Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1838 - 1842
Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1838 - 1842


Royal NavyCampaigns

W.L. Clowes on the First Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1838 - 1842


For several years prior to 1820 India had exported opium to China, where the drug was admitted, subject to a fixed duty. In 1820, however, the Chinese Government issued a proclamation against the trade, which thenceforth became illicit, although it continued to flourish, thanks largely to the willingness of most of the mandarins to accept bribes, and to the fact that not a few of them were personally interested in the traffic. In 1837 stricter measures were adopted by the government; and foreign ships were ordered to quit the coasts of China, and foreign merchants to leave Canton and proceed to Macao, which then, as now, was Portuguese territory. To enforce these orders, one Lin was ultimately appointed governor of Canton; but not until December 3rd, 1838, did the Chinese authorities begin to take such active measures as brought them into conflict with their western neighbours. On that day they seized some smuggled opium; and, a little later, they expelled from Canton the British merchant to whose warehouse the opium was being carried. Riots and recriminations followed; Captain Charles Elliot, R.N., Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, had to intervene; the river traffic was impeded; and when, on February 26th, 1839, the Chinese police executed in front of the foreign hongs a native accused of opium dealing, all the consuls in the city struck their flags, and H.M.S. Larne, the only British man-of-war in port, though then about to depart for India, was detained at the request of the merchants. In March, Lin required that all opium on board ships in the river should be surrendered; and, pending compliance with his demand, he suspended the issue of passports, and of permits to foreigners to move beyond the limits of the factories. On March 24th, Captain Elliot, who had been to Macao, returned to Canton, and hoisted the British flag over his quarters in the British factory. He was subjected to some indignities by the Chinese authorities; yet, in the interests of justice, he made arrangements that all opium then in the river in British bottoms should be given up. Many thousands of chests had been thus surrendered, when, owing to new demands and insolent conduct on the part of Lin, delivery was suspended by Elliot's direction. The Chinese appeared to give way, and the surrender of opium went on as before; but, in the middle of May, Lin's attitude and military preparations became so threatening that Elliot formally warned British subjects that Canton was no longer a place in which they could reside with safety or honour, and that they would do wisely to withdraw at once. On May 23rd, by which date 20,283 chests of opium had been handed over, Elliot himself left Canton for Macao; and on the 30th, he despatched from Macao to Suez a fast clipper with news of what had occurred. The opium, which had been collected at Chunhow, and which was said to be worth £2,500,000, was presently destroyed by order of Commissioner Lin. {Ochterlony's 'Chinese War', 1-20}.

Map

After the abandonment of Canton, the harbour of Hong Kong became the chief rendezvous for British shipping in China. Lin, however, erected batteries to command the anchorage, and occupied the Kowloon peninsula on the north side of the harbour; while, on the other hand, the idle seamen got into trouble on shore. In spite of the situation thus created, Hong Kong became daily more and more a British centre, owing to the fact that the hostility of the Chinese soon made it impossible for British residents to remain at Macao, except at the risk of compromising the Portuguese authorities there. Captain Elliot removed from Macao to Hong Kong on August 23rd, and, though the town was not formally ceded until 1841, it was thenceforward practically British. Provocation and outrage continued; and when, on August 30th, H.M.S. Volage, 22, Captain Henry Smith, reached Macao, and at once proceeded to Hong Kong, her arrival was extremely welcome. On September 4th, the refusal of the Chinese at Kowloon to permit the transit of provisions across the harbour obliged Captain Smith, in concert with Mr. James Douglas {afterwards Sir James Douglas}, of the Cambridge {the Cambridge was purchased by the Chinese government ere regular hostilities began}, formerly of the H.E.I. Co.'s marine, to employ his boats to drive off a squadron of war-junks, and so to open a passage for the supplies. Further outrageous action induced Elliot to call upon Smith to proclaim a blockade of the port of Canton as from September 11th {this was afterwards relaxed}. Negotiations were subsequently entered into; but Elliot displayed such unwise weakness that the Chinese were only encouraged to persist in their implacable attitude. At length, the Hyacinth, 18, Commander William Warren, having joined the Volage, Elliot stiffened himself so far as to inform the Chinese, on October 28th, that if the British shipping lying below the Bogue were subjected to more of certain annoyances which had become intolerable, retaliatory measures would be adopted. The Chinese admiral, Kwan, returned first a temporising and then an insulting answer, and on November 3rd got under way with twenty-nine junks, evidently intending to attack. Smith made a further fruitless attempt to negotiate, and then, with the Volage and Hyacinth, opened fire, and in a short time won a success which would have been much more complete than it was, but for the interference of Elliot, who, when three junks had been sunk and as many more driven ashore, procured a cessation of the firing, alleging his desire to spare the lives of the Chinese. Kwan, on returning to Canton, was thus able to boast that he had been victorious; and he was rewarded accordingly.

During the winter and spring, little or nothing was done on the spot by the British, although the Chinese continued to collect troops, to build and arm forts, and to excite their people against the foreigners. But at home and in India preparations were made for hostile action on a larger scale than had been possible when two small vessels only were available. Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland, K.C.B., Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, would, in the ordinary course, have commanded the expedition; but he died on December 30th, 1839; and the direction of affairs then passed temporarily to the surviving senior officer on the station, Captain Sir James John Gordon Bremer. Rear-Admiral the Hon. George Elliot, C.B., and Captain Charles Elliot were appointed royal commissioners to deal with the Chinese Government, the former having also the command afloat; and, early in May, 1840, a squadron, having on board about 3600 infantry (including H.M. 18th, 26th, and 49th Regts., the whole military force being under Col. Burrell, 18th Regt.}, and some royal artillery and engineers, was assembled at Singapore, where, however, Rear-Admiral Elliot had not yet appeared.

