IN the autumn of 1894, we received instructions, while at Chefoo, to embark the Tientsin Commissioner of Customs, and to accompany Li Hung Chang, then Viceroy of Chilli, who was in his own steamer, while he inspected the fortifications, navy and troops at the ports of Port Arthur, TA-lien-wan (now Dairen), Wei-hai-wai and Tsingtau.

There were some forty men-of-war of all nationalities in TA-lien-wan Harbour — a very large sheet of water — and abreast of us lay H.M.S. Alacrity with the British admiral on board.

You must bear in mind that we had just completed delivering coal and other stores to the light stations, while here at TA-lien-wan our duties underwent a great change. The officers and crew wore their best clothes, and the ship was dressed with flags from bow to stern during the same periods of the day as the men-of-war. I mention the same periods — because it is customary for a vessel to dress from either sunrise or eight o'clock till sundown — as here there was no fixed time, and as I had noticed that a rolled-up flag was hoisted on one of the Chinese vessels which, when broken, gave the signal for dressing, I kept my eye on that vessel from daylight; because ships were signalled to dress anywhere between 5.30 and 8.39 a.m. Our complement of seamen was twenty-four, and for the northern lights trip we engaged six extra. These were distributed as follows:-

Twelve men were always in the cutter with an officer, at the orders of the Commissioner we carried.

Six men and an officer ready to board vessels.

Eight men, the bugler and an officer standing by to salute passing vessels or boats carrying officials.

The rest, with firemen and servants, were called as soon as the rolled-up flag was seen rising to the masthead, with the result that our vessel was the first to have her flags spread. Even the man-of-war making the signal did not have her flags out before ours.

The British admiral was heard to remark to the captain of the Alacrity that our vessel — the lights tender Ping Ching — was the smartest vessel there This was a proud moment for me.

On our return to Shanghai in August, 1894, I was transferred to the Li Kin in Hainan waters, and soon after joining her, the steamer Kowshing , who was carrying Chinese troops to Chemulpo in Korea, was torpedoed and sunk.

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This was the commencement of the Sino-Japanese war, during which the battle of Yalu was fought and won by the Japanese. A full account of this will be found in " Pulling Strings in China," by W. F. Tyler, my friend and colleague.



During this term of service in Hainan waters we tended the construction of the screw-pile light at Lamko and Cape Cami in the Hainan Straits; this method of construction was adopted because the lights stood on a sandy shore. Twice we had the misfortune to be caught by a typhoon while anchored in a bay open to the full force of the wind; and although we had three bower anchors out and all our cable, we dragged them along with us. Luckily for us, the centre of the storm passed over us before we were swept near enough to the rocky shore to bump. Once the centre of the storm (which is a period of calm) passed, the wind came from the opposite direction, i.e., off shore.

In the following season we captured a large quantity of opium that was being smuggled from Singapore to Hainan, which, when sold, gave our ship's company about four months' extra pay. I applied for six months' leave and spent my share of the prize-money in going to Shanghai, where I thoroughly enjoyed the winter festivities of that gay port.

One night I was invited to dine at the house of a senior member of the Service. There was a ball on elsewhere that night, and I had engaged myself for all the dances after supper, so when that time was approaching I went up to my host, told him that I had to leave early and asked him to explain my disappearance to his wife. To my horror, the senior lady guest at that moment rose to go, which meant that I, the junior member of the party, must remain till all the nine or ten others had gone off in their carriages.

At last I was able to leave and hurried off to the dance. As I walked into the ballroom the band struck up the first dance I was engaged for, and I saw my partner floating off with another man — but not for long.

I quickly headed them off, claimed my dance, and got it! So I missed nothing after all.

While in Hainan waters in the Li Kin, there was trouble among the crew between the Cantonese and Foochow men. The bugler, a Foochow man, had been placed under arrest for some misconduct while we were returning to Hoihow, after having visited one of the Hainan Straits lights which was under construction.

