Trapped in the Hold of the SS Madras: Kingdom of Hawai'i, #1

By Erica Anoe

"We were not sick with smallpox, but we knew we would be soon if we couldn't get out of this hold."

 

April 1883. The SS Madras arrives at the port of Honolulu with hundreds of workers for the rice paddies of Waikiki – but it also carries smallpox. Historical fiction set in the waters of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, "Trapped in the Hold of the SS Madras" tells the story of a steamer mired in uncertainty, a kingdom determined to avoid another plague, and passengers desperate to disembark before they contract a deadly disease.

 

Includes a historical note by the author with information about the case heard by the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawai'i that inspired this story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lonely Robot Press
• Release date: Jan 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201982645

Book preview

Trapped in the Hold of the SS Madras

TRAPPED IN THE HOLD OF THE SS MADRAS

A KINGDOM OF HAWAI’I SHORT STORY

ERICA ANOE

Lonely Robot Press

Copyright © 2022 by Erica Anoe

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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For the Chinese workers who traveled far from home in search of opportunity, and who were too often exploited.

For the Kānaka Maoli, both those who survive today and those who died of plagues.

Also for the British, whose effects are undeniable.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Author’s Note

Acknowledgments

About the Author

ONE

April 9, 1883, SS Madras, anchored outside the Port of Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawai’i

My brother and I were not sick with smallpox, but we knew we would be soon if we couldn’t get out of this damnable hold.

Old Fong was dying in the corner, and at least his coughing had stopped. It was his fault we were trapped here. He was the one who’d searched the ship for spare blankets as we slowly made our way from Hong Kong to Yokohama and out into the open ocean. He’d been so proud when he found a few smelly gray scraps of cloth tucked behind some half-rotten crates, but it wasn’t long before he and Xing Wei got a fever. Now, the sharks of the Pacific Ocean probably had fallen ill from feeding off Xing Wei’s scab-riddled body,