The Sampan Girl

Gary Watson is a former lecturer in Chinese studies at Queen’s University and is now a multimedia developer in Mississauga.

A moving story of life, love, and loss, Gordon Mumford’s compact
memoir details his experiences as a merchant seaman in the aftermath of
World War II in Southeast Asia and along the China coast. Mumford, an
innocent in the world of men accustomed to rough pleasures, describes
his naive first encounters with the underside of Asian ports; indeed,
the book’s main strength is his utter honesty about the novelty of
what he saw and did.

Much of his story deals with his doomed relationship with Anni, a young
Hong Kong prostitute. Ignoring the views of seasoned shipmates, Mumford
vainly sought to pry Anni free from the madam who held debts against
her. Although his desire to marry Anni and take her home to England was
ultimately frustrated, he never escaped his fascination with the girl.

The Sampan Girl contains no penetrating sociological or anthropological
insights into the worlds Mumford experienced as a young seaman. Nor does
his book catalogue the sometimes tiresome details of ships and wartime
“theatre” experiences. Instead, it amounts to a very personal—and
often poignant—telling of tales and experiences few men would share as
Mumford does. That alone makes The Sampan Girl worthwhile.