| Court Hotel was operated by an Australian lady Mrs. Moore in British Concession Tientsin on Elgin Avenue. Sophie watched rug making at Nichols factory in Russian concession to the north - then bought Chinese rugs at outlet in Peking.Nov. l931.Sophie got in touch with Mount Holyoke Club of North China - Mrs. Faison Jordon helpd make the contact with Mrs. Evans of the club, and Sophie's l925 student Grace Liang was daughter of diplomat and customs- railroad official M.T. Liang, who was Jack Barrett's guest with his wife for dinner aboard gunboat TULSA - a rare honor for a Chinese in l931.Sophie met American writer Nora Waln and her British husband who ran the Tientsin post office. The British chief of Police Mr. Isemonger and his daughter Tina were frequent vistors at the Court Hotel. Sophie had a pretty white rabbit-fur coat she bought in Shanghai in 1930 on her way north, but it shed too much fur on Jack's uniform so she discarded it. During her trip she carefully studied Emily Post's "Etiquette" book to prepare for the formal entetainment and correspondence expected of navy Wives.One TULSA wife Rachel Claude Doughtie told how her mother's Maryland family the Claudes had a visitor who "came for the weekend and stayed for forty years.#136 p 17 Sophie made two visits to Peking February & November 1931. During the second visit she purchased rugs she had seen being made by hand at Nicholson Rug Factory in Russian Concession Tientsin.Jack took physical exam for promotion to Lieutenant Commander at Peking November 1931. + "Willie Steele" Story told to Sophie by Jack Barrett When Jack was Gunnery Officer on the USS TULSA in Tientsin in 1930, he enjoyed going to the Tientsin Club after work about five in the afternoon, before my arrival November 1930. The Club was for men only - a chance to relax and get acquainted with men of many natinalities with good conversation. At the Tientsin Club he met businessman Faison Jordon, Mr. Reynolds of Ford Motors, and "Willie" Steele, head of The Tientsin Pukow Railway line. According to Jack, Willie was a tremendous Scotsman with a tremendous appetite for good food, good liquor, and good conversation. When Jack said to him, "Willie, are you a Highlander or a Lowlander?" Willie struck Jack hard on the back in friendly fashion and replied, "Ach, mon, that's all past and done!" CHINAchapter TULSA CHAPTER INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BARRETT-- Sophie Barrett's chapter "Living in the Orient" begins with her arrival November 13, 1930. Jack Barrett had been in North China since May, 1930. He arrived on destroyer TRUXTUN, was detached about May 15, and spent six days leave at Marine Barracks, American Legation, Peking, where he discussed gunnery with his 1910 ITASCA Revenue Cutter School ship William Rupertus. Then Jack was Gunnery Officer,First Lieutenant, Senior Watch Officer and temporarily Executive Officer of the gunboat TULSA based at Tientsin. At first Walter Decker was Captain, succeeded by Commander Paul Rice. The Rice family became very close friends of the Barrett family over many years in China, Panama, Hawaii, and after the war, and they may be introduced by several letters. Paul Rice lived to age 95 1886-1981 and his wife Gertrude to age 102 + 1/2 born Juneau, Alaska, December 3, 1893 to July 25, 1996. Her father was a silver miner named Hammond, and her mother's father named Coleman was one of the first 1847 settlers of St. Paul, Oregon in the Willamette Valley. He had eleven children. Gertrude had three older sisters, one of whom married Navy Admiral Cross. The Hammond family came to the San Francisco Bay area 1906 or 1907 shortly after the great earthquake and fire. Gertrude married 1909 Naval Academy graduate Paul Rice in 1917, and their daughter Nathalie, born June 1919 was eleven years old when Sophie arrived in Tientsin. Nathalie was trained in social work and said Sophie played a part in interesting her in the field. The friendship of the Rice family was extremely beneficial for Sophie as a young Navy wife in a strange land, and Paul Rice's encouragement helped Jack Barrett achieve promotion to Lieutenant Commander and another fifteen highly productive years in his Navy career. These letters will introduce Gertrude and Paul Rice: Mrs. Paul H. Rice (Gertrude) 523 South Hudson Avenue, Pasadena, California 91106 22 July l970 Dear Sophie, We would be glad to write to Bill Paca if you would send his address. You've never written if he is married. I thought he did marry many years ago. The things he wrote about Jack must have pleased you. It seems that somehow they should be woven into your book. I'm sure that Paul always looks to his command of the TULSA as one of his most happy commands. Strangely enough he had a command in every grade, beginning with Ensign. He had a great regard for the officers that served with him on "the TULSA," and there always seemed to be such a good relationship. I always thought the China duty the best thing the Navy had to offer, but of course we've never been in Europe. Nath has three children, two boys and a girl. Chris is 24, John is 20, and Erica 18. Nathalie is Mrs. J. V Hawley (Mrs. Vernon Hawley 333 Marion Avenue, Mill Valley California 94941." PAUL RICE letters PAUL RICE January 1970 from Pasadena "The TULSA was a gunboat about 2300 tons with a crew of three hundred including thirty Marines and officers.It drew about ten feet so it could navigate the Hai Ho River well except one fall. The water was so low that we spent the winter when Jack was aboard in 1931 at the mouth of the river at Taku Bar. Liberty parties journeyed to Tientsin daily by rail. The TULSA (I believe) was one of three sister ships. It served in the Second World War as part of Admiral Hart's Asiatic Fleet and was sunk near New Guinea during the war. Our duty at Tientsin was for the primary