IN THE CHINA WAR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1808, 22 July 1913, Page 6

IN THE CHINA WAR.

BULLS MAN'S STORY. A SHIPS CREW SLAUGHTERED ON THE PEIHO. AND A GALLANT RESCUE. [13t James G. Wir.sOx.] The Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny so overshadow the Chineso War that it is seldom heard of, but there was somo very interesting fighting done there, which added not a tittle to tho reputation of numbers of Englishmen, and an interesting tale of a stirring iiglit 011 the Peiho can be told by a resident of Bulls.

In 185(i, Sir Harry Smith Parker (not to be confused with Sir Henry Partes, the Australian statesman), after having negotiated the first European, treaty with. Siam, returned to Canton in June of that year. While here he was brought into contact with Commissioner Ysh, whoso insolence apd obstinacy led to the second China war. By treaty there were five ports opened to trade, viz., Canton, Amoy, JAichow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. In October Ish sensed tho British dorclia. Arrow. A doreha, it may be explained, is a vessel built by Europeans, but rigged like a Chineso junk, lie made prisoners of the crew, and Sir Harry Parkes seut a dispatch to Sir John Bowdiug, Governor of Hong-Kong, who put the matter in the hands of Admiral Sir M*. Seymour. The Admiral, after a bombardment, took Canton, but had not sufficient force to hold it. It was, however, again taken in tho following year, and Parkes was head of a commission, consisting of two Englishmen and a French na.val officer which governed the city of a million inhabitants. It will be that Lord Elgin was sent out to deal'with tho situation, and it was to help him that troops in 1858 were sent out via tho Cape. Sir George Wieg (the Governor at the Cape), however, induced them to sail for Calcutta, as a more serious trouble had arisen in the Indian Mutiny. In May, 185S, the Taku Forts were taken, at the mouth of the Peiho Eiver, on which is situated tho city of Tientsin, 71 miles up tho river. Lord Elgin, went to Tientsin, en routei for the capital, to enter into a treaty. He was met at Tientsin by Imperial Commissioners, who persuaded him to conclude a treaty on the spot, which was to be ratified at Peking the following year. When, however, Sir Frederick Bruce., who had received the appointment of Minister at Peking, attempted to go up the river, tho vessels escorting him were treacherously fired on from the forts, and he had to retire. An Adventurous Career.

It is'about this episode which the veteran man-of-warsman, Frederick Thomas Webb, of Bulls, has a' graphic tale to tell. He was born in 1834 at Brighton, in Sussex, and joined the service in 1854, entering tho training ship the Illustrious, and passed from there into the Metre, a floating battery, with a flat bottom. She was towed out to Savastopol by tho Trent, which many years afterwards came into notice in connection with the United States and the Alabama case. Leaving the 'Metre, he joined the Sanspariel, and from her wont ashoro with Captain Wilmot's naval brigade. Their station was on tho northern slope of Balaclava Valley, under tho windmill. Tho brigado consisted of the navals from the London, Bellerophon, liodney, Arathonsa, and Sanspariel, all sailers. In the valley below them took place the valiant charge of the Light Brigade, but they knew nothing of it. When Sevastopol was taken, lie was drafted into the Hapnabal, under Admiral Seymour, and reshipped in tho Sansparcil, which, meanwhile, had been converted into a screw steamer. Under Captain Cooper-lCey, this vessel, on March 17; 1857, was dispatched to China, and was the first screw steamer ever to cross the -line. They landed at HongKong, where ho joined tho Calcutta, and from her was drafted for active service to the Cormorant. They crossed tho bar of the Peiho on the evening of May 19, 1858. and steamed up in company with the Roebuck. The Cormorant was what was then railed a dispatch boat, and Webb speaks with pride of her beauty, "the finest little vessel in the fleet, 123 ft. long." Sho had two 68pounders and two 32's, and was commanded by Captain Thomas Saumarez, who was called amongst the men "Mad Jack." He seems, however, to have a method in his madness, for he married his cousin, and between them had ,£BOOO a year (so he told tho crew), and spent 70 guineas on a white ensign for his vessel. The other vessels (paddle steamers) stood in the ofiing, as their draught was too much for the depth of water. There were the Slawey, a gunboat, the Kestrel, the Firm, under Captain Tuke Nicliolls, and Admiral Seymour in command. Tho first gig's crew of the Cormorant were told to stand by at three bells (9.30 p.m.) on tho quarter-deck with cutlasses and revolvers, and with oars muffled. At four bells they started up the river, with strict orders tliat no man should speak.After ascertaining the channel and that the Cormorant could get up, they went back to the vessel. Next day, May 20, they were ordered not to fire ii shot till eight bells (8 a.m.), but there was such a' head of steam that the chief engineer, Steel, said if nothing was done her boilers would burst, for tho safety valve 3 were weighted down. At twenty minutes to 8 the oaptain gave orders to run the gauntlet, and passed the fort in full steam under fire, which was returned. Having got past tho line -of fire, the Cormorant was comparatively secure, as they were in the rear of tho guns, which therefore could not bo trained on them. Very few shots from such a position soon silenced the forts, and the plucky little vessel laid-t.o. It was very much like tho action of the little gnnboat Condor in 1882, when under Lord Charles Beresford she ran up under the forts at Alexandria, and there did such damage that tho Admiral signalled, "Well done, Condor." Their next task was to take up Lord Elgin and Baron Gron (representing the French, AVobb thinks) right up to Tientsin, where si treaty was signed as we havo seen. The-fleet Tetired to Hong-Kong. Meanwhile many changes took place, tho Cormorant was. under Captain Woodhouse; Mr. Jones, first lieutenant; Mr. Peard, second lieutenant; Mr. Lee, sailing master; Mr. Morant, middy; and Dr. Watson, whom Webb describes as a "good fellow." When Sir Frederick Bruce attempted to go up to Peking, ho was, as we have seen, fired at, and then the "guns began to plav." Tho fleet was again sent, and stood off the mouth of the river. There were the Kestrel, tlio Firm, the Slaney, the Highflyer, tho Styx, the Fury, and the Inst four paddle steamers, with the Assistance and Adventure, troop

