over a glass of excellent portuguese madeira i opened the letter and read ... charles chen house of chen rangoon , burma mr. james emerson fletcher envoy , house of chen state street , boston , massachusetts , usa june 3 , 1809 dear cheung tong , as you read this , you are undoubtedly seated in the main cabin of my fine ship ciudad de lisbon , a well-found craft i picked up last year when it made an ill-considered smuggling run into the waters off burma .