Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part I
No. 227.
Mr. Denby
to Mr. Bayard.
Peking, August 7, 1888. (Received September 20.)
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of a memorial from the governor of Shantung, covering a set of regulations for the protection and salvage of vessels on the coast of that province.
I have, etc.,
Memorial of the governor of Shantung, inclosing a set of regulations for the protection and salvage of vessels on the coast of that province.
Chang Yao, the governor of Shantung, submits a memorial, in which he incloses for imperial sanction a number of regulations which he has had drawn up for the protection of vessels that may meet with casualties on the coast of the province.
The Pautah, a steamer belonging to the China Merchants’ Company, struck some months ago on a rock off the Chefoo promontory, and having become a total wreck was plundered by the villagers in the neighborhood. In the report which the governor forwarded to the throne, he dwelt upon the necessity of devising some measures for the protection of vessels meeting with such mishaps in the future, and stated that he was in consultation with Li-Hung Chang, the northern superintendent of trade, as to the advisableness of drawing up a code of regulations which might prevent a repetition of such a serious offense on the part of the villagers and might save traders from being exposed to such harm in future. The memorialist observes that the coastline of Shantung province is dotted over with islands and studded with rocks, among which passing vessels, if they happen to meet with a fog, are sure to lose their way and become stranded. The people along the sea-board make use of such occasions to commit indiscriminate plunder. When a vessel is completely wrecked the islanders, who are quite at home in the water, and set little store by their lives, dive down and bring up the cargo. This might be excused, but it is intolerable that they should, as they often do, board, plunder, and break up a ship that is merely stranded, and even take human life in their passion for gain. The shipping interests are generally represented by people from other provinces, who shrink from legal proceedings. The result is that such cases are, for the most part, not reported, and when they are the authorities pass them over without making too close an inquiry. In course of [Page 343] time the habit has developed into an established custom, and wrecking has become a recognized profession. So bad is it that vessels which have been disabled do not venture to approach the shore, and become total wrecks in consequence. The evil is one which is common to all the islands along the coast, but owing to the dangers of the navigation the Shantung promontory has obtained a special notoriety for wrecking.
In 1876 the Tsung-li Yamên drew up under imperial sanction a set of rules for the protection of distressed ships, whether Chinese or foreign, a copy of which was sent to Shantung and embodied in regulations issued under the instructions of the then governor, Ting Pao-chen, by all the local authorities along the coast.
The rules in question were very complete and exhaustive, but they were not efficiently carried out, and in course of time they came to be regarded merely as waste paper. It is extremely desirable that they should again be promulgated, and that the whole matter should be put on a proper footing.
The Taotai has accordingly, incompliance with the governor’s instructions, drawn up a new code of rules in six clauses, based upon the old ones issued by the Yamên, with such modifications and additions as the lapse of time and local circumstances seemed to require. The new rules have been examined and approved by his excellency Li-Hung Chang, who joins the memorialist in submitting them to the throne for the imperial sanction. A copy has at the same time been forwarded to the Tsung-li Yamên and to the board concerned.
A rescript appended to this memorial directs the Yamên concerned “to take note.”
The inclosure to the above memorial did not appear in the Gazette, but was subsequently published by the native press in Shanghai and Tientsin.
Abstract of rules drawn up for the protection and salvage of vessels on the coast of Shantung.
I. Division of the Coast Line into Sections for the Purpose of Defining Responsibility.
The islands along the coast lie so thickly dotted about and so closely interlaced, that unless boundary lines are closely determined responsibility can be readily evaded. It will, therefore, devolve upon the Taotai at Chefoo to send a commission composed of competent officers to fix, in concert with the civil and military authorities, the limits of their respective jurisdictions. Each section shall comprise a distance of 10 li, and shall contain a station in charge of one marine officer and two superintendents, all of whom shall be recommended and vouched for by the respectable people of the neighborhood, and also by the authorities of their respective districts. A flag-pole will be erected in front of each station, which will fly a flag by day and show a lamp at night as signals for the benefit of ships in distress. All the boats in each section will be marked and numbered, and a list of them and of the names of their owners will be registered in a book kept for the purpose. Each boat will be furnished with a certificate bearing an official seal and containing a copy of these regulations. When their services are required each boat will during the day be furnished with a flag bearing a device to the effect that it is to protect merchant ships and strictly prohibit plunder. By night each boat will exhibit a light as a signal to vessels in distress. Ships, Chinese and foreign alike, which have struck upon a rock, gone ashore, or met with any other casualty, should fly a flag by day and exhibit a lamp by night as a sign that they require assistance. On seeing such a signal the people and fishermen in the neighborhood should go at once and report the fact to the nearest station. The latter will then dispatch boats to the rescue, and will send messengers to report to the civil and military authorities. Should the vessel in distress be a large one, and the boats in the district be insufficient for purposes of rescue, then the authorities may apply for assistance to a neighboring station; but under ordinary circumstances, no station can interfere beyond its jurisdiction. When the civil and military authorities receive information of a casualty they shall proceed to the spot with a force of soldiers to afford protection.
