Pioneer of Yangtze Navigation:
Monument on the Hsin T'an and a Bursary Fund The erection of a monument of Hunan granite 50 feet in height to perpetuate the memory of the late Captain S. C. Plant has been com pleted on the site of the bungalow in which Captain and Mrs. Pi: used to live in.the Yangtze Gor at the Hsin T'an, on the left bank of the river about 84 miles above tide will remem that have already appeared on the subject in the North-China Daily News" that i Phrough the energies of the late Captain Plant that a large number steamers now ply on the Gangerous waters of the Upper Yangtze, improving communication and trade with the interior of China, "The inception of the scheme to perpetuate the memory of Captain Plant by a monument came from his friends, Chinese and foreign, in the neighbourhood of the Upper Yangtze, and from Mr. W. W, Mariner, of the firm of Messrs. Yarrow Coy who was on a visit to China, supported by the shipping firms interested in the Upper Yangtze, and the Chinese Maritime Customs," But the proposal to erect a monument to Captain Plant's memory would have taken very much longer to have borne fruit had it not been for the spontaneous promise of financial support made by the seven shipping firms comprising the Shanghai Committee and the Inspector-General of Customs.
The First Steam Craft.
Captain Samuel Cornell Plant came to China in 1898, having been engaged by Mr. Archibald Little to command the s, Pioneer (the first merchant steamer to visit Chung king, the outcome of Mr. Little's persistent efforts to open the Upper Yangtze to. steam navigation) belonging to the Yangtze Trading Company, Captain Plant having been selected for this command because of his knowledge of the Euphrates, somewhat similar river to the Upper Yangtze.
For the purpose of learning the River he made n few trips in. Mr. Little's steam launch the Leechuan the first steam craft to ascend the Rapids, in February, 1808—and in une, 1900, he took the Pioneer up to Chungking. The Boxer trouble then broke out and the Pioneer was commandered by the British Government and was shortly afterwards taken over by the British Naval Authorities, rechristened the Kinsha and used as a gunboat.
Captain Plant then " offered his services to the British Naval authorities, but without suees, 50 he took service with the French Navy in 1901, piloting their gunboats, the Dry and others, betwen Ichang' and Suifu for a number of years, During this time he studied the riv minutely with a view to determining the best type of cargo steamer for the river, abd in 1908 he succeeded in inducing the Szechuen Steam Navigation Company to adopt his ideas, and they sent him to England to superintend the constraction of a new steamer, the Shutung, by Messrs, Thornycroft, which " was mainly his own design and which he commanded with great success from 1909 to 1912, As River Inspector.
The experience gained by the Shutung encouraged the owners to order a much larger steamer, which was built by Messrs. Yarrow & Ca., Captain Plant helping to design her and superintending construction, and, as the Shuhun, he van her from 1913 to 1915 as successfully as he had the Shutung.
Tu 1916, when he felt the time had come for a better supervision of the river between Tehang and Chung-King, he offered his services to the Customs and was appointed River Inspector.
In order to supervise the work of training pilots to pilot steamers he built a house on the Hsin T'an, where he latterly lived with his wife, and it is on this site that a memorial has been erected. He filled his post as River Inspector from April, 1915, until his death on February 26, 1921, with great credit, and the present Progress in navigation on the Upper Yangtze is the result of his indefatigable labours.
Captain Plant, who was loved by all those who knew him, was a quiet man with a great horror of publicity.
fe was a Friend fo all, both foreign ad Chinese alike, and most generous road helpful with his advice to those cho sought it for the construction of new steamers, or the surmounting the numerous difficulties connected jith the River.
Captain Plant's success on the Upper Yangtze was made possible by the initial venture of Mr. Archibald open up the Upper Yangtze to steam navigation, to whom Captain' Plant always referred as his patron, and whose efforts he was never tired of praising.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.