The Silver Lotus

by Thomas Steinbeck

  The captain immediately ordered that the smoldering contents of the fire buckets be thrown into the sea and the hanged men be lowered to the deck. He then helped Lady Yee down from the boom, and as they walked together toward the stern a spontaneous cheer went up from the crew. They hailed their beloved mistress as the queen of the Eastern Sea and the mortal dread of the Pearl River Red Flag Wong Chi. She accepted their adulation with becoming modesty and quietly asked her husband if the crew might not be allowed an undiluted ration of spirits to celebrate their victory. He bowed to her wishes, of course, but only after the ship had been trimmed up, cleaned up, and set on a proper course for Viet Nam.

  5

  IN THE COURSE of their many journeys together, Captain Hammond and Lady Yee sailed to every port in the Pacific Ocean worth a cargo, including Hawaii, Mexico, and California. Lady Yee’s keen observations concerning these destinations were recorded in her daybook. She was unimpressed with the port of San Francisco and held unflattering opinions concerning the inhabitants. Lady Yee, who had met Americans in China, and liked them in the main, found Americans at home in California a very disquieting species indeed. She tried to set aside the fact that they were culturally averse to bathing regularly and paid little attention to the cleanliness of their clothes, or to their houses for that matter. She was tolerant of their general lack of education and sense of culture, and she could endure and forgive their thoughtless manners and total absence of tact, but she simply could not abide the American concept of what constituted civilized food. She refused to partake in anything as barbarian as large animal parts roasted on a spit, or blood-rare beefsteaks, or vegetables boiled or roasted to near-pulp. Corn on the cob was impossible to eat with any finesse, and what passed for pastry and confection wasn’t worth discussing. Lady Yee’s food had always been prepared by qualified, if not renowned, chefs. And the one stipulation she settled upon before following her husband to sea was the employment of an experienced Chinese cook named Ah Chu for herself and her maid, Li-Lee. Captain Hammond, who was very partial to several schools of Asian cuisine, readily agreed, and soon even the crew came to be of the opinion that the rations aboard ship were much improved under the guidance of Lady Yee’s chef. But once in San Francisco, and discovering that Ah Chu could not follow her to a hotel and wait upon her there, Lady Yee refused to leave the ship for the pleasures that the best lodgings in the city might provide. To her way of thinking, bad food, rude service, bedbugs, used linen, and open chamber pots were not statements of civilized luxury. She pointed out that she lived far better aboard her ship, with her own maid and her own cook, than anyone in a city hotel.

  It was also perhaps Lady Yee’s pointed distaste for mass alcoholism, and the subsequent street violence of the city, that made her feel ill at ease there. When her husband once escorted her to a fashionable milliner’s emporium in the city, Lady Yee counted fifty-seven busy taverns in a three-mile carriage ride, and on the way back to the ship, after spending an evening with a few of her husband’s friends, she witnessed three drunken brawls, a stabbing, and a number of public altercations that involved the loud use of provocative language totally composed of profanity. And if that weren’t enough to disturb Lady Yee’s sense of civility, then certainly the treatment of her fellow Chinese, now residing in “the land under the Gold Mountain,” obliterated all desire for Lady Yee to make herself feel at home in San Francisco. She was certainly aware that in the Americas she would always be looked down upon because of her race and her gender, but that didn’t preclude her fervent desire to make a life for herself that disdained those conventions. Aboard The Silver Lotus she had status, responsibility, respect, and honest affection. As part owner of Hammond & Yee, and quite wealthy in her own right, she also had the power to influence many aspects of her own life that were, in effect, quite above and beyond the privileges and prerogatives allowed most women who lived ashore, no matter what their race, station, or lineage.

