A very queer craft is a Chinese junk. Few Europeans have any defined
idea what they are like. They are of different sizes, most of them
suited to the numerous rivers and canals which intersect the country
in every part. The largest are of about one thousand tons burden. The
whole mode of building is most peculiar. Instead of the timbers being
first raised as with us, they are the last in their places, and the
vessel is put together with immense spiked nails. The next process is
doubling and clamping above and below decks. Two immense beams or
string pieces are then ranged below, fore and aft, and keep the other
beams in their places. The deck-frames are an arch, and a platform
erected on it protects it from the sun, and from other injuries
otherwise inevitable. The seams are caulked either with old
fishing-net or bamboo shavings, and then paid with a cement called
chinam, consisting of oyster-shells burnt to lime, with a mixture of
fine bamboo shavings, pounded together with a vegetable oil extracted
from a ground nut. When dried it becomes excessively hard; it never
starts, and the seams thus secured are perfectly safe and water-tight.
All the work about her is of the roughest kind. The trees when found
of a suitable size are cut down, stripped of their bark, and sawn into
convenient lengths; the sides are not squared, but left just as they
grew. No artificial means are resorted to for any bends; a tree or
branch of a tree is found with the requisite natural curvature. There
is not in the building, rigging, or fitting-up of a Chinese junk one
single thing which is similar to what we see on board a European
vessel. Everything is different; the mode of construction; the absence
of keel, bowsprit, and shrouds; the materials employed; the mast, the
sails, the yard, the rudder, the compass, the anchor--all are
dissimilar.
The vessel in which I now found myself, the _King-Shing_, was of
about seven hundred tons. She was built entirely of teak, and her skipper,
or Ty Kong, as he is called, alleged that she was more than a hundred
years old, and said that one of her crew who had recently died, had
served in her for fifty years. Her extreme length was one hundred and
sixty feet; breadth of beam, twenty-five feet and a half; depth of
hold, twelve feet; height of poop from the water, thirty-eight feet;
height of bow, thirty feet. Her most attractive portion was the
saloon, or state cabin, the beauty of whose furniture and decorations
formed a curious contrast to the rude and rough workmanship of the
cabin itself. Its carved and gilded entrance was protected by a sort
of skylight, the sides of which were formed of the prepared
oyster-shells so commonly used in China instead of glass, the latter
being too expensive for general purposes. The enclosure was thirty
feet long, twenty-five broad, and eleven in height. From the beams
overhead were suspended numbers of the different kinds of lanterns
used in China. They were of every imaginable form, size, and variety
of material. The sides and deck-roof were of a yellow ground, and
covered with paintings of flowers, leaves, fruit, insects, birds,
monkeys, dogs, and cats; some of those latter animals were what in
heraldic language would be called _queue-fourchée_. The place was
filled with a vast assortment of curious and beautiful articles,
gathered together during the long existence of the vessel. To give a
list of them would require pages; brought to Europe they would have
made the reputations of a dozen museums.
At the end of the saloon was the Joss-house, or idol-house, containing
the idol Chin-Tee, having eighteen arms, with her attendants, Tung-Sam
and Tung-See. The richly-gilt idol was made of one solid piece of
camphor-wood, and had a red scarf thrown round it. An altar-table,
also of camphor-wood, and painted red, stood in front of the
Joss-house, with an incense burner placed upon it. The red ground of
the table had gilt carvings of flowers and insects, and the imperial
dragons with the ball of flame between them. On each side of the front
was a square place painted green, with words in Chinese inviting
worshippers to bring gold and agate stones as offerings.
The sleeping berths of the crew were all _aft_, on a lower deck.
Close by these was the most astonishing part of the vessel, the colossal
rudder, not hung with pintles and gudgeons, the vessel having no
stern-post, but suspended to two windlasses by three large ropes made
of cane and hemp; one round a windlass on the next deck, and two round
a windlass on the upper deck of all, so that it could be raised or
lowered according to the depth of water. When lowered to its full
extent it drew about twenty-four feet, being twelve feet more than the
draught of the vessel. It was steered on this berth-deck when fully
lowered. It was also drawn close into the stern, into a kind of
socket, by means of two immense bamboo ropes attached to the bottom of
the rudder, passing beneath the bottom of the vessel, and coming over
the bow on the upper deck, and there hove in taut and fastened. When
let down to its greatest depth it required occasionally the strength
of fifteen men to move the large tiller.
