The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1940-01-05
Pirates, Famine
And Storms Dog
Sea-Going Junk
Ship Reaches Canada After
Six-Months Jinx Trip
From Shanghai.


sea captain, his wife and four mem
bers of the crew of the Chinese junk
Tai Ping related how they had bat
tied pirates and near-starvation on
a 6,000-mile ocean voyage before
their rescue last week by United
States coast guard survey boat in
a storm off Alaska.
From the deck of the 50-foot junk,
Capt; John Anderson told how they
had outwitted Chinese pirates after
leaving Shanghai in April. had
fought their way twice through
typhoons on the Pacific and for
weeks had lived on one bowl of rice
a day for each person as their sup
plies dwindled. The rice was boiled
in one portion of fresh water and
three of sea water.
Captain Anderson had ordered a
dog and cat on board killed on Sep
TENDER %, to supplement their
meager rations but the next day
they sighted the Queen Charlotte is
lands, north of Vancouver island,
and four days later got food and
supplies from the United States
coast survey vessel Discoverer.
They arrived here few days later,
completing their perilous voyage
across the Pacific.
Richard Halliburton, the author,
and his crew lost their lives attempt
ing similar voyage in junk to
North America.
Attacked by Pirates.
1--WE left Shanghai April z with a
Chinese crew." said Captain Ander-
son. "The crew became seasick
and the sails were improperly ham
died, but we managed to return for
Norwegian crew and left April %.
We were attacked by pirates on the
Yangtze river and made for the
Japanese coast. Our Chinese motor
broke down and we were lowed to
Kagoshima.
1--WE tried to repair the motor,
were unsuccessful and set out again
with sails. We ran into a heavy
storm off the Japanese coast and.
with ship leaking badly, put into
Kochi. From there we proceeded to
Kobe, refueled and reprovisioned
and made another start June 5.
"Forty-eight hours out we ran into
typhoon. Riding this out, we felt
fully confident of a successful trip.
With five months provisions and
with the first II days of good wealth
er, we did not think of conserving
food, as we expected to make the
trip in 20 days"
Captain Anderson said he had set
Seattle as his destination, hoping to
arrive there about the middle of
September, but the junk continued
to encounter unfavorable weather
and was buffeted off the course
many times.
"By September &c." Captain An
derSon said, eve were down to our
last 10 rations of rice and only q
few gallons of water remained"
Four days later, the skipper said,
the junk was sighted by the United
States coast guard survey boat Dis
coverer, which replenished the food
supply and attempted to tow the
clumsy Chinese craft.
Saved by Fishing Boat.
But the strain was too much for
the coast guard" Captain Ander-
son said. $50 we decided to cut
loose and sail down. The wind left
US and we drifted into Brook bay,
where, as the waves moved us per-
ilously close to the rocks, the fishing
boat Flying Cloud put alongside
last Wednesday and saved us
again"
The fishing boat towed the junk
into Quatsino. Captain Anderson
said he expected to leave here in
two Or three days by tow for Seattle.
The junk has an overall length of
so feet and an 11-foot beam. 1t car
ries l,240 square feet of sail and
is equipped with Chinese Diesel en-