The coast along the Jung-Ch’êng districts presents such dangers to navigation and is so distant from the provincial capital, that there is difficulty in exercising adequate control over it. The Taotai at Chefoo has, therefore, been empowered to establish a head protection office in the very center of it, in charge of a deputy and one or two respectable members of the gentry, to whom all the other stations shall send their reports. The salary of the deputy and the other expenses of the office shall be defrayed [Page 344] from the expenditure fund of the foreign customs, and the scale of rewards and fines shall, after each occurrence, be determined by the deputy in consultation with the magistrate of the district.
II. Rewards and Penalties Prescribed as a Means of Preventing Evasion of Duty.
The Taotai at Chefoo will be made responsible for furnishing detailed reports of all cases in which ships have been rescued or cargo salved under these rules by the civil or military authorities along the coast. Occupants of inferior posts who have rendered good service will receive better appointments, and those whose posts are good will be recommended for promotion to a higher grade in the service.
Short-comings will be punished by marks being placed against the offender’s name on the official record, or by his removal from office, according to the degree of their gravity. The prevalence of wrecking on the Shantung promontory adds greatly to the difficulty of the lack of affording sufficient protection to ships. “Officers, therefore, holding substantive appointments, within whose jurisdiction no case of wrecking shall occur for a period of three years, will be transferred to better appointments, and acting officers, whose jurisdiction may be exempt from such cases for one year, will receive one term of a good acting appointment. The superintendents of the stations, who may be reported by the local authorities as having done really good service, will, on the first occasion of the kind, be entitled to apply for buttons and honorary tablets, and on the third occasion will be advanced to official positions. Cases of neglect of duty will be punished by removal from office or a slight fine. Should the superintendents of station be found to be implicated in acts of plunder they shall be dealt with as principals in the crime. Persons who are the first to give information to a station of a ship being in danger shall be entitled to the first place in the order of merit. This reward in the case of a large ship shall be as high as 30 taels, and in the case of a small one shall be limited to 10 taels. If the captain has no means of defraying the amount it shall be paid out of the funds of the office, and if these are insufficient it will be advanced by the local authorities, to be repaid to them by the Taotai of Chefoo.
III. Rules Laid Down to Prevent Confusion.
The accidents which befall vessels in distress are of various kinds and of different degrees of gravity. Vessels that are merely leaky, and whose cargoes admit of being salved, should fly a white flag during the day and exhibit two red lamps by night, on seeing which the nearest station will send off one or two boats with all speed to make inquiries. They will not be allowed to board the vessel or to cause her any inconvenience. If the captain wishes to have the cargo removed he will be at liberty to make use of as many of the boats as he pleases for the purpose. The station will send men to take charge of it, and when the work is completed the captain of the vessel and the superintendents of the station will decide upon a fair and equitable remuneration for the work, which at most must not exceed a fourth of the value of the cargo salved. If the captain does not wish to have the cargo removed and the boat people swarming on board proceed to do so without authority, it will devolve upon the local authorities to have them arrested and severely punished.
Should a vessel have sustained serious damage and be in imminent danger, she will, if it be day-time, fly a black flag, and will, if it is night, exhibit two green lights, on seeing which the office will send off with all speed a number of boats to her rescue. It will be for the master to indicate whether the safety of the ship, the cargo, or the crew should be first attended to. The salvors will not proceed to act of their own motion. Should any of the cargo that has been sent ashore be removed elsewhere or stowed away in hiding, the depredators will, on discovery, be obliged to restore the plunder and be punished for the crime of taking advantage of danger to commit robbery. Ruffians who, in their passion for gain, take human life or break up vessels in distress, will be immediately bound and forwarded by the superintendents of the stations to the local authorities for punishment. Should the superintendents be found, to have been in collusion with such persons, they too will be arrested and placed in confinement. Persons who bring false accusation will take the place of the accused.