Table: Vessels of the Royal Navy, and of the Hon. East India Company's service, engaged in the operations in China, 1839-42

In June the squadron {then consisting of Wellesley, 74; Alligator, 28; Conway, 28; Larne, 20; Algerine, 10; Rattlesnake, 6; the two H.E.I. Co.'s steamers Atalanta, and Madagascar, and 26 transports and storeships. Other vessels joined soon afterwards} proceeded, and, on the 21st, halted off the Great Ladrones to communicate with Macao. There Bremer declared a blockade of the Canton river, to begin on June 28th, and thence he went on to the northern harbour of Chusan, where lay a few war junks. He entered unopposed; but the local authorities, pleading lack of power to treat, refused to surrender the island. Accordingly, at 2 p.m. on July 5th, fire was opened upon the defences of Tinghae, and upon the junks; and in a few minutes the enemy was silenced, and the junks were driven ashore or reduced to wrecks. In this affair the Wellesley, 74, Commodore Sir James John Gordon Bremer, Captain Thomas Maitland, Conway, 28, Captain Charles Ramsay Drinkwater Bethune, and Algerine, 10, Lieutenant Thomas Henry Mason, took the leading parts. {Among the officers commended in Bremer's dispatch were Captains Bethune, Maitland, aud Aug. Leop. Kuper (actg. of Alligator, 28); Commanders Henry Wells Giffard (Cruiser), and John Venour Fletcher (Wellesley), Lieut. Thos. Hy. Mason; Master Wm. Brodie (comdg. trooper Rattlesnake, 28); Mate C. E. Hodgkinson (comdg. schooner Young Hebe); and Capt. Samuel Burdon Ellis, R.M. - Gazette, 1840, p. 2991.} The town and island were then occupied, after some resistance had been offered. Ere the fighting was quite over, Rear-Admiral Elliot, in the Melville, 74, Captain the Hon. Richard Saunders Dundas, arrived on the scene to assume command. In his eagerness to participate, he ran ashore his ship, then in tow of the H.E.I. Co.'s steamer Atalanta; and subsequently he had to hoist his flag in the Wellesley, leaving the Blenheim, 74, Captain Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, which joined soon afterwards, to heave down the Melville, and to assist in repairing her.

In the meantime, letters addressed by Lord Palmerston to the advisers of the Emperor were sent in to Chinhae, at the mouth of the Ningpo river, and to Amoy. At Chinhae the communication was examined by the local mandarins, and returned as being of a nature too insulting for transmission. At Amoy, on July 3rd, the mandarins, besides refusing to receive the message, fired treacherously on an unarmed boat of the Blonde; whereupon Captain Thomas Bourchier, of that frigate, opened a heavy fire, and did not desist until he had reduced to silence all the works on shore. Then, leaving on the beach a copy of the letter, attached to a bamboo, he rejoined the squadron. A blockade of the Ningpo river and of the coast northward to the Yangtsekiang was soon afterwards proclaimed; and the Rear-Admiral, with several vessels { Including Wellesley, Blonde, Pylades, Volage, and Modeste}, departed to the Gulf of Petchili to negotiate. During the period of inactivity that followed, disease ravaged the troops at Chusan, there being, between July 13th and December 31st, no fewer than 5329 admissions to hospital, and 448 deaths there among the Europeans alone. It would have been wiser to employ the force to impress the Chinese with a full sense of British power; for the negotiations were prolonged, and, even while they continued, the Chinese committed further outrages, which were never properly resented and punished. The Algerine had on one occasion to defend herself against a Chinese battery at Chapoo; Midshipman Harvey, and a seaman of the Conway lost their lives in a foraging expedition at the western end of Tsungming {since called Harvey Point}; and on August 6th, an unprovoked attack, made upon a clergyman in Casilha Bay, near Macao, brought about decided action by Captain Henry Smith, of the Druid, 44, who, with the Hyacinth, 20, Larne, 20, Louisa, cutter, Enterprize, steamer, and boats containing 120 Marines under Lieutenant William Robert Maxwell, R.M., 80 seamen under Lieutenant George Goldsmith, and 180 Bengal volunteers, under Major Mee, assaulted and captured the Chinese works behind Macao, spiking seventeen guns, sinking two junks, and having only four of his people wounded.

At Amoy, also, where Commander Augustus Leopold Kuper, of the Alligator, 28, maintained a blockade, the threatening attitude of a large fleet of war-junks, led to the destruction of several of them, and to other reprisals. But Kuper had to abandon an attempt, which he made, to force the passage between Kolangso and Amoy harbour; and consequently the Chinese were left with the conviction that they had won an important success. Nowhere were they made to feel that they were dealing with foes who were vastly their superiors. Nowhere were they crushingly and convincingly defeated. A truce, however, was concluded on November 6th, 1840. As early as the 21st of the same month it was violated by the Chinese, who, upon the appearance of the steamer Queen, Actg. Master William Warden, with a white flag, off the Bogue Forts, fired upon her boat. Warden retaliated with his 68-prs., and then rejoined the Rear-Admiral, who was in the Melville, 74, at Macao. The outrage should have been promptly and very severely punished by the Commander-in-Chief: but both the Elliots, in their dealings with the Chinese, who wanted only to gain time, continued to betray most regrettable weakness; and it must have been with a sense of relief that on November 29th, the British merchants learnt that the Rear-Admiral, on account of sudden and severe illness, had resigned his command into the stronger hands of Commodore Sir James John Gordon Bremer. Rear-Admiral Elliot quitted Chusan in the Volage, on December 7th, 1840, and returned to England.

Negotiations between Captain Elliot and the Chinese commissioner, Keeshen, dragged on until the end of the year. Elliot, in the Wellesley, lay at Lintin, near the forts of Chuenpee and the Bogue, which were almost daily strengthened. The expeditionary force also, at this time, was increased, notably by the arrival of seven companies of the 37th Madras Native Infantry, and of the new H.E.I. Co.'s iron steamer Nemesis, Master William Hutcheon Hall, R.N., "a vessel," says Ouchterlony, "destined to be very conspicuous in all the most important achievements of the war."

