Pangeran Anom
Pangeran Anom was born in 1767, the son of a royal concubine and half-brother of the Sultan of Sambas. The Sultan was considered weak and the Pangeran Anon tried to exert his influence. Pangeran Anom allied himself with the Chinese from Monterado, who, by then, paid little notice to the demands of taxes from the weak sultan.
Pangeran Anom lived for five years among the Chinese. He dressed in Chinese style, worshipped in their temples and gambled with them. The Pangeran also became an active dealer in opium and the Chinese paid taxes to him, whereas before, they went to the Sultan. The Sultan and Pangerian Anom reconciled with the Sultan, and he was appointed a regent of Sambas.
Pangeran Anom’s close relations with pirates began when he lived on the Sungai (river) Dori and continued with the Sultan’s support. He became associated with Illanun, Banka, Sarawak, Brunei and Pasir pirates.
Pangiran Anom’s first great undertaking was in 1799. At the head of 15 or 16 long two-masted vessels, he attacked and burned a ship belonging to the Sultan of Banjarmasin. He was driven away from battle after a fierce fight with armed vessels sent by the Dutch, capturing two small boats under Dutch colours.
The departure of the Dutch from the region by the end of the eighteenth century weakened the strength and influence of both Banjarmasin and Pontianak, where the Dutch had held fortified outposts.
Relations between Sambas and the Illanun pirates were not always harmonious. In 1803, a force of Illanun pirates plundered the lower reaches of the Sambas river causing the Sambas prahus to retaliate. The Sambas prahus also took a prahu from Java that was taken by the Illanun pirates only to be taken again by Pangeran Anom.
However, the main objective of Sambas was to take the town of Pontianak. By 1811, Sambas had carried off 50 local vessels belonging to Pontianak and had plundered two Chinese junks. The Illanun were also gathering at Sambas for an attack on Pontianak.
The capture of the Calcutta
After an extensive voyage from Calcutta through the east Indies, the ship Calcutta arrived in Borneo in mid-June 1803. It was later also joined by the Clyde. By 1 July, the ships departed, with the Clyde bound for Penang and the Calcutta to Selekau to the south.
The Calcutta was leaving with an agreement from Pengirian Anom. Captain Drysdale had purchased six chests of opium from the captain of the Clyde, and he tried to overcharge Pengiran Anom for the merchandise. While offloading the chests of opium, he allowed too many of Pengiran Anom’s people on board and was stabbed in the heart and thrown overboard. The first officer jumped overboard and drowned. Most of the senior crew members were murdered, along with nine sepoys. Seven crew members jumped overboard and swam to shore, but were captured by the local Chinese and sent to Pontianak. The sole British survivor was John Burgh, the second officer. He had gone below to select textiles for Pangeran Anom and when he returned, the battle was in full swing.
Burgh was wounded and overpowered along with other survivors including the boatswain, ordinary seamen, the Captain’s native girl and a slave boy. The arrival of the Sultan of Sambas restored calm. The Sultan of Sambas told Burgh the ship was “doomed to be seized” and the commander and other Christians were to be massacred as payment for the breach of faith from the master of the Clyde. The survivors were taken to Selekau. Pangeran Anom repeatedly asked Burgh to take charge of the ship and a crew plus 150 Malays in the service of Sambas. Burgh refused. He had no wish to become a renegade pirate.
Burgh was allowed to leave in December 1803 on the Duchess of York, another British ship, who did not know of the fate of the Calcutta when he arrived. The Sultan had said that if the British helped him to capture Pontianak, he would willingly pay an annual tribute and the taking of the Calcutta was the result of bad faith among the traders.
Robert Farquhar in Penang did not initially believe the issue was worth pursuing. He told his superiors in Calcutta that the policies could nearly all be held on the same account as piracy, that many of the rulers were related and, hence, it could affect future trading. Pengirian Anom had since manned and crewed the Calcutta. Penang sent an expedition to recapture the ship. A group of ships moved upriver and captured the Calcutta. Pangeran Anon escaped in a small boat and returned to Sambas.
