A. S. WATSON & Co. WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DRUGGISTS, GENERAL CHEMISTS,
AND
Manufacturers of the following →→ AÈRATED WATERS, viz.:` SODA, TONIC, SARSAPARILLA, AND POTASH, LEMONADE, GINGERADE, RASPBERRYADE,
Deliveries in Town and Harbour from to relate.
7 AM to 7 PM
SHIPS' MEDICINE CHESTS REFITTED, PASSENGER SHIPS SUPPLIED.
Prompt Attention given to Coast Orders.
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST, 1881.
some beef for the shipwrecked mon from the Bolton Abbey, and a small boat with two of the fishermen was despatched on this errand. The sea was running high, and as the boat was never seen again, there can be no doubt that she was lost, and two Chinese lives sacrificed in this at- tempt to benefit European sailors. For four days Captain Williams and his crew remained on the fishing
out of promises which gratitude any time, the acceptance of the should have rendered snored-be- $400 awarded by Captain Thomsett, cause Captain Thomsett, Harbour, although received under protest, and Master of Hongkong estimated ser- in actual ignorance that this sum vices which no amount of money can was the total recompense he was to adequately repay, at the sum total of receive, according to the lawyer who dollars four hundred.
was consulted, puts him out of court. And there the matter stands,
t
pressions of opinion, with the asser- tions that we have no personal in- terests to serve in getting up sham subscriptions, or in publishing un- founded statements respecting the same, which is the mode adopted by some other newspapers in the belief no doubt that by so doing
We have seen Captain Williams they are studying the interests of the
on the subject. He acknowledges We have no wish to cavil at Cap- public; and we also utterly disclaim
that he promised the Chinese the tain Thomsott's award, however, any desire to bear harshly upon por-
stipulated sums, namely; $2,000, and much as we may differ with that gen- AND PHOSPHORIC CHAMPAGNE.sons who may be prejudically affect-junk, while the necessary extensive $20 as a "cumshaw" to each one of tleman's estimated value of the lives ed by the circumstances we are about preparations were being made on the sailors, and excuses himself for of English sailors, as we cannot doubt board to abandon their fishing for breaking these promises because that his decision, however ridiculous After the Bolton Abbey struck and the voyage to Hongkong. At the Captain Thomsatt thought $100 was it may appear, was conscientiously commenced to break up, the crew, last moment the crew of the junk, an ample recompense for all the ser-arrived at. We will not utter a harsh with the exception of the carpenter, who had been engaged for a season's vices rendered. We have seen Mr. word as to Captain Williams' practi- steward, and two able seamen, who fishing, declined to proceed to sea Lillia, late chief officer of the Bolton cal repudiation of agreements which were drowned in the attempt to get unless they received some "cum- Abbey. He considers that the Chi- ought to have been held sacred. We ashore, safely reached the reef, from shaw" for the trouble and extra risk nese have been very unjustly treated, will make no spurious appeal to the whence they were rescued by Chinese they would naturally have to encoun- and that, altogether apart from the public to come forward, and show junks, on board of which they were ter, and suggested $20 per man as an agreements, $1,000 to the master of these Chinese fishermen how an En- treated with such great kindness by adequate recompense. Captain Wil- the junk, and $20 to each of the glish community can appreciate and the Chinese fishermen, as to elicit liams consented to this request, and men would barely have been sufficient reward gallantry and devotion, no well deserved encomiums from all agreed in addition to the $2,000 to recompense for expenses incurred matter where it may be shown nor sides. On this subject our report, the master of the junk, to give each and loss of time. He makes no by whom. But we do feel justified received from the chief officer of the man a present of $20. As in the allowance for saving of life, but con in calling the attention of His Ex- Bolton Abbey says:-"great praise former instance afterthought siders that it is the duty of the Go- collency the Governor to the particu is due to the owners of the Chinese would appear to have in some mea-vernment to handsomely reward the lars of this case, in the hope that he junks for their kindness to the ship-sure tempered his generosity as the Chinamen for their great services to may see fit to order an investigation wrecked men, and it is to be hoped following document, handed to the himself and shipmates. We have to be made to corroborate our state-. that some efforts will be made to Chinese, plainly indicates :---
