Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843

After some time, those who could draw were allowed to sketch ships, carriages, and other things, which exceedingly amused the Chinese, who were glad to purchase them; so that by these means they were able to procure food and tobacco, and thus to diminish in some degree their chances of being carried off by starvation or sickness.

After the lapse of a week or two, fever broke out, and they were then separated into smaller parties, and put into different cells or prisons, some faring better, some worse, according to the temper or caprice, or even roguery, of the particular jailer who chanced to have charge of them. One of these wretches seems to have been a perfect fiend of his class; he kept one party of ten miserable human beings in a den so small that not one of them could lie down at night. It will scarcely be believed that they were made to exist for two whole months in this horrid black hole, only eleven feet six inches long, by seven feet six inches wide; grudging each other every little inch of room, and longing even for the little bit of space which the single insensible bucket, which was the only piece of furniture, occupied in their den. Here were ten human beings stowed away together, some sick, some sore, and all in pain and misery. For some time they were not permitted to come out of the den at all, but at last they were let out once a day, and were allowed a very little water to wash themselves; only two or three, however, could wash themselves on the same day, so that the whole of them could only be able to wash themselves once in three days. Of course, they were dreadfully infected with vermin of every kind, and, as the author of the journal expresses it, "A few weeks have sufficed to bring me down from a strong hale man, to a wretched helpless being, disgusted with myself."

Many attempts were made to get a note sent across to Amoy, to give information of their situation; and the promise of one hundred dollars on its safe delivery, and one hundred more on bringing an answer back, (to be paid at Amoy,) sufficed to induce a tolerable trusty Chinaman to undertake the task. We shall see presently how far it succeeded. It has before been stated that the several parties fared differently, according to the humanity or rapacity of the particular jailer. Something also depended upon the particular mandarin under whose supervision they were placed, but it is noticed that the highest, or red-button mandarin, was the best of all, and frequently ordered some of the hardships they complained of to be remedied, particularly as regarded the quality of the food.

On the other hand, it is stated, that one of the jailers, who was humane enough to allow his party of prisoners to be shaved, was taken before a mandarin and punished with fifty strokes of the bamboo; after which, no visitors were allowed to see them at all, and the jailer became very sulky, except when he was drunk, which he generally was, by the use of opium, every evening. Sometimes they were taken out of prison in order to draw for the mandarins, at others, to undergo repeated examinations for their amusement. In the first instance, however, the object invariably was, to betray them into an admission, however remote, that the vessel was really a man-of-war. But it was quite evident that they knew perfectly well that she was not so, and at length the red-button mandarin put an end to this part of the business. From this time, their questions were more of a general nature, but many of them were exceedingly absurd. The mention of Sir Henry Pottinger's name (for they appeared already to have heard of him) invariably made them angry, and on one occasion they inquired whether he was a white or a black man. They also inquired a good deal about the Queen, her court, and ministers, mode of life, &c., and how many husbands she was allowed to have; expressing great astonishment when they learned that in Europe kings and queens, as well as private individuals, had only one wife or husband; and then they proceeded to enumerate the virtues of their own emperor, and to plume themselves upon their own cleverness.

On one occasion, they asked whether America had not, some time or other, been situated in England? whether a man could now walk from London to America in a week? how large London was, and how many outside (foreign) nations are subject or tributary to England? Endless were their curious questions, and on one occasion they exhibited an officer's jacket, and a corporal's coat with the 55th button on it, and particularly inquired the use of an epaulette, which they held up, fancying it was intended to be worn on the head.

During the first half of the month of May, it rained incessantly, and they were very imperfectly protected from its effects. In fact, the rain always beat through their roof, and when it was heavy, or long continued, it flooded their den: the least bit of dry plank, or a partially sheltered corner, was matter of envy and contention; and, as may be supposed, they not only suffered from bad food, confinement, vermin, and ill-health, but were incessantly tormented with the most venomous mosquitoes, producing inflammation and sores. In this condition they were kept in the most harassing state of suspense; one day being assured that they would be sent away in a month; another, that they had no chance of liberty for six months; and the very next, perhaps, that their heads would soon be taken off.