purpose of keeping our Admiral informed of events in North China. We spent two winters there. Each summer we proceeded to Chefoo for target practice and Shanghai for repairs." On February l0,l970 a letter came from Paul Rice Captain USN who was with us on the TULSA in Tientsin l930-3l, visited Panama in l935 & lived in Waikiki l94l when the war struck until February l942."Dear John, As you surmise,Sexton was a classmate of mine, class of l909 at the Naval Academy. Captain Samuel Wilder King was a classmate- knew him very well.He relieved me of command of the USS SAMAR at Hankow,China in June,l9l5. We had no Chaplain on the TULSA. As I remember the anchorage at the entrance of the Hai Ho River was called Tangku. The TULSA used oil-not coal.I spent about three years on the Yangtze- had command of the SAMAR & navigated it to Ichang one thousand miles up the river.Navigation on the river was similar to that on the Mississippi,I suppose.During the summer floods good sized ships could navigate to Hankow.Of course Gertrude & I would be glad to try to identify pictures.Mrs. Rice says she & Nathalie met your uncle Bill in New York City in l942 (but did not meet your aunt Virginia)).Please give our regards to your mother.Sincerely, Paul H. Rice." Sophie added a note: "Jack & I sailed from Tangku to Japan on the Chowan Maru.Tangku is where the Japanese soldiers crossed their swords on my chest when I started to the wrong dock where a Japanese Army troop ship was next to the passengership dock." [After l993 thefts of desks, bureaus, furniture, books and papers in West Roxbury l993, this is the only remaining photo of an outstanding group taken by Mr. Isemonger spring l931 at Tientsin Country Club. He arrived at Tientsin after the Barretts early l931 probably from India and became chief of police in British concession of Tientsin, where Court Hotel was located.He was a frequent luncheon visitor to the Court Hotel, sometimes accompanied by his daughter Tina.He was frequently helpful to both Jack and Sophie, obtaining bottled drinking water for Sophie to take aboard a commercial freighter on which Sophie followed the TULSA south on its l931 Asiatic Fleet annual cruise, but this was one of a number of situations where Sophie found it necessary as a newly married young Navy wife to avoid too much close contact with unmarried men, where European and American women were few in number.Nonetheless the loss of the Tientsin country Club photos was a great disappointment, and also a group of photos of Sophie taken at Yamamoto studios Tientsin. p 18 #] p 26-796 China- arrive Nov 1930- Liang, Rice,New Years,Fleet Maneuvers 1931-Paca letter-Mukden incident- see photos p 37 924w p 5 38w p 8 62w p 17 136w #22 GUNBOAT TULSA - CHINA "LIVING IN THE ORIENT" MAIN TEXT NOVEMBER 1930 Between Manila & Hong Kong we encountered a typhoon when the ship rocked & pitched dangerously & even I spent much time in my bunk-not because I was seasick but because it was not safe to be on deck.An Army wife,Florence Hilldring,came aboard in Manila for the trip to Chingwantao en route to Peking for a change of climate as she found Manila too hot & humid. Finally on the thirteenth of November l930 the ship arrived early in the morning at Chingwantao far in in northern China near the Manchurian border.Although Jack was very thin,he looked well & very happy to see me & was most complimentary about my small velvet hat & my coat trimmed with Persian lamb fur. We took first a train, then a motor car to the Court Hotel on Victoria Road in the British concession where we had lunch-called "tiffen" by the Australian woman Miss Moore who owned the small hotel.Then Jack dropped the bomb.He told me that Captain Rice had held the TULSA over one day so Jack could meet me & get me settled.The next morning-early-the TULSA would sail for Shanghai for a month of overhaul & liberty- & I would be left alone again-this time in the Orient where I knew no one.I left the hotel with him right after tiffen to go the mile to the ship.Two ricksha coolies came up,& Jack signalled me to get into one.Aboard the TULSA I met some of his shipmates & saw many linens which Jack had bought-then we went to call on a civilian family-Mrs. Faison Jordon,whose husband was friendly at the Tientsin Country Club.When she learned I had been graduated from Mount Holyoke college, she said that Mrs. Evans, wife of a Tientsin lawyer, was president of the Mount Holyoke Club of North China, so we made a short call on her too.Then we called on the Captain of the TULSA & his wife, Commander Paul Rice & Gertrude. They were most gracious.When the ricksha coolies finally dropped us at our hotel room early in the evening for our dinners, they were well paid by Jack. Jack spent a lot of time warning me to drink only boiled water & to eat no fresh fruit or vegetables-I would get Chinese stomach ache or even cholera.Also he told me never to touch shellfish as the water was so polluted.Before I knew it,early morning arrived,& Jack was off to the TULSA & to Shanghai.Things picked up a bit when Mrs. Jordon called on me during the following week & (p.l5) invited me to a formal dinner at her home on Saturday night followed by dancing at Tientsin Country Club.Next to me at table sat Nora Waln, contributor to the Atlantic Monthly of many articles on China.Her husband ran the Post Office in the British concession section of Tinetsin,where my hotel was located. GRACE LIANG MOUNT HOLYOKE 1925 + FAMILY Mrs. Evans had told my former Mount Holyoke (class of l925) student Grace Liang, that I was in Tientsin.Her father had graduated from Hartford Public High School Connecticut about l880, & then a change of government policy required him to return to China, where he had a distinguished career first in north China railroads & customs offices & then in the Foreign Service.I believe he was