heard from the second officer, and,ments, so that some recognition may suitably reward them for their hu The crew of the junk No. 479 H. being have seen the boatswain, and five of be made to these men for their emi- manity." The Marine Court of In-obstinate, and will not proceed to sea re-
the seamen, all of whom voluntarily nent services to the great cause of quiry, of which Capt. H. G. Thomsett, quire me to sign an agreement to allow declare that the manner in which
thom the sum of 20 dollars for their loss the Chinese have been treated is a be done, and we think that our common humanity. This can easily Harbour Master, was President, con-
in fishing for each man. We have now sidered that "much praise is due to
boon on board 4 days from the time I lost disgrace to Englishmen. The boat- boasted civilisation, to say nothing the crews of the junks on Pratas the vessel, and no sign of making a move, swain, a most respectable looking, of our maritime relations with China, Shoal Lagoon for the able and willing so have promised if the Harbour Master and well informed man, who has left and our duty to other British sailors assistance they rendered to the ship in Hongkong thinks at to allow them the colony in the Glenorchy, and who who may be cast away on the Chinese As a matter of fact something for their loss in fishing, I will is in possession of the highest testi- coast-demands that it should be wrecked crew."
be agreeable to any decision he may pr-monials from Captain Williams, both done, and without the slightest delay. as to character and ability, called at. our office on Sunday and certified as follows:-
HONGKONG DISPENSARY,
CANTON DISPENSARY,
HONGKONG. SHANGHAI PHARMACY,
SHANGHAI.
CANTON.
THE DISPENSARY,
THE
FоocHow.
Songkong Telegraph.
|
it would appear on the evidence already published that these poor Chinese fishermen believed with Robert Burns that—
Affliction's sons are brothers in distress; A brother to relieve, how exquisito the billas.
HONGKONG, 18 NOVEMBER, 1881. HISTORY tells us that Queen Mary, of England, of infamous memory, was so stricken with remorse during the later days of her life, at the loss of Calais to the English, that she frequently gave expression to the belief that after she was dead the word Calais" would be found in- delibly written on her heart. The sincerity of Mary's regrets may well be doubted, as history tells us no- thing of her repentance for the 200 human lives eacrificed, inhumanly Now for the practical side of the burat at the stake for their faith, picture. Captain Williams, and the during the five years the daughter of officers and crew of the good ship Catherine of Arragon and Butcher Bolton Abbey have been rescued from Henry, and her priestly accomplices certain death by Chinese fishermen, Gardiner and Bonner, cried for the and are being hospitably entertained by those so-called heathens. Captain faggots and the stake, and made Eng- Williams is naturally anxious to get land a veritable hell upon earth.
to the nearest English port, so im- Her regrets for the loss of Calais
may or may not have been genuine, but mediately opens negotiations with in any case, her idea that it was such the master of junk No. 479 H. for a lasting dishonour to England, the conveyance of himself and crew to Hongkong. Only one man in the caused by her pusillanimity or trea- chery, as to indelibly write the name fishing junk could speak English, and of the old "key of France" on her through him an atragement wil heart, was an excellent one, which eventually arrived at. Captain Wil- has deservedly passed into a common
liams was disposed to be liberal, and is said to have offered the junk master phrase. If it be possible for a mean
a sufficient sum to clear his expenses action to engender such a lasting
for a whole year. It must be under- regret on the most callous mind, as
stood that the junk was down at the to leave an indelible impression on the human heart impervious to Pratas on the usual half-yearly fishing death itself, the most recent, and excursion, and that every arrangement had been made to carry on their an exceedingly worthy successor to Bloody Mary in this respect, ought fishing business, so that consenting to be Mr. John Williams, late master
to come straight back to Hongkong of the ill fated Bolton Abbey. When
meant a vast deal of expensive pre- this gentleman leaves the anxieties parations, and a total abandonment and cares of this terrestrial sphere of their fishing prospects. The mas- for the great unknown, if the name ter of the junk, Chan Pat, expressed Bolton Abbey is not written on his his willingness to bring Captain heart, it ought to be;-and thereby Williams and his crew to Hongkong our common humanity, we now fair.
rive at.
an
vessel.
