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by Helen Atteck & Philip Atteck
"STRESS OF WEATHER" is a new book, which tells the tale of an actual voyage made in 1862 from Hong Kong to Trinidad in the British West Indies. The journey required two sailing vessels because the first ship nearly foundered in a vicious hurricane in the Indian Ocean.
After a tumultuous trip, 467 Chinese survivors arrived in Trinidad on July 3rd 1862. The men were indentured to work in the sugar plantations. This was reputed to be the first ship to bring women from China, and 124 women and one girl survived the ordeal.
Besides copies of official letters written in 1861/1862 between Emigration officials in Hong Kong, U.K. and Trinidad, etc. that have been extracted from the archives in England and Mauritius, this book gives full details about the 364 Articles of Agreement, which were contracts of indenture, and which include: the men's names in English and Chinese characters, when and where they signed up for the voyage, and other individual information. This is like a "Rosetta Stone" for the Trinidadians with local "Chinese" names to perhaps locate their ancestor, and find their true Chinese surname.
This book will be of great interest to all Trinidadians of Chinese descent, as well as historians, researchers, and students of the Chinese diaspora.
Publication date: July 2000 by Wanata Enterprises, 41 Westgate Park. Dr., St.Catharines, Ont.
L2N 5W8 Canada.
Price: $39.95 CDN plus postage and handling.
Helen Atteck has created a moving historical novel, putting flesh on the bones of history surrounding the voyage of the
British sailing ships, Maggie Miller and Wanata, in 1862, and the consequences of that journey.
This new fictional story begins in the year 1862, at the time of the T'ai P'ing Rebellion and the Punti / Hakka War in China.
Bound for Trinidad: an historical novel tells the adventures of some of the 549 men, women, and children who sailed away from
Hong Kong at that time. Torn from their Chinese homeland, 467 of these people, survivors of a perilous voyage, were deposited
half a world away on the Caribbean Island of Trinidad.
The reader will learn where they came from, why and how they left China, and how they coped with the strange language,
culture, customs, and unique flavor of their new environment. This story provides a glimpse of the way of life of both China
and colonial Trinidad in the nineteenth century.
The sixteen delightful illustrations in the book by two talented Trinidadian artists, Dermot Louison and Richard Chack On,
complement the story.
Bound for Trinidad: an historical novel is priced at CAD $25. plus shipping and handling. When ordering, please specify the
title of the book required.
Postage and handling: In Canada $6.00 CDN for first book.
For multiple book orders, please add $2.00 CDN for each additional book.
Add a surcharge for sending to the USA: $4.00CDN or for overseas: $12.00 CDN.
Postage and handling on large orders will be quoted upon request.
Is it possible to have a sequel to a history book? The answer is, Yes.
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