the first Chinese to be invited to address the United States Congress- around the time of the Nine Power Conference in l922 when Japanese commercial ambitions conflicted with America's Open Door policy on China enunciated Secretary of State John Hay in the McKinley administration & with the principle of self-determination pronounced by Woodrow Wilson. Grace came to call on me very soon after I arrived & invited Jack & me for tea at their home when the TULSA returned.Soon we called on Mrs. Liang ,who served us tea-we left when the servants brought our coats & hats & bowed us out-but she had given us the honor of inviting us to dinner- at which her distinguished husband,her daughter Grace,& her two doctor sons would be present.These young men had been educated in England,& their services were greatly in demand.The family occupied a spacious compound.Years later when the Communists occupied Tientsin,the family lost all its possessions and Tou.....Liang though a valued physician,was liquidated.Later in l93l Grace left Tientsin to marry Dan Yapp of Shanghai.In l970 we located them in Waikiki on Kalakaua Avenue.For some years Grace taught in Connecticut.At that dinner party Grace & her mother appeared in exquisite Chinese dresses,but the men wore European clothes.Since Mr. Liang expressed an interest in ships, Jack invited the family to dinner aboard the TULSA.That evening the dock was crowded with Chinese people,who had gotten the word that Mr. Liang was expected. They respectfully kept their distance & silence as he left his car & boarded the ship.They remained on the dock throughout the dinner to get another glimpse of the respected diplomatic official.He told us about the low standard of living of most Chinese laborers & how little it took to support a family in those days deep in the worldwide economic depression. NEW YEAR'S EVE COSTUME PARTY 1930-31 JANUARY 1931 Jack took photographs of a traditional Chinese funeral, in which great honor is paid to ancestors. White is the color of mourning.Two American fur buyers otained Manchurian sea otter skins for Sophie, which a Chinese tailor made into a very warm coat she needed in the very cold North China winter. This coat appears in many photos of Sophie in China 1931 and in Bala Cynwyd 1937, and lasted extremely well. Sophie continued to use it during her years in West Roxbury after world War II. FEBRUARY 1931 Jack took leave, and we visited Peking and the Ming Tombs and Forbidden City where the Emperors had lived and "Center of the Universe." SPRING-SUMMER 1931 ASIATIC FLEET GUNNERY + MANEUVERS CHEFOO - SHANGHAI In the spring of l93l the gunboat TULSA went to Chefoo and Shanghai for Asiatic Fleet maneuvers & shooting excercises. The rest of the year she was kept near Tientsin primarily for intelligence purposes. Gertrude Rice, wife of our captain, (with her daughter), & Rachel Doughty,wife of our executive officer & I decided to go to Chefoo & Weihaiwei on the Shantung peninsula while the TULSA was cruising south.Jack agreed I could go on a British freighter provided I take twenty-four bottles of boiled water-sold be the case in a drug store.Since the TULSA left before we did,Mr. Isemonger bought the case of water for me & drove me to the freighter,where the coolie stored the box near my bunk.I shared a cabin with a British missionary lady returning from leave in England=she was on her way to a very hot dry region in Southwestern China.She was in the cabin when the case was stowed & subsequently had nothing to do with me-avoided me like the plague.When we arrived in Chefoo,I offered my case of water to the missionary woman,as I hadn't used any of it,&it was too heavy to take ashore.She was startled but very glad to have the water, which she thought all along was gin,as she understood that all American Navy women were heavy drinkers of strong liquor.The reason she avoided me was she thought I was planning to drink a case of liquor in her cabin. CHAPLAIN MAGUIRE FINDS A BOARDING HOUSE FOR SOPHIE Since the whole Asiatic fleet was in Chefoo for exercises,Jack had trouble finding a place for me to live.Finally the chaplain, Father William Maguire found room & board for me in a small boarding house owned by Mr.Wineglass. The goats lived right outside my room- there was no running water=a makeshift toilet & no bath. Before I left Tientsin, Jack had tried to warn me before and mentioned a famous Navy song, which we remembered and sang in later years-,"They wear clothespins on their noses in North China- They wear clothespins on their noses -(Be)cause Chefoo don't smell like roses - a verse of "O the monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga." GUNNERY OFFICER JACK BARRETT AND MARINE COMMANDER PACA ACHIEVE TOP GUNNERY SCORES The gunnery was successful beyond anything the ship had previously scored. Jack & Captain Rice were delighted. Jack's experience in gunnery went back to 1909 at Revenue Cutter School and included work with big guns on battleship WYOMING 1932. At Peking he discussed techniques and innovations with his former classmate Bill Rupertus, who was studying the latest Marine techniques.Our friend Colonel William W. Paca,US Marine Corps (native of Annapolis Maryland,where he was named for great-great-great-grandfather who signed Declaration of Independence) wrote June 23,l970-he was the senior Marine officer on the TULSA & worked closely with Jack in winning the Asiatic Fleet l93l gunnery competition--"Colonel William W. Paca 680 American Drive, Apartment 42 Annapolis Maryland 21403 June 23, 1970 Dear Mrs. Barrett, I was distressed to learn via your letter of Jack's decease this past August. Please know that you have my sincere sympathy in your bereavement.