LOSS OF THE AMERICAN SHIP "HUMBOLDT:"
island, and, after stopping the engines. lowered the starboard lifeboat manned » by the second officer and six seamen, The boat afterwards returned with 17 persons, survivors of the crew of the American ship Humboldt, which was wrecked there on the 22nd October.
The Humboldt, Captain Reynolds, sailed from Shanghai on the 18th of October, bound for New York, and ex- perienced bad weather which enlmina- ted in a typhoon, and the vessel struck, on the night of the 22nd, on Lincoln Island, one of the Paracal Group, aud became a total loss. The second mate
J. WILLIAMS, Master late
Bolton Abbey. N. LILLIA, Mate. Pratás Shoal, Oct. 8th, 1881.
I hereby cortify that I hoard Captain It is now a matter of history how Williams of the British barque Bolton
The British steamer Gordon Castle, picked up by H.M.S. Kestrel at ($2,000) to convey himself, officers. and from London and Singapore, and the junk left for Hongkong, and was Abbey agree to pay the master of the Chi-
nese junk the sum of Two Thousand Dollars Captain Waring, arrived here to-day Green Island, where the men were crew to Hongkong from the Prutas where brought the wrecked crew of the Ame transferred to the gunboat, and both the vessel was lost. There was no mention vessels came on to this port, the junk whatever made as to the matter being left-rican ship Humboldt, who wore taken arriving five hours before the Keatret. to the Hongkong Harbour Master, and the off an island on Sunday last, known as And now comes the sequel, which paper waists Captain Williams wrote out. Lincoln Island. The Gordon Castle' ought to bring a blush of shame to sa by the members of the crew of the Bolton report, says: Sunday, October 30th, was understood by the Chinamen, as well
every honest English cheek. Cap. Abbey to be simply sa agreement to pay observed something on Lincoln Island, tain Williams was loud in his praises Two Thousand Dollars. I further wish to which was afterwards made out to be of the conduct of his preservers, he certify that the whole of our crew owe
their lives to the Chinese, who behaved to a vessel on shore and on closer exami- was lavish to extravagant generosity us throughout in the kindest manner pos- nation discovered a tent erected and in giving estimates as to what these siblo. I am leaving for London by the gallant Chinaman merited from the steamship Glenorchy, and in giving this flags flying. The captain immediately Government,--but he was generous of all seafaring people that the public of
certificate am only anxious in the interests directed the ship's course towards the in nothing else. The master of Hongkong should understand that the Chi- the junk, an old grey-headed man, nese have been, very badly requited for who does not understand one word their kindness and great services rendered of English, was taken before Captain to the officers and crew of the shipwrecked
Harbour Master, Thomsett, · our agreements and promises were en-
(Signed) JOHN BYERS, Boatswain
late Bolton Abbey. tirely disregarded, and for reason
Hongkong, 30th Oct., 1881. which we cannot even guess at, that We really should like to know if functionary took it upon himself to it is a portion of our Harbour Mas- award this Chinese fisherman, with ter's duty to act as Arbitrator in his crew of 19 men, who at peril of matters of this, or any other descrip- their own lives had rescued 20 Eng- tion! We have a right to know, as lish sailors from starvation or a the Harbour Master is a Goverment watery grave; who had abandoned officer, a servant of the public. Cap. fishing prospects involving a heavy tain Thomsett, with especial reference pecuniary loss in order to convey the to this case, states that the junk-
port, the paltry sum of four hundred agreed to accept his decision as to dollars. Let the whole world know the amount of remuneration to be be when dealing with poor half civi- which He considers a fair remunera a written guarantee in their transac-lised fishermen, who have acted like tion to captain and crew for services tions with Europeans, and Captain heroes. Let it go forth through rendered. The junk-master, who Williams was requested to give a
every port in the universe that Cap was entirely in the hands of Captain tain Thomsett, Harbour Master of Thomsett's interpreter, denies that written promise to pay the sum agreed on when he arrived in Hong Hongkong, estimates the value of 20 he agreed to anything of the kind; kong. He did so in the following English lives--rescued at great per states that the interpreter overawed sonal risk, fed and sheltered in a him and told him that if he did not terms:
manner which our common humanity accept tho award he would not re- must respect and applaud, and brought caive anything at all, and assures us from the scene of their shipwreck that his expenses and losses in con- where two Chinese lives were lost in nection with the crew of the Bolton their service in an attempt to to pro- Abbey have already exceeded $700 cure them the necessaries of life He further assures us that he at first at great expense and pecuniary loss refused to accept $400 from Messrs. at four hundred dollars. Let it Holliday, Wise, & Co.'s compradore, be published in every newspaper as the Captain had, even after Cap in the four quarters of the globe tain Thomsett's decision, promised that Captain John Williams, of the him a larger sum, but as the com- Bolton Abbey, after owing his life, pradore told him he would have to and the lives of his crew to the he wait a long time for payment of roism and humanity of a score of anything if he did not accept the Chinese fishermen, failed to carry $400 as he could not sue the Captain out, when safe under the protection for anything at all, it being "a good of the British flag, agreements made pidgin he took the money, and with his deliverers in the hours of afterwards took legal advice. What his adversity; shuffled ignominiously over legal claim he may have had at
hangs a tale, which for the benefit of for the sum of $2,000, to which the shipwrecked mariners to the nearest master, when he appeared before him and two Chinese, the cook and steward,
master of the Bolton Abbey at once nese are exceedingly fond of having
were drowned.
Captain Reynolds and the castaways
ly and honestly, without favour or agreed, unconditionally. The Chi- how generous English officials can paid, and that he awarded $400, from the Humboldt are all load in the
prejudice, lay before the community of Hongkong, and the whole civilised world.
The British barque Bolton Abbey 1,195 tons, of Liverpool, owned by Messrs. J. Poole-& Co. of that port, and commanded by Captain John Williams, while on a voyage from Newcastle N.S.W. to Manila, was 1, John Williams, Master of the late dismasted in a typhoon on August the master of junk No. 479 H. on his con- barque Bolton Abbey, do hereby agree with 23rd in lat. 17.35 N. long. 127.56 Edition of his landing us the crew of the and afterwards ran aground on the above batque (20 men) in Hongkong to Pratas Reef on September 30th and allow him usum equal to his loss in fish became a total wreck. The particu-ing, and for the passage of the abova orew lars of the wreck were published in Master in the above port.
to Hongkong to be decided by the Harbour the Hongkong Telegraph on October 11th, and the proceedings of a Ma rine Court of Inquiry held at the Harbour Master's Office on October 17th were also fully detailed in the other local newspapers, so that the public must be pretty well acquainted with the general de- tails of a case which has already caused a good deal of discussion in the colony. We must preface the following recital of events, and ex-
J. WILLIAMS, Mastor. N. LILLIA, Mato. Pratas Reuf, Oct. 4, 1881, Tuesday. The Chinese could not of course read, and Captain. Williams, doubtless as an arrière pensée, appears to have slightly altered the terms of the agree ment without, however, thinking it worth while to inform Chan Pat of such alteration.
The next movement made by the Chinese was to endeavour to procure
their praises of Captain Waring and his officers for the kind treatment and attention they received immediately. they were taken on board the Gordon Castle.
The British steamer Nelson goes ta; Aberdeen, and the barque Souvenir to Kowloon Docks this afternoon. H.MİS. Comus will undock at the Cosmopolitan early to-morrow morning, and the dolu and Pernambuco will take her place in dock
The annual interesting Cricket match the Clab v. the Army and Navy, will be commenced this afternoon at two o'clock, and continued tomorrow. The Club have won the toas and will go frat to the wickets. By kind permis sion of the Colonel and Officers, the band of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers will perform on-the-ground-to-morro afternoon. Liont. Friend, of the Royal Engineers, who is about to leave the Colony, will exhibit his correct form at the wicket for the last time in this match.