IV. Award of Gratuities as an Encouragement to Exertion.
All property salved must first be inspected by the local authorities, and, in the event of the property being foreign, its salvage must also be reported to the nearest consul, who will examine it in conjunction with the local officials. An estimate having been made of its value, a certain portion thereof shall be appropriated for rewarding the [Page 345] salvors. The amount shall be determined by the value of the property saved and the difficulty experienced in its salvage.
The rewards shall be divided into the following four classes: Where the work of salvage has been difficult, but the amount of the property recovered is small, one-third of it shall be apportioned as the reward of the salvors. Where the salvage is difficult and the amount of the property large, or where the amount is small and the salvage easy, the reward shall be one-fifth. If the property has been under water and has been rescued at the risk of life, the salvor shall be assigned two-thirds of it as a reward for his services, the other third remaining the property of the captain.
The superintendents of the stations shall furnish the local authorities with lists of all the rewards assigned for salvage purposes.
As stations have to be established and their staffs can not perform their duties without some means of support, one-tenth of the above rewards shall be appropriated for their maintenance. In saving life also the difficulty or easiness with which it has been effected will be taken into account in determining the reward; 5 taels will be given in the one case and 10 taels in the other. If the individual himself has no means, the amount will be advanced in the first instance by the local authorities, to be re-imbursed to them by the Taotai at Chefoo from the expenditure fund of the foreign customs. If only cargo and no people have been rescued, a report should be sent to the nearest local authority, as also to the consul, who will together decide upon a fair amount of reward. In the case of the rescue of individuals and no property, they must, whether they be Chinese or foreign, be provided in the first instance with food and clothing and sent to the nearest local authority or consul, who will provide them with a passage or an escort, as the case may be, and funds to take them to their native place. In the case of foreigners who have no consuls to take charge of them, a report will be sent to the trade committee, who will provide them with funds to enable them to return to their own country. When, owing to the roughness of the sea and the fury of the elements, or the fact that the casualty occurred in mid-ocean, human help is of no avail, every one must submit to the will of Heaven, and reckless charges of negligence must not be indulged in.
V. Notices to be Widely Posted by way of Encouragement and Warning.
The ignorant people along the coast, not knowing that they will be rewarded if they rescue vessels and be punished if they fail to do so, maintain an attitude of indifference, and occasionally even go to the length of plundering vessels when they are wrecked. It is essential, therefore, that these regulations should be drawn up in a printed form, and that a copy should be supplied to every boatman and resident along the coast. A register of the names of the persons to whom such documents have been issued will be kept at each station, and when a casualty occurs flags, lamps, etc., will be issued to holders of these certificates, and to no one else. The certificates will be sealed by the Taotai and counter-sealed by the magistrate and the superintendents of the stations. This will teach the people the importance which the authorities attach to the work of protection, and may prevent them from again transgressing the law. Henceforth district officers will be bound within a space of five days from the time of the occurrence to forward periodical reports to the Taotai or prefect of all casualties happening within their districts, stating whether rescues have been effected or not; whether rewards have been granted under these regulations; whether plunder has been committed; and whether any charges have been made by the captain or other persons. Forms for filling up these reports will be issued by the Taotai, and concealments or omissions will be punished.
VI. Re-inforcement of the Naval Force with a View to Securing Adequate Protection.
The custom of wrecking has become so deeply ingrained in the natives of Jung-Ch’êng, that the ordinary military establishments are quite unable to suppress it. There are four war junks in Teng-Chow and Jung-Ch’êng. These will be placed in command of the major of the Le Ch’êng battalion, and, with the two vessels at present under his control, will be divided into two squadrons, one stationed on the island of Mo-ya, to watch the southeast section of the coast, and the other at Lung-hsu, to guard the northeast, both being in readiness to proceed wherever a call is made upon their services. Ch’êng-Shan and Mo-ya Island are both already provided with lookout men. In the Jung-Ch’êng district there are twelve rocky islets, on each of which a lookout man will be stationed, in charge of lamps, flags, and other appliances.