The Silver Lotus Page 4

  Before the wedding, Lady Yee had closeted her future husband and her adoring father and politely insisted upon only one nonnegotiable stipulation to the marriage contract. If her husband chose to go back to sea, she would sail with him and make her life and home by his side. Lady Yee insisted that she had no intention of getting married to a man that was only rarely at home to watch his children grow. No amount of wealth could compensate her for the pain of longing and loneliness such a life entailed. Then, to Captain Hammond’s mild surprise, Lady Yee quoted the famous biblical lines from the book of Ruth.

  Master Yee wasn’t all that pleased with his daughter’s firm stipulation, but he knew from experience that she was dead serious, and strong-willed enough to get her way. Captain Hammond, on the other hand, was absolutely overjoyed with her decision, and counted himself blessed to be acquiring a wife who demonstrated such confidence and courage.

  TWO WEEKS LATER, Captain Hammond’s new ship took on a mixed cargo to trade in Malaysia for dressed coconut and coconut oil, clarified palm oil, and any and all spices and medicinal plants if the prices were right. He was also in the market for rare hardwoods prized in furniture making, and he hoped to find an ongoing supplier of aloeswood oil for his new father-in-law. The ester of aloeswood oil was much in demand for the manufacture of certain scents. It was said that even the Buddha believed that aloeswood oil smelled like nirvana. But highly placed testimonials aside, Master Yee knew how to realize a sizable profit from the oil, and Captain Hammond was only too happy to oblige the father of his new wife.

  As a further sign of his devotion, Captain Hammond went to the considerable expense of repainting the whole ship in Lady Yee’s favorite colors: emerald green with pale yellow trim outlined in black. And then he went against custom and rechristened the ship. In the future the vessel would be titled The Silver Lotus in her honor. In this he had the full support of his officers and crew. It would prove a fortuitous choice on more than one occasion.

  Then, on a day appointed by the family astrologer as most propitious, Captain Hammond and Lady Yee sailed away on their first trading venture together. And though he worried that such a life would soon distress his new bride, he needn’t have wasted the concern. Lady Yee loved everything about her new way of life and took total interest in everything to do with her namesake, her crew, and her cargo.

  Captain Hammond soon discovered that his young wife was far more adept at keeping precise accounts and invoices than he was. Her skill with mathematical calculations was faster and more precise than his, her eye for detail more accurate, and her skill at bargaining for supplies unsurpassed. She also learned to make comprehensive log entries, but hers were more detailed and legible than the entries her husband was used to keeping. It seemed to happen almost organically, but by the time The Silver Lotus returned to Singapore eight weeks later, Lady Yee was chief purser and purchasing officer of Hammond & Co. in all but rank and title.

  The Silver Lotus only remained in Singapore long enough to disembark Master Yee’s consignment of exotic lumber and aloeswood oil, allowing four days for Lady Yee to visit with her family. Her relatives were all surprised to see how fit and healthy she looked. Like most families experiencing the departure of one of their own, some thought doom and gloom would result from Lady Yee’s choices, but all were caught wrong-footed by the bloom in her cheeks, the sparkle in her eyes, her self-assured poise, and the affirmative texture of her voice.