On ascending to the next deck, one passed under a covering made of
oyster-shells, similar to that over the entrance to the saloon; under
this hung a flag which had been borne before the Emperor on one of the
most solemn religious processions. On a piece of wood near one of the
windlasses was inscribed--"May the sea never wash over this junk."
Close by was the sailors' Joss-house, containing the deity of the sea
with her two attendants, each with a red scarf. Near the principal
goddess was a piece of the wood from the first timber of the junk that
was laid; this was taken to one of their principal temples, there
consecrated, and then brought on board, and placed as symbolic of the
whole vessel's being under the protection of the deity. A small
earthen pot, containing sacred earth and rice, stood in front, in
which Joss-sticks and other incense was burnt. A lighted lamp, too,
was here always kept burning; if it had gone out during a voyage it
would have been considered an omen of bad luck. On the right and left,
before coming to this Joss-house, were paintings. One panel
represented the Mandarin Ducks; another, a Chinese lady at her
toilette; a third, a globe of gold-fish. On this deck were cabins for
passengers and supercargoes, the doors painted with different devices.
Above was the lofty poop-deck, with one of the rudder-windlasses on
it, and the mizzen-mast, fifty feet long, and placed on one side, in
order to allow the tiller to work when in shallow water. The main-mast
was ninety-five feet in length, and ten feet in circumference at the
bottom. It was one spar of teak, and just as the tree grew with merely
the bark taken off. It was not perfectly straight--a defect with us,
but not so considered by the Chinese, who prefer a mast with a bend in
it to one without, thinking it adds to the strength, and is conclusive
evidence of the goodness of the spar. This mast was hooped round, in
consequence of being cracked while undergoing the process of
hardening. The mode adopted for this purpose by the Chinese is to bury
the timber for a considerable time in marshy ground; thus treated,
they say teak becomes hard as iron. The mast did not go within four
feet of the bottom--the ship having no kelson--but, to use the
technical term, was "toggled" to two large pieces of wood which
answered as partners. To these were added two other heavy pieces as
chocks, which were intended to keep the huge spars in their places.
Neither stays nor shrouds were used. The main yards were made of teak
quite rough; the upper one was seventy-five feet long, and the lower
sixty.
The sails were made of closely-woven matting, a substance much lighter
than canvas. It holds the wind better, and rarely splits, because it
never shakes in the wind. So large and heavy was the mainsail of the
_King-Shing_, that it required forty men with the aid of the capstan
to raise it. Without the capstan eighty men would have been needed. It
had eighteen reefs. The sails were reefed by being lowered, which
precluded any necessity for going aloft.
The vane was in the shape of a fish, the body formed of rattan work,
the head and gills of painted matting, with two projections like the
antennæ of a butterfly. The tail was furnished with long streamers,
and little flags were stuck in the body for additional ornament. There
were also Chinese characters painted on the body signifying "Good luck
to the Junk." Between the main-mast and fore-mast were two large rough
windlasses stretching across the deck, and used for getting up the
anchor. By the entrance to the forecastle were two water-tanks,
capable of holding one thousand five hundred gallons each. The
fore-mast was seventy-five feet from the deck. It raked forward, and
was supported by a large piece of wood on the after part, and secured
similarly to the main-mast. The anchors were of wood, the flukes shod
with iron, and attached to the shank by strong lashings of bamboo. The
stock was composed of three separate pieces of wood lashed together by
rattan ropes, and was fixed to the crown. As the Chinese drag their
anchors on board instead of catting and fishing as other seamen do,
this position of the stock offers no impediment. The flukes were of
the same dimensions as those of similar sized anchors with us; they
were straight and not rounded, and there were no palms. There was also
a kedge, with only one fluke. The cables were of rattan. The junk had
no bitts, but to supply their place the strong beams across the deck
had large holes for stoppers. The "wales" formed another singular
feature of the vessel--airtight boxes, projecting three feet from the
side; their object was to make the vessel more buoyant, to enable her
to carry more cargo, and prevent her rolling, but this last, in my
opinion, was chiefly prevented by the size and position of the rudder.