The capture of the Commerce
The Commerce was returning from Manila and became disabled. It drifted ashore in the Tambelan Islands off the coast of west Borneo. Captain Chapman went to Malacca to obtain materials to fix the ship. When he returned, he found a fight in progress between the prahus from Brunei and local islanders for possession of the ship, which had been set adrift. His Malay crew begged him not to follow for fear of their lives. It was reported that some of the cargo of sugar had gone to Pontianak. The Sultan of Pontianak informed that the Commerce had been seized by pirates from Sarawak with those of Sambas. The Captain and 45 members of the crew were sent to Brunei and sold as slaves.
Capture of the Malacca
The brig Malacca, commanded by Hercules Ross, was attacked near Muntok at Bangka at the end of May or the beginning of June, shortly after the loss of the Commerce. The pirate chiefs lived at Muntok, and much of the cargo of tin ended up in Banjarmasin. Some of the pirate chiefs had taken refuge in Sambas and the British asked the Sultan of Sambas to hand them over, but the Sultan refused. The sultan admitted he had assembled robbers and wicked men, and said he was poor and wanted many things.
Attack on the Lord Minto
The Minto was a small-armed schooner chartered to survey the coastal waters of West Borneo as the favoured route for the British fleet, which was mustering in Malacca for the invasion of Java. Prahus from Sambas were beaten off after a strong attack with the loss of several killed and a considerable number wounded.
The capture of the Portuguese ship Diana
The Diana traded between Macao and Penang and was captured near Pasir in East Borneo in late 1811 or early 1812. It was attacked by Radin Bujang a member of the extended royal family of Sambas. The ship was probably decoyed to an island under the pretext of collecting birds nests and, for reasons not given, all aboard except for the Portuguese boatswain were killed. The vessel was taken upriver at Sambas and entered Pangeran Anom’s service.
The Coromandel
The Coromandel ran aground on a reef in the Karimata Islands in August 1812. The crew and passengers went by boat to Pontianak. Pangeran Anon arrived aboard the Diana and began offloading a cargo of opium. The officers remained camped onshore.
Prahus from both Sambas and Pontianak fought over the ship. The Auroa, commanded by Captain David Macdonald, joined the Pontianak prahus. Captain Macdonald decided Pangeran Anon was responsible for stealing the cargo and set sail for Sambas to capture him. The Diana was docked outside the Sambas River when the Auroa arrived, however, Pangeran Anom escaped over the sandbar and upriver. Because of the shallowness of the water, the Auroa could not follow.
When news of the fate of the Coromandel reached Raffles in Batavia, he stated Sambas should be destroyed. Captain James Bowen, commander of HMS Phoenix, set sail immediately along with the sloops HMS Précis, HMS Barracouta, vessels from Pontianak and 100 British soldiers. Sambas turned out to be heavily defended, and the flotilla retreated under heavy gunfire. The Barracouta was heavily damaged. On his return to Batavia aboard HMS Phoenix, Bowen died suddenly of depression at his failure to take Sambas.
Wanting to avenge the defeat, a squadron of vessels from the Royal Navy and ships from Pontianak, a naval blockade was employed. The Auroa captured a Chinese junk crossing the bar, but let it go. Unbeknown to the British, Pangeran Anon escaped aboard that vessel. Later, the British captured another boat belonging to Pangeran Anon laden with gunpowder and shot from the Sultan Of Brunei. As the British forces gathered at the mouth of the Sambas river, the Sultan of Sambas moved further up the river deeper into the jungle. Pangeran Anon remained and rejected Britain’s call for surrender.
The Battle for Sambas
A force consisting of the sloops Hecafe, Procis,Teignmouth and Aurora, the Sultan of Pontianak’s ship, many smaller vessels and 1500 British troops struggled over the sandbar and up the Sambas river aiming for the forts guarding the city. Many got lost, but they persuaded a terrified Malay woman to show them the way to attack the main fort from behind. Pangeran Anon fled further upriver, leaving his ship, Diana and others burning. The British forces struggled back over the sandbar and into the sea.
Raffles was undecided on what to do. The Sultan of Pontianak desperately wanted Sambas because of the gold riches flowing into the city from the north kongsi. Raffles decided to maintain the status quo and allowed the Sultan of Sambas to return after swearing allegiance to the British crown. Because the people wanted Pangeran Anon, he returned as well.
The Sultan died a week after his return to Sambas, and the ruling family elected Pangeran Anon as Sultan. He established a British residence at Sambas.
From
Borneo Research Bulletin vol. 38 with permission to condense the material from the publisher.