  Master Yee certainly marked the dynamic change in his daughter’s demeanor and asked the reason for her obvious happiness. With a burst of blushing pride, his daughter replied that she now possessed every woman’s treasured dream. She was loved, respected, and needed. But, she said, what made her new life even more remarkable was the fact that her husband, his officers, and his crew invariably treated her as an equal, but with the added patience not afforded their own ilk. Her opinions and knowledge were sought after and addressed with serious attention, and as acting purser she was allowed great latitude to conduct the business of purchasing stores and rations as she saw fit. Captain Hammond proudly told his new father-in-law that since Lady Yee had taken over the ledgers, accounts, and expenses, operating costs had gone down by almost 15 percent, and the quality of the stores had improved markedly. He had every expectation of even greater savings once the brilliant Lady Yee mastered the regional intricacies of maritime finance. As an aside, the captain told Master Yee that his daughter already enjoyed the complete loyalty and affection of the crew, who came to her like chicks to a mother hen for every little thing that ailed them. Her knowledge of Chinese medicine, though limited in a professional sense, was delivered with a confidence that was very reassuring. Her attention and sincere affection served the men’s health and sense of well-being better than most ship’s surgeons, who were in most instances little better than apprentice apothecaries themselves. She also insisted on adjusting the crew’s diet with the aim of improving their general health and comfort. And though she had no objections whatsoever to the crew’s daily ration of spirits, she did suggest that rather than diluting the alcohol with plain water, the ration should be portioned with strong black tea made in twice-boiled water and dressed with a bit of fresh ginger. Though mildly skeptical at first, Captain Hammond tried it and was totally surprised when his men claimed to find it more appealing and rejuvenating than the normal tar’s ration they had become used to over the years. In the crew’s mess, where honest objections usually brewed, the concoction was honored with the title “elixir.” Captain Hammond proposed that at no time in maritime history had a gut-raw-rum grog ration ever been referred to as an elixir. The crew immediately requested that their spirits always be prepared the same way in the future. Within a few years, scuttlebutt transmission being what it is, Lady Yee’s recipe could be found on any number of Western ships working the Asian trade. The captains who supported this budding fashion did not overlook the fact that black tea and ginger proved to be a strong stimulant. The brew gave strained backs and sore muscles the will to continue. On celebratory occasions, the crews sometimes dressed up their rations with fresh fruit juice and mint, or served it hot with nutmeg and cinnamon on cold and stormy nights. Sometimes, when circumstances required prolonged endurance and diligence, even the captains and officers forsook their finer vintages in favor of some version of Lady Yee’s elixir.

  After taking on a cargo of hand tools, farming implements, and industrial beeswax to replace what they had delivered to Master Yee, Captain Hammond and his bride said their farewells and sailed off for Ceylon and Pondicherry on the coast of India. From there on, available cargo and market demands would determine the ship’s course and destination.

  It would be almost two years before they returned to Singapore, and by that time Lady Yee’s father and family had returned to Canton. Master Yee’s adversaries had eventually been discredited, disgraced, and driven from all positions of influence, but it was also noted by one and all that Master Yee had never once raised a hand against his tormentors, which again served only to make him appear more enlightened and honorable than his enemies. He not only recovered his previous position as a preferred trader, but his customer lists doubled in less than six months. He was now even wealthier and more important than he was when he went into exile.

  4

  CAPTAIN HAMMOND and Lady Yee sailed together under lucky stars. Their partnership flowered in devotion, respect, and passion. The absence of children sometimes caused Lady Yee slight distress, but Captain Hammond said he really had no wish to become a father as yet. He pointed out that their way of life, though pleasing to them, was dangerous for pregnant women and newborn babies alike, and the lack of proper medical care at sea didn’t make matters any easier for either of them. Besides, he said with a grin, she was already looking after twenty-six hapless children aboard ship. One more child would just make all the others jealous.

  Lady Yee always allowed her husband to believe that he could humor her away from her concerns, but she still longed for c
hildren of her own. But she too now bowed to the will of heaven, and for the present remained content to look after her tar-stained, stubble-faced brood of odiferous swans, and they in turn watched after her like the sea queen she was.

  Once they had set upon a course of long trading voyages, Captain Hammond had an opportunity to witness Lady Yee’s native genius firsthand, and much of what he discovered gave him pause to reflect that amazing things sometimes came from unlikely packages. To begin with, Lady Yee was far more accomplished at negotiating for cargos in Asian and Indonesian ports than Captain Hammond, and after some practice, she learned to handle the old guard English, Dutch, and French traders as well. But her husband was truly surprised to find that she could also charm any cutpurse Yankee grain trader out of his socks and still elicit the fairest prices for all parties concerned. It soon became apparent to Captain Hammond that his talented Chinese princess was, to quote the Irish carpenter’s mate, “as tough as pig iron, slicker than snail spit, and sharper than a cartload of Trinity dons.”