  It should be noted that despite her youth, Lady Yee maintained very liberal and open-minded sensibilities. She avoided making broad judgments based upon information or experience drawn from limited samples. It was usually her habit to take on humanity one person at a time, and make her evaluations accordingly, regardless of superficialities, fortunes, or titles. So of course she knew that the legendary California so often described to her by her husband must be somewhere else, because San Francisco Bay as a harbor was just the same tidewater snake pit as any other big harbor around the world, including Canton or Shanghai, and it attracted and nurtured exactly the same species of vice, violence, and crime. With this in mind, Lady Yee could see no reason to try and feel comfortable ashore. Besides, the money she saved on frivolous entertainments and expensive hotels went into making constant improvements to the daily comforts both captain and crew enjoyed at sea or at anchor. This made a berth on The Silver Lotus very desirable by any measure.

  On one of their voyages to California, Captain Hammond journeyed north from San Diego to Monterey Bay. They sailed close enough to shore for Captain Hammond and Lady Yee to discover some stunning stretches of coastline. In many places the mountains ended their progress in rockbound cliffs, as the crashing ocean waves had cut away all footing. Captain Hammond had never taken a cargo out of Monterey before since it was a fishing port, and he didn’t carry perishables. But on this occasion he had been commissioned by his father-in-law to purchase a large cargo of dried squid for shipment to Canton. The squid were caught, dried, placed in salt, and packed in reused tea chests by Chinese fishermen who worked the bay. These courageous boatmen and their families lived in ramshackle villages constructed from anything at hand, including driftwood. Like cliff-bound seabird nests, these haphazard dwellings clung precariously along the rock-strewn shore at several locations around the bay.

  By his own estimation, the captain judged the weight of the salt as at least a third more than that of the weight of the squid, but it mattered little to him as long as Master Yee was standing security for the agreed price. Though he took every opportunity to oblige his father-in-law, there were limits, and in cases of business the limit was always set at price per ton upon safe delivery.

  Because The Silver Lotus, at present holding two-thirds of her return cargo, drew too much water, loading the squid from the commercial pier was deemed impractical, and it was decided to take on this last bit of cargo at anchor, using the Chinese fishing junks as lighters. It would take longer to hoist and load, to be sure, but it gave Captain and Mrs. Hammond the opportunity to enjoy a small excursion through the countryside around Monterey and Pacific Grove, and then down the coast to Carmel. The captain was very taken with the area and told Lady Yee that because it was a fishing community, it reminded him somewhat of his birthplace on Deer Island in the state of Maine. Lady Yee thought the land around the bay quite lovely, but above all other considerations, she secretly believed the place had great commercial potential as well, and encouraged her husband to think about buying property in the vicinity as an investment. Since she was never wrong about such things, he gave the matter serious consideration, and the next day decided to open a sizable bank account in Monterey. He encouraged the bank to lend him assistance in finding suitable property, and the bank president, Mr. Hodges, who was only too pleased to have Captain Hammond, and his twenty-eight thousand dollars, as a new client, bent every effort toward being of assistance. To show his appreciation, Mr. Hodges informed the captain that they had recently received an order from the estate of the late Mr. Liam O’Sheen to place his town residence on the block. His heirs preferred living on their ranch in Big Sur and no longer wished to support the expense of the property.

  Mr. Hodges said he had known Mr. O’Sheen for almost twenty-eight years, and having been his guest many times, he knew the property well. He told the captain the house was quite large, with five bedrooms and all the amenities, including a cook’s quarters, a large laundry room, and modern plumbing throughout. The ground story was constructed of heavy stone, and sat
over a generous stone root cellar. The second story was constructed of stout timber and frame in the Dutch fashion, and overhung the ground floor by two feet all around the building. The large barn was constructed in like manner. There was a stone water tower attached to the house that also contained a dovecote below, and a lovely observation deck on the roof. Both the tower and the second-story bedrooms shared extensive views of Monterey Bay. The house was surrounded by extensive walled gardens and sat on fifteen acres of partially forested land. Besides the fine barn, the property boasted a carriage house and four acres of mature fruit and nut trees in a separate walled orchard. Mr. Hodges said that Mr. O’Sheen had spent a great deal of money enlarging and improving the house for his wife and children, and no convenience had been overlooked when it came to their comfort.