Fortunately, the talent for drawing possessed by Mr. Gully and Captain Denham, served to gain for them friends and pacify enemies.

In this way, month after month continued to drag its slow length along. At the end of about three months' close confinement, a slight change for the better took place; they were moved into rather better quarters, where they were only three together, so that they had more room to breathe; they were also allowed water to wash themselves, and a little money was given to them. It was thought that this arose in consequence of information received by the authorities that there was some chance of an attack being made upon this island, by our forces at Amoy, with a view to liberate the prisoners. It was now ascertained, also, that the fisherman who had promised to carry over the letter to Amoy, two months before, had succeeded in his attempt, and an answer had been brought back by him, which held out the prospect of speedy release. Another letter was also sent off to Amoy; so that now at length their hopes again revived. But sickness had already begun its work, and their minds were so depressed that even the boldest, who tried to bear up bravely to the last, recorded his feelings that "One miserable day passed after another, with nothing to help them to break in upon the wretchedness of their existence; no exercise being permitted, and nothing, in fact, to relieve the dreadful monotony of such prison life." And what was the little improvement in their lot, which resulted from their removal into other cells? "We now, (three of us,") said he, "have five planks with a mat upon them to sleep on, and glad we are to get into this new place, which is the Executioners Den, and which, until we had ourselves cleaned it, could never have been cleaned since it was built." On other occasions it is noted, "we scalded our clothes this morning, to kill the vermin."

It was thought that the day they were removed into this new berth must have been the Emperor's birthday, or some day of rejoicing, for they had at the same time a dinner of roast pork, with sweet cakes, and each man received one mace, or fivepence in money. But this was too good to last – a mere freak of fortune! Generally speaking, their food was so bad, that a great part of it was thrown away, and it was only by quarrelling with the jailers, and threatening to complain to the high mandarin, that they could succeed in procuring any eatable food at all.

In the month of June, several shocks of an earthquake were felt, followed by terrific storms of thunder and lightning. It is due to the better class of mandarins to remark, that when complaints were made to them, they procured some temporary improvement for the prisoners.

On the 4th of July, it was made known that honours and rewards had been largely conferred upon the mandarins, for having contrived to make so many prisoners. This was in answer to their false accounts of the business to the Emperor, in which they said that they had attacked and destroyed two English men-of-war which came prying into the coast, and had taken all the people prisoners, enumerating the number of black, and red, and white barbarians, and the quantity of barbarian guns.

On the 10th of July, Mr. Gully, who had necessarily been ailing for some time, became seriously ill with dysentery, brought on in a great measure by eating large quantities of mangoes. The Chinese recommended him two cures for it; one was, to eat the skins of the mangoes alone; the other, to eat opium. The former he found to have a good effect, at least so far that his complaint improved under the treatment; the latter he was able to purchase at a moderate price from the visitors, who brought it on purpose for him; it was different from the extract which is used for smoking, and apparently much less powerful.

The same mandarin who had given them a treat upon the Emperor's birthday all along shewed more interest in their condition than any of the others; and one day, in the hope of inducing him to give them some kind of indulgence, they told him that it was the birthday of the Queen of England's eldest child, and that they all entertained so strong a feeling of "filial obedience" and affection towards their queen, that they wished to celebrate the event. To their great surprise and delight, the mandarin's heart was moved by this appeal, and he gave each of them money; to some five mace, to others three, (equal to about two shillings,) and then sent them a good dinner, and made himself quite agreeable; and, of course, all the inferior officers, including the jailers, took their tone for the day from their superior. On another occasion, the lascars were all brought up before the chief mandarin, having had new clothes first given to them, and he himself then presented each of them with a fan!