  Hammond soon discovered that his wife’s practical skills were keyed to a hauntingly precise and perceptive instinct. Lady Yee could sense a falsehood, whether spoken or written, and do so with unerring accuracy. When sitting across from any trader bargaining quality and prices, she could immediately tell the moment he became deceitful, and could usually intuit the reason why. It was most unnerving, and the word soon got around that practicing duplicity with Lady Yee was a waste of invention, breath, and time.

  When such instances did occur, Lady Yee had a habit that her husband said was rather like the rattles on the tail of a poisonous snake. She would cross her arms defiantly, cock one brow in doubt, and begin to drum her elegant fingers on her elbow, as though counting the seconds until an expected explosion. Then, pinning her prevaricating interlocutor with a riveting expression, she would say, “Please forgive me, sir, but perhaps I misunderstood. Would you say that again?” Her opponents usually withered after a few moments, cleared their throats once or twice, tossed off a few “ums” and “ahs,” and then presented a more rational evaluation. In the words of Mr. Juno, the cargo master, “Lady Yee inevitably pinned the lying freebooter to a board like a June bug, and in the end he thanked her for the privilege.” That last factor was the most amazing facet of Lady Yee’s sociability. She could rake a duplicitous rubber trader over the coals one day, and the next he’d send her gifts of fruit and flowers, with notes professing undying respect and friendship. One flinty Dutch trader even gifted her with a bolt of fine French blue velvet, and included ten yards of rich Flemish lace just to secure her future business. At the same time, Lady Yee’s own reputation for fair and honest dealing, as well as a timely attention to debts, made Hammond & Co. very popular among brokerage and trading houses everywhere they sailed.

  To acknowledge her growing contributions to their success, the captain registered a change in his company’s name. From then on, The Silver Lotus sailed under the house pennant of Hammond & Yee. He presented his talented wife with a full partnership and the new house pennant on the occasion of their third wedding anniversary. The flag was centered with a silver lotus flower upon a green field, and flanked by the initials H & Y. Not to be outdone on the occasion, the crew gave her a beautiful mahogany deck chair inlaid with whale ivory. They had created it piece by piece in the fo’c’sle away from prying eyes.

  As was said before, Captain Hammond and Lady Yee sailed under lucky stars, but this didn’t mean they weren’t beset by mortal danger on any number of occasions, both from the sea and other more calculating sources. Though the great nineteenth-century Cantonese pirate fleets of Cheng I Sao were a thing of the past, there were a few small triad-controlled fleets still haunting the more rugged coasts of southern China. With the advent of steam power, these divergent gangs of freebooters were generally chased down and suppressed, but a few still clung to the old ways. For the most part, these brigands had been reduced to scavenging what they could from ships in distress, or vessels that unhappily found themselves beached after harsh storms. Lookouts in the hills would signal their confederates at sea, who were ostensibly fishing just offshore. Then the fleet would up-sail and dash off to descend on the hapless victim like a ravenous pack of mongrel dogs. There were rarely any witnesses to tell the tale to the authorities, and those who did escape to shore were usually hunted down by the lookouts just for sport and booty. If some victims were rich enough, they might survive to be ransomed by their families, but this increased the hazard to the kidnappers, and so the pirates usually just killed everyone to be on the safe side.