At eight o'clock a.m. we were going through the evolution of crossing the top-gallant yard. I gave the order, " To'gallant yardsmen, man the rigging," and only one man obeyed. I noticed the Foochow men under the forecastle head; they should have been at the to'gallant halyards, so I instantly called two other men by their numbers, who knew their work, ordered them to man the rigging, and crossed the yard as usual.

The captain, Commissioner of Customs and the Assistant Engineer (who was building the lighthouse) were all standing near me at the time, and not one of them suspected that anything was wrong. As the three of them moved off to the saloon for breakfast, I motioned to the captain to stop, told him that there were mutineers among the crew and asked for permission to act. Whereupon I mustered all hands and asked every man whether he refused duty or not. All those who did were Foochow men, who were kept on deck till the ship anchored and then sent ashore bag and baggage. This made us short-handed until we reached Hong Kong, but we preferred that to keeping mutinous men on board.

While at Hainan I had got to know an American missionary doctor, with a most charming wife, who, when I first knew them, lived in the Chinese City of Kiangchow, about four miles inland from Hoihow.

An interesting point about this missionary was that he belonged to a wealthy New York family, but gave up his share of such wealth as he would have inherited to his sisters, because he felt that as a rich man he would not make a good missionary!

One afternoon when the Li Kin lay at anchor off Hoihow, I suggested to the Chief Engineer — a short, fat man and a bit of a dandy — that we might call on Dr. and Mrs. M . As the tide was low when we left the ship, we told the sampan native boatmen to land us on the south shore of Hoihow Bay (Hoihow lay to the eastward of the anchorage), where there was a sandy beach and the distance to Kiangchow was, though rough, rather less than from Hoihow. On nearing the beach, we were disappointed to find that as the tide was out so far there was a wide stretch of soft mud to negotiate between the boat and the beach.

As my friend was heavier than I, I suggested that he should be carried ashore first, so he got on to a man's back, while the other two boatmen pulled them along.

The mud was very soft and at each step he took the man carrying my friend pushed his other leg deeper into the mud. The Chief Engineer got tired and his arms slackened their grip on the man's shoulder; gradually he slipped lower and lower down his back, till at last he fell gently into the mud. He was wearing a brand new suit of light grey at the time, and you can well understand his feelings as he struggled back to the boat. I had a good laugh at his expense, I'm afraid — and then, taking off my shoes and socks I waded ashore, found water to wash with, and as I walked off to Kiangehow my friend returned to the ship a wiser man, but sad at having ruined a suit of clothes — while I was enjoying a charming visit alone.

On our return to Hong Kong, we no longer functioned in the immediate neighbourhood, but were stationed in the deep bays to the eastward of Hong Kong. Mirs Bay comes first and has an arm called the Tolo Channel that stretches to the north of Kowloon city, so that although it is about forty miles round by sea, it is only about four miles to Kowloon city across the ridge of hills between it and Hong Kong.

Bias Bay comes next. Mendosa Island is situated off the eastern end of this bay, where so many of the steamers in the hands of Chinese pirates are anchored.

The chief haunt of the pirates is up a narrow inlet off the west side of the Honghai Bay — the third bay to the eastward of Hong Kong. An interesting feature about Bias Bay is that there is a wide road leading from the head of the bay to the Pearl River, which flows into the Canton River by the second bar, and contrabands are smuggled to Canton by this route. The other point is that the eastern arm of Bias Bay extends to the northward of the inlet up which the pirates have their home. This helps them to evade capture.

One day when the Li Kin, under the command of Captain Myhre, lay at anchor in the Tolo Channel, Mirs Bay, I, as first officer, received instructions brought me by courier across the Kowloon hills, to take over command of my old ship, the Kai Pan, Captain Stewart having suddenly died. Captain Myhre gave me a great send-off; first, a lunch party in his quarters to which all the officers of the ship were invited (three deck and three engineer officers), and then came kindly congratulations and farewells, and as the gig that took me to the landing left the ship's side, guns were fired in salute. This was an unheard-of compliment and sendoff to a brother officer. Luckily for me, a sedan chair had been thoughtfully provided for me by the Commissioner, otherwise I do not know how I should have crossed the Kowloon hills, as I might have found the going a bit difficult after my heavy lunch.

