- 1886
Source
Brooshooft, Mr. P. Geschiedenis van den Atjeh-oorlog 1873–1886. Utrecht: F. B. van Ditmar, 1886, Hoofdstuk X (“De concentratie onzer stelling. Tegenwoordige toestand”), pp. 273–276 (pp. 291–294 of the OCR).