Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
The Nanzing - a cargo of criminals and corpses
A small steamer in the port of Jemulpo in the early 20th century. Robert Neff Collection
By Robert Neff
The Nanzing shipped a variety of things generally between Shanghai, Jemulpo and Fusan ― mainly general goods, mining equipment and a little gold, but very little from Nagasaki apparently due to the ship's bad reputation.
In the spring of 1884, the agent at Jemulpo complained that none of the Japanese brokers in Nagasaki would ship their goods with the Nanzing because there had been so many complaints about damaged goods and shortages. The agent was convinced the Japanese consul in Jemulpo “who has been trying to do all the harm he can with the merchants in Nagasaki” was to blame for the false allegations. An examination of subsequent reports, however, clearly indicates that there were problems with missing goods and damaged items.
Not only did the company have to contend with the Japanese and the not-so-false allegations, it also had to contend with the American navy. In the early part of 1884, the company shipped a large supply of coal to Jemulpo convinced it would be able to sell it to the very small foreign community or, if that failed, to the Western staff of the Korean Customs Service. Unfortunately, the U.S.S. Enterprise, an American warship, traveled to Nagasaki to refuel its coal holds and brought back a large quantity of coal for the American legation in Seoul. Somehow the coal ended up being sold to the Korean Customs Service, which ruined the market for Nanzing's coal. Even with the price greatly reduced, it could not be sold and the agent suggested to his superiors that it be used as fuel for the steamer.
Chinese laborers eating lunch. Circa early 1900s. Robert Neff Collection
In September 1884, the Nanzing finally had a full cargo from Nagasaki ― courtesy of the British government. The Royal Oak ― a saloon in Nagasaki ― was purchased by the government and carefully taken apart and shipped on the Nanzing to Jemulpo where it was reassembled and used at the British consulate. The cost to ship the saloon was about $400. A seemingly small price to pay but, if we are to believe Isabella Bird Bishop, the poor quality of the building would later cost the British Consul's life ― a victim of pneumonia.
On the return trip to Nagasaki, the ship carried as passengers four prisoners ― one Chinese and three Japanese. The Chinese was to go on to Shanghai where he would be tried for robbing a Korean noble and murdering another man. The Japanese were part of a group of men (Koreans and Japanese) accused of “the manufacturing of spurious Corean coins” on a small island off Jemulpo. The Koreans implicated in the counterfeiting were summarily beheaded and it was expected the Korean government would demand a similar punishment for the Japanese counterfeiters.
Not all the passengers were alive. In early August 1883, Georg von Mollendorff, a German working for the Korean government as an adviser, inquired to the cost of shipping 200 dead Chinese soldiers ― in their coffins ― from Jemulpo to Shanghai. The agent gave what he thought was a fair cost, but would not commit to transport them until he could verify the condition of the coffins and the corpses within. It is not clear if these corpses were ever transported.
Nagasaki in the late 19th century. Robert Neff Collection
Sometimes the passengers may have wished they were dead due to embarrassment or reputation. Horace Allen, an American missionary who would later become the American ambassador, traveled on the Nanzing several times. He was extremely pleased with Captain Balbernie (who he described as “a nice man”) and was even tolerant with the mistakes of crew (the cabin boy fell into the water with a valise full of Allen's clothes but fortunately “both boy and valise were recovered as he held to it when he went down) but he could not tolerate the lifestyles of some fellow passengers.
In October 1884, Allen traveled from Jemulpo to Shanghai via Nagasaki aboard the Nanzing. Among the passengers on the shipping roster was “Mrs. Webster” ― the only female passenger ― who apparently traveled between Shanghai and Nagasaki at least twice on the same ship. The only Mrs. Webster I could find in the Shanghai directories was the wife of James Webster ― a missionary living in Newchwang (modern Yingkou), China.
Allen, however, identifies the woman as Nellie Webster, “a prostitute from Shanghai” and then denigrates his fellow Westerners living in Korea as nearly all having mistresses ― “the morals of the men here are shocking.”
Was Allen's self-professed keen sense of observation wrong, or did “Mrs. Webster” have a secret?