The cook-house was placed differently from the galleys of European
vessels, being aft of the main-mast. The lower part was built of
brick, with two square holes in front for the fires. Troughs of water
were placed in front of these holes, so that any ignited fuel that
might drop out would be at once extinguished. Wood was the fuel used.
For cooking they used iron pans surrounded by red tiles. One was
covered by a kind of half cask; this was used for boiling the rice,
the cover being to preserve the steam after the water was boiled away,
which causes the rice to be beautifully done and not soddened, as is
often the case in our cooking. It also prevents it from being thrown
out when the vessel rolls. The quantity of rice for each man was about
three pounds daily. All washing of dishes, etc., was performed on a
stage outside the galley so that it might be kept perfectly clean. The
proper allowance for each mess was delivered in front. Close to the
cook-house was a water-tank of wood, painted in imitation of bricks,
and capable of holding three thousand gallons.
Such was the _King-Shing_ junk, and such are most of the craft of the
Celestials. They would appear to be gradually coming round to Western
ideas in the matter of ships, and in fact have done so entirely for
war purposes, but the fashions of their ancestors are still good
enough for most of them, and the junk is to be seen everywhere. Not a
mere thing of yesterday is the junk. Vessels essentially similar to
the one I have described were navigating the Chinese seas and rivers
when the fleets of Rome and Carthage were contesting the supremacy of
the Mediterranean, and long before. Rome and Carthage, and many
another mighty maritime power, have risen and passed away utterly,
like bubbles, or dreams, but the Chinaman and his everlasting junk are
still here.
The vessel belonged to some mandarins at Shanghai, who used it for
trading to Cochin-China. It had recently, however, been despatched
with a cargo to Cheefoo, had been blown away north by a gale, and
forced to run into the harbour at Port Arthur to escape the Japanese.
There it had lain until the place fell. The crew numbered fifty-four,
all told.
After floating off the sand-bank, and getting an offing, we were
within the Gulf of Pechili, and determined to make for one or other of
its ports, but on the first day we encountered a very heavy
nor'-wester, which blew us far out of the Gulf. When, after lasting a
day and a night, the gale abated, we were well down the Yellow Sea,
and the skipper, or Ty Kong, whose name was Sam-Sing, determined to
hold on for the port where the junk's owners dwelt. I had no objection
to make to this, nor had the mandarin, who possessed friends and
relatives in the south. The soldiers on board, however, were very
discontented and mutinous, and as they considerably outnumbered the
crew I began to fear trouble. They were all from northern provinces
and had no desire to go south. Their language was scarcely
intelligible even to their nominal countrymen. The immense diversity
of dialects in China is, in fact, a great hindrance to progress by
preventing the unification of the people. After some excited
discussion they were prevailed upon to acquiesce by the solemn promise
of the mandarin to make arrangements with the authorities for their
return to their own parts, or failing that to send them back at his
own expense; besides, the representation that to turn north again
would most likely end in capture by the Japanese vessels, through
whose present cruising-ground the gale had luckily blown us, had great
weight.
I was vastly amused, during my voyage in the _King-Shing_, by the
superstitions of her crew. Their devotion to their idols was indeed
truly edifying. A religious man, according to his lights, was
Sam-Sing, and rigidly punctual in the daily observance of
incense-burning, gong-banging, and other rites supposed to be
propitiatory of the deity. He was also, however, greatly addicted to
opium-smoking, and when under the influence of the drug, of which, as
an old stager, he could consume great quantities without being
stupefied, the idea of the occult power of the goddess, never absent
from his mind, was turned completely upside down. When free from the
fumes of opium nobody could have been more respectful to the Josses,
but when intoxicated, and with the weather threatening, he openly
poured upon them abuse, reviling, and suspicion. He usually started a
pipe of opium about noon, and the change in his demeanour came round
gradually during the afternoon. In the morning he was sober and pious,
in the evening intoxicated and blasphemous, particularly, as I have
said, when the weather was bad. "As for that infernal Chin-Tee," he
would say in effect, shaking his fist in the direction of the idol,
"it's all her fault we're in this mess. What's the use of her--lazy
harridan! Much she cares what becomes of us"--and so on till
overpowered by excess. When by the next morning he had slept off his
debauch, and came round to recollection of his enormities, his
penitence knew no bounds; he would prostrate himself in the
Joss-house, and in the most abject terms implore forgiveness for his
intemperate language over-night. Then he would generally abstain for
two or three days, but at the first sign of bad weather, he took to
his pipe, and Chin-Tee came in for another blast of abuse. The rest of
the crew were always horrified by the shocking impiety of the Ty Kong,
and on more than one occasion I really feared that they were about to
proceed to Jonahize him. They were by no means all opium-smokers; some
of them smoked tobacco, of a vile quality, in metal pipes, with an
under-hanging curved portion containing water, through which the
smoke passed. The opium-pipe is a quite different thing. It is a reed
of about an inch in diameter, and the aperture in the bowl for the
admission of the opium is not larger than a pin's head. The drug is
prepared by boiling and evaporation to the consistence of treacle.