{William Hutcheon Hall had entered the Navy in 1811, and was a Master of May 30th, 1823. One of the first British officers to make a thorough study of steam, he was given command of the Nemesis in November 1839, and, in consequence of his brilliant services in her, the Admiralty procured an Order in Council to enable it to make him a Lieutenant on January 8th, 1841. The Admiralty later obtained power to enable him to count his time in the Nemesis as if it had been served in one of H.M. ships, and made him a Commander, June 10, 1843, and a Captain, October 22nd, 1844. He was the inventor of Hall's patent anchor, and of iron bilge tanks. In 1847 he was elected an F.R.S. His career, exceptional though it was, indicates that sometimes at least the Admiralty is willing to depart from the rules of red-tape rather than neglect true merit. He was made a Rear-Adm. in 1863, and a K.C.B. in 1867. In 1869 he retired, and died in 1878.}

At length even Captain Elliot realised that he was being trifled with, and made a laughing-stock of by the Chinese; and it was determined to attack the approaches to Canton. On the morning of January 7th, 1841, therefore, about 1400 Royal Marines, and troops, under Major Pratt, of the 26th Regiment, having been landed two miles south of Chuenpee fort, pushed on against that work, while the Calliope, Larne, Hyacinth, Queen, and Nemesis dropped anchor abreast of the batteries, and opened fire. The fort was soon rushed, a landing-party from the squadron entering almost at the same moment from the sea-front; and the enemy was driven away with terrible loss. On the British side the total casualties in this affair were 38 wounded. Simultaneously, Captain James Scott, with the Samarang, Druid, Modeste, and Columbine, proceeded a little further up the river, and hotly bombarded the fort of Tycocktow, on the right, or south bank, for an hour. He then landed Marines and small-arms men, and, with some little difficulty, cleared and occupied the works at the point of the bayonet and cutlass. In the assault, Lieutenant James Paterson Bower, of the Samarang, was among the wounded.

That day the Nemesis, shallow of draught, well-armed, and ably handled, did wonders. After shelling Chuenpee at close range, and pouring grape into the embrasures of the fort, she pushed on over the shallows into Anson's Bay, and there attacked eleven war junks at anchor. Her first rocket directed at these set fire to one of the largest, which presently blew up with all on board; and, aided by boats from the squadron, Hall soon destroyed all the others.

The works were dismantled, the guns, 97 in number, disabled, and the buildings and stores burnt. On the 8th, the fleet, led by the Blenheim, 74, Captain Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, advanced to attack the Bogue forts; but, when the vessels got almost within range of Anunghoy, they were met by a Chinese emissary, bearing a request for a suspension of hostilities; and once more, accordingly, Captain Elliot, as High Commissioner, began negotiations. He should have first razed to the ground the forts between him and Canton. On January 20th, nevertheless, he was able to announce that he had concluded a preliminary arrangement, in virtue of which Hong Kong was to be ceded in perpetuity to Great Britain, an indemnity of $6,000,000 was to be paid in instalments, and official intercourse and trade were to be reopened. Hong Kong was formally taken possession of on the 26th, under a royal salute; and the island of Chusan, at about the same time, was evacuated. On January 27th, Elliot proceeded in the Nemesis to a point near Whampoa, and resumed the conferences, which, he reported, were going on "satisfactorily," though he also declared that British merchants and others must not yet think of returning to Canton, save at their own risk. More meetings, and more procrastination followed. The Chinese, while parleying, brought up fresh troops, and mounted more guns hour by hour. At length Elliot lost patience, and sent the Nemesis to demand an instant ratification of the treaty. Hall failed to get it; and hostilities were forthwith recommenced.

On February 20th, Bremer, who had fallen down the river after January 8th, again pushed up with the fleet to the neighbourhood of Anunghoy; and, on the 23rd, the Nemesis, aided by boats from the Calliope, Samarang, Herald, and Alligator, the whole under Captain Thomas Herbert, broke up a force which was endeavouring to obstruct a channel at the back of Anunghoy, carried a masked battery and field-work, and spiked about 80 guns, without the loss of a man. Of the Chinese about 30 fell.

"Up to the present time," says Ouchterlony, " the ordinary passage by which vessels of any considerable burden entered the Canton River was that between the islands of North and South Wangtung and the peak of Anunghoy; but it had been for some time known that a safe channel also existed to the westward; and no pains had been spared to render the latter as difficult and dangerous as possible by bringirg the fire of two formidable batteries, of 45 and 40 guns, to bear upon it: the one constructed on the western extremity of North Wangtung, the other on the opposite or right bank of the river. From Anunghoy a strong chain had been carried, right across the eastern passage, to a rocky point near a formidable battery which had for years existed on the eastern tongue of North Wangtung, where its end was made fast, the chain being held up to within a few feet of the water by means of a line of rafts."

But the Chinese had omitted to occupy the lower island lying within point-blank range of North Wangtung, to the southward; and there, on the night of February 25th, with the assistance of some seamen, three howitzers were mounted in a sandbag battery. At daybreak on the following morning they opened fire upon the works on North Wangtung. Several hours elapsed, owing to a calm, ere the fleet was able to move up, yet in the interval the Chinese artillery failed to do any harm to the howitzers, or their gunners. At 11 a.m., however, the Blenheim and Queen anchored abreast of the large battery of Anunghoy, and the Melville, passing ahead, brought up with her port bow guns bearing on the eastern battery of Wangtung. By noon, the action on the eastern side of the river was general. The Wellesley, Druid, and Modeste in the meantime entered the western channel, and engaged the battery on North Wangtung, and a fort and camp on the opposite bank; while the Calliope, Herald, Samarang, and Alligator pressed on to the northward of the Chinese defences, firing their starboard broadsides into the lower Wangtung battery as they passed. After about an hour's cannonade, Captain Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, with 300 seamen and Royal Marines, landed under Anunghoy, and carried the works without much trouble. The Chinese admiral, Kwan, was killed there. North Wangtung was similarly carried by the troops, and many prisoners were taken; and at 4 p.m., when the Nemesis, with some of the Wellesley's boats, was sent against the fort and camp on the Tycocktow side, those positions were abandoned, and occupied without resistance. The works there and at Anunghoy were destroyed; but the North Wangtung works were garrisoned, though the Chinese guns, being almost useless, were disabled and thrown into the water.

While part of the squadron remained at the Bogue, an advanced division {Nemesis, Madagascar, Modeste, Herald, Alligator and Sulphur}, under Captain Thomas Herbert, of the Calliope, moved up with some boats from the Wellesley, and, on February 27th, attacked the enemy's position at Second Bar, near Whampoa, where a floating boom had been thrown across the river, flanked on one side by an entrenched camp containing 2000 troops, and on the other by the guns of the Cambridge, the old H.E.I. Co.'s vessel, which had been purchased by the Chinese before the outbreak of war. The raft was cut through; the enemy was driven off with heavy loss; and the Cambridge was boarded, captured, and blown up. Herbert afterwards anchored in Whampoa reach. On March 2nd, the Sulphur, with some boats, proceeded, took a masked battery on the N.E. end of Whampoa island, and occupied Howqua's fort {also called Howqua's Folly}. The Sulphur, with the Herald, Alligator, and Modeste, then anchored in the stream between that fort and Napier island. On the 3rd there was another brief suspension of hostilities. It was at about that time that Major-General Sir Hugh Gough arrived from Madras to take command of the military part of the expedition.

