The crew waved for the passengers to go inside, but the crowd was milling in panic.
Ah Lim drew in a deep breath but waited with the crowd. The ship had many possible hiding places, but the attackers might sink the ship. He stayed where he was.
The HMS Alderwood’s crew were unprepared to defend the ship. The Heavenly Kingdom’s fleet of small balloons hovered overhead as ropes were thrown from the baskets to the deck. Small puffing coal-burners spun big propellers at the back of the baskets.
While passengers screamed and drew away, the Taiping soldiers climbed down the ropes and jumped to the deck. Most leveled their firearms at the crowd, shouting in multiple languages and Chinese dialects, while some of them tethered the balloon baskets to the ship’s railing. The crew members, includin
