About Tomas – History of the Showloon
About Tomas – History of the Showloon
Rumoured to have originated on the island of Ulleung, the Showloon (while never venturing too far off-shore at first) soon became a feared (though oft derided) name initially on the Strait, then the Yellow Sea, and, sometime afterwards, the Sea of Korea.
Ulleung Island
A ragtag bunch. Through some miracle (wholly unrelated to organizational structure, and despite running ashore numerous times on the Liancourt Rocks) their ensign grew in fame, at one point as far afield as the South China Sea.
A Showloon Junk
The Legenday Cai Qian leant his trade at the side of the Showloon, and at their hight they dominated Guangdong and Taiwan Strait, depositing plundered treasures at the Shanghai Bund (conveniently accessible on the Huangpu River.)
The decline and fall of the Showloon is not well documented. Pirates seldom make great historians. Suffice to say, prosperity saw many abandoning their adventuring ways to adopt conventional professions.
It was Tomas Lee, who in 2009 became the heir to the last of the Showloon.
Showloon Junk on Huangpu River
Sadly on visiting the ancient bank vaults on the Bund, he discovered generations of previous beneficiaries had left this treasure trove close to depleted.
Yet inspired by the remaining records of this buccaneering past, he decided to continue their adventuring ways, plundering not the seven seas with mayhem and havoc, but by exploring far and wide the treasures that sometimes can often go unnoticed.
A new Showloon Platoon for a new century.
Showlooners
