Lot 1831

First Opium War – The Opium Trade Opium Clipper Ship Water Witch: 1836 (11 July, and 5 August) two letters of account written on board the ‘Water Witch’ at Cumsingoon Island to Edward Crooke in Canton; there are no postal markings with Chinese ink characters “局碌”on the flap; there is the usual light horizontal filing fold. Very Good mails from Cumsingmoon. The 5 August letter mentioned the following opium related incident: “ …… was also dismasted and buffeted onshore about 30 miles to the West of Macao and was totally lost with upwards of 400 Chests of Opium. A Portuguese gentleman who went round to Bombay in her and 110 or 120 other people were drowned. The house of Mr. S. Beale was on board and arrived in Macao the morning before yesterday. No sooner had they landed than the Chinese began to plunder them ……” Water-Witch opium clipper barque built in 1831 at Kidderpore, Calcutta. An interesting letter which illustrates the opium business at that time, the old boats, anchored near the island, acted as warehouses where the opium was loaded onto smaller boats to be smuggled into Canton and other ports. Cumsingmoon is the prominent water gateway of Canton River for the smugglers to privately ship opium chests into Whampoa during 1830s at the beginning of opium smuggling period. A very nice group of opium trade related materials.

鴉片煙快速大飛艇“Water Witch水之女巫號 ”: 1836年7-8月寄廣州Edward Crooke, 此信函寫於金星門 (位處廣州河入口 位置) 鴉片走私船Water Witch 送到廣州. 金星門位處廣州河入口位置. 是1830年代鴉片走私船集散之地, 於此地䣃貨在該 島附近停泊的舊船上(充當倉庫之用), 再將鴉片装上較小之快艇, 之後再走私駛往廣州, 黄埔等港口; 此信函内容提及1836 年7-8月走私商走私鴉片煙; 不幸的是船被風吹打至岸邊，在距澳門以西約三十英里的地方觸礁，全船一百一十至一百二十人 一同罹難連同四百多箱鴉片一併完全喪失。