On southern Taiwan, aboriginals massacre the survivors of an American shipwreck

The American bark Rover had sailed from Swatow three days before, carrying cargo along the Chinese coast to the northern port of Newchwang, present-day Yingkou.  Encountering bad weather, the vessel was driven onto rocks and sunk at the extreme southern tip of the island of Taiwan, then termed Formosa.  The captain, his wife, and his crew escaped by boat but on landing were immediately attacked and killed by the area's Paiwan aboriginal inhabitants who had had increasingly hostile encounters with westerners and Chinese travellers. An immediate British naval effort from H.M.S. Cormorant to come to the aid of the Rover survivors took place on March 26, 1867 but was too small to resist attacks from locals and withdrew.  A later and larger  U.S. Navy attempt in June 1867 to punish those responsible was similarly repulsed.  (By John Osborne)