3 I CAME out to the Far East in 1882, leaving home in March and sailing from Marseilles by the French Mail—it took five weeks in those days from Marseilles to Hongkong reminisces Mr. H. H. Read one of the oldest subscribers, to the "North-China Daily News." I was quite a youngster, and my reason for leaving home was a desire for adventure. I had obtained a job in Hongkong owing to my slight knowledge of the French language, for the firm to which I was going had a big business with the French Fleet in Eastern waters.
Hongkong I found to be a very pleasant place—there was plenty of scope for a youngster's superfluous energy. In the winter there was duck and snipe shooting, and afterwards quail. There was also the Recreation Club, rowing and, swimming, so that there was every inducement for a young man to keep fit.
During my three years in Hongkong one of the things that sticks most in my memory was the earthquake at Krakatoa—a small volcanic island in Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra. The disturbance caused by this eruption of the volcano was practically world-wide. The actual sounds of the volcanic explosions were noticed at distances extending to 3,000 miles—the sea waves caused by the disturbance reached to unheard of distances—the long wave reaching Cape Horn, and it was even considered to have upset the English Channel. The death roll amounted to more than 36,000. We in Hongkong were aware by various signs that something extraordinary had happened—but we, of course, did not know what it was, until a month later a sailing ship arrived in har-hour absolutely covered with pumice stone, or lava.
In 1884 the Franco-Chinese war broke out, and I, having a great deal to do with the French fleet, got to know a considerable amount about their activities—in fact my firm did so much for the French fleet that a question was asked in the House of Commons—but apparently there was no trouble about it. Admiral Courbet was the Commander-in-Chief of the French Fleet in Chinese waters, and he took very much to heart the failure in the attack on Tamsui, in Formosa. Later the French fleet went to Foochow, and there destroyed the Chinese fleet, all assembled at anchor in the Foochow dockyards—save for one -vessel, whose commander moved further up the river where the French could not follow— his reward for saving his ship was banishment to the frontier of North-West China.
Navy under Sail Turning back to Hongkong—it was always a very pretty sight in those days to see the British fleet returning from the summer cruise. They used sail in those far-off days, and on occasions they would come into the harbour under sail—it was very impressive.
The American fleet in Far Eastern waters was a small one at that time—but they had a very fine specimen of a sailing cruiser, the Trenton—but she was quite an example of how. very much a sailing ship is dependent on the elements. She left Hongkong on her final voyage home via Singapore—when half-way she had to return—she was out of provisions I remember a terrible epidemic of cholera broke out in Manila in 1883—it was supposed to have killed off about a quarter of the population. A curious thing about it was that a very violent typhoon passed over the town—and the epidemic stopped completely—although up to the time of the typhoon people had been dropping down in the streets and dying in half-an-hour. The epidemic had also reached Swatow and Amoy—but owing to the strict precautions taken by the Hongkong authorities in quarantining all steamers at Stonecutters Island until all fear of infection was over, cholera did not reach Hongkong.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.