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Growin' Our Own (page 4)

The River

By: Kelly Prince

The Sumerians used it around 4,000 BC. Egyptian Pharaohs were entombed with it. Classical Greek physicians prescribed it to their patients. The Chinese have used it for thousands of years, and still do for that matter. British East India Company monopolized it - at the behest and protection of the British government. Thomas Jefferson cultivated it at his garden in Monticello. The seeds from its plants were sold at the gift-shop of Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants until 1991. Sir William Osler called it "God's Own Medicine." And my father transported it down the Yangtsze river, by the ton, during the late 1920's and early 30's.

I'm talking about Opium.

Yeah, dear old (long departed) dad was a master of a ship for the Yangtsze Rapid Steamship Company. He commanded one of twenty seven ships for the company. Shanghai to Chungking and return. A one way trip of some 800 miles on that tortuous river.

The trip up the river, to Chungking, the ships were normally hauling various commodities, flour, sugar, coal, etc. The trip down river, to Shanghai, was a different story altogether. Opium by the ton. On the down river runs, each ship had a compliment of Chinese soldiers acting as guards for the all important cargo. Further, if the shipment was important enough, the soldiers were commanded by a Chinese general.

Ship captains, of which dad was one, were paid quite well. $800.00 dollars per trip - in gold. That is in the log book as well. Lest I forget, in 1928, dad was a whopping 20 years old.

Just getting to Chungking to pick up a load of opium was a nightmare. You see, the Yangtsze river is not like the gently rolling Mississippi. Far from it. The Yangtsze is nothing more than a series of gorges several hundred feet high and rapids with currents flowing in all directions. During Monsoon season this dangerous situation was magnified many times over. It was not uncommon for the Yangtsze Rapid Steamship Company to lose 2 - 5 ships per year because of the rapids.

Then, there were the guilds which had to be placated. I'm talking the beggars guild, the robbers guild, the coolie guild and on and on, ad infinitum. Dealing with the guilds at the various ports on the river's bank was supposed to be handled by the company. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't. Though in all honesty heading down river the guilds were not a problem. Just turn the Chinese soldiers loose on them. They would disappear, quite literally.

No trip would be complete without worrying about pirates. Not that they would attack every trip, but you had to be prepared just in case. Dad had a fast way of dealing with pirates. First was to grab the shotgun, one of which was always on the bridge, and fire a round or two into the wooden pirate boat. If the boat wasn't leaking before, it was now. Then, light a magnesium flare and toss it into the pirates' boat. Without fail, the pirates would try to put out the burning flare by using water. Heh, heh, heh. Magnesium burns hotter and spreads faster when sprayed with water. The pirates were then faced with two real bad alternatives: burn to death or drown. Either way, they were history.

One of the key questions, as it was during this time frame when the Chinese communists and Chinese nationalists were doing battle over who would rule China, was protection of the ship. As I already mentioned, Chiang Kai Shek had guards on the vessels when opium was the main cargo, but there was one other security device. When at anchor, on the river or in Shanghai, these ships were under the protection of the United States Navy.

Can you imagine that? Delivering, over the course of a year, hundreds of tons of opium, all under the protection of the United States Navy and General Chiang Kai Shek. And getting a damn good payday in gold to boot. Gawd, nowadays you can be sentenced to life in prison for what? A few ounces. Yet people still crave it. People still smoke it. It truly is God's own medicine.

Ok, so what do you do with a ship loaded (no pun intended) to the gills with opium and swinging from the hook at the Port of Shanghai? You transfer the cargo, of course. Need to get that product to pharmaceutical companies, distributors, wholesalers, dealers and finally to consumers. In other words, get the opium out of China and into major ports-of-call. For that open ocean freighters were needed. During the 20's and 30's, one of the major shipping companies was the Dollar Line. Owned and operated by one Stanley Dollar. Stanley was one very sharp businessman. He was also one of the biggest thieves to ever set foot on the planet. Although Shek ran a very close second. Dollar and Shek had numerous business dealings together, but they never trusted each other. No honesty among thieves.

Once the opium was transfered from the river craft to the freighters, the freighters would get underway to the the following ports-of-call: San Francisco, New York and Marseilles, France. Now I have no idea what the cost per ton of opium was back then, it's not in the logs. I would assume that it couldn't be too much as people, rich and poor, were buying and smoking it, at home or in an opium parlor.

Dad quit the Yangtsze Rapid Steamship Company in 1932. The risk was becoming a bit much. Not because of the opium, but because of the war going on in China. The Chinese communists were shooting ship handlers and sinking ships. The U.S. Navy was pulling back. Chiang Kai Shek was in the process of establishing a Chinese government in Taiwan. Without experienced ship handlers the company could not meet shipping schedules. Shek and his cronies couldn't and wouldn't guarantee the port would be safe. Lastly, the great depression had a tight grip on the U.S. shipping industry.

The funny thing is, because of the depression, there was an even greater demand for opium. As for the Yangtsze Rapid Steam Ship Company, I have no idea whatever happened to them. I do hope that the employees got out before Mao Tse Tung took over China. Stanley Dollar lost his shipping company. The Dollar lines were horribly in debt and, talk about a deal, in exchange for canceling out all debt the U.S. government took over the company in 1938. After World War II, the government sold the company (Dollar Lines) to the American Presidents Lines and split the money fifty - fifty with Stanley Dollar. Who says crime doesn't pay?

You can no longer sail the Yangtsze river from Shanghai to Chungking. The Chinese government has dammed it up. It's even harder to get your hands on good quality opium thanks to our prohibitionist society. But if you long for some excitement mixed with some danger, go ahead, smoke some good opium and dream about the river.

What a long ... strange trip its been.

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