ships. The Fiaht Beflins. On June 20, 1859, the Cormorant and tho Roebuck again crossed the bar to at- j tack tlio forts. The crew had been reinforced in tho Cormorant by two boats' crews of French and one of Russian. Tho night was spent in clearing tho ship for action. But the Chinese had been busy meanwhile. Tho river was staked, and the shores spiked. The forts opened fire, and as our narrator expressed it, "Up went the mats" to mask the guns. The Cormorant steamed on to try and take lier former position above the forts, but when she was within half a mile, she ran aground amongst the stakes in the channel, and here they were in a pretty plight, at the meroy of the Chinese in the forts. Hut tlie sailors. went at it with a will, as if they were in manoeuvres. Gruebridge, the captain of the thirty-two-pounder, had set his gun to fire the first shot, when Jim Hardy, the captain's coxswain, with the battle fever upon him, jumping around the captain of tho gun, said, "Let's have a shot! Lot's linvo a shot at the Tartars!" No sooner had lie fired, and turned round for a moment, than he was struck in tho back by a shot which literally cut him -in two. He looked up at tho doctor from where he lay, and said, "Can you do anything for this, Doctor?" A sail shako of the head was all the reply given, and his mangled body was carried aft, the life to ebb out quickly, after morphia had been administered. Dick Ell, standing by the gun, very soon had both his leg's shot off. To him the doctor said, "Never mind, Dick, my boy, we'll look after you." In the language of the fo'c'stle, he replied, "Oh, that be damned, You know I'm dying. Leave me alono beside my old Dad" (Jim Ilard.v, his "sea dnd," whose life wns slowly ebbing out), As tha old "salt" related tnis he rubbed

his cheek as he recalled the scene, and hiseyo was bedinimed for a moment, as he thought of his mates being mowed down by the firo from the forts. No wonder that, as thu sceno came back to his mind's eye, that ho should feel stirred, for the deck around the guns must have boon moro like a shambles than the trim, clean boards of a few minutes before.

The Guns Out of Action. Soon the ship's gun's were put out of action, and the gunners were lying about in heaps. The hull was riddled, and a gaping space on the port side showed where a cannon ball had ripped and torn its way through both sides of .the vessel. When the firing was going on, one of tho men at the guns kept bobbing as each gun from the fort came along, To b'how the stern determination of the men, tho captain of the gun drew his revolver, and said, "If any man does that again, I'll shoot him dead." Out of tho ninety of the crew all told, only ten remained. The guns on the starboard side were useless, for the dispatch boat was tiring fixed in the stakes, and couldn't get about to use them. They would, however, have been of little use for there were few to man them, and by the afternoon "all our ammunition wns gone." Lieutenant Peard and Carraway, tho second pow-der-boy, were firing shell rockets into the forts from the starboard side, but scon these, too, had to cease, as Lieutenant Peard was wounded and the boy killed. Nine officers and seveu men were left (probably of these, Webb is the only one now alive), nearly all the rest had been killed or mortally wounded.

