After having left out Shanghai as a regular port of call ever since hostilities broke out here in 1937, the Hirst vessel of the newly organized 'American President Lines, the s" President Pierce, berthed' in midstream at buoys 11 and 12 at 11.30 o'clock yesterday morning with a large number of passengers for Shanghai. A considerable amount of mail and cargo also arrived whilst a large number of passengers for Hongkong and Manila came ashore yesterday afternoon to give Shanghai a look over, local curios and silk dealers being happy to once again having the opportunity of offering their wares to the long awaited American tourists.
The hull of the President Pierce bore vivid marks of the terrible weather she had passed through between Honolulu and Yokohama as large plots of rust could be clearly seen.
"She behaved very well during the heavy weather that we encountered from January 11 to January 15," said Captain C. Jukstad, the skipper of the ship, when interviewed by a representative of the "North-China Daily News" shortly after the vessel had arrived, "although we had to put up with rain, hail storm and other elements, Prior to making Shanghai a regular port of call again, President Pierce had been laid up for over four months, partly for an overhaul and mainly in order to have most modern safety equipment installed.
"Thus, sprinkler valves at eight feet from one another have been fitted
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.