Vapor a pás "Spark"

Na extensa lista dos navios entrados e saídos do porto de Macau em Agosto de 1853 um dos nomes que se destaca é o do vapor "americano" Spark comandado pelo capitão Castilla. Na época a embarcação assegurava a ligação marítima de passageiros entre Macau e as cidades de Hong Kong e Cantão.

Construído em 1849 por R. B. Forbes, o Spark foi comprado pelo comerciante James Bridges Endicott (1814-1877) - natural de Salem, Massachusetts, EUA. Foi transportado em peças sendo reconstruído em Hong Kong em 1850 nos estaleiros navais denominados Whampoa (também era o nome de uma pequena ilha entre Macau e Cantão - já muito perto desta última, actual Huanpou/Pazhou). 

Os estaleiros eram chefiados por Endicott que chegou ao Sul da China com apenas 15 anos -por volta de 1831 - tendo vivido em Hong Kong, Cantão e Macau até à morte em 1870. A sua ligação a Macau explica a existência de um placa na capela protestante, junto ao cemitério.

O Spark em Cantão num detalhe de uma pintura de meados do século 19 cuja autoria é atribuída a Tingqua.

Anúncio de 1876

A seguir, o testemunho de Walter William Munday, vítima de um ataque de piratas a bordo do Spark em Agosto de 1874 numa viagem de Cantão para Macau. Este tipo de situações era muito frequente. Foi notícia no jornal The London and China Telegraph.

"I embarked on board the Spark on the 22nd of August to proceed on business to Macao. We left Canton at half past seven in the morning and were due at Macao between four and five the same afternoon. The Spark is a paddle wheeled steamer the lower deck being confined exclusively to Chinese passengers and having a winding staircase near the stern leading to the quarter deck which was for Europeans. There were a great many native passengers but I had the misfortune to be the only European. The crew consisted of about twenty men Chinese and Portuguese half casts. The captain, poor Brady, was an American and although an utter stranger to him previous to our journey it has seldom been my good fortune to have a nicer or more amiable companion. We had a capital run to Whampoa where we arrived at about nine o clock and breakfasted.

The Canton steamer to Hongkong and the return steamer from Hongkong ought to have passed us soon after leaving Whampoa but from some reason they were delayed and did not pass us till after twelve o clock which obliged the pirates to put off their attack. The river here where the outrage was perpetrated is about one mile across. So far the trip had been most delightful nothing had occurred to awaken any suspicion. I was still as wedded to the humdrum existence and safety of English life as if I were but taking a trip in the British Channel and so little thinking of any peril that I dozed over my cigar and book under the awning for ward I must have slept here some time as I certainly awoke with a start it may have been a noise it may have been instinct of danger which roused me. Which it really was I am unable to tell but I immediately perceived a man rushing up the gangway towards me with a knife in his hand and a gash across his fore head. Surprised and only half awake my first thought was that he was a madman and I rushed out to procure help to seize him. (...)"