Short-tempered, sweating boatmen struggled to push their sampans and junks close to the fantail of the SS Kiangya, Chinese coastal steamer loading last week at Shanghai for Ningpo. From the cramped decks of the small boats on to the steamer's overhang clambered frantic, ticketless Shanghailanders trying to flee the frightened city. Others clogged the wharves, straining to catch tickets thrown them from portholes by friends already aboard.
When the 2,100-ton ship edged out into the Whangpoo River late in the afternoon, she carried 2,250 paying passengers (mostly loaded earlier at Nanking), plus about...
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