The Silver Lotus (38 page)

The ship arrived eighteen hours later, anchored in the offing, and set up flags calling for a pilot. The harbor was empty of ships and almost looked abandoned. There were few people to be seen onshore, and those few appeared totally disinterested in the presence of the steamship offshore. Two hours later a boat approached with the harbormaster aboard. Captain Penn and the harbormaster communicated with voice trumpets. The ship was warned that the harbor was under tight quarantine due to an outbreak of malaria and cholera. The American ship would be permitted to anchor in the harbor to make repairs, but they could neither land people nor goods, nor allow locals to board with goods of any kind. They were permitted to purchase materials needed for repairs, but the ship's crew would have to take delivery from unmanned barges ferried up to the ship by the harbor tug. If there were men ashore willing to assist in repairs on the outside of the ship, and they agreed never to board or fraternize with crew members, that might be arranged, but otherwise
The Silver Macy
would have to be its own best salvation. The Dutch harbormaster said that the recent heavy rains had raised virtual clouds of mosquitoes, sand fleas, blackflies, and fleas. For
those unaccustomed or susceptible, life ashore was a death sentence. Dr. Chun recommended that before the ship entered the harbor, all the ports be closed and insect netting be placed over the companionways. He also suggested that despite the heat and cloying humidity, all those not needed on deck stay below in their cabins and quarters. This particularly applied to the women and children. Captain Penn agreed and made the doctor's suggestions ship's orders.

It took four long days to effect the simplest of repairs. However, all the anchor chain had to be pulled from the bow locker so that men could descend below and buck the back of the hot rivets that secured the iron patch plate to the starboard side of the bow. And the conditions belowdecks were uncomfortable in the extreme. Insect netting purchased from shore had been doubled over the deck ventilators, but since there was no breeze to speak of, the atmosphere in the cabins and saloon was hot and humid to the point of claustrophobia. No one escaped the constant discomfiture, but it was the children who suffered the most. For the men working on deck it was even worse. Even though the ship was anchored out in the harbor away from the jungle, the very presence of warm-blooded creatures drew virtual clouds of biting gnats, and when they departed the blackflies took up the feast, and as the sun slowly set, millions of thirsty mosquitoes appeared to do their part to torment the crew. The men made hoods of mosquito netting and covered their exposed skin with thick layers of black engine grease, but neither would drive off the blood-sucking fog of insects. Captain Penn had smoke buckets set up near the bows, but the breezes blew the smoke away without bothering the insect population one bit. Dr. Chun suggested the men be given plenty of raw garlic to eat, as this seemed to make the victims' blood and body odor distasteful to biting insects. Luckily, there was plenty of that particular commodity on board. The cooks always placed numerous garlic bulbs in the potato sacks, vegetable bins, and fruit nets to prevent mold, and the process
worked quite well. Captain Penn instructed the cook to peel numerous bulbs of garlic and had the crew swallow three or four of them like pills every few hours. It not only kept the mosquitoes from biting, it also somehow increased the men's stamina and endurance. The clouds of insects never really departed, however, and they got into everything, including the food and the paint used on the hull patch.

The Silver Macy
left port almost the moment repairs had been completed. The paint hadn't even dried. Their departure occasioned jubilation all around. The companionways, deck hatches, and portholes were opened to air out the ship, and the passengers and crew came out on deck to relish the ocean breezes and take in lungfuls of fresh air that hadn't been used by everyone else first. The children played on deck in the sunlight, and Lady Yee relaxed in the shade of her Chinese parasol and read from a volume of English poetry that Captain Penn had loaned her. To show his gratitude for surviving all that had befallen them, Ah Chu sacrificed two of his precious chickens and bartered with a crewman for a small freshly caught tuna. With these and a few Chinese vegetables, newly made rice-flour noodles, and fruit, he produced a remarkably diverse feast for the Hammonds, Captain Penn, and the officers.

The next day the dark clouds again rolled in from the south, and it rained all day. Happily, the seas and swells remained moderate, and the ship continued to make good time on an even keel, allowing those who needed rest a peaceful, cradle-like sleep. But the next morning, hell once again came to visit.