= "I remember Jack fondly as a fine officer and one of the best of shipmates.I remember him too with gratitude-which I hope I expressed directly to him at the time-for his guidance & advice-which as gunnery officer of the TULSA,he gave me relative to the training of our Marine gun crew & which resulted in our gunners winning an "E" at that year's gunnery practice. = The cause of this inexcusable delay in replying to your so interestinhg letter has been twofold = First, I hoped to find among my effects, upon my return from several months stay in the South. several memorabilia relating to the TULSA. I did have a really excellent photograph of the ship, and I thought I also had a photograph of the officers and crew. I intended to send both to you for possible incorporation in Jack's memoirs, but I have been unable to locate either. The second cause is the embarassment I feel due to my deplorable memory, which worsens year by year, and which I am reluctant to confess. I have forgotten so very many names, dates, and other incidents of my military service. =-I do have one especially clear memory of Jack- and that is that he was one of a rare group of people who have the faculty of being 'where the action is.' Frequently during wardroom conversations on the TULSA when past events were mentioned,it would develop that Jack had either been there or nearby or otherwise had been in a position to have special knowledge of the event.In past years I have several times remarked that I once served with a naval officer who had that rare facility or gift.As for myself, I was graduated from West Point in August, 1917. I was promoted to Captain while in France.After the war and the letdown of demobilization I resigned from the Army. Three years later, and because I badly missed service life I joined the Marine Corps. This was basically because I loved the water and ships, and I had wanted to be in the Navy in the first place but had been unable to obtain a principal appointment to the Naval Academy. = I commanded Camp Catlin, Oahu, from 1944 to 1946. I was then on duty at Headquarters, Marine Corps, and later was Commanding Officer of the Marine Barracks, Naval Base, Philadelphia. = My great, great, great grandfather was William Paca, a Maryland signer of the Declaration of Independence. The main part of the hotel, Carvel Hall, was built on the rear of William Paca's town house. The hotel part has now been torn down, and the mansion and gardens are being restored by the local historical society. = There have been, and are, a rather surprising number of TULSA officers living here. These in addition to myself include Captain Doughty (deceased) , Admiral William T. Fitzgerald, jr., Rear Admiral Wayne R. Loud, Rear Admiral Charles E. Coney, and Colonel Gordon Hall (my predecessor on the TULSA) In addition General Pedro A. Del Valle lives here, and I see him fairly frequently. = Again please forgive my remissions.I do hope this finds things well with you. Sincerely, William W. Paca Colonel United State Marine Corps Retired." To celebrate the TULSA's good score Jack wanted to give a party at the Chefoo club for all the ship's officers.I bought hand painted place cards, candles,Japaese lanterns as the party as to be outdoors on a lovely summer night.Every officer was invited even though there were only three wives attached to the ship at that time. There was much good conversation for twenty-six guests.After every other guest had gone, the wife of the executive officer, Rachel Doughty came up to me & said, "Sophie, you ought to know better than to seat me in candle light. It is not becoming to me." NEARLY STRANDED AT WEI-HAI-WEI As we approached Wei-Hai-Wei became excited because I had often enjoyed breakfast at Gertrude Rice's home in Tientsin,where we were served in bed.The coffee pot was red pottery with pewter,& the cream pitcher & sugar bowl were also red pottery with pewter-lovely pieces of china as well as being useful & unique & Gertrude told me that they had come from Wei-Hai-Wei.It was a beautiful town developed by Germans but given back to China after World War I. I wanted to buy a Wei-Hai-Wei coffee & tea service of this red pottery with silver trim.But to my disappointment the ship anchored out quite a distance. We could not even see Wei-Hai-Wei from the ship.But a smll boat was leaving our freighter & without even going to my cabin to get my purse I persuaded Gertrude Rice to get into the boat with me with me for the trip to Wei-Hai-Wei. I took it for granted that the Chinese man running the small motor boat was on an errand for my freighter & would certainly return to it.I don't know why,but we left ten-year-old Nathalie Rice on the freighter when we made our hurried departure,& we waved to her as we left.Our boatman spoke no English,but I believed he understood us when he nodded assent to my questioning him as to whether we could have two hours in Wei-Hai-Wei before returning to our ship. It was getting to be late afternoon & I did not want to be in the Chinese city after dark.We started off happily & even found the shop which sold the Wei-Hai-Wei coffeee & tea sets. There I charged a set to be sent to the TULSA as I had no money with me in my haste to get into the departing small boat.When night threatened,we returned to our dock,but found no small motor boat.At first we were not alarmed,but when we heard the freighter's whistle soundig repeatedly & impatiently & when no small boat appeared as darkness approached, we bargained with a sampan to row us out to the freighter. Gertrude paid him from her purse & he tried hard to row us but made litle headway with the heavy seas.He managed to reach a Chinese junk sailing along in the wind, & we again bargained for a ride & paid the owner of the junk to take us aboard.The wind held, & the junk mnade good progress with the large square sails & we again met a difficult transfer from the junk to the freighter.The captain of the freighter was greatly annoyed by the delay & stated he would have stranded us if Nathalie had not tearfully appealed for him to wait for her mother & Mrs. Barrett. SHANGHAI SUMMER 1931 From Chefoo we went to Shanghai where we lived at the Palace Hotel but aside from having clothes made in Shanghai and a very enjoyable luncheon at the home of ships' chandler Ah Sing I could do very little socially as my hands were very sore. However, I did spend one happy evening at the home of Mickie and Maimie Ashley and their brother. Mickey was Jack's old friend from MARBLEHEAD days in 1927. She was born in China and worked as secretary to the local head of Standard Oil Company of New York. She and her sister had adopted a Chinese girl, Topsy, who lived with them until Maimie became a prisoner of the Japanese in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. Mickey had gone to the states, but Maimie was waiting in hopes that Topsy could obtain permission to come with her to the United States. Maimie did hear Topsy calling her by name in the Japanese prison camp, but she feared the Japanese would take reprisals against Topsy if she was seen with an American. Topsy disappeared and must not have survived. = Knowing I would return to the United States with Jack via Europe inearly 1932, I ordered many new clothes made up for me in Shanghai. We attended a long play at a Chinese theater where we were given steaming hot towels to refresh ourselves during the long performance. When we returned to the Court Hotel Mr. Isemonger was concerned about my physical condition. He recommended the same Dr. Grice, whom I had seen for indigestion when I first arrived in Tientsin. Dr. Grice called my hand condition "pomphylyx" caused by too much medication. he scraped much sore tissue away surgically and applied silver nitrate and asked me to wear white cotton gloves. My hands did improve toward autumn. SEPTEMBER 19, 1931 SOPHIE SENDS FIRST REPORT OF JAPANESE AGGRESSION AT MUKDEN, MANCHURIA In the winter of l930-31 I had met two American fur buyers in the lobby of the Court Hotel.When they remarked that my cloth coat trimmed with Persian lamb was not warm enough for the piercing cold of North China,I remarked I could not afford a fur coat. They offered to buy fur skins for me in Manchuria-said they would be beautiful & very inexpensive.When they returned,they had some sea otter skins,which were made up into a lovely coat. Sea otter is a short,durable fur with a lovely silver sheen-very warm & comfortable.In September l93l they returned to the hotel & I visited with them before they left for Mukden & other parts of Manchuria to buy furs for their New York concern.Only a few days later they reurned to the hotel,visibly shaken as they had barely escaped with their lives when the Japanese captured Mukden September l8-l9,& they got away on the last train allowed to leave the city- a bribe to Japanese officers was necessary for them to leave.The Japanese claimed that the railroad track to be used by their troops had been bombed by the Chinese,-&they used that as an excuse to occupy Mukden. I immediately telephoned Captain Rice, who was at Taku Bar with the TULSA forty miles east of Tientsin at the mouth of the Hai Ho River,because of unusually low water levels that year, which made navigation to Tientsin inadvisable.He immediately telegraphed the Admiral of the Asiatic Fleet at Shanghai-probably the first report the United States government received.The U.S. ambassador in Tokyo was on vacation. The Navy was told to keep "hands off" the situiation.When we did nothing to stop them,the emboldened Japanese militarists established the state of Manchukuo with a puppet emperor Pu Yi.They proceeded to conquer much of North China & attacked Shanghai in l932..Their heady successes in China ultimately encouraged the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, l94l.Has we pushed them out of Manchuria in l93l, we might have avoided large scale conflict later.Secretary of State Stimson & many European leaders favored action, but President Herbert Hoover, a pacifist who built no ships and had lost political support in view of the deep economic Depression, missed the opportunity to nip World War II in the bud. Sophie accompanied Jack to Peking in November when he went for physical exam for promotion to Lieutenant Commander. The good score of the TULSA in Asiatic Fleet gunnery and maneuvers and strong fitness report from Commander Paul Rice and intensive study for exam helped Jack achieve this promotion. The Barretts had a cordial visit with the Rice family around the December 1931 holidays, and young Nathalie Rice became interested in Sophie's social work experience and became a social worker herself years later.the anchorage at the entrance of the Hai Ho River was called Tangku (note by Sophie M. Barrett"Jack & I sailed from Tangku to Japan on the Chowan Maru.Tangku is where the Japanese soldiers crossed their swords on my chest when I started to the wrong dock where a Japanese Army troop ship was next to the passengership dock.")The TULSA used oil-not coal . . . . p.46 We invited ther Liangs to dinner -just Mr. and Mrs. Liang and Grace. The mess steward had given the word when Mr. Liang would be aboard for dinner, and when we approached the ship that evening we had difficulty getting aboard because of the crush of Chinese people on the dock hoping to get a glimpse of Mr. Liang. Snce Grace left soon after to be married in Shanghai we never saw her again. We understand that she has been teaching in Connecticut at the Central Connecticut State College, New Britain, Connecticut.