What was to bo done? It was useless to remain on deck under this murderous fire. So the men ' huddled below. Nothing to eat,' nothing to do, as Webb expressed it, "only swearing." They had an awful time. For seventy hours they had no sleep, and never lay down. They thought their last moments were come, and determined amongst themselves that if the "Tartars" did try to board them they would stand opposite cacli other, and fire their last shot at their mate, rather than fall into the liands of tho enemy. Meanwhile, at intervals, they played cards and dominoes. At the turn of tlio tide tho remaining hands threw the bodies overboard ("Every soul of them" was tho expression used), so that they would "Cross the bar." How, the timo was dot through can only be imagined. In answer to a question about food, "Surely you must have had something to eat?" The reply came sharply: "No, sir. No timo to eat or think about it"—probablv only a tightening of the belt. There were on the lower deck Billy Lee, Tom Golding, Bill Moody, Billy Murphy (wounded), and Fred Webb. Wandering round Webb passed the boatswain's storeroom, and looking in saw there moro of the men. who apparently had stopped swearing by this time, on their knees praying—they were Johnny Stevens, Harry Duke, and Jack Luke. Their prayers for help were quickly to bo answered. On tho fleet, Admiral Seymour called for volunteers to resnue tho survivors who had gone through tho agonies of death many times. The call was quickly responded to "Captain Heath volunteered to take two boats through tho firo to take us off," and although they were fired at all the way, they were never touched, and ranged alongside. The men lielow heard Lieut. Peard—who was on deck—call out: "The boats, boys; the boats."

"Wo thought ho meant the Tartars," said Webb, "and called out, 'Aye, aye, sir, let 'em come.' 'No, no, boys, it's our own boats,' he called back." Hardly crediting it, they scrambled on deck to sen the welcome relief nt hand. Under tho lees of the little vessel, the cmbarkine wag safely dono; the captain's orders wero to the men, "Get into the boats." "When we were all in the boats tho skipper, standing on (look, said, 'Shove olT.' Captain Heath, standing in tho boat, said, 'No! 110! My orders were to fetch you and your crew.' But Captain Woodhouse still refusing, Captain Heath and Lieut. Peard jumped aboard and pushed him into the boat." When about a quarter of a milo down, stream those sitting in tho boat saw a huge shell coming straight for them, and ono shouted, "For Gcxl's sake, starboard, or she'll hit. n«," but she didn't, and fell twenty feet away, and only splashed those in the boat. As tho boats pulled down tho river they saw what was left of Tim Hardy's body floating near them, with the arms flapping. Tho captain had to send some men to sink it.

A Gallant Rescue. Probably there never was a more gallant fight or such a rescuo sinco. the days of Sir Cloudesly Shovol, or the loss *of the Bovengo. The Chinese must have felt elated (even it was by treachery) sit seeing tho littlo Cormorant, lying at their morcy. for had sho not silencod their guns tho year before, and now the last man had left her, soon to be "overrun by "Tartars" to view tho scene their firo had created. The remnants of tho crew went on to ono of tho troop ships, and so on ,to Shanghai, and next year had the satisfaction of taking part in tlie land attack on tho forts. Sir Hope Grant 'had been sent, out to China in charge of the operations with Sir Hugh I?osc and Captain Wolseley (as he was then) under ihdm. Tho troops landed at Blind Bay in tho rear of tho forts, and soon wero marching up to Peking with a company of Probyn's horse on one side anil another of English cavalry' on tho other, along with two batteries of artillery. This closed tine episode.

AVebb camo to Bulls with his wifo and family many years ago,'and .has taken an active part of the life of the township. Wh(>n tho present King and Queen camo out Webb, along with other veterans, went to Wellington, and was drawn up outside Government House, when the veterans wero inspected by Royalty. Any naval man at once interested King George, and stopping in front of Webb he asked about his medals, and then where do you live now. "Bulls, sir." "Bools, what a funny name!" and tho laugh went round tlicir Highnesses and attendants. After all it is not very different from "Cowes" if it was not spelt with an "e." / AVebb also visited the Netv Zealand When at AA 7 ellington, but found things greatly changed. "AVhy, they had linoleum 011 the lower deck." AA'lven lie was shown the 'boot room, with several hundred pairs of boots, anil was told thoso were for the men when they went ashore, "Ashore," he said, "why, we went barefoot, and never. thought we had a good time linless we came aboard drunk." Still hearty and well, the old Jack Tar works every day. and lias charge of tho Public and the Freemasons' Halls. AA'ith a wonderful memory lie reels dates and events off as if they happened yesterday. The writer thought it might interest The Dominion's readers to hear the yarn of an. old salt.