Anson Burlingame to Charles Nelson, Late Master of the Lucky Star, June 30, 1863

Mr. Burlingame to Mr. Nelson

Sir: I did not receive your favor of December 26, 1862, until some time last month, after I had learned the loss of your ship and the sufferings experienced by yourself and Mrs. Nelson and the crew, through Sir Frederick Bruce, her Britannic Majesty’s plenipotentiary. The circumstances attending the loss of the Lucky Star were most distressing, more so than has usually been the case among the unhappy casualties along that part of the coast of Formosa, and I desire to tender yourself and Mrs. Nelson my sincere sympathies with your misfortunes. It was a relief to learn that no lives were lost through the cruel treatment of those barbarous natives; and I have already conveyed my thanks to Mr. Braune, her Britannic Majesty’s acting consul at Tanshwai, and to Baron Meritens, for their active kindness in rescuing you all.

The claim which you have made upon the Chinese government through me for indemnity for personal losses can be pressed upon it only under the provisions of article thirteen of the treaty relating to shipwrecks. The account that you have sent me does not show that any application was made to the Chinese authorities in that part of the island to relieve the crew or save the cargo, though it is likely that nothing they could have done would have rescued the latter from their lawless subjects. If you will read that article you will perceive that a plain distinction is made between the acts of officials and the violence of their subjects, the responsibility of the imperial government being limited to the former. In all the treaties lately made with it, the complicity of its own agents in such cases forms the ground for a claim of indemnity. In the present case a demand for compensation for loss of the ship and cargo (which would of course be regarded as identical with your own) would be decided adversely on the same grounds; and, in this view of the case, I may add, incidentally, that I am supported by the British minister.

It is well known that the Chinese authorities are often unable to restrain their subjects along their coasts, though their own intentions might be most friendly. The pirates and wreckers that now infest many parts will, I hope, gradually be restrained, and during the last twenty years much has been done to put them down, but the provisions of our treaty are clear with regard to the liability of the Chinese rulers.

Under these circumstances, therefore, I am constrained to decline to prefer your claim for indemnity. I shall, however, bring the incidents of the wreck to the notice of the authorities, with a request that orders be sent to the local magistrates of Tanshwin to exert themselves more vigorously in relieving shipwrecked crews thrown on their coasts. I am, respectfully, yours,