Captain Hammond awoke and complained of aching muscles, a bad headache, fever, chills, and nausea. Lady Yee immediately sent Li-Lee for Dr. Chun, but he was a long time coming because he was not to be found in his cabin or on deck. The doctor and his bride had, in fact, been forward in the crew's quarters since before dawn. They had been treating two other men who had come down with exactly the same symptoms. When Dr. Chun at last arrived, he made an immediate
determination on treatment. He ordered that the patient be kept warm when chilled and cold-bathed when fever set in. He gave Ah Chu a big bundle of green willow bark and told him to brew it into a very strong tea. This in turn should be mixed with four parts water and fed to the patient on an almost continual basis to maintain hydration and help alleviate painful muscle cramps.

Then suddenly, Macy ran into the cabin and, unaware that her father was ill, rushed up to her mother in a panic. She begged her mother to come at once. With tears in her eyes, Macy said little Silver couldn't get up, and he was hot and all wet. Lady Yee immediately swept her daughter up into her arms and rushed back across the saloon to the children's cabin. Dr. Chun followed quickly on her heels.

After examining the little boy, Dr. Chun turned to a distraught Lady Yee and said the child was afflicted with the same disease his father had contracted, and the same as the two crewmen. There were several possibilities as to the cause, he said, but considering all the possibilities based upon conditions and the similarity of symptoms, he had ruled out typhoid and cholera because the patients showed no signs of dysentery as yet. The doctor said he believed that their last port of call held the answer, and led him to believe that the stricken had all contracted what the Americans called malaria. Treatment was limited, but in the case of all three possibilities, continuous rehydration was absolutely necessary. And it would be best, he said, if all the water was boiled for at least ten minutes, and then cooled.

Captain Penn entered the cabin with a distraught expression, and asked if there was anything he could do. Little Macy spoke first. With tears in her eyes, she begged her dear captain to help her little brother get well. Witnessing Lady Yee's distress, the captain reached out to take Macy into his arms, where he distracted her with calming reassurance that all would be well and a gentle reminder that she must remain strong and think good thoughts to help her brother. Then, speaking to
Dr. Chun, he asked what help he needed. Dr. Chun asked if there happened to be any quinine in the ship's medical locker, and Captain Penn said he believed it was listed on the inventory sheet. The captain called for the cabin boy, gave him a key, and told him to fetch the medical chest from the stores locker in his cabin. When it arrived, the captain handed it over to Dr. Chun, and told him to make use of anything he liked. He then belatedly thanked the doctor for being so attentive to his crewmen. Dr. Chun nodded politely and said that in one respect fortune smiled, as the hoped-for remedy would be the same for one and all. This would save time and effort, though the patients would still need constant care. He suggested that the same arrangements be made to bring the stricken crewmen up into the saloon, and temporary berths be prepared for them there. He confessed that it would be easier for him to look after all his patients if they were in one place. The close proximity of the galley also made the saloon more convenient than the crew's quarters forward. Captain Penn agreed and said he would see to it at once. Then he handed Macy back to her mother and went off to give his orders. In later consultation with Dr. Chun, who showed signs of deep concern for his patients' recovery while they remained aboard ship, Captain Penn determined to make for Hawaii with all possible speed. He had plenty of coal and no qualms about using every rock of it if necessary. And if that ran out, he had no problem with burning anything else at hand, including the cargo if need be.

Dr. Chun's patients had become almost comatose, but between the doctor, his bride, Lady Yee's maid and nurse, Ah Chu, the cabin boy, and Lady Yee herself, everyone received relatively constant attention and care. The sanitary aspect of their ministrations was an arduous and continuous process, and to aid in this, Captain Penn had makeshift laundry barrels secured to the deck rails. He then had the chief engineer rig a steam hose on deck to supply them with hot water at will. Soiled clothing and linens were washed daily and dried in the cleansing
sun. Since two of their number were among the afflicted, the crewmen were asked to volunteer to help with this distasteful chore. Every man aboard, including the black gang and the cook, placed their names on the duty sheet, and the deck officers took on nursing duties when off watch.

