To the south of Canton, one of the numerous creeks of that river runs up
to the city of Fatshan. Some considerable distance up this creek, and
nearly south of Canton, is the long, low island called Hyacinth Island,
making the channels very narrow. On the south shore of the creek is a
high hill. On the summit of this hill the Chinese had formed a strong
fort of nineteen guns. A six-gun battery was erected opposite it, and
seventy junks were moored so as to command the passage. The Chinese
fully believed that this position was impregnable. The British squadron
had rendezvoused a short distance below this formidable obstruction of
the navigation. The admiral was on board the little _Coromandel_
steamer, and before dawn on the 1st of June he led the way up the
channel, towing a whole flotilla of boats, with 300 soldiers on board
them. The other steamers followed, all towing boats with red- and
bluejackets on board. The _Coromandel_ was steaming up the left-hand
channel, when she ran on to a line of junks which had been sunk across
the passage. The admiral had wisely chosen the time of dead low water
to commence the ascent. Lieutenant Douglas leaped into a dinghy, and
sounded on all sides. A passage was found close in shore; but the
little steamer could not get off, and a heavy fire was opened on her
from the nineteen-gun battery. In vain her crew ran from side to side
to start her. Several were struck. The boats had been cast off, and
landed the troops. Now Commodore Keppel came up in the _Hong-Kong_, and
obtained leave to proceed through the channel Mr Douglas had
discovered. The _Haughty_, with boats in tow, _Bustard_ and _Forester_,
followed. _Plover_ stuck on the barrier; but _Opossum_, casting off her
boats, dashed up the right-hand channel. Now boats of all descriptions
raced up, each eager to be first, many a brave fellow being picked off
as they passed through the showers of shot hurled on them from the
Chinese batteries. The Chinese were showing themselves to be of sterner
stuff than many had supposed. The garrison of the hill battery fought
bravely.
Meantime the troops were climbing the heights, the admiral had landed,
and so had Commodore Elliot and many other naval officers, leading their
bluejackets. As the stormers got within fifty yards of the summit, the
garrison fired a volley, and then retreated down the hill; nor could the
fire of the marines, who had gained the fort, make them run. The fort
gained, the naval officers hurried down to their boats and pulled up
towards the junks, which, as the flotilla advanced, opened a heavy fire.
As the boats dashed alongside, the Chinamen invariably discharged a
round of grape, but generally too high to do damage; and the seamen
boarding under it, they leaped overboard and swam on shore. Then junk
after junk was set on fire and blown up. It being low tide, they were
nearly all on shore, and could not escape. The _Haughty_ ran stem on
into one, and crumpled her up as if she had been paper. Thus
seventy-two were either burnt or captured. Heavy firing was heard in
the distance. Commodore Keppel had meantime gone up through the
right-hand channel. His own steamer grounded, and so did the _Plover_;
and he, therefore, with seven boats of the _Calcutta, Bittern_, and
_Niger_, pulled on under the fire of the six-gun battery, and boarded a
big junk, which, when the boats were scarcely free of her, blew up. On
he went, right through the junks, till he came to an island causing two
narrow channels. One was thickly staked. Across the other were moored
twenty large junks, their guns so placed that they could sweep both
channels. In vain the commodore attempted to dash through with his
galley. Three boom-boats following took the ground. Grape, canisters,
and round shot came tearing among them. Numbers were struck. Major
Kearney, a volunteer, was torn to pieces; Barker, a midshipman of the
_Tribune_, was mortally wounded; the commodore's coxswain was killed,
and every man of his crew was struck. A shot came in right amidships,
cut one man in two, and took off the hand of another. Lieutenant Prince
Victor of Hohenlohe was leaning forward to bind up with his neckcloth
the arm of the seaman whose hand had been taken off, when a round shot
passed between his head and that of the commodore, wounding two more of
the crew. Had he been sitting in his place, it would have taken off his
head. The boat, almost knocked to pieces, was filling with water. The
commodore jumped on one of the seats, to keep his legs out of the water,
when a third round shot went through both sides of the boat, not more
than an inch below the seat on which he was standing. Many of the boats
had now got huddled together, the oars of most being shot away. A boat
of the _Calcutta_ being nearest, Commodore Keppel and his officers got
in, hauling all the wounded men after them. The commodore had a dog
with him, "Mike" by name, and the animal having been a favourite of the
coxswain, Tolhurst, and always fed by him, refused to leave his dead
body, and remained in the wreck of the boat drifting up towards the
junks. It became absolutely necessary to retire for reinforcements. As
the boats began to pull down the stream towards the _Hong-Kong_, the
Chinese in triumph redoubled their fire, setting up loud shouts and
strange cries, and beating their gongs with increased vigour. One shot
knocked away all the oars on one side of the _Calcutta's_ boat. The
commodore had just directed Lieutenant Graham to get his boat, the
pinnace, ready for his pennant, as he would lead the next attack in her,
when a shot wounded Mr Graham, killing and wounding four others and
disabling the boat. Mr Graham appeared to be a mass of blood, but it
was that of a marine who stood next to him, and part of whose skull was
forced three inches into another man's shoulder. The _Hong-Kong_,
supported by the _Starling_, was meantime throwing shot and shell among
the Chinamen, to which they responded with considerable vigour.
At length the deck of the _Hong-Kong_ was reached. Her deck was covered
with the wounded who had been brought on board; but the whole fire of
the Chinese was now concentrated on her, and she was hulled twelve times
in a few minutes. One shot struck a marine standing near the wounded,
and he fell dead among them. The sound of the firing had, however,
brought up numerous others boats. The commodore had got a piece of blue
bunting ready to represent his broad pennant. "Let us try the row-boats
once more, boys," he shouted, as he jumped into the _Raleigh's_ cutter.
A true British seaman's shout was the answer to the proposal, and a sign
that it was all up with John Chinaman. He might sink twenty boats, but
thirty others would be ready to follow. On dashed the British boats.
The Chinese did not wait their coming, but, cutting their cables, with
oars and sails attempted to escape; still, however, keeping up a hot
fire, and retiring in good order. Again three cheers rose from the
British boats, and the chase commenced, not to end for seven miles. As
the shot and shells from the English guns began to play on the junks,
they ran on shore, the terrified crews leaping out and escaping. Junk
after junk was captured, but some eight remained. Suddenly entering a
fresh reach, the pursuers close astern of the pursued, the British found
themselves almost in the middle of a large city, Fatshan itself, with
shops and other houses lining the quays, and trading-junks along the
banks. Five of the junks were headed, abandoned, and captured; three
escaped, and they would have been farther pursued, had not a large body
of troops--militia probably--turned out to repel the invaders. The
commodore instantly landed his marines, who, firing a volley, made ready
to charge. The Chinese braves, not liking their aspect, went about, and
marched double-quick time into the town, where they could not be seen.
Commodore Keppel proposed landing and fortifying himself in the city,
and demanding a ransom; but a message from the admiral recalled him, and
he had to give up his daring scheme. Most unwillingly he obeyed the
mandate; and, having secured five junks, he towed them out astern of his
flotilla, promising the Chinese that he would pay them another visit
before long. As he went down the river, a dog was seen on the shore,
and, plunging into the stream, the animal swam off to his boat. It was
his faithful "Mike," who had escaped the shower of shot and shell and
the hungry Chinese, and now recognised the boat of his master.
Of the fleet of war-junks captured, only five were saved from
destruction; and for some time during the night they were burning away,
sending their shot right and left, and occasionally one of them would
explode. The British lost, in killed and wounded in these two
engagements, no less than eighty-four men, and found to their cost that
the Chinese were no contemptible opponents.