By March 7th, Captain Elliot realised that he was again being trifled with; and the armistice was declared to be at an end. Between then and the 18th, all the enemy's works on the river banks, as far as the factories at Canton, and along the deep-water branch passage known as the Macao channel, were, one after another, taken and destroyed. Many junks also were burnt or scuttled. Yet, in the whole of the operations, no one on the British side was killed in action, and but one man died of his wounds. The Royal Marines employed were commanded by Captain Anthony Blaxland Stransham {died General Sir A. B. Stransham, G.C.B., in Oct. 1900, aged 95}, who was wounded by an explosion on the 17th, and was mentioned in dispatches for his gallantry. In these affairs, especially in some which took place on the 12th and 13th in the Broadway, a western passage between Macao and Whampoa, the Nemesis rendered very valuable service. She, and the boats which she had in tow, were responsible for the capture and destruction of no fewer than 105 guns, and the burning of nine junks. Lieutenant Hall displayed energy and resource beyond praise.

On March 20th, Captain Elliot announced that yet another armistice had been concluded with the imperial commissioner Yang, who had succeeded Keeshen. In consequence of this, all the fleet, except some light craft of Captain Herbert's division, returned to Hong Kong, where Sir Hugh Gough busied himself in the reorganisation of his small force, which was sadly depleted by sickness, and by the recall of the Bengal volunteers. A little later the Melville and Samarang sailed for England, and the Madagascar and Queen, the latter bearing Bremer's broad pennant, went provisionally to Calcutta, where plans for further operations were discussed. Indeed, it was evident that the troubles were still only at their commencement. The edicts of the Chinese Emperor breathed increasing animosity; fresh defences were thrown up at Chusan, Chinhae, and Amoy; and near Chusan. Mr. Stead, master of the transport Pestonjee, was barbarously murdered by villagers and soldiers who had been promised a reward for the head of any British subject. At Canton, however, the situation seemed for the moment to have quieted down, so much so that many merchants returned to their hongs; and Captain Elliot himself took up temporary residence. But, upon getting trustworthy news of Mr. Stead's murder, Elliot sent the Columbine to Chusan to demand redress. That vessel had to return without having been allowed to communicate. She could only report that huge preparations for war were going forward at Tinhae. Elliot was at that time back at Hong Kong. When he returned to Canton on May llth, he not only discovered unmistakable signs that the Chinese had negotiated only to gain time, but also was at last persuaded that further parley was worse than useless, and that Great Britain must unhesitatingly put forth her strength if she would convince the enemy of the necessity of submission and improved behaviour. He regained Hong Kong without delay, and, on May 19th, induced the Commander-in-Chief to cause the whole of the British forces, except the Druid and the small garrisons of Hong Kong and North Wangtung, to be moved above the Bogue, which was passed on the 20th.

Herbert was still at anchor off the factories. On the 21st Senhouse took the Blenheim into the Macao passage, and anchored her, as a kind of base, six miles below Canton. During the day the British subjects remaining in the city quitted it, at Elliot's desire. That night, from the creeks above Shaming, a flotilla of fire-rafts was let loose upon the Louisa, cutter, and Aurora, schooner, which had just received on board the last of the fugitive merchants; and, at the same time, the batteries, from Shaming to the Creek factory, opened, the Louisa and Aurora escaping to the mouth of the Macao passage only because of the enemy's wretched aim. The boats of the Herald, coming from Napier's Reach, towed the fire-rafts clear; the Modeste, Pylades, and Algerine, from the Macao passage, ran in and engaged some of the batteries; and the Nemesis steamed close in to the large battery at Shaming, and was there for some time in difficulties under a heavy fire, her bow gun being temporarily disabled, her rudder being jammed, and a rocket hanging in a tube, and in its explosion badly burning Lieutenant Hall. But the Marines, firing into the embrasures, disconcerted the Chinese gunners; and, at length, the Nemesis was again in full fighting trim. She had been struck in many places, but her casualties were quite trifling, and at dawn, having silenced the Shaming battery, she pushed on, with the boats of the squadron in tow, and destroyed a flotilla of 39 war junks and boats. In the interval, first the mob and then the Chinese soldiery pillaged and gutted the factories. It was, of course, necessary to effect a landing in force in order to check the work of destruction. Captain Edward Belcher, of the Sulphur, was sent to find a suitable point for disembarkation. He reported in favour of a creek to the westward of the city, whence there was no serious obstacle to the passage of troops and guns to some forts crowning several eminences on the north-west. Upon the fall of these forts, it would be possible to establish a battery which should command the town, and bring it to reason. Belcher, during his absence, destroyed 28 war junks and row boats; and he brought back with him a number of decked craft, which proved most serviceable for the business of disembarkation.

On Her Majesty's birthday, May 24th, a royal salute having first been fired, the troops were landed in two divisions, and, after a preparatory cannonade, the four forts on the heights were carried at the point of the bayonet. A naval brigade, under Captain Thomas Bourchier, participated in the assault, and, after the storming, suffered somewhat severely from a heavy fire which burst out all along the northern ramparts of Canton. All the captured works, however, were held, in spite of a temporary failure of the ammunition supply; and, in the course of the following day, fifteen guns and howitzers were got into position before the walls. Just as the batteries were ready to open on the 27th, it was announced that the enemy had proposed terms, which Captain Elliot had accepted. It was stipulated that, upon the withdrawal of all imperial {as distinct from provincial} troops to a distance of upwards of sixty miles from the city, and the payment within one week of $6,000,000, and of an indemnity for damage to British property, the British forces should retire without the Bogue, and restore all the captured forts, which, however, were not to be rearmed pending a final settlement. It was not a wise arrangement. Canton had not been occupied, and the provincial mandarins had not been humiliated as they deserved after their long course of treachery and duplicity. The British flag should have been hoisted above the city ere any terms were listened to, But Elliot believed that Gough had not sufficient force to hold the place; and so, as soon as the Chinese had carried out their share of the undertaking, the expedition fell down the river. During the armistice, however, the enemy to the west of the city attacked the British in such force that a catastrophe was only averted by the unhoped-for intervention of two companies of Royal Marines. On the following day, in spite of Gough's remonstrances and threats, a still more formidable attack was imminent, until the local authorities, at the last moment, dispersed their soldiery. Thus, although the Chinese had lost heavily in the various engagements {the British loss in the entire operations was less than 130 killed, wounded, and missing. The Chinese probably lost in all about 1200 men}, it was open to them to pretend that they had not suffered any decisive reverse. This was a dangerous possibility; and it should never have been left to them. It precluded, indeed, all immediate prospect of a satisfactory settlement. Nor, in any case, was Canton China.