  The residence was to be sold with or without its contents, but Mr. Hodges stated that the remaining furnishings were of the best quality and should be examined before disposal one way or another. The banker offered to give the captain the use of one of his clerks as escort and to open the house for inspection. The captain, who was intrigued by the descriptions, said he would return at two-thirty that afternoon and avail himself of the kind offer. Then he went off to confer with Lady Yee.

  It had been the captain’s intention to gather up his wife, tell her what had transpired at the bank, and take her to see the property so she could make her own judgments. They had only two days before they were scheduled to sail west to Canton and then to the Philippines. If any business was to be accomplished at all, momentum was required.

  However, Lady Yee had already thought out several matters that pertained to buying property in California, and one of them was based on the obvious discrimination practiced against the Chinese, though they weren’t the only minorities to feel the toe and heel of white cultural insecurity. Her awareness of the racial tensions, as well as her business instincts, inspired her to tell her husband that if she accompanied him to see the house, and it became known to the bank that he had married a Chinese, the price of the house would go up, if only to hinder a purchase by the “wrong” sorts. She told her husband to avoid an auction for the same reason. If he really thought the property a sound investment, then he should purchase it on that basis alone. She pointed out that since they were hardly going to move in at once, if ever, what the bank didn’t know was, in fact, best for everybody. Lady Yee advised her husband that if it came down to doing business on the fly, he should bypass all talk of auction, find out what the heirs wanted for the property, and pay it. Or better still, have the bank finance the property and deposit just enough money to cover the mortgage, tax, and maintenance for at least five years. If the captain later changed his mind, so be it. If the property was all Mr. Hodges said it was, they could always sell it on. But if they decided to keep the property, by then it would be far too late for anyone to muster financial interference, or even voice prejudiced objections that would matter to anyone.

  Lady Yee reminded her husband that for most narrow-minded people the world over, there was nothing like the impressive plumage of a healthy fortune to soften most bigoted sentiments or objections. Americans, no less than any other breed, were always willing to amend their prejudices in the presence of great wealth. Even among cultured Chinese, great fortune denoted power because the first could only be acquired through the skilled application of the second. But for the present, Lady Yee demurred from the idea of giving people more information than they needed.

  By eleven-thirty the next morning, Captain Hammond walked out of the bank as the new owner of a fifteen-acre property overlooking Monterey Bay. He smiled to himself as he pocketed the keys and went back to gather up Lady Yee. For sound reasons of her own, Lady Yee later accompanied her husband to see the house dressed as her own maid. She said that as a servant, people would look right through her without making any assumptions whatsoever, and she was right.

  Lady Yee was very taken with the house, the property, and especially the extensive walled gardens and the orchard. Except for occasional visits by the heirs, the house had been essentially empty for eight years, and though he’d purchased the house partially furnished, almost no maintenance had been done to the property. Lady Yee saw at once that the gardens and orchards needed immediate attention, and the house itself a thorough cleaning and care. A new coat of paint all around would brighten things considerably as well.

  Captain Hammond agreed, and after some judicial inquiries at Watson Hay & Feed, he hired a highly recommended Japanese nurseryman to set the orchards and gardens in order. Through the helpful offices of the bank, he found a contractor who would see to all repairs and repaint the house, barn, and outbuildings, and a bank representative would pass on all the work before payment was made. They were happy to do so, as Captain Hammond was now their fourth-largest single depositor, and they were certainly aware that his sizable deposit represented only a small portion of his wealth. They hoped to embrace more of his business in the future, and the captain led the bank to believe that would be the case if matters worked out to his satisfaction.