--Altho the Court Hotel was reputed to have the best food in North China. food was definitely a problem because we dared not touch milk, butter, fresh vegetables or Chinese grown fruitsMy husband grew tired of the steady diet of rice and snipe but managed to wash it down with liquids. I lived on toast with marmelade,rice, snipe, pot roast, cooked dessets and tea. Captain and Mrs. Rice occupied a furnished house and most graciously invited us to dinner fortnightly. When we wanted to return their hospitality and to entertain the new Executive Officer and his wife, Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. Leonard Doughty, we invited them to the Court Hotel for dinner.One evening Rachel Claude Doughty, who came from Washington D.C. regaled us with tales of her mother's friend who came to the Claude home in Washington and stayed for forty years. The Court Hotel was the home of several Hai Ho River pilots mostly of English extraction. Mrs. Johnson, English and the wife of a pilot, invited me to go to Schlessinger's Tea House with her about eleven o'clock oone morning late in December. She invited us to attend a costumed New Year's Eve Ball at the Tientsin Country Club , of which we were members, saying she hoped we would understand that we would have to pay our share of the cost. My husband and I had matching costumes made of inexpensive blue and white Chinese silk- ad we enjoyed the pilots who remained friendly throughout our stay. --Not long after New Year's I was sitting in the small reception room in the Court Hotel after tiffen when two men sat down, talking. When I realized that they were Americans, I asked them what they wre doing in Tientsin, and they said they were taking a train later that afternoon for Manchuria, where they would buy furs.When I said I had never been as cold as I was on the streets of Tientsin, they offered to buy some skins for me, as they expected to be back in Tienstin in a few weeks. When they returned they had for me enough sea otter skins for a gorgeous coat.The cost was small - the coat warm and beautiful. It was made up by a Chinese tailor. Sea otter is a lustrous light grey skin.--As tinme passed that winter and spring I became well known to the Chinese and Japanese shopkeepers on Taku and Victoria Roads. I bought some rare dragon and turtle candlesticks of brass,some 48- red and green Chinese lacquer drums, which served as small tables and through Mrs. Mendelsohn I located a lovely black and gold lacquer Chinese chest with inlaid colored semi-precious stones arranged in patterns. I also shopped for linens at Takahashi Japanese linen store.--The TULSA was scheduled to go to Chefoo for gunnery exercises in June and my husband as gunnery officer was anxious to make a good showing.So in the spring of l931 on the TULSA in Tientsin he spent a lot of time training gunners.His Marine officer lieutenant William W. Paca was training his Marines to shoot and was working hard with my husband.Captain Rice was very pleased with the gunnery score they made in Chefoo in the summer of l931 text continues in Notebook Two with account of Sophie's trip to Chefoo and Shanghai -= end of page 48 notebook #1 T-U-L-S-A narrative "22" 1931 w1286 CHINAchapter Year: 1931___ Visit with classmate Rupertus is probable endTRUXTUN chapter:- 22a China- arrive Nov 1930- Liang, Rice,New Years,Fleet Maneuvers 1931-Paca letter-Mukden incident- see photos p 37 924w p 5 38w p 8 62w p 17 136w #22 China Mon, 13 Apr 1998 Between Manila & Hong Kong we encountered a typhoon when the ship rocked & pitched dangerously & even I spent much time in my bunk-not because I was seasick but because it was not safe to be on deck.An Army wife,Florence Hilldring,came aboard in Manila for the trip to Chingwantao en route to Peking for a change of climate as she found Manila too hot & humid. Finally on the fourteenth of November l930 the ship arrived early in the morning at Chingwantao far in in northern China near the Manchurian border.Although Jack was very thin,he looked well & very happy to see me & was most complimentary about my small velvet hat & my coat trimmed with Persian lamb fur. We took a motor car to the Court Hotel on Victoria Road where we had lunch-callled "tiffen" by the Australian woman Miss Moore who owned the small hotel.Then Jack dropped the bomb.He told me that Captain Rice had held the TULSA over one day so Jack could meet me & get me settled.The next morning-early-the TULSA would sail for Shanghai for a month of overhaul & liberty- & I would be left alone again-this time in the Orient where I knew no one.I left the hotel with him right after tiffen to go the mile to the ship.Two ricksha coolies came up,& Jack signalled me to get into one.Aboard the TULSA I met some of his shipmates & saw many linens which Jack had bought-then we went to call on a civilian family-Mrs. Faison Jordon,whose husband was friendly at the Tientsin Country Club.When she learned I had been graduated from Mount Holyoke college, she said trhat Mrs. Evans, wife of a Tientsin lawyer, was president of the Mount Holyoke Club of North China, so we made a short call on her too.Then we called on the Captain of the TULSA & his wife, Commander Paul Rice & Gertrude.They were most gracious.When the ricksha coolies finally dropped us at our hotel room early in the evening for our dinners, they were well paid by Jack. Jack spent a lot of time warning me to drink only boiled water & to eat no fresh fruit or vegetables-I would get Chinese stomach ache or even cholera.Also he told me never to touch shellfish as the water was so polluted.Before I knew it,early morning arrived,& Jack was off to the TULSA & to Shanghai.Things picked up a bit when Mrs. Jordon called on me during the following week & (p.l5) invited me to a formal dinner at her home on Saturday night followed by dancing at Tientsin Country Club.Next to me at table sat Nora Waln, contributor to the Atlantic Monthly of many articles on China.Her husband ran the Post Office in the British concession section of Shanghai,where my hotel was located.Mrs. Evans had told my former Mount Holyoke (class of l925) student