Captain Cornell Plant’s Glimpses of the Yangtze Gorges was published in 1921, 1926 & 1932 and originally issued to coincide with the launch of S.S. Loong Mow, the first scenic passenger cruise ship in the Three Gorges. Ivon Donnelly illustrated the book.
However, Captain Plant had launched commercial and passenger steamship service through the Yangtze’s Three Gorges in 1909 and the lesser known A Glimpse through the Gorges of the Great Yangtse appeared to be issued to the handful of those early passengers or river enthusiasts.
I know of three copies that exist. The one that I purchased belonging to Plant’s very good friend, Swire pilot Captain Arthur Tucker. Another is held at Greenwich Maritime Museum archives in Captain Plant’s collection. One belongs to a gentleman who contacted me from England, who reached out after having discovered it among his grandfather’s belongings. My copy has a deep purple linen cover. The others are red paper with a black title in Chinese and English. Both open with a map of the river, a distance table and a diagram depicting variations in the level of the river at Chungking throughout the year. The photographic content is largely the same as its successor.
I have taken images of the booklet to share this early work of Captain Plant in the hope that others may also come forward and recognize this rare documentation of the Upper Yangtze’s early foray into commercial steamship service.