The expedition retired to Hong Kong, where, within a few days . of its arrival, it had to regret the death, by fever, of Captain Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, who, in the absence of Bremer elsewhere on the station, had most ably conducted the naval portion of the operations in the river. His body was buried at Macao.

Captain Elliot's management of political affairs had long since failed to give satisfaction at home. A new era opened when he was recalled, and superseded by Colonel Sir Henry Pottinger, who left England in May, in company with Rear-Admiral Sir William Parker, who had been appointed to fill the vacancy in the East Indies and China command occasioned by the death of Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland. The two new heads reached Macao road on board the H.E.I. Co.'s steam frigate Sesostris on August 3rd, 1841. In the interim Elliot had made arrangements for the government of Hong Kong, and had adjusted certain claims for indemnity; the Conway and Calliope had been despatched, one to England and the other to Calcutta, with the bulk of the Canton ransom money; and Gough's force had been strengthened by the arrival of a battalion of the 55th Regiment. Two bad typhoons had occasioned much damage to the transports and men-of-war; and, during one of them, on July 21st, Elliot, with Bremer, who had returned to China in the Queen with the powers of joint plenipotentiary, had been wrecked in the Louisa, cutter, between Macao and Hong Kong on a piratical island, whence they had escaped only upon undertaking to pay $3000 for their liberation.

Parker, Gough, and Pottinger were men who were not to be contented with half measures. It was determined to strike a blow, as soon as possible, to the northward; and by August 20th the fleet {Wellesley (flag), Blenheim, Druid, Blonde, Modeste, Pylades, Columbine, Cruiser, Algerine, Rattlesnake, Queen, Sesostris, Nemesis, and Phlegethon} and 21 transports, having on board about 2700 troops {including 18th, 49th, and 55th, and part of the 26th British regiments}, with field guns and rocket tubes, being ready for sea, headed for Arnoy. Pottinger accompanied the expedition, after having declined to open negotiations with the provincial governments, and completed the organisation of the administration of Hong Kong. On August 24th, Amoy and the neighbouring fortified island of Kolangsoo were reconnoitred; and, on the following day, the strong Chinese works were bombarded, the Wellesley and Blenheim being laid alongside the big shore batteries, the Druid, Blonde, and light craft dealing with Kolangsoo, and the steamers landing troops and destroying junks. It does not appear that even the broadsides of the two 74's made much impression on the batteries, which were admirably constructed; but, when the troops assaulted, there was but little resistance; and, on the 26th, Amoy itself was occupied, having been abandoned in the darkness. The chief loss on this occasion was due to the Sesostris having towed under water a boat full of troops. The Amoy batteries were dismantled, and about 500 guns destroyed; and the place was evacuated, a garrison, however, being left at Kolangsoo. On September 4th, the expedition proceeded for Chusan; but its progress was so impeded by fogs and baffling winds that great part of it did not make the rendezvous until towards the end of the month. As elsewhere, the Chinese had immensely strengthened their defences, and near Tinghae upwards of 200 guns were in battery; but the whole line of works was so laid out as to be capable of being easily turned. On October 1st, therefore, while the attention of the enemy was occupied by the ships, the troops were landed on the Chinese right; and, with some little loss, they presently carried some heights which dominated the whole position. The forts were then stormed, and Tinghae fell, not, unfortunately, before the Royal Marines and the 18th Regiment had had a number of men hit. After the capture the Nemesis and Phlegethon steamed round the island of Chusan in order to intercept escaping junks or boats. Tinghae was garrisoned, and the expedition {the ships then present were: Wellesley, Blenheim, Blonde, Jupiter, Columbine, Bentinck, Rattlesnake, Modeste, Nemesis, Queen, Phlegethon, Sesostris, and Cruiser} moved on to the mouth of the Ningpo river and to the city of Chinhae.

When, on October 9th, a reconnaissance was made, the estuary was found to be strongly fortified, and the channel blocked with a double row of piles, backed by a moored line of junks and gunboats. On the 10th, the position was attacked, the army being landed to operate on the right bank, and a naval force disembarking on the left. The latter, after a preliminary cannonade from the squadron, captured Chinhae without much difficulty. On the other side of the stream, the Chinese were caught between two columns; and something very much like a massacre took place ere the troops could be induced to cease firing. Chinhae was held; and, on the 13th, when a flotilla of light craft pushed up to Ningpo, that important city was found to have been evacuated. It promised to form a good winter headquarters for the expedition, and was occupied as such.

In the meantime, the Chinese in the Canton river having committed infractions of the treaty of the previous May, Captain Joseph Nias, of the Herald, senior naval officer at Hong Kong, took a small force up the river, razed North Wangtung fort to the ground, sank or burnt a number of junks, and shot a few persons whom he believed to have been guilty of treacherous conduct. This was in October; but, upon the withdrawal of Nias, the Chinese at once began to build pile barriers across both the Macao passage and the Junk river, and to construct new batteries. It was at about the same time that the transport Nerbudda, proceeding northward with camp-followers and a few men of the 55th Regiment, was driven in a leaky condition into a bay on the coast of Formosa, and there basely abandoned by her European crew and passengers, who made off in some of the boats, after having destroyed the others and all the ammunition that was not taken away. The fugitives reached Hong Kong, where Nias made a prisoner of the dastardly master of the transport. The Nimrod was then despatched to the scene of the wreck; but she arrived too late. The wretched Indian passengers, having been obliged to drift ashore on rafts and planks, had there been seized by the savage inhabitants, and killed or made prisoners. Ultimately, indeed, almost all of them were murdered, though a few, after the conclusion of peace, were sent to Amoy and handed over to the British.