Grace Liang, that I was in Tientsin.Her father had graduated from Hartford Public High School Connecticut about l880, & then a change of government policy required him to return to China, where he had a distinguished career first in north China railroads & customs offices & then in the Foreign service.I believe he was the first Chinese to be invited to address the United States Congress- around the time of the Nine Power Conference in l922 when Japanese commercial ambitions conflicted with America's Open Door policy on China enunciated Secretary of State John Hay in the McKinley administration & with the principle of self-determination pronounced by Woodrow Wilson. Grace came to call on me very soon after I arrived & invited Jack & me for tea at their home when the TULSA returned.Soon we called on Mrs. Liang ,who served us tea-we left when the servants brought our coats & hats & bowed us out-but she had given us the honor of inviting us to dinner- at which her distinguished husband,her daughter Grace,& her two doctor sons would be present.These young men had been educated in England,& their services were greatly in demand.The family occupied a spacious compound.Years later when the Communists occupied Tientsin,the family lost all its possessions and Tou.....Liang though a valued physician,was liquidated.Later in l93l Grace married Dan Yapp of Shanghai.In l970 we located them in Waikiki on Kalakaua Avenue.For some years Grace taught in Connecticut.At that dinner party Grace & her mother appeared in exquisite Chinese dresses,but the men wore European clothes.Since Mr. Liang expressed an interest in ships, Jack invited the family to dinner aboard the TULSA.That evening the dock was crowded with Chinese people,who had gotten the word that Mr. Liang was expected. They respectfully kept their distance & silence as he left his car & boarded the ship.They remained on the dock throughout the dinner to get another glimpse of the respected diplomatic official.He told us about the low standard of living of most Chinese laborers & how little it took to support a family in those days deep in the worldwide economic depression.In the spring of l93l the gunboat TULSA went to Shanghai for Asiatic Fleet maneuvers & shooting excercises. She was kept near Tientsin primarily for intelligence purposes.Gertrude Rice, wife of our captain, (with her daughter), & Rachel Doughty,wife of our executive officer & I decided to go to Chefoo & Weihaiwei on the Shantung peninsula while the TULSA was cruising south.Jack agreed I could go on a British freighter provided I take twenty-four bottles of boiled water-sold be the case in a drug store.Since the TULSA left before we did,Mr. Eismonger bought the case of water for me & drove me to the frieghter,where the coolie stored the box near my bunk.I shared a cabin with a British missionary lady returning from leave in England=she was on her way to a very hot dry region in Southwestern China.She was in the cabin when the case was stowed & subsequently had nothing to do with me-avoided me like the plague.When we arrived in Chefoo,I offered my case of water to the missionary woman,as I hadn't used any of it,&it was too heavy to take ashore.She was startled but very glad to have the water, which she thought all along was gin,as she understood that all American Navy women were heavy drinkers of strong liquor.The reason she avoided me was she thought I was planning to drink a case of liquor in her cabin.Since the whole Asiatic fleet was in Chefoo for exercises,Jack had trouble fng a place for me to live.Finally the chaplain, Father William Maguire found room & board for me in a small boarding house owned by Mr.Wineglass. The goats lived right outside my room- there was no running water=a makeshift toilet & no bath.In later years we would sing the Navy song,"They wear clothespins on their noses in North China- Thet wear clothespins on their noses -(Be)cause Chefoo don't smell like roses - a verse of "O the monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga." The gunnery was successful beyond anything the ship had previously scored. Jack & Captain Rice were delighted. to celebrate Jack wanted to give a party at the Chefoo club for all the ship's officers.I bought hand painted place cards, candles,Japaese lanterns as the party as to be outdoors on a lovely summer night.Every officerwas invited even though there were only three wives attached to the ship at that time. There was much good conversation for twenty-six guests.After every other guest had gone, the wife of the executive officer, Rachel Doughty came up to me & said, "Sophie, you ought to know better than o seat me in candle light. It is not becoming to me."As we approached Wei-Hai-Wei became excited because I had often enjoyed breakfast at Gertrude Rice's home in Tientsin,where we were served in bed.The coffee pot was red pottery with pewter,& the cream pitcher & sugar bowl were also red pottery with pewter-lovely pieces of china as well as being useful & unique & Gertrude told me that they had come from Wei-Hai-Wei.It was a beautiful town developed by Germans but given back to China after World War I. I wanted to buy a Wei-Hai-Wei coffee & tea service of this red pottery with silver trim.But to my disappointment the ship anchored out quite a distance. We coul not even see Wei=Hai-Wei from the ship.Butr a smll boat was leaving our freighter & withouteven going to my cabin to get my purse I persuaded Gertrude Rice to get into the boat with me with me for the trip to Wei-Hai-Wei.. I took it for granted that the Chinese man running the small motor boat was on an errand for my freighter & would certainly return to it.I don't know why,but we left ten-year-old Nathalie Rice on the freighter when we made our hurried departure,& we waved to her as we left.Our boatman spoke no English,but I