The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1903-09-10
CAPT. M. F. PATTERSON.
His Successful Half Century in Chinese
Waters.

Waters.
Shanghai Mercury July 18th.
Ten years after this port was opened,
there came to the Far East young
man from the Far West Tall, straight
manly, capable, he soon made friends
and found congenial employment.
Now, fifty years later, he is still
amongst us, tall, straight, manly, and
capable as ever, with more friends, |
| hope more money, and [ know more
honour than most men can ever hope to
gain. Length of days is in his right
hand and in his left hand riches and
honour" That, l think, would be the
! Biblical way of putting it.
You know him well, Mr.. Editor, who
does not know the doyen of popular
shippers, Captain Patterson
Now he is going home to live many
long year yet, hope, in rest and peace,
surrounded by loving family and
many friends, and cheered by the
recollection that from Vladivostock to
Singapore there is not single white
man or woman, or yellow either for the
honour his name
You should have been up North the
other day to have seen how high is the
estimation in which Captain Patterson
! is held by the Chinese. The Taotai
came to do him honour, and crowd
officials and smaller fry assembled for
, the same purpose.
1t had leaked out, of course, that this
same voyage was the last that the
worthy skipper was to run on the China
coast. How many hundreds he has
made, I've really forgotten, and it
doesn't matter.
But what's happening aboard the
good old Monocacy as the Hslnfung
goes by The bosun'S whistle sounds,
the crew assemble and just at the right
moment, at the Commanders signal,
three rousing cheers are given for the
popular friend in the service of COM
merce and travel 1t isn't every man
| can tell you, that gets the honour of
an official cheer from warship, and
some that do, get only the officialism
and not the heartiness which character
ised those of the Monocacy.
They have been anxious days, these
last days, to the Captain and his friends.
All sorts of awful fears have forced
their way into anxious minds. Mis-
fortune, it was thought, could hardly
fail to attack such a career. Never
serious accident, never loss in all
those fifty long years. Everybody felt
it was almost too good for human
nature, and so as means OF evening
up, it was feared that Fate had some
thing up her sleeve not OF pleasant
nature. 1t might be fog of unprece-
/ denied thickness in which the Hsinfung
might be run down dozen times; it
! might be the frightful set of current
specially made for the occasion which
was to pile everything high up on the
Shantung promontory; it might be a
thousand things.
The young Cratchits in Dickens
story of "The Christmas Carol" were
not more full of fears as to the fate Of
the Christmas pudding, than the good
skipper and his friends as to the issue
! of the last voyage or two.
| But as the plum pudding came safely
to board so did Hsinfung come safely
| to shore, and now all is over except the
| champagne, the dinners, the hand
shakings, and the godspeeds
For myself, l shall ever bear in mind
| bit of ticklish navigation performed
by Capt. Patterson while was stand
ing by and looking on. 1t was many
| years ago. Such skill as then marvell-
. ed at has piloted him through to the
end of the most successful career ever
known on the China Coast, an end
which, l hope, is but beginning of a
long spell of perfect peace and happl-
ness.