ENCLOSING PHOTOS OF SHIPS AND JUNKS IN SHANGHAI, IN A CHRISTMAS CARD FROM THE PREVENTIVE CRUISER "WEN HSING," AND OFFERING ASSISTANCE IN OBTAINING CHINESE MADE FURNITURE, IN AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED BY T.W. JOYCE OF THE CHINESE MARITIME CUSTOMS SERVICE IN SHANGHAI, NOV. 8, 1934, ADDRESSED TO CAPT. H.C. DYER OF THE S.S. GENERAL SHERMAN

Shanghai [China], 1934. Two leaves, three pages on Joyce's stationery, 9 3/4 x 6 1/2 in., approx. 375 words, and an addressed envelope, rubber stamped in the upper right corner "State Steamship Co., Shanghai, Nov. 10, 1934. Received." Accompanied by a printed Christmas card, bound with green ribbon, and a printed image of a green flag and ribbon for C.P.S. Wenhsing on the cover, a printed sentiment on the verso, and a black & white snapshot, 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in., of a ship tipped in. Five other black & white snapshots, 3 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (or slightly smaller) are laid in loose, each captioned on the verso in Joyce's hand.
Joyce writes from the (truncated) Preventive Cruiser "Wen Hsing," although the return address on the envelope is for the Chinese Maritime Customs Revenue Dept., Customs House, Shanghai. The letter to Capt. Dyer of the S.S. General Sherman, States S[team] S[hip] Co., Hamilton House, Shanghai encloses the Christmas card and several photos Joyce presumes will interest him: "I am sorry I haven't more or better ones but my camera is too big to take around in the motor boat...." One image is of the Preventive Cruiser Wen Hsing [similar to the tipped in image in the card]; two are of traditional Chinese Junks, one captioned in some detail as a 5 masted Shantung junk; one of a fortified compound on a hill, described on the verso: "we have a guard here as it has been threatened by Pirates;" and one of two captured pirates aboard ship, tied up by their wrists, and several others lying bleeding on the deck.
Joyce goes on to respond to Dyer's questions about obtaining Chinese furniture. He notes that it is not easy to get anything ready-made and that the best recourse is to have articles made to suit. He advises the Captain to put in an order with a local company and provide a sketch of what he wants. He also reports on mutual acquaintances and says he has heard some reassuring words of praise "from uptown" for Capt. Dyer's work which he quotes: "your friend Captain Dyer is in very good repute with the line. Everything seems to go well on his ship." T.W. Joyce, an American, served with the Chinese Maritime Customs Service from Jan. 4, 1934 until Jan. 12, 1941, according to records of the China Families database of men and women who worked in China between the 1850s and the 1940s sponsored by the University of Bristol. Beginning with the Treaty of Nanking in 1843, British merchants were involved in the opening of Chinese ports to foreign trade, and as such were interested in the security of their ships. The Chinese Maritime Customs Service (originally established in 1854 as the Imperial Maritime Customs) "was a foreign-administered agency of the Chinese government. Across the nearly one hundred years of its existence, some 22,000 men and women (but mostly men) from many different nationalities, served in the Customs. Half of those listed were Chinese, a quarter were British. The rest included French, German, Japanese, Americans, Russians, Norwegians, Italians and many more." The growing international population resulted in the creation of the Shanghai International Settlement, an area under international control.
Joyce was in Shanghai at a volatile time. Pirates regularly attacked merchant ships along the China coast, often boarding as passengers before taking over the boat, robbing fellow travelers and escaping with goods and occasionally hostages. One such incident is recorded in June 1934 for the China Navigation Company's merchant ship "Shuntien." In her second voyage she was taken over by pirates who beached her along the coast between Tientsin and Chefoo, taking hostages and disappearing inland. Some of the crew left behind were told the pirates were retaliating for the Chinese Maritime Customs having stationed an extra customs cruiser in Shantung Bay, interfering with their smuggling routes. [see: A.D.Blue's article "Piracy on the China Coast," in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 5 (1965), p. 83]
In addition to dealing with piracy, the increasing dominance of the Japanese in Shanghai elevated tensions with the Chinese population and resulted in the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, and the Battle of Shanghai in that same year. (Inventory #: 69989)