COMBAT DE COLOANE This article, by defence and security analyst Trevor Hollingsbee and featuring the Portuguese gunboat Macau, was published in the Hong Kong magazine Fragrant Harbour in 1992. I wish to thank Trevor Hollingsbee and Fragrant Harbour for their kind assistance and permission to display this article on the site. The Portuguese gunboat Macau was built in 1909 by Yarrow's shipyard in Scotland and may have been a forerunner to the Fly Class gunboats used by the Royal Navy in the Middle East. Monument to the Combat de Coloane In the gardens of an old chapel on Coloane Island, Macau, is a monument bearing the simple inscription: Combat de Coloane. Around it embedded in concrete are cannon barrels, cannon balls and an artillery shell. Not much is known by the locals either about the monument or the Combat de Coloane but research sheds some light. During the early part of this century there was much turmoil in China. With Sun Yat-sen's nationalist movement asserting itself, the power of the warlords waned. Piracy, however, flourished. Islands became havens for illicit operations and coastal shipping was threatened. Traders in Hong Kong and Macau suffered severe losses. Coloane, the more seaward of Macau's two offshore islands, was a known pirate lair. Nowadays it is connected via a causeway to Taipa Island but then it was relatively remote. The Portuguese navy at that time operated four warships in its Far East Fleet. They were the cruisers Rainha De Amelia and Vasco da Gama, the large gunboat Patria and the small shallow-draught gunboat Macau which was permanently based in Macau. These vessels were responsible for maintaining the security of Portugal's eastern colonies - Goa, Daman and Diu on India's west coast, Macau and Timor in Indonesia. From time to time, the Portuguese were also represented in the international fleet off the Shanghai bund. The Macau was built at Yarrow's in Scotland. With two triple expansion engines the gunboat was capable of 12 knots. Overall length was 36m, beam 6m and draught a mere 0.6m. This shallow draught made the Macau ideally suited to the silted waters of the Pearl River estuary. Having been shipped on the steamer Glenochy, the Macau was lowered into Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour on the 7th of July 1909. On the 21st of July the vessel set sail for Macau, armed and ready for sea. The first commanding officer was Primeiro-Tenente Joaquim Anselmo da Mata Oliveira (who was also in command at the time of the Coloane battle). The Macau's fixed armament consisted of single six-pounder guns mounted fore and aft, and three machine guns. The crew of 35 included a civilian pilot and local furnace men and cooks. In the summer of 1910 the Portuguese authorities in Macau learnt that a number of Chinese children had been abducted by pirates and were being held for ransom on Coloane Island. It was decided that action should be taken. An initial foray by the police was unsuccessful and it became clear that a well co-ordinated land and sea operation was necessary. A force of 100 police officers was assembled on the 12th of July to be taken to Coloane to land under the cover of gunfire from the Patria and Macau. The Patria was 62m long, 9m wide and had a draught of 2.8m. This large ocean-going gunboat mounted an armament of four 100mm guns, six three-pounder guns and a machine gun. Built in Portugal, the vessel was launched at Lisbon's Arsenal de Marinha in 1903. Links with Brazil must have been strong at the time as it is recorded that patriotic Brazilians made a substantial donation towards construction costs. At the time of the battle Primeiro-Tenente Jose Campos Ferreira Lima was in command. The two cruisers of the Far East Fleet - Rainha de Amelia and Vasco da Gama - drew too much water to operate in Macau waters but they were apparently positioned in Hong Kong to give support to the operation. On the 12th of July the Macau and Patria were made ready for action. The Macau, under the command of Major Alfredo Artur de Margalhaes, was to carry the police company and assist in its landing. The following day, approaching the island, the battle began. There were heavy exchanges of fire between the Macau positioned 1,000m offshore and the pirate emplacements. The next morning, the police were landed under the cover of a heavy bombardment by the two gunboats. At this point a delegation was received from the commander of the Chinese garrison on the adjacent island of Wong Kam. The Chinese officer's offer of assistance in overcoming the pirates was politely declined on the grounds that it was "police business" and an "internal Portuguese matter". Incidentally, the Portuguese had claimed Wong Kam until 1897 under the name Montanha. And so the battle continued. Both sides suffered casualties. A Portuguese NCO and constable were killed and reinforcements had to be landed from the Macau and from the Rainha de Amelia which had arrived from Hong Kong. By the 19th of July the pirates, led by a brigand named Wu, had decided their position was hopeless and entered into negotiations. The next day 44 pirates surrendered (many more had fled) and seven children were handed back. Both the police and crew of the Macau received gallantry awards from the Portuguese government for successfully completing the operation. The Vasco da Gama was summoned from Hong Kong to land a relief party and to provide a temporary garrison on the island. MORE ON THE MACAU... The Macau continued to serve in the Portuguese enclave for more than 30 eventful years. Day to day duties included surveying and the maintenance of lights and buoys. When not engaged in patrolling, there were periodic trips down the China coast providing safe passage for Portuguese missionaries and showing the flag in Canton and other Chinese ports. There were regular exercises with British, American and French gunboats and other Portuguese warships. From time to time, the Macau gave assistance to vessels that had foundered, been damaged in typhoons, or subjected to pirate attacks. The old gunboat's presence in Macau was frequently the subject of criticism by the enclave's governing body (Leal Senado). It objected to the cost of maintenance and repairs feeling this should have been the responsibility of the Portuguese government. This unusual gunboat did not end its days in Macau, however. During World War II Macau was neutral but it could not escape the effects of hostilities between China and Japan. The enclave provided a safe haven for Chinese and Hong Kong refugees but by 1942 it was bankrupt. One of Governor Texeira's emergency fund raising measures was to order the sale of the Macau to the Japanese military in China. A large quantity of gold was handed over in exchange. The Macau began its new life as the river gunboat Maiko. After the eventual defeat of the Japanese the vessel was taken over by the Chinese nationalist navy and renamed Wu Fang. It's career as a river gunboat continued with the PLA navy after the Chinese revolution. The Wu Fang is known to have been active in the early 1960s and Portuguese naval historians have reason to believe the vessel may still exist. Enquiries with the PLA navy have yielded little but the search continues ... A rare picture of the gunboat Macau (c.1920). The buildings around the naval dockyard still stand today. Three names of the vessels involved in the Coloane battle have been re-used. A high-speed ferry introduced last year on the run to Madeira from Portugal has been named Patria. The lead vessel for the new class of launch for Macau's Marine Police is the Macau (FH November 1991). The first of class of the new helicopter-carrying frigates for the Portuguese navy has been christened Vasco da Gama. Yarrow's is one of the few yards to have survived changing naval needs in warship design. There were wild celebrations on the Clyde recently when the yard won orders for three new frigates for the Royal Navy and two corvettes for the Malaysians. FH appreciates the kind assistance given in the preparation of this article by Rui Brito Peixoto, of the excellent Museu Maritimo de Macau, and Jose Lameiras, commander of the sea division of the Macau Marine Police. BACK TO MAIN PAGE All rights reserved. No photographs or information appearing here may be reproduced without permission. Inquiries regarding the photographs or information appearing here should be directed to wampit@warstrike.com. Copyright 1992 - Trevor Hollingsbee. Webmaster: wampit@warstrike.com