The only further offensive operations of the expedition ere the close of 1841 were at Tsekee, Yuyao, and neighbouring places on the Ningpo river, where, in December, the Sesostris, Nemesis, and Phlegethon assisted the troops in the capture and destruction of several small Chinese works; but the tone of the Imperial edicts, and the general attitude of the mandarins during the winter, indicated that the campaign was still far from an end. Piracy, too, was a source of much trouble, especially in the vicinity of Amoy, where, on one occasion, a boat of the Druid, Captain Henry Smith, C.B., lost several men by the sudden blowing up of a large junk at the moment of boarding.

The active renewal of the campaign in the early spring of 1842 was the work of the Chinese. Gough was at Chusan conferring with Sir William Parker when, early in the morning of March 10th, large bodies of the enemy made a most determined attack on Ningpo. The west gate was successfully defended, but the south gate was forced, and the city was entered by the foe. The Chinese were, however, met in the streets, and driven back, while, in the river, the Modeste, Sesostris, Columbine, and Queen dispersed some troops which endeavoured to fire across the stream, and towed aside or destroyed some fire-rafts which were sent down from above. The attack was repulsed with great slaughter, though the British did not have a man killed.

On the same day, and at the same time, an attempt was made to surprise Chinhae, where Colonel Schoedde, of the 55th Regiment, commanded; but the Chinese were easily driven back, and the fire-rafts, which, there as at Ningpo, were floated down the stream, were dealt with by the boats of the Blonde and Hyacinth. Chusan was to have been attacked at about the same date, but news of the project reached Parker, who sent the Nemesis to Taishan, where the Chinese, who had gathered for the adventure, were dispersed, and several junks were burnt.

Sir Hugh Gough at once returned to Ningpo, and, learning that there was still a large Chinese army in the neighbourhood, marched out on March 13th with about 900 men of all arms, and with the Sesostris on his flank. It was found, however, that this particular army had retired beyond reach. A second army, under General Yang, was known, however, to be at Tsekee, across the river; and, Sir William Parker, with several additional ships, and bluejackets and Marines, having arrived at Ningpo on March 14th, an expeditionary force was embarked on the following morning, and landed four miles from Yang's position on the heights of Segaon, behind Tsekee {on this occasion there were employed the Phlegethon, Modeste, Nemesis, Queen, Hyacinth, Columbine, Sesostris, and boats of Cornwallis and Blonde, with about 350 seamen and Marines in the landing-party. With the troops was a naval brigade under Captain Thomas Bourchier. Parker also was with Gough. After some stubborn fighting, a complete and, happily, a not very expensive victory was won, the Navy's casualties numbering only fifteen. Of the enemy, at least 450 fell. It was the most decided advantage which had as yet been gained by the British since the occupation of Chusan, where, by the way, a fresh attempt to burn the shipping by means of fire-rafts was defeated on April 14th by some of the boats of the Cornwallis, Nemesis, Jupiter, Hyacinth, Starling, Phlegethon, and Bentinck.

It had been the desire of the Commanders-in-Chief to follow up their success by an attack on Hangchowfoo, capital of the province of Che-kiang; but deficient means of supply, and difficulties of navigation prevented such a stroke from being dealt; and it was finally resolved instead to proceed to Chapoo. Not, however, until May 6th was the expedition able to leave Chinhae; and, although the distance to be traversed did not exceed sixty miles, the fleet did not, as a whole, make its rendezvous until May 16th. In 1840 the Algerine, Lieutenant Thomas Henry Mason, had paid a flying visit to the port, had been fired upon, and had silenced the battery which had annoyed her. She had then had occasion to notice the coolness and stubbornness with which the local Tartar gunners fought their pieces. Chapoo still had a Tartar garrison, which occupied the N.W. corner of the city proper, and which, as will be seen, fully maintained its reputation for tenacity. The town was reconnoitred on the 17th; and on the 18th all the troops were landed, to the N.E. of Chapoo, in two columns, one, on the right, to pass round the rear of the enemy, who had taken up a position on the cliffs to the N.E. of the town, the other, on the left, to flank the Chinese entrenchments. A third landing-party, formed of seamen and Marines, was put ashore nearer to the town, and nearly due east of it {from Cornwallis, Starling, Modeste, Bentinck, Blonde, Sesostris, Columbine, and Algerine. A few officers and men of Nemesis, Phlegethon, and Jupiter were also landed. The steamers in the anchorage co-operated by shelling the Chinese. The advance of the two British columns, went on without serious opposition until it had cut off from the city about 350 Tartar troops who had held a position on the extreme right of the enemy's line. These troops quietly threw themselves into a joss house, and waited until both the British columns, and the naval brigade on the attacking left had unsuspectingly passed by them. They might then have escaped, had they not been accidentally discovered by a small detached party under Hall, of the Nemesis. The Tartars opened a spirited fire upon the few seamen and soldiers {chiefly of the 18th and 49th Regiments, about thirty in all}. It was pluckily returned until the arrival on the scene of a reinforcing company of the 18th Regiment; and then an assault was made. But the British were repelled by the defenders. Other reinforcements arrived, a field-piece was turned upon the building, and part of the wall was blown in by means of a 50 lb. charge of powder; yet the Tartars fought on with as much determination as ever, though a second breach was made, and their stronghold was set on fire. When, at length, after more than three hours' desperate struggle, the place was carried, only sixty of the defenders remained alive, and of them many were wounded. The occupation of Chapoo itself was effected with but small difficulty.

Hangchowfoo was still considered to be unapproachable; and the expeditionary force re-embarked on May 28th. The fleet headed northward, it having been determined to deal a series of blows against the important cities at the mouth, and along the banks, of the Yangtsekiang. It was a wise decision: for never has China been thoroughly intimidated by attacks, no matter how successful, against her coast towns only. After various delays the fleet anchored off Woosung on June 13th.

