Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on 09/20/00 from 172.17.4.90 via proxy home.cosco.com.cn:
In Reply to: Re: A source for "Missee Lee" posted by Tim Johns on September 11, 2000 at 12:52:43:
I feel like a Roaring Donkey! Every ass loves to hear himself bray! I found a copy in Beijing and hoped that I had made a discovery!
I am sure that AR must have been familiar with the book; it would have been impossible for anyone remotely interested in the sea to have visited China in the 1930's and not to have known of it. Pirate attacks on the steamers which linked the coastal Treaty Ports were commonplace - so common that the ships of CNCo and ISNCo carried armed guards, their officers were armed with Winchester repeating rifles, Smith and Wesson revolvers and sawn off shotguns (!) and the bridge was fenced off from the rest off the accomodation with iron grilles. CNCo sued the British Government for protection for their ships - and lost! Lawyers can look up CNCo-v-Attorney General in the 1930's Law Reports if they like!