Bias Bay turned jurisdiction into a counter-piracy obstacle

Bias Bay lay about sixty-five miles north of Hong Kong but outside British territorial waters and under Cantonese jurisdiction. Authorities there were unwilling or unable to cooperate, while anti-foreign feeling complicated the joint action envisioned by treaty. Guangdong warlords were suspected of links to pirate groups, although the evidence did not establish the claim. Pirates based in the bay were credited with nine major attacks between 1924 and 1926, including the largest incidents of the period. Vice Admiral Allen Everett left after about a year, apparently after a breakdown, although its cause remains uncertain. Rear Admiral David Murray Anderson, already serving in the Yangtze command, then stepped into the wider station responsibility. A short geographic distance had become a major operational barrier because jurisdiction and political authority did not align.