Woosung lies not only near the mouth of the main Yangtsekiang, but also near that of another large river, the Woosung, twelve miles further up which is the town of Shanghai. Shanghai, besides being an important naval station, had a great trade with Nanking, the capital; and the Cornmanders-in-Chief felt that it was most desirable to occupy it. It was, however, necessary first to force the defences at the mouth of the Woosung river. The water in front of these was sounded and buoyed on June 14th and 15th by Commanders Richard Collinson, and Henry Kellett; and, on June 16th, the works on both sides of the river were bombarded by the warships, while the transports, with the troops on board, lay four miles out in the stream. On the north or Woosung bank of the river there was simply a line of armed ramparts, terminating, after an upward course of about three miles, in the small fort of Powshan. There were no flanking defences. On the south side there was an old masonry fort, supplemented by a line of incomplete earthen batteries. Only the first discharge of the enemy's guns, delivered as the ships were anchoring, produced much effect. A Marine officer, and two men in the Blonde were killed by it; and a leadsman in the Phlegethon lost both his legs, while several vessels were hulled. After two hours' firing, towards the close of which the Chinese guns were nearly silent, detachments of seamen and Marines were landed, and all the works, except Powshan, were cleared and occupied ere any of the troops were disembarked. Powshan was soon afterwards evacuated; so that the whole of the success, such as it was, was won by the Navy alone {ships engaged: Cornwallis, Phlegethon, Modeste, Nemesis, Blonde, Sesostris, Columbine, Jupiter, Algerine, Medusa, North Star, Pluto, Clio, and Tenasserim}. Few Chinese were killed; and the greater part of the 200 or 250 guns captured were unmounted or useless. The British loss was 3 killed and 20 wounded.

"Among the curiosities," says Ouchterlony, " found at Woosung, were two junks, fitted each with four paddlewheels about five feet in diameter, worked by two cranks fitted on axles placed athwart in the fore and aft parts of the vessel. They were clumsy enough, but nevertheless useful craft for transporting troops on smooth water."

The Chinese had, in fact, adopted, independently or otherwise, a device very similar to the one which had been employed by Sir Charles Napier, twelve years earlier, to move his frigate, the Galatea, during calms.

On the evening of the engagement the Dido, 20, anchored off the town, with a convoy of transports having on board 2500 additional men from India. Part of the whole force was at once directed against Shanghai, one column marching along the left bank of the Woosung river, and another going up in light craft {North Star, Modeste, Clio, and Columbine}, and in steamers towing them. Parker and Gough accompanied the latter in the Medusa. A battery, half-way, opened on a reconnoitring vessel, but was evacuated as soon as the main body of the flotilla approached it. The only real difficulty encountered on the way up to within half a mile of Shanghai was occasioned by the grounding of the Sesostris, which lost her rudder. Just below the town, at a right-angled bend of the river, was a low-lying 18-gun battery, which, if it had been properly manned, would have occasioned serious loss to the vessels, and would have needed a landing-party to capture it by taking it in flank. It was, however, easily silenced by a few broadsides from the men-of-war, not a man in which was hurt. On June 18th, when the 18th Regiment reached the north gate of the town, only a few matchlocks were discharged at it, ere the place was hastily abandoned. On the 20th, Lieutenant Hall, in the Nemesis, pushed fully sixty miles further up the river in search of a channel to the city of Soochowfoo. Finding no signs of it, he returned at a moment when, as subsequently appeared, his smoke was visible from the walls, and when, but little ahead of him, was a fleet of fugitive junks laden with sycee silver from Shanghai treasury.

Shanghai was evacuated on June 23rd, and the troops and vessels fell back to Woosung. The expedition into the Yangtsekiang proper was then promptly organised. The European troops which took part in it were the 18th, 26th, 49th, 55th, and 98th Regiments, with some Royal Artillery and Engineers, the whole being under Sir Hugh Gough, Major-Generals Lord Saltoun, Schoedde, and Bartley, Colonel Montgomerie, R.A., and Captain Pears, R.E. Besides about forty transports, the following vessels of the Royal Navy and H.E.I. Co.'s marine participated :-
H.M.S. Cornwallis, Blonde, Calliope, North Star, Dido, Modeste, Endymion, Clio, Columbine, Algerine, Belleisle, Apollo, Sapphire, Jupiter, Rattlesnake, Plover, Starling, and Vixen, paddle.
H.E.I. Co.'s Sesostris, Auckland, Queen, Tenasserim, Nemesis, Phlegethon, Pluto, Proserpine, and Medusa - all paddle steamers.

The entire fighting force included about 9000 troops and Marines, and 3000 seamen.

After the Plover and Starling, convoyed by a steamer, had made some soundings in the river, the general upward movement was begun on July 6th. Progress was slow, owing to the strong current and the difficulties of navigation, but no serious opposition was offered {the Pluto, Nemesis, and Modeste were fired at on various occasions; but the enemy made no stand} until, on July 19th, the fleet anchored safely abreast of Chingkiang, the gate, as it were, of the far-reaching Grand Canal, and, as it has been called, "the very lungs" of China;- the portal, moreover, of Nanking, and the chief port of the Yangtsekiang. In the stream, opposite the town, lies Golden Island; across the river, at the mouth of the northward prolongation of the Grand Canal, is Kwangchow. At first it appeared that Chingkiang was not to be defended, and, indeed, that there were no Chinese troops in its neighbourhood; but on the 20th, some fire-rafts, which proved perfectly harmless, were dropped down upon the fleet; and a reconnaissance showed that two large entrenched camps occupied a low range of hills to the southward. On the 21st, nevertheless, the troops were landed, without interference, to right and left of the city, which was supposed to have been evacuated. The first brigade, under Lord Saltoun, advanced against the entrenched camps in the rear of the city, and drove their defenders out of them. In the meantime, Schoedde on the west, and Bartley on the east, attacked the city itself. Both brigades encountered steady and unexpected opposition almost as soon as they had landed. Schoedde, who was partially covered by the 68-prs. of the Auckland, carried the nearest bastion by escalade; but had to fight his way thence step by step onwards until he reached some gates, which he opened, so admitting the rest of his column. The Tartar defenders not only fought stubbornly in their positions, but also charged most gallantly. Schoedde, however, at length pushed his way across to within distance of the east gate, which, after three hours' struggle, still barred Bartley's progress. A little later, Bartley's brigade forced its way in, and joined hands with Schoedde's. With Bartley were Sir Hugh Gough, Sir William Parker, and a small naval brigade under Captain Peter Richards, and Commander Rundle Burges Watson; and, co-operating with him, in the mouth of the Grand Canal, were two boats of the Blonde, under Lieutenant Edward Crouch, and Midshipmen William Leigh Lambert, Robert Jenkins, and Henry Thomas Lyon. These boats had on board four field-pieces and howitzers belonging to the artillery; and Crouch had been directed to land them at some favourable spot. Close to the east gate, the boats were suddenly saluted with an extremely hot fire from the lofty city wall. Crouch and Lyon, besides no fewer than 26 other people, were soon wounded; and, as the guns could not be sufficiently elevated to clear the top of the wall, the crews wisely abandoned their boats and sought cover among the buildings on the further bank. At much risk to themselves, they reassembled; and they were at length relieved by some boats of the Cornwallis, under Lieutenant James Stoddart. All this had, of course, taken place before the forcing of the east gate. Stoddart, with his boats, and some of the Blonde's people, as also a small party from the Modeste, under Master John T. Forster, then assisted the brigade under Captain Richards {C.B. December 24th, 1842} and Commander Watson; and a portion of the little force independently escaladed the wall just as the east gate was blown open by the head of Bartley's column. The first man up the ladder, a Marine, was killed, and Watson {Capt. December 23rd; C.B. December 24th, 1842} was wounded. Among other naval officers who distinguished themselves during the day were Captain Granville George [should be: Granville Gower] Loch, who fell ten years later in Burmah, and who acted as volunteer aide-de-camp to Gough, and Lieutenants James Fitz-james (wounded), and George Henry Hodgson.