Very few whiffs can be taken from a single pipe, but one is enough to
have an effect on a beginner, as I have already described in my own
case, but an old hand, like the Ty Kong, can smoke for hours.
The incense burned before the idols consisted mostly of pieces of
aromatic wood, called Joss-sticks, silvered paper, and tin-foil. One
of their most revered objects was the mariner's compass, and before it
they would place tea, sweet cake, and pork, in order to keep it
faithful and true! It is well known that the Chinese were acquainted
with the phenomenon of the magnetized needle centuries before it was
known in Europe, and their compass differs materially from ours;
instead of consisting of a movable card attached to the needle, theirs
is simply a needle of little more than an inch in length balanced in a
glazed hole in the centre of a solid wooden dish, finely varnished. It
has only twenty-four points, and with its use they combine some of
their most ancient astrological ideas. The broad circumference of the
dish is marked off into concentric circles, inscribed with mystical
figures. We say the needle points to the north; they hold that the
attraction is to the south, and therefore colour that end of the
needle red, a hue that appears to have a mysterious efficacy in their
eyes. I have already told how the Josses were wrapped in red scarves,
and bits of red cloth were tied on the rudder, cable, mast, and other
principal parts of the vessel, as safeguards against danger. There was
also a large painted eye on either side of the bow, to enable the junk
to see her way! At first I could not understand the meaning of this,
and told Chung to ask the Ty Kong for an explanation. "Have eye,"
translated Chung, "can see; no have eye, no can see." On occasions of
special religious demonstration these optics were decorated with
strips of red cloth. On one occasion when a steamer suspiciously like
a Japanese cruiser hove in sight, they tied red rags to their antique
guns, or gin-galls, and with this consecration on their defensive
arrangements, seemed to feel perfectly secure. I suppose the
English-trained crews of their navy must have been persuaded out of
these amazing notions, and taught the European compass, but the ideas
of Sam-Sing and his merry men were as old as their vessel.
I have not yet described my mandarin friend. His name was Ki-Chang; he
was a mandarin of the fifth class, his distinctive mark being a
crystal button on the top of his cap. He was forty-six years old,
intelligent, amiable, and gentlemanly. He and I had much intercourse
during the voyage, with Chung for an interpreter. I taught him a
little English, and how to write his name in English, an
accomplishment of which he seemed extremely proud. Like most of the
educated Chinese, he wrote his own language very beautifully. He was a
wealthy and influential man.
The _King-Shing_ showed herself a remarkably good sea-boat, but
desperately slow. No device could get more than eight knots out of
her, and this was much above her average. We encountered one or two
violent storms, in which she behaved wonderfully. One night the wind,
after veering all round the compass with vivid lightning and thunder,
settled in the south-west and blew a perfect hurricane. All sails were
lowered, except half the fore-sail, and twenty-five men were required
at the mammoth rudder. We were obliged to start some eight tons of
water out of the deck tanks, and everything on deck, fore and aft, was
secured. The junk laboured heavily, but shipped no water. At day-break
the weather moderated, and we were able to set more sail; but in two
or three hours the wind chopped round to the north-west, and blew more
fiercely than ever, attended by squalls of hailstones as big as
marbles, the knocks of which made my countenance look as if I had
come off second-best in a middle-weight "scrap." We lowered the
main-sail again, and set four reefs of fore-sail to scud under. At
three o'clock the vessel took a tremendous lurch, and washed away our
lee-quarter boat. It was dark, and the sea barely discernible at a
distance of thirty yards, being blown into a thick mist. At six the
hurricane continued with unabated fury with terrific squalls; a
fearful sea struck the ship and nearly broached her to. The sea was a
mass of foam, and running very high, but kept down to some extent by
the violence of the wind. Later we were running under bare poles.