believed he understood us when he nodded assent to my questioning him as to whether we could have two hours in Wei-Hai-Wei before returning to our ship. It was getting to be late afternoon & I did not want to be in the Chinese city after dark.We started off happily & even found the shop which sold the Wei-Hai-Wei coffeee & tea sets. There I charged a set to be sent to the TULSA as I had no money with me in my haste to get into the departing small boat.When night threatened,we returned to our dock,but found no small motor boat.At first we were not alarmed,but when we heard the freighter's whistle soundig repeatedly & impatiently & when no small boat appeared as darkness approached, we bargained with a sampan to row us out to the freighter. Gertrude paid him from her purse & he tried hard to row us but made litle headway with the heavy seas.He managed to reach a Chinese junk sailing along in the wind, & we again bargained for a ride & paid the owner of the junk to take us aboard.The wind held, & the junk mnade good progress with the large square sails & we again met a difficult transfer from the junk to the freighter.The captain of the freighter was greatly annoyed by the delay & stated he would have stranded us if Nathalie had not tearfully apealed for him to wait for her mother & Mrs. Barrett. Our friend Colonel William W. Paca,US Marine Corps (native ofAnnapolis Maryland,where he was named for great-great-great-grandfather who signed Declaration of Independence) wrote June 23,l970-he was the Marine officer on the TULSA & worked closely with Jack in winning the Asiatic Fleet l93l gunnery competition:"I remember Jack fondly as a fine officer & one of my best shiipmates.I remember him too with gratitude-which I hope I expressed directly to him at the time-for his guidance & advice-which as gunnery officer of the TULSA,he gave me relative to the training of our Marine gun crew & which resulted in our winning an "E" at that year's gunnery practice.I do have an especially clear memory of Jack- & that is that he was one of a rare group of people who have the faculty of being 'where the action is.' Frequently during wardroom conversations on the TULSA when past events were mentioned,it would develop that Jack had either been there or nearby or otherwise had been in a position to have special knowledge pf the event.In past years I have several times remarked that I once served with a naval officer who had that rare facility or gift.My great great great grandfather was William Paca,a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Maryland.The main part of the hotel Carvel Hall in Annapolis was built on the (to. p.35A) In the winter of l930-31 I met two American fur buyers in the lobby of the Court Hotel.When they remarked that my cloth coat trimmed with Persian lamb was not warm enough for the piercing cold of North China,I remarked I could not afford a fur coat. They offered to buy fur skins for me in Manchuria-said they would be beautiful & very inexpensive.When thney returned,they had some sea otter skins,which were made up into a lovely coat. Sea otter is a short,durable fur with a lovely silver sheen-very warm & comfortable.In September l93l they returned to the hotel & I visited with them before they left for Mukden & other parts of Manchuria to buy furs for their New York concern.Only a few days later they reurned to the hotel,visibly shaken as they had barely escaped with their lives when the Japanese captured Mukden September l8-l9,& they got away on the last train allowed to leave the city- a bribe to Japanese officers was necessary for them to leave.The Japanese claimed that the railroad track to be used by their troops had been bombed by the Chinese,-&they used that as an excuse to occupy Mukden. I immediately telephoned Captain Rice, who was at Taku Bar with the TULSA forty miles east of Tientsin at the mouth of the Hai Ho River,because of unusually low water levels that year, which made navigation to Tientsin inadvisable.He immediately telegraphed the Admiral of the Asiatic Fleet at Shanghai-probably the first report the United States government received.The U.S. ambassador in Tokyo was on vacation. The Navy was told to keep "hands off" the situiation.When we did nothing to stop them,the emboldened Japanese militarists established the state of Manchukuo with a puppet emperor Pu Yi.They proceeded to conquer much of North China & attacked Shanghai in l932..Their heady successes in China ultimately encouraged the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, l94l.Has we pushed them out of Manchuria in l93l, we might have avoided large scale conflict later.Secretary of State Stimson & many European leaders favored action, but President Herbert Hoover, a pacifist who built no ships and had lost political support in view of the deep economic Depression, missed the opportunity to nip World War II in the bud. Sophie had hand skin problems probably a drug reaction called pomphylyx. She accompanied Jack to Peking in November when he went for physical exam for promotion to Lieutenant Commander. The good score of the TULSA in Asiatic Fleet gunnery and maneuvers and strong fitness report from Commander Paul Rice and intensive study for exam helped Jack achieve this promotion. The Barretts had a cordial visit with the Rice family around the December 1931 holidays, and young Nathalie Rice became interested in Sophie's social work experience and became a social worker herself years later.the anchorage at the entrance of the Hai Ho River was called Tangku (note by Sophie M. Barrett"Jack & I sailed from Tangku to Japan on the Chowan Maru.Tangku is where the Japanese soldiers crossed their swords on my chest when I started to the wrong dock where a Japanese Army troop ship was next to the passengership dock." |
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