Dr. Chun saw to it that all his patients were cooled and bathed with compresses when feverish, and swaddled in blankets when chilled. This rotation of symptoms was more or less continuous, and they racked the patients' tortured bodies with constant pain in every joint and muscle. It was a small mercy, therefore, that they were almost beyond caring. The doctor spent many hours compounding medication from the medical supplies available. Though limited for his purposes, he found adequate supplies of quinine and aspirin salts, as well as tinctures of laudanum to help deaden the pain. Unfortunately, he dared not administer that kind of drug to a child, and instead relied on a traditional Korean herbal solution concocted from tiny dried mushrooms, and it seemed to alleviate Silver's suffering by degrees.

Little Macy was beside herself with tears of anxiety and fear. She begged to be allowed to help care for her little brother. Rather than thwart her need to help, Lady Yee set Macy to reading stories to Silver, and told her that despite the fact that he appeared not to hear her, he actually heard everything very well. Macy spent hours reading her storybooks, or just making up stories as she went along.

Captain Hammond's suffering almost broke his wife's heart, and she rarely left his side except to see to her son's needs. Dr. Chun was of the opinion that his elevated distress might be occasioned by a prior infection of a similar kind, perhaps years before. Lady Yee shook her head and stated that she had never seen the captain ill a day since they were married. She confessed that, like everyone else living aboard a ship at sea, he had suffered occasional bouts of indigestion, but nothing more serious. Dr. Chun then suggested that he might have contracted
the illness as a child. But he said with some confidence that, with proper attention, the captain's natural strength of body and stalwart constitution would help him pull through the worst of the disease.

On the other hand, the doctor confided to Lady Yee that he was very worried about her son. His supply of reserve strength was limited due to his youth, and in the case of malaria, endurance was a critical factor. The heart could only take so much stress before it gave out from exhaustion. He encouraged Lady Yee to try to get her son to drink small amounts of strong beef broth at room temperature, and to administer it as often as possible to help keep up his strength, and he gave Lady Yee a vial of herbal medication and told her to drink it and lie down before she fell ill from exhaustion herself. He would see to her husband personally. Captain Penn had offered Lady Yee his cabin, and so she retired there with Macy, drank the draft, curled up on the bunk, and slept for sixteen hours. Awake or asleep, Macy never left her mother's embrace in all that time.

Eight days after the onset of the illness aboard, Captain Penn sighted the harbor of Honolulu to the northeast. He anchored in the offing with six other ships, but rather than just await the arrival of the quarantine boat, the captain sent up distress flags indicating a medical emergency and requesting the services of a doctor. Then he fired the ship's signal gun twice to draw attention to his flags. Twenty minutes later the harbor captain's launch arrived with the appropriate officers and a quarantine doctor aboard. Once the patients were examined to be sure they suffered from nothing contagious, they would be allowed to transfer to the port hospital for further care. Dr. Chun was most helpful in convincing the authorities that his patients were suffering from malaria, and even showed them his medical logs and what remedies he had already applied. The port doctor concurred with all his findings, and within five hours all four patients were comfortably bedded down in clean sheets in a modern hospital ashore. Captain Penn arranged
rooms for Lady Yee, Macy, and the maid at a nearby hotel. It too was very modern, and thankfully very clean. Ah Chu and the nurse were left aboard ship to look after things and straighten up the disorder. Dr. Chun and his wife stayed aboard as well, but they paid regular visits to the hospital and walked about the town for exercise, and to satisfy curiosity.

Captain Penn knew that, according to custom and commerce, his proper course of action now would be to restock his coal bunkers, take on water and food, and sail for San Francisco with his cargo, but he decided to ignore that for a while. Nothing on the cargo manifest was necessarily perishable, and as long as the crew could draw some shore leave to maintain morale, Captain Penn felt content to stay. He wanted his crewmen back, but he wanted his friends back more.