It’s not a what, it’s a who . . . Samuel James Wepage; a somewhat notorious and colourful far eastern trader, who was based out of Macau at the turn of the last century. He ran an import/export business call China Goods Ltd. which, though ostensibly a legitimate concern, was considered at the time to be little more than a front for a somewhat more lucrative (nefarious) trade.

His rise to pre-eminence in the “trading” fraternity is quite legendary (I’m amazed you’ve not heard of him), but it supposedly all came to naught when, in July 1901, he was “lost” at sea in a typhoon off the coast of Hong Kong.

He was known to have boarded the tramp steamer “Pride of Shanghai”, but was not listed amongst the passengers and those few that survived do not recall seeing anyone fitting his description. Of course the reasoning for this could be that he paid the captain a handsome bounty in order to hide his presence, after all he was, by this time, a man with numerous enemies. How ironic then he was to die in a natural catastrophe . . . or did he?

During the boxer revolution of 1899/1900 it is rumoured he financed a secret mission into the very heartland of China. His target was Zhijin in the Guizhou district, where it was rumoured the “The Great Mogul” diamond was hidden; a diamond of far greater size and wealth than even that of the “The Star of Africa”.

Though an extremely hazardous undertaking, particularly in such politically unstable times, it’s possible the upheaval within the country would have aided as much as hindered. So did he travel into the country? Did he find the diamond? No-one knows for sure. What is known, however, is that around this time he supposedly travelled to Japan for several months, though again no-one can confirm he landed. And prior to his departure, on that fateful day in July, agents of the Empress Dowager were quietly seeking knowledge of his whereabouts.

Once again then, risking all, it’s possible he embarked upon a course of action to forestall the pursuit. Taking ship he may have meant to disembark at some obscure point along its course, perhaps further rewarding the captain for staging a “man over board” accident. Maybe, being more that a month into the typhoon season, he hoped foul weather would play its part; though perhaps not as dramatically as it did. So did he survive or did he drown? We will never know. “The Great Mogul” Diamond, by the way, remains missing.

This message was edited by djy on 06/07/05 14:17 ET.