The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-10-15

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hear before chartering, whether | should get any
men to put in her, l withheld from doing so. Mr..
Abioy promised that l should hear from him on the
night of the 23d of April. That evening at seven
o'clock, | had an interview with the Captain of the
ST. Peters, at the Office of Messrs. CarlowitZ & Co.,
the house which 1 employed to assist me in charter
ing my vessels-and here | would take the oppOrtu-
nifty of mentioning this house as a firm extremely
courteous and business-like. The Captain urged me
TO close with him at SIS 900, but 1 had no assurance
that I could obtain a single man. 1 told him that l
was to receive my answer that night at nine O'Clock,
and asked him to give me the refusal of his ship
until the next morning, which he acceded to, agree
ing to meet me at the house of Carlowitz s. Co., at 8.
1 returned to my Office, and found my letters had
arrived, and that Mr.. Ahiow and the brokers had en-
gagged 600 men. L endeavored to find the Captain of
the st Peters that night, but was unable. / repaired
next morning at the office of Carlowitz & Co., at
nine O'Clock and waited till twelve, but he did not
make his appearance. I took the house boat and
pulled on board of his ship, a distance of two miles
he was not there 1 returned to Carlowitz & Co.'S to
find a note from a broker saying that the Captain of
the ST. Peters had chartered his ship at 8 O'Clock the
previous to go to Saigon and Yokohama with a
cargo of rice at Al cents per picul. News had ar
rived from Japan that evening of a famine, and
high prices for rice. Freights went from 30 to 10
cents per picul for rice in four days. Every ship in
the harbor that could be insured was chartered in
twenty-four hours. That day eighty men arrived,
and every day afterwards until my barracoons were
full and overlooking, but not a ship could 1 charter
vessels kept arriving every day, but they were char
tered for rice for Japan at figures which rendered it
impossible for me to compete. This continued for
ono month 6urinu which nv men came and went,
some thinking 1 had deceived them, as 1 had no ship
to take them, until at the end Of the month had not
probably one of the six hundred men left. | was
hoping every day to obtain a vessel, so that
1 could not stop recruiting men, The expenses were
heavy, each man was costing II! cents per day.
About the 10Th of May 1 engaged the North German
ship Solo, the captain of which being very DESTROYS
to return to Germany. accepted the charter for Homo
lulu, Bakers Island and home, upon terms which
when 1 first arrived in China 1 should have thought
exorbitant. l proceeded as fast as possible to fit and
provision the ship, and 1 would here state that the
law in Hongkong is very strict, that the ship must be
fitted, provisioned, and provided with doctors, inter
prefers, and cooks exactly according to that law, and
from which there is no escape. 1t takes II days to
fit a ship of that size. / had at this time about 500
men in the baracoons. The Solo could take but 800.
lit IldulcIS Huu OiuSlCu ~ l. huob
have another ship to take the balance. There is not
one ship in one hundred of less than 500 tons regis
ter that will measure between decks so that she can
carry a single passenger from Hongkong. l had yet
$50 men to provide passage for. Not being able to
obtain a small ship, 1 induced Mr.. Achuck to take
125 men for me in the r.. W. Wood, as l had her
measured and was told she could take 164 men. Mr..
Achuck having engaged 40 passengers, he would
- 81 l. - lNA
60 with % men short, rather than wait in the hope
of getting another ship. 1 therefore proceeded to fit
the r. ". Wood for 125 men-engaged the provis-
ions and ordered the clothes for ~them-when, three
days after, 1 was notified to appear at the Hlrbor
Masters office, and informed that the r. ". Hood
lacked just one-half inch in height between decks, and
could not take any men at all. This, gentlemen,
was after I had bought the clothes, fitted the bark,
provisioned her and put the water on board.
I did, however, induce the surveyor to resurvey
the vessel, and he agreed to concede that she might
carry III passengers. AS Mr. Achuck was entitled
to the first 40, 1 was cut down to n men by her
instead of 125. As 1 had bought the clothes, pro-
visions, &C., for the latter number, aud had the men,
and as freight had by this time got somewhat lower,
| deemed it best to try and get another vessel, especi-
ally as Mr.. Achuck was willing to take the cost of
fitting the Hood himself. This brings me to the It'll
day of June. 1 Immediately applied myself to
procure another vessel, and did on the 9th day of
June, charter the French iron bark Frederic, to
carry 22O men for the sum of 5000, and l pro-
ceeded to fit her. On the 10th day of June. 1 made
a contract with the brokers, paid $40 q man each,
for 22O men to go in the Frederic. And here I
would repeat that it is impossible to get responsible
business houses to guarantee that the men will 60
they get the brokerage if the men 90, if they do not
90 the brokers lose their commission, and your only
answer to why they will not do it is, it is not Chinese
custom. On the 18th of June, the Solo was ready
to receive men, and the Frederic was being fitted.
All day on the 18th, | was making out passenger
tickets. 1 made out 51S, expecting that some would
not go, and that / should get 400 picked men for the
Solo. On the morning of the 18th, 1 started the
men for the harbor masters ofice,-and here [ would
state that every passenger that leaves Hongkong, has
to pass through the harbor masters office to obtain
a passport, giving him permission to leave the port.
To do this business you have to employ a broker, to
whom you have to pay from one dollar to two dollars
for each man, passed through the Office. My men
had left the barracoons at nine O'Clock, and up to
this moment | was convinced that every one of them,
SIS men, were willing and anxious TO go in the ship
Solo. | went to the harbor masters office-ten
O'Clock came-and no men. | sent a messenger to
see what was the trouble. Before he returned, |
went myself to find, almost half way between the
Office and the barracoons, an excited crowd of say,
5000 Chinese, among which were my men, refusing
to 90 to the harbor masters Office, and stating that |
had deceived them and misled them, and that | was
going to take them to Callao, and not to the Sandwich
Islands. BY persuasion and argument l got a portion
of them to go to the Office they entered the Office in
squads of about fifty, the officer attends with an
Interpreter, and they are asked if they know where
they are going, for what purpose, what wages, and
who for have you made a contract? The answer of
course was, no, we have not, but we want to make
one. You cannot make a contract British law does
not allow it. unless you go to a British colony. Then
we will not go then go out at that dor. The
greater portion Of my men took this course, went
away, while a portion of them said We believe this
man, and we are willing to go without a contract.
The result was that out of 513 men that started to
90 on board the Solo that morning, 12l were all that
went on board, aud of these q went on shore next
morning, believing that as | would not make a con-
tract, that 1 was going to take them to Callao.
This report and this trouble was, as l was informed
and believe, caused by some Of the Macao brokers,
who spread the report among the men that the reason
why l did not make a contract was because I was
going to take them to Callao, while they at Macao
would make a contract and put in it that they should
not 90 tn Callao-thus taking from me nv men. Tho