  On the morning tide the next day, with the ship’s additional cargo loaded and secured, Captain Hammond and Lady Yee sailed out of Monterey Bay. It would be quite some time before they returned again. Fat little wars prosecuted by fat little despots were breaking out everywhere, and this always meant a boost in trade for basic supplies like grain, iron, copper, rubber, and other necessary staples. There were some in the trade who valued quick profits above all else, so much so that they would ferret about in the illegal trade of arms and explosives, but Captain Hammond well understood that this was possibly the fastest way to have your ship seized, or sent to the bottom of the ocean. It was one thing to sacrifice wealth with a confiscated cargo, but it was another to place the ship’s crew in jeopardy. A man could always buy another ship, but a sterling reputation for honesty and good sense could not be purchased at any price.

  In the past the captain’s ships had been boarded for inspection too many times to count. He found it always very helpful to order up a service of ham sandwiches and good coffee, sometimes laced with a little brandy to ward off the elements. Otherwise, he kept his books and his hatches open and his mouth closed. If he knew the inspecting officers, and in many cases he did, then he opened the spirits locker as well. In Muslim countries he served sweet tea, candied fruits, and honey-laced pastries. The captain’s consideration and understated hospitality were always well remembered. The fact that his crews were always very well behaved while ashore also lent credence to his reputation as a captain who maintained steady discipline and kept his crews free of criminal elements.

  But as the conflicts in Africa, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and southern China increased in intensity, so too did the inspections, harassment, and occasional confiscations, which had all the earmarks of out-and-out piracy. After two sanguine years of pointless military conflict and confusion, profits no longer compensated for all the sailing delays and legal complications. And insuring cargos destined for areas of conflict was becoming a very expensive proposition indeed. Only gunrunners and freebooters were realizing true wealth, but they didn’t bother insuring their illicit cargos anyway. One successfully penetrated blockade could pay for three ships lost. But Captain Hammond didn’t fancy the odds either way, so he and Lady Yee decided to leave the China trade for the more peaceful haunts of South America and Mexico. However, the blight of cross-cultural violence and intermittent revolution had spread there as well.

  It was Lady Yee’s firm opinion that the stars had now aligned against their interests. For years all their dealings and voyages had transpired with relative ease, and they had both realized great profits and shared remarkable adventures together. But having thrown the coins and noted the readings, Lady Yee had a sense that they should think about a different mode of living for a while. Ships were a great expense when not employed in trade, and employment was becoming more hazardous and unsure all the time. She suggested that they fit out fo
r one more journey to India and China, and purchase a cargo of luxury goods on their own account.

  With half-penny military conflicts popping up like poisonous mushrooms everywhere, these items would, by virtue of the cresting waves of social and political instability, soon become very hard to come by at any price. This would be particularly true for quality exports like fine silks, velvets, refined linens, and polished Indian cotton goods. She also mentioned art porcelains, fine bone china, rich furnishings, and even jewels if they were offered at rational prices. Lady Yee was particularly fond of pearls and believed that a last trip to Madagascar might prove rewarding in that regard as well. She suggested they could warehouse their cargo in the Americas somewhere and sell it off slowly as the market prices gradually increased, as they most assuredly would. In the meantime, they could put their ship in the lumber trade on the West Coast of the Americas and go ashore for a couple of years of well-deserved rest and modest luxury. She pointed out that The Silver Lotus was nearing her end of useful service in the Asian trade, and stood in need of a major refit, which would be expensive if effected all at once. Better to put her on light duty in the coastal trade and keep her close to home. Repairs could be accomplished as needed, and she could retire from her arduous Pacific voyages. Her sailing master was more than qualified to take over command, and everyone would continue to profit, albeit on a smaller scale, but balanced by lower costs as well.

  Captain Hammond was always pleasantly surprised by his wife’s grasp of business, especially its place in the context of political events. It wasn’t so much that she could predict precisely what was going to happen next, although at times it appeared that way, but rather she possessed a profound sensitivity for distant and sometimes obscure wisps of information. However, the consummate skill and logic with which she pieced together a picture of the whole issue from mere scraps of intelligence were as precisely extrapolated as a mathematical equation, and she knew the critical nature of X, Y, and Z would usually bring her within a hair’s breadth of the truth.