Page:Old Westland (1939).pdf/273

Rh more remarkable because this tragedy is outstanding in the annals of British shipping history.

With regard to this, Confucians the world over pay into a fund to be utilized to defray the expense of conveying their remains to China, should they die prior to returning thereto. With the object of carrying out this essential obligation the powerful Chong Sing Tong Society (which was formed over 2,000 years ago) in 1900 collected the bones of their countrymen who had been buried in New Zealand, for the purpose of shipping them home and thus fulfilling the cardinal principles of their religious belief. To do so they chartered the Ventnor, a steamer of 6,500 tons, which left Wellington for Hong Kong on October 26th, 1902. She carried a cargo of coal and 499 Chinese bodies, which were insured for £5,490. The following day the Ventnor struck a rock south of Cape Egmont, and as she was leaking badly was headed for Auckland. The next morning a bulkhead gave way, and the vessel had to be abandoned suddenly, the captain and twelve of the crew being drowned. The bodies were never recovered.