The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-21
CHINESE SUICIDES ON SHIP.
ONE ny ONE THE SAGAMTS FIRE.
MEN VENT OVERHEARD.
Three Took That Way Of Deserving and
Fourth stood Under Descending
Ash Bucket-The skipper Had Fix.
ncrlencc in Running Russian Blockade.


prrlencc in Running Russian Blockade.
The shmmering surface Of the Indian
ocoon seemed to bubble under the bis
terine sun when the British steamship
sopami, in yesterday from many ports OF
the Far East, laziy carveda course through
Cor suez. Her Chinese Grew hoped about
barefooted on the hot steel decks and the
mon below in the inferno OF the stokehold
we're naked above the waist. 1t was hard
10 breathe freely below decks when no air
Sas stirring In the open, and the stokers,
"A shipped at Hongkong, frequently came
nm to give their lungs a chance to work and
their hearts to resume half normal action.
Cant. Frederick Lttlehales, who has been
twenty years in the China trade as a
commander, said he never felt the tropio
s,n beat so fercely on a steel ship and never
saw the stokers suffer more.
, On June %, when the Sagami was four
DAYS out from Singapore, and while the
skpper was doing in his cabin. he heard
q 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;
nlacdy expressing the belief 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 desire to be notified imme-
diately 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,
vas 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, but made no effort to get out Of the way.
The bucket struck him squarely on the head
and crushed his skull as il 1t were an eggshel.
His body was sent after that Of Leong Choi.
The ship was now nearly In the middle
Of the Indian Ocean and the sizzling heat
was at its worst. At night the stokers slept
on the open decks. The death Of their
shipnates had made them more stolid and
gloomier than any lot Of Chinese that ever
crossed the sea. On July IA, Just week
after the ash bucket crushed the life out of
Chow Choi another knock came on the
skipper 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,
Grammar hod ;upopod QUAR- tho roi1
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-
tons to be awakened the moment 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
in half holdful OF ocean. Her former
commander had had trouble with the
Chinese and had been transferred to an
other vessel, the Hindustan. These DIR
cumstances, coupled with what the skipper
called the superstition Of the low class
Of Chinese who work in stokeholds, the
force Of suicidal example and the intense
heat are what he thinks impelled the men
to kill themselves. Four days passed
without another knock at the cabin door.
But the 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 Achi's dis
appearance Tye Kok, fireman. came up out
of the scorching abyss. looked for a second
or so over the port rail and. mounting it,
dived into the ocean. A white officer had
seen Tye Kok. and he shouted Man over
board!' Capt. Mttlehales knew what had
happened just as surely as II there had
come another knock on his cabin door. He
=. vas on duty on the bridge, and he stopped
the ship and ordered out two boats. Tye
kok had been seen a moment fioundering
about but making no effort to save 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. watch was set
on the firemen thereafter The ship got
to Suez without losing any more stokers.
There Capt. I.ittlehales said the heat was
not so -damnable." It grew less ardent
as the Sagami proceeded through the Suez
Canal. At Port Said coal was taken aboard,
and the skipper looked around for four
stokers to help the weakened force in the
long run through the Mediterranean and
across the Atlantic He found four sturdy,
eoon Arabs, all pious Mohammedans, and
they set an example Of industry to the
Chinese that made them work with I'm
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 stoklng power when the firemen deserted
hin' The Arabs also set an example Of
cleanliness for the Chinese. bathing every
day with a perfectly reckless disregard
ior sea water. The skipper encouraged
Them Ill this extragagance 1t is the first
Time he has ever had Arabs In his crew and
ne thinks it will not be the last, II there are
any more left at Port Said.
The Sagami started out from England
on her last trip to the Orient with cargo