  Captain Hammond had this in mind when the terrible Chu Bay monsoon almost sank The Silver Lotus near Hainan Island off the southern coast of China. The Silver Lotus had been driven far off course, and subsequently suffered a fair degree of damage to her sails, gaffs, booms, and rigging. The decks looked like a bomb had gone off in the rope locker, and at least half the crew were suffering from exhaustion, and the other half wished they had it that easy. The seas had been so treacherous and perverse that just moving about the ship proved an exercise in challenged mortality. Conditions were so dangerous that Captain Hammond issued orders that Lady Yee and her maid were to be secured in their berths with canvas straps to prevent them from being thrown about the cabin every time the ship pitched or yawed violently, or was hammered, bow down, by waves that crested thirty feet and more above the decks. But when Lady Yee heard that two of her men had been seriously hurt by falling tackle, she cut herself free from her restraints, grabbed the surgeon’s case, and somehow made her way to the fo’c’sle to tend to their injuries. She stayed with them through the worst of the storm, and tended to the abrasions, cuts, and contusions of all that came to her for help. Perhaps it was the fear of imminent destruction and death, but somehow all these hard-boiled seamen, who’d normally twist the devil’s tail on a wager, suddenly became like distressed children seeking the comfort and safety of their mother’s care. They never forgot her courage and generosity. Captain Hammond wasn’t too happy that she had risked her own safety, even in such altruistic pursuits, but he knew better than to voice his displeasure. As it stood, he knew that if he called her to account for her actions, the crew would have probably beached him in favor of serving under Lady Yee, and he later said as much to his first officer, who smiled but reluctantly agreed with his captain’s assessment.

  Captain Hammond and his men finally found a sheltered cove on the south end of Hainan Island that was just large enough to accommodate the ship, but with little or no room to maneuver her safely, they were forced to kedge the ship stern-first into the narrow cove. Despite laying out every anchor the ship possessed, and from all quarters, it still seemed that the next set of giant swells or waves would beach her on the rocks below the cliffs at any moment. However, by virtue of the crew’s vigilance and constant readjustment of the anchor cables to keep the ship centered over her anchorage, total disaster was somehow avoided until dawn. Then, as if in answer to fervent prayers, the tail of the monsoon suddenly softened and then quietly moved to the north. At this point the crew were so spent that some of them simply fell asleep at their stations, and Lady Yee discovered her husband all wet and worn, fast asleep on a coil of cable outside the pilothouse.

  About noon the captain and the crew had recovered enough energy to assess the damage and begin planning for repairs. In all, things looked worse than they really were, but both the gaff and boom on the foremast had been dangerously sprung and cracked, and would not carry sail without being first braced and fished, or totally replaced. But until such time, The Silver Lotus would have to depend on her headsails and a jury-rigged, loose-footed lateen arrangement on the foremast.

  The crew spent the rest of the day making repairs. Their anchorage was so isolated by the rugged nature of surrounding cliffs that it precluded all habitation, so none of the islanders ever appeared, not even out of curiosity. Suddenly one of the men effecting repairs high on the foremast called down to the deck to say
that a small fleet of junks were slowly patrolling back and forth just offshore. Each flew a small red pennant from the mainmast, but aside from that there was no telling who they were, or what their intentions might be, but for the present there was no way for them to enter the inlet with The Silver Lotus occupying most of the channel.

  Captain Hammond came on deck when he heard the call from the trees and took up his glass to examine the visitors more closely. Lady Yee soon joined her husband and asked to have a look for herself. They came to the same conclusion. Their visitors were Pearl River pirates from Guangdong, and their red pennant was the standard of the Wong Chi, the largest of the maritime triads. The pirates had somehow spotted the wounded behemoth, and believing she’d be easy prey, all bottled up as she was with no line of retreat, they began to quietly patrol back and forth like sharks awaiting seals. Captain Hammond immediately unbolted the arms locker and handed out double-barreled shotguns and large navy revolvers to a dozen men. He told them to arrange themselves around the deck so as to keep the ship covered on all quarters. Then he sent four men up the trees with heavy-caliber rifles and told both sets of guards to fire upon any junk that came within fifty yards of the ship, but to shoot just over their heads and shiver their sails and rigging. If possible, he wished to extricate his ship from this sticky situation without recourse to bloodshed, but he wanted the Wong Chi to see that he was adequately armed and willing to fire. Then he had the small signaling cannon taken forward and aimed over the bow. He told his men to give the diminutive howitzer a double charge of powder and to load it to the muzzle with broken glass, but no metal.