All these circumstances naturally tended to revive their hopes, and little did they dream of the horrible catastrophe which was soon to take place. Towards the end of July they were informed, that in the course of half a moon more an answer would be received from Pekin, containing the Emperor's commands as to what was to be done with the prisoners; and they were warned that, if his majesty ordered that they should be decapitated, it would immediately be carried into effect. From this it would seem that the authorities fully anticipated that the representations which they had made would induce the Emperor to issue such a cruel command; but the prisoners themselves still retained sufficient hope to induce them to disbelieve the probability of such a tragedy. With the exception of Captain Denham (whose life was saved) and the Chinese carpenter, it does not appear that any of them were tortured; but the dreadful cries of some of the Chinese prisoners could be distinctly heard; and two poor fellows were seen passing by with their hands blackened, having been condemned to have them chopped off.

One remark is worth recording – namely, that the mandarins, from the highest to the lowest, as well as all their servants and attendants, were in the constant habit of smoking opium. Tobacco was also in general use, as elsewhere in China, and was extensively cultivated on the island. There was also noticed (what should have been mentioned before) a curious vine-like plant, grown upon trellis-work, and frequently observed to be carefully covered up with mats; what it was no one knew, but more care and attention seemed to be bestowed upon it than upon anything else which was seen upon the island.

The final tragedy is believed to have taken place upon the 12th or 13th of August, and is too horrible to dwell upon. They were beheaded with the sword.

It is difficult to account for their having reserved nine individuals from the general massacre. Of these, six were Europeans or Americans, and three natives of India. It is supposed that they were retained in order to be sent to Pekin, to be there cut in pieces. Fortunately, the treaty of peace saved their lives, and they were at length conveyed to Amoy, and there met with all the attention they so much needed from their own countrymen.

CHAPTER XXVIII

On leaving the bay of Amoy, on the 5th of September, the appointed places for the rendezvous of the fleet of men-of-war and transports, in case of separation, were successively the so-called Buffalo's Nose, at the entrance of the Chusan group; Keeto Point, a promontory running out from the mainland towards Chusan; and, lastly, the bay or harbour of Tinghai, the capital of Chusan. The progress of the squadron was slow for some days, owing to light winds and a heavy swell; and the Nemesis, being very light in the water, and having, moreover, a leak in her bottom, (after the accident at Amoy,) was kept pretty close in shore, to avoid the swell outside, but seldom entirely lost sight of the fleet. A considerable quantity of floating wood was picked up alongshore, which was very acceptable for fuel, of which she had only a very small supply remaining on board.

On the 13th, eight days after leaving Amoy, the north-east monsoon set in rather suddenly, and somewhat earlier than usual, with heavy squalls and a thick fog, which caused the unavoidable separation of the squadron. At the commencement of this change of weather, the Nemesis lost her fore-top-mast and top-gallant-mast, but continued her course leisurely alongshore until the following day, when she came to anchor under a small island at the mouth of the river Taitchou, about thirty-five miles from Sheipoo, and between fifty and sixty from the Buffalo's Nose.

On the 16th, Capt. Hall landed upon the island above mentioned, under which he had taken shelter, with a party of men, to look for wood, which was much needed for fuel, and also for refreshments for the crew, and then took the opportunity of ascending a high hill, to take a survey of the neighbouring country. The haze cleared off sufficiently to enable him to discover the entrance to an extensive harbour, which proved to be that of Sheipoo, where there is a considerable trading town. He thought that he could also make out something like the appearance of batteries or field-works at the entrance.

The Nemesis now stood in for the entrance of the harbour, which was very narrow, but fortunately, she soon fell in with a fishing-boat, in which were several fishermen busy about their nets, one of whom was made to come on board and pilot the vessel into the harbour; and he was promised ten dollars for his services if he took her in without any accident; but, if she touched ground, he was threatened to be immediately run up to the yard-arm. The poor fellow had never even seen a steamer or devil-ship before, and was not a little alarmed. But he perfectly understood the conditions, and gradually recovered his self-possession.

