The sun., 1905-08-21
CHINESE SUICIDES ON SHIP.
ONE ny ONE THE SAGAMFS FIRE.
MEN WENT OVERBOARD.
Three Took That Way Of DesertinE and
Fourth stood Under Descending
Ash Bucket skipper Had FIX.
perlence In Running Russian blockade.

pcrlence In Running Russian blockade.
The shimmering surface OF the Indian
Ocean seemed TO bubble under the blis-
tering sun when the British steamship
Sagami, in yesterday from many ports OF
the Far East, lazily carved a course through
for Suez Her Chinese crew hopped about
barefooted on the hot steel decks and the
men below in the inferno Of the stokehold
wcre naked above the waist. 1t Was hard
TO reathe freely below decks when no air
was stirring in the open, and the stokers'
all shipped at Hongkong, frequently came
no to give their lungs chance to work and
their hearts TO resume half normal action.
Can't Frederick Lttlehales. who has been
twenty years in tho China trade as a
commander, said he never felt the tropio
sun beat so fiercely on a steel ship and never
saw the stokers suffer more.
On June 2s. when the Sagami was four
DAYS out from Singapore. and while the
skinner was doing in his cabin, he heard
n knock at the door. His Chinese steward
came in and announced that two hours
before Ieong Choi, formerly Of Hongkong,
had Jumped into the sea. The skipper
learned that several Of the suicides ship
mates had seen him plunge over the rail,
but that they thought that they had no
right to interfere with him or give an alarm,
placidly expressing the elief that he doubt
less thought he was doing the proper thing.
The other stokers were somewhat affected
by their comrades death and showed 1t
by increased equanimity. The skipper
EXPRESSED a desire to be notified imme-
tatey if any other Chinaman decided to
leave the ship by Davy Jones's submarine
route. as he was already working short
handed and did not want to lose any more
OF his crew.
Seven days later Chow Choi, fireman,
was helping to hoist ashes from the hold
to the deck in heavy steel bucket. When
the bucket was emptied and dropped back
into the hold Chow Choi was standing under
it. 1t may be that he preferred this method
Of quitting work permanently to drop
ping over the side. He had plentyof warn
ing, bat made no effort to get out Of the way
The bucket struck him squarely on the head
and crushed his skull as if it were an eggshel.
His body was sent after that of Leong Choi
The ship was now nearly in the middle
of tho Indian Ocean and the sizzling heat
was at its worst. At night the stokers slept
on the open decks. The death of their
EhlpinaleS nau mace tneHi lIlOIe sto!iu duu
ploomier than any lot Of Chinese that ever
crossed the sea. On July ID, just week
after the ash bucket crushed the life out Of
Chow Choi another knock came on the
'skippers door. 1t was at night. The stew
ard told the skipper that two or three hours
before, so he. the steward, had just been
told by some of the stokers, Chow Schi,
fireman, had jumped over the rail.
The skipper began to get alarmed. He
never had heard of Chinaman committing
suicide on shipboard. and never had missed
one from his own ships In his long service.
Whenever he took a siesta he left instruc-
tions to be awakened the moment a stoker
was seen to jump, SO that he might be
picked up. The skipper recalled that the
Sagami had had bad reputation, having
once nearly foundered in heavy storm,
lying on her beam ends long enough to gulp
d. In ha!: holdful Of ocean. Her former
commander had had trouble with the
Chinese and had been transferred to an
other vessel, the Hindustan These cir
cumstances, coupled with what the skipper
called tho superstition" Of the low class
Of Chinese who work in stokeholds. the
force Of suicidal example and the inte nse
heat, are what he thinks impelled the men
to kill themselves. Four days passed
without another knock at the cabin door.
But tho engineer noticed that the stokers
were murmuring among themselves and
appeared to be uneasy. There was dim
suspicion in his mind that all Of them might
have entered into an agreement for reasons
too occult for the Occidental mind to grasp
TO kill themselves off and leave the ship
without firing force.
On the fifth day after Chow Achis dis
appearance Tye Kok, fireman. came up out
OF the scorchng abyss, looked for a second
or so over the port rail and, mounting it.
dived into the ocean. white officer had
seen Tye Kok, and he shouted Man over
board" Capt. Littlchales knew what had
happened jus, as surely as II there had
come another knock on his cabin door. He
was on Guty on the bridge, and he stopped d
the ship and ordered out two boats. Tye
kok Rad been seen moment foundering 6
about but making no effort to savc him
self. Then he vanished.
The boats crews, all Chinese, seemed to
take only passive interest in the search.
They had been ordered to man the boats,
and they did so, and that appeared to end
the matter with them. A watch was set
WI WV intHlrH lHcItdlUST Hc snip RCU
to Suez without losing any more stokers.
There Capt. l.ittlehales said the heat was
not so -Gamnable." 1t grew less ardent
= 'as the Sagami proceeded through the Suen
Canal At Port Said coal was taken aboard,
and the skipper looked around for four
stokers to hslp the weakened force in the
long run through the Mediterranean and
across the Atlantic. He found four sturdy,
ebon Arabs, oil pious Mohammedans. and
they set an example Of industry to the
Chinese that made them work with TN
wonted swiftness.
The skipper said that every one Of the
Arabs was worth about three Cinnamon,
and that he really lost nothing in the way
OF stocking power when the f1remen deserted
him, The Arabs also set an example Of
cleanliness for the Chinese. bathing every
day with perfectly reckless disregard
Tor sea water The skipper encouraged
them in this extragagance. 1t Is the first
time he has ever had Arabs in his crew and
ne thinks it will not he the last. II there are
any more left at Port Said.
Th1