Even after the gates had been taken, there was still a considerable amount of fighting in the streets and among the houses. When further resistance was hopeless, many of the Tartar defenders of the city deliberately slew their wives and children, and then committed suicide. Their general, Hailing, burnt himself, with all his papers, in his house.

The material and moral effects of this blow, dealt at a spot about 150 miles from the sea, against the best of the Tartar troops, upon the most important waterways of China, and within a short distance of one of the capitals of the empire, were immense; and, within a month of the fall of Chingkiang, it became apparent that the long-continued campaign had at length produced its desired results upon the minds of the Emperor and his advisers. In the meantime, however, preparations were made for a further advance to Nanking, the passage towards which had been reconnoitred by the Plover; and, on July 29th, Saltoim's and Bartley's brigades were re-embarked, Schoedde's being left in cantonments just without the city.

Ere anything further could be done, some mandarins sought out Sir Henry Pottinger with news that Eleepoo, an imperial High Commissioner, was on his way from Soochowfoo to treat for peace. Pottinger declined to stop operations before the arrival of the Commissioner with full powers to conclude an instant settlement; and on August 1st and 2nd, the Cornwallis and some other ships quitted Chingkiang, anchoring on the 5th off the northern angle of the walls of Nanking. The rest of the fleet, and the transports, all reached the same neighbourhood by the 8th. No opposition was experienced on the way up; and over the capital flew a white flag.

Medal
THE CHINA MEDAL, 1840-42.
Ribbon: crimson, with yellow edges.

Upon receiving trustworthy assurances that Eleepoo was close at hand, Pottinger consented to stay active operations; but, on the 9th, finding that he was again being trifled with, Pottinger consulted with Parker and Gough for an immediate attack. The Cornwallis was moved into a position more advantageous for using her heavy broadside; the Blonde was towed up a creek, whence she could breach the walls preparatory to an assault; and the army was actually landed, and encamped. All this induced the Chinese to give way. On the 13th they again begged for delay; on the 18th, negotiations were so far advanced that Pottinger informed Parker and Gough that hostile movements might be suspended; and on the 20th, the Chinese plenipotentiaries were received in a friendly manner on board the Cornwallis. Pottinger returned the visit on the 24th, in company with the two Commanders-in-Chief; another interview took place on the 26th within the city; and on the 29th, the treaty of Nanking was signed in the cabin of the Cornwallis. It was arranged that China was to pay an indemnity of $21,000,000; that Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai were to be thrown open to British merchants under just and regular tariff regulations; that consuls should be appointed to reside at each of those ports; that Hong Kong should be ceded in perpetuity to Great Britain; that all British prisoners in China should be unconditionally released; that Chinese who had held intercourse with the British should be amnestied; and that Kolangsoo and Chusan should be held until the indemnity should be paid and the ports opened.

Thus, after almost exactly three years' hostilities, was peace restored. The course of the war proved that, in dealing with China, sternness and firmness must be consistently employed; that Chinese dilatoriness can be cured only by persistent pressure; and that Chinese policy can be but little coerced save by blows dealt at the very gates of the seats of government.

Among the honours granted in return for services rendered by the Navy during the war may be mentioned the following:-
Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., to be G.C.B., Dec. 2nd, 1842.
Captain Thomas Herbert, to be K.C.B., Oct. 14th, 1841.
Captain Thomas Bourchier, to be K.C.B., Dec. 24th, 1842.
Captain the Hon. Richard Saunders Dundas, to be C.B., June 29th, 1841.
Captain James Scott, to be C.B., June 29th, 1841.
Captain Charles Ramsay Drinkwater Bethune, to be C.B. June 29th, 1841.
Captain Joseph Nias, to be C.B., June 29th, 1841.
Captain Thomas Maitland, to be C.B., June 29th, 1841.
Captain Edward Belcher, to be C.B., Oct. 14th, 1841.
Captain William Warren, to be C.B., Oct. 14th, 1841.
Captain Harry Eyres, to be C.B., Oct. 14th, 1841.
Captain Charles Anstruther Barlow, to be C.B., Oct. 14th, 1841.
Captain Augustus Leopold Kuper, to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Captain the Hon. Frederick William Grey, to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Captain Peter Richards, to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Captain Sir James Everard Home, Bart., to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Captain Henry Kellett, to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Captain Rundle Burges Watson, to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Captain William Henry Anderson Morshead, to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Captain Richard Collinson, to be C.B., Jan. 21st, 1842.
Brev. Lieut.-Col. Samuel Burdon Ellis, R.M., to be C.B., Dec. 24th, 1842.


Source: Clowes, William Laird: "The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest times to the death of Queen Victoria", Sampson Low, Marston and Company, 1903, volume 6, 279 - 304.


William Loney was medical officer in charge of the Royal Navy hospital in Hong Kong from 1 October 1872 to 1 January 1875. Hong Kong had been ceded to Great Britain in 1842 as a result of the war of 1838 - 1842. The hulk in which the hospital was housed when William Loney took over, the Melville, had been Rear-Admiral the Hon. George Elliot's flagship at the start of the campaign.



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