Pacific Crossing: Californian Gold, Chinese Migration, and the Making of Hong Kong

3 - Networking the Pacific: The Shipping Trade

93 3 Networking the Pacific The Shipping Trade The Leading Port for America The gold rush led to the rise of a thriving trade zone on the Pacific, centered on San Francisco and its bay. Being difficult to access by land, especially from the big markets on the East Coast and Europe, and before being connected to the rest of the continent by railroad, San Francisco relied on the sea to provide the only easy and economic link with the world. Thousands of ships carrying argonauts—together with goods to feed and clothe them, and materials to build the city—sailed in from all directions, carving out new sea lanes and establishing new trade patterns. As James Delgado claims: “Thanks to ships and shipping , San Francisco tied into a web of international relationships and trade to become America’s principal seaport on the Pacific and a participant in the global economy.”1 The excitement of the new shipping market was keenly felt in Hong Kong. Though perched on the Pacific, Hong Kong previously had served mainly ships that sailed west, north, and south, paying scant attention to the vast ocean to its east. But things would change dramatically, as cargo and passenger shipping began moving back and forth across the new “happening” ocean, linking it first with San Francisco and then with other ports along the US coast. Not only would Hong Kong become a leading Pacific port, but it would also grow into a powerful shipping, trading, and migration hub that would, along with San Francisco, propel the Pacific on to the center stage of the global economy. In his recent book, Immigration at the Golden Gate: Passenger Ships, Exclusion, and Angel Island, Robert Barde observes that despite the large Pacific Crossing 94 number of Asians migrating to the New World in the early twentieth century, little has been written about how they were transported.2 However, his book, which is focused on the post-exclusion era, does not address the question of how Chinese migrants were carried from China to North America through Hong Kong before the exclusion. Indeed, most works on transpacific shipping have looked mainly at steam liners, thus neglecting sailing ships, which were mainly tramp ships, which carried large numbers of Chinese passengers on the Pacific in the nineteenth century.3 This chapter looks at the shipping activities that evolved in the migration process up to the 1890s, and the individuals and firms that kept the ships moving. It will show how migrants were transported, how shipping provided investment opportunities at different levels, and how shipping activities expanded and thickened the networks across the Pacific. In addition , it seeks to fill an important gap in Hong Kong history, for despite being so vital in Hong Kong’s overall development, the development of shipping has been largely, and sadly, neglected by scholars. The propensity for Chinese passengers to embark at Hong Kong for California, and later to other destinations, transformed it into a major emigrant port, generating enormous shipping business for the British colony. Hong Kong did not, however, monopolize the China–California passenger trade from the beginning. At the height of the gold rush, some ships took passengers from other ports, though Hong Kong’s domination in the field was never in doubt. In 1852, at least 86 ships from Hong Kong took 17,246 passengers, while seven from Macao took 1,335, three from Whampoa took 944 and one from Shanghai took 46.4 See Appendix 3 (pp. 314–320), and Tables 3.1 and 3.2 (see p. 95). Hong Kong’s lead continued. In 1856, of the 41 vessels sailing for San Francisco from China, only one did not originate from Hong Kong.5 Likewise, in 1859, of the 32 ships arriving from China, 28 were from Hong Kong (total tonnage 27,105 tons) while two were from Shanghai and one each from Macao and Shantou;6 none of the vessels except those from Hong Kong seems to have carried passengers. Hong Kong’s success in monopolizing the passenger trade resulted not only from its many advantages noted in earlier chapters—such as its fine harbor and open and free port policy. As far as emigration of Chinese was concerned, Hong Kong also benefited from the Chinese government’s ban on emigration. Networking the Pacific 95 Table 3.1 Ships arriving in San Francisco from Macao, 1852 Arrival in San...