The tide swept so rapidly into the narrow entrance of the harbour, that the Nemesis was fairly carried through the passage before the two small field-works, which were intended to protect it, could bring a single gun to bear upon the vessel; but the Chinese were seen running down from their little encampment above, to man the guns.

At the bottom of the harbour or basin, the town now came into full view, with a large number of trading-junks of every kind, moored in lines close to each other on one side of the town; while on the other, or the left, as you looked towards it, there was a small fort, which appeared to have been recently repaired and strengthened, but, like most other Chinese forts, was left almost unprotected in the rear.

Upon a rising ground behind the fort, a small body of troops, about five or six hundred in number, were drawn up, so that the Chinese were evidently prepared for defence. The Nemesis immediately ran in towards the fort, and took up a flanking position, anchoring by the stern between it and the town, so as to bring her guns to bear with the greatest advantage, without exposing herself to the direct fire of the fort. Shot, shell, and canister, were now poured in, and the fort was soon silenced. But the troops could now be seen descending from the hill behind, and bringing heavy ginjals with them, mounted on triangular stands, as if they intended to oppose a landing. However, a few discharges of grape-shot threw them into great disorder, killing many of them; Capt. Hall then landed, at the head of all the men who could be spared from the ship, accompanied by Mr. Gully, and took possession of the fort, the Chinese flying before them; four guns, two brass and two iron ones, were destroyed in the fort, the temporary sheds and buildings were set on fire, and water was poured into the magazine to destroy the powder.

The whole party having now returned on board, boats were sent out, manned and armed, to search for fuel, and also to attempt to capture three large war-junks, which had been seen on the way up the harbour. All the trading-junks were left unmolested; but wood for fuel was so much needed on board, that several of the wood-junks were soon picked out, well filled with the necessary article. The opportunity was extremely fortunate, and in a short time, no less than seven boat-loads of excellent wood were obtained, amounting in all to about seventy tons. Much labour was required to bring off so large a quantity, and to stow it away expeditiously; nevertheless, during this operation, one of the war-junks was captured, (the crew having deserted her,) and, as soon as she was towed clear of the town and shipping, so as not to cause any unnecessary damage, she was set on fire in the middle of the harbour, and shortly blew up. Two guns, together with a quantity of ginjals, matchlocks, swords, &c., were destroyed in her.

But the day's work was not finished yet. About two o'clock the cutters were sent away, manned and armed, under Mr. Galbraith, to destroy the other two war-junks which had been seen in the morning. One of them blew up close in shore, but the other was towed out into the middle of the harbour, before she was set on fire. One was found to mount fourteen guns, and contained a large quantity of powder, with numerous warlike implements of various kinds.

The whole of this day's work was exceedingly interesting. The hills which surrounded the harbour were covered with people, who crowded out of the town, and from all the neighbouring villages, to witness the exploits of the "devil-ship," the rapidity of whose movements, the precision of her fire, and the volumes of smoke and steam which issued from her, seemed to awaken feelings of awe and mute astonishment, even more than fear. There they stood for hours, apparently unconcerned spectators of passing events; and as they saw the destruction of the war-junks, while the merchant-junks remained uninjured, they appeared satisfied that no mischief was threatened against the unarmed inhabitants so long as they did not interfere. The neighbourhood of the town along the shore was laid out in very neatly cultivated gardens, and everything bore indications of a thriving and well-ordered community.

The day was now far advanced, and it only remained to capture the two forts or field-works upon the island, just within the mouth of the harbour. A shot or two had previously been fired at them in the course of the morning, but it was now determined to take possession of them, and destroy the works. On nearing them, a few shells and rockets were discharged into them, and the boats then put off, manned and armed, under Capt. Hall. The Chinese had only just abandoned them. The two field-works were very near each other, and were found to mount nine guns, which were spiked, their carriages destroyed, and the tents of the soldiers were set on fire.

The poor Chinese fisherman who had acted as pilot was of course liberated as soon as the harbour was cleared, and he appeared no less astonished than overjoyed when the promised ten dollars were counted out into his hands.

