244 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
question was not then possible, on account of delay; 
so I resolved to take the schooner to Shanghai, and 
there ship a Chinese crew. I could easily have got 
a crew of Japanese sailors, who had had experience 
on hunting-vessels, to ignore the regulations and 
come aboard outside the harbour ; in fact, a number 
who had been with me before offered to do so. 
They were naturally anxious to get employment 
where the pay was high and the food such as they 
got nowhere else ; moreover, the adventurous nature 
of the life appealed to them. However, I thought 
it better to ship Chinese, in order to show the 
Japanese authorities the mistaken nature of their 
policy, which would not prevent hunting-vessels 
obtaining crews, and the money earned would go 
elsewhere, and not into Japanese pockets, as it had 
done hitherto. 
Shipping five Europeans and a cook, we sailed 
for Shanghai, where on arrival we engaged sixteen 
Chinese, and a foreign mate, who was to act as third 
hunter also. We arrived on the hunting-grounds 
on May 5, and killed our first otter eight days later. 
The true character of the skipper now began to 
reveal itself in his treatment of the Chinese sailors, 
in which he was followed by the mate, an excitable 
Irishman. I did all I could to prevent any abuse 
of power, but, unfortunately, I had given away my 
authority on board by allowing C. to sign on as 
master of the vessel, the master’s authority under 
British law being paramount. The men were willing 
and obedient when treated decently, but C. appeared 
to delight in cruelty and in knocking them about. 
A climax was reached on the last day of May, when, 
some of the men being at work about the windlass, 