The Kai Pan was being reconditioned and lay on the slipway at the Kowloon docks. As no one could live on board while this work was in progress, I took up my residence at the Hong Kong Hotel, and had my meals at a table with an old friend, called Fisher, who was in the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company.

May, my fellow passenger in the Ulysses, was now Captain Superintendent of Police, and lived with his charming wife in a nice house adjoining the Police Station. They insisted on my making myself at home, and kindly invited me to stay there or drop in whenever I pleased.

One day, after I had made my usual formal call at the Kowloon Commissioner's office and gone away, the Commissioner received a letter in respect to some matter on which he wished to know my views. He told the office boy to find me; the boy promptly went out into Queen's Road, which ran past the office, and asked the first rickshaw coolie he saw to tell him where Captain Eldridge was. The reply was, " At the Police Station." A stranger, overhearing such a remark, might well have imagined this Captain Eldridge to have been a bad character. I was so well known to all the rickshaw and chair coolies that when I went in a certain direction they knew that I was visiting the Police Station. On arrival at May's house his wife told me that she had just received a telephone message that I was wanted by the Commissioner at the office.

Being interested in surveying, I was anxious to climb a 3,500-foot hill on an occasion when my own steam-pinnace was not available, so one morning early I crossed over to Lai Chee Kok, where the Kowloon Customs Tide Surveyor lived, in order that I might borrow his steam-launch. Much to my disappointment, he said he would like to come with me to the top of Tamoshan, but that he could not come before obtaining the Commissioner's leave to do so. As the Commissioner's office was at Hong Kong, and Lai Chee Kok in those days was in Chinese territory about four miles north of Hong Kong, it meant that I would have to wait for over an hour. In order to pass the time I climbed the ridge leading to the adjacent hills, and had been walking upwards for about half-an-hour, when, on getting up a steep bit of the gravelly ridge, I noticed some peculiar marks on the wet soil (for it had rained early that morning), which looked as if a wood-cutter's load had scratched the earth. " But," I argued to myself, " it is far too early for any wood-cutter to be on his way home yet." Beside, the amphitheatre of hills ahead was covered with large granite boulders and trees.

On the top of the spur I found a puddle, and on its clay bottom were the footprints of a large tiger that must have climbed the ridge that morning. The scratches I had noticed must have been made by his claws.

As I had only got a light cane walking stick with me, I realised that it would be unwise to go any further, so there was nothing for it but to turn back. I learned afterwards that a tiger had been seen the night before, but as it had confined itself to walking off with pigs it was evidently not a man-eater.

I had brought the Kai Pan into Hong Kong waters one summer's day, for provisions, at a time when the May family were spending the summer at the Peak.

Neither Captain nor Mrs. May was in when I called, but their little daughter Stella was in; so I asked to see her. She was a charming little girl of six, who at once invited me to tea and chatted away in the most delightful fashion. When the meal was over she asked me to excuse her, as she had to take her little sister out for a walk!

At a dinner party of twelve that night I was seated next to a lady to whom I had been introduced that afternoon. I knew nothing about her other than that her husband was a Colonial Government official.

During the meal I spoke to her about reptiles, and when the name of centipides was mentioned, I said, " Do you know what to do when you see one? " She said, " No, what? " " Get a pair of tongs, grasp the beast by its middle, then get a candle, strike a match with the other hand, light the candle and roast the centipede on it," I replied. At this she looked at me and said in a loud voice, " You brute! " This produced a dead silence at the table. My host and hostess looked at me from each end of the table, and I could see that they were wondering what on earth I could have said.

So I turned to the indignant lady at my side and asked her, " Have you ever been bitten by a centipede? Because I have, and know how painful it is." After that, conversation at the table was resumed. I learned afterwards that she made pets of reptiles, of which she had a large number at her house. There is certainly no accounting for tastes!