On the following day, the 18th, the Nemesis reached the appointed rendezvous at Buffalo's Nose, and found the Sesostris was the only vessel which had preceded her, the rest of the fleet having been kept back by contrary winds and hazy weather. When we remember what a large number of hired transports and store-ships passed up and down along the coast of China from this time to the close of the war, many of which had frequently a great part of their crew sick, we cannot but be surprised59 that so few accidents happened. The inaccuracy of the surveys of the coast which had been then made; the wrong position on the charts of most of the numerous islands which stand out as bulwarks at very uncertain distances from the shore; the strength and unknown irregularities of the currents, and the heavy squalls which frequently burst suddenly over that part of China, rendered the navigation precarious, and frequently caused the utmost anxiety. Occasionally the captains found themselves inside of islands when they believed that they were some distance outside; and I well remember, on one occasion, making the voyage up to Chusan in a fast-sailing brig-of-war, which just weathered a long rocky island, called the Alligator, and at noon discovered it to have been laid down upon the chart full twenty miles wrong in its latitude – an error which can scarcely be accounted for.

The strength of the currents among the Chusan islands, and the continued boisterous weather, made it difficult to collect all the transports at the appointed rendezvous. The admiral did not get up until the 21st; and the general being on board a large transport which had been carried far down to leeward, did not join until the evening of the 25th.

In the meantime, the Nemesis had gone to join the Phlegethon at Keeto Point, where the sad tale was learned of one of the officers of the Lyra, (an opium vessel,) Mr. Wainwright, and one of the crew having been enticed on shore, under the pretence of selling them stock, and of their having been then overpowered and cruelly murdered. This event occurred very near the village where Captain Stead had been murdered some months before. Lieutenant M'Cleverty soon afterwards landed with his crew, accompanied by Lieutenant Crawford and the commanders of the Lyra and Ann, and soon put to flight a party of Chinese soldiers, burnt their barracks, and then destroyed a great part of the village.

As soon as the Nemesis arrived, no time was lost in landing to examine the adjacent country, which was very picturesque and beautifully cultivated. But the recollection of the cruel fate of the poor fellows who had been so recently captured, and, as was believed, barbarously put to death there, with the sight of the very spots where the sad occurrences took place, awakened feelings of bitterness, and a wish for retaliation which it was impossible to suppress. In a very short time, everything that remained undestroyed was set on fire, including various buildings, stacks of rice and grass, &c.; and as darkness set in, the whole valley appeared lighted up with the blaze of the spreading fires.

At length all the transports were assembled, according to a preconcerted arrangement, just off the little island called "Just in the Way;" as it was the original plan laid down by the general and the admiral to occupy Ningpo, after having first captured the heights of Chinhae, which command the entrance of the Tahea river, which leads up to Ningpo. Chusan was to have been retaken afterwards. The boisterous state of the weather, however, prevented the ships from approaching near enough to Chinhae to carry out this part of the plan; and it was therefore determined to make an immediate reconnoissance of the harbour and defences of Chusan, or rather of its capital town, Tinghai; this was accordingly carried into execution on the following day, the 26th of September.

The admiral and general, together with the plenipotentiary and suite, embarked early in the morning on board the Phlegethon, the Nemesis being ordered to accompany them. As they approached Chusan, the alarm was given by the Chinese from numerous watch-towers, or rather signal stations erected upon the hills, or upon the tops of the several islands which lie in the immediate neighbourhood. Great changes had evidently taken place since our forces left Chusan, a few months before; and preparations of an extensive kind had been rapidly made for the defence of the place. As the steamers entered the principal harbour by its western side, between the so-called Tea Island and Guard Island, the Chinese opened a few guns at them, but at too great a distance to do any damage; and as there was no wish to attack them in a desultory manner, the steamers were ordered to keep at a good distance, but to direct their movements so as to get a complete view of all the Chinese positions.