Again the gale went down, and again we got up sail, but without
warning a tremendous squall struck us and laid us on our beam ends. A
boat was blown away, the fore-sail split, and through the carelessness
of the men at the rudder they jibed the main-sail; it came over with
terrific force, but fortunately did no harm. Luckily the sails could
be very easily and rapidly lowered. One only had to let go or cut the
halyards and down they came. Throughout all this the junk behaved in a
manner which astounded me. She actually never shipped any water, that
which came aboard being tops of seas blown off. But the very qualities
which made her so steady-going militated against her speed. She was a
safe boat at all points. One night we had to anchor off a dead
lee-shore; the crew decorated their cables with some extra red rags,
and with death grinning under our lee, went to supper with a serenity
which I should have been glad to be able to imitate. But their
confidence was as well grounded as their anchors, which held with an
unshakable tenacity.
Though so long acquainted with the compass, the Chinese have always
been as unenterprising in sailoring as in everything else, and seldom
lose sight of the land, if they can help it. Their fondness for
hugging the coast was very noticeable to me, and, unused to the
constant vigilance and care which a long sea voyage demands, their
system of duty was very lax and careless. There were no proper
watches; at nightfall the Ty Kong used quietly to lower about three
reefs of the main-sail and the whole of the mizzen. All the crew would
then go to their cabin, leaving the helmsmen alone on deck. At
midnight a supper was prepared, and the sleepers awakened. The meal
ended, the helm would be relieved and the men retired to their berths
again.
At this rate it may be supposed that we made slow progress, and more
than one incipient mutiny had to be dealt with, some of the crew
refusing to work, and the soldiers complaining on the far from
unreasonable ground that they had not enough to eat. We spoke several
northward-bound vessels, both native and foreign, to whom we wished to
entrust the discontented warriors, but these ships one and all
gratefully but firmly declined the compliment. By dint of necessity,
aided by the mandarin's promises, we struggled along, and as
everything must come to an end some time or other, we reached our port
at the beginning of January.
I have little more to add. Ki-Chang showed himself grateful, and not
only entertained me royally, but gave me substantial pecuniary aid, a
thing I was in very pressing need of. Of course I have long since
repaid his loan.
I obtained a passage in a French steamer to Callao, whence I made my
way overland to San Francisco. I called on Mr. H----, who informed me
that the _Columbia_ (not then in port) had made another successful
trip, but with results so diminished in the pecuniary sense that he
had determined not to risk her again for inadequate profits.
_Columbia_, I may say, was not the steamer's real name.
I next met Webster at Sydney. The explanation of my being left behind
at Port Arthur was simple enough. The "houtcast" had taken so many
"caulkers" of rum during the day that he became oblivious to the fact
of my being ashore, and Chubb took it for granted that I had returned
on board, especially as I had sent back the boat in which I landed
with the Chinese agent. My absence was not noted until the small hours
of the ensuing morning, when the swift steamer was far enough away.
Webster wanted to put back for me, but Chubb, whose regards were
strictly confined to number one, decided against it, coolly saying
that they could pick me up next trip, and that as it was Webster's
fault I had been left, he, Webster, might if he liked swim back for
me. This unmessmate-like conduct, when recounted to me, so excited my
ire, that if the worthy Chubb had been within kicking distance at the
time, he should have known something further about it. I have not,
however, seen him since.
Such were the things I saw and did where the Dragon Flag waves in
splendid impotence. I took no notes of anything, excepting as to the
build and fittings of the junk, and that merely for my own
information, and it was not until long after that the idea of writing
an account of these occurrences entered my mind; but I can trust my
memory for the main events. If my little narrative should for only a
few furnish not merely entertainment but admonition, I shall not have
gone through quite uselessly my varied and painful experience of life.
THE END
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay.