TOLD BY A VETERAN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2306, 13 November 1914, Page 7

TOLD BY A VETERAN

BOMBARDMENT OF MACAO TAKING OF THE TAKU FORTS •.• (NO. IV.) Master-Gunner Henry Walton, of Waikanae, formerly of Her Majesty's Navy, continues the story of his experiences in tbe China Seas during tho troublous times of 1857-8. After tho big fight on the Fatshan Creek, the operations shifted to tho Canton lliver, where it was deemed advisable to make reprisals on the city of Macao. "Now, all the boats-of the, Fleet rendezvoused on H.M. brig Bittern. During the day we were ashore navvyHig. The work in hand was the construction of a pier, the material' for which was obtained by demolishing suburban houses, which at the same time cleared the way to tho city walls. Iheso walls were about 25ft. high and obout the same thickness. I and four chummies had a great desire to see the inside of the city, but as' a provostpiarshal was in charge it was a double risk. If wo were caught outside certain boundaries wo could be flogged, without trial, and if we were nabbed by the Chinamen we would be fixed without trial Still, we were young and venturesome, and resolved to take a chance. After we had gobbled our dinner we made a dart'for the city wall, and got away unnoticed. The. way into tho city was truly a Chinese puzzle. Wβ climbed, up ladders, went through shops and houses,, and over roofs, until at last we found ourselves looking down on/ to the city.- : ■- Every.thiug was going on inside as if there were no war anil no 'Jack Tars' at the city gates. No one appeared to be worrying—the fatalism of the Chinaman permits him to take things as they

come. Going back was worse than getting in, and once we were beginning to behevo we. were lostr—you- can imag-, iue our feelings I ■ But at length we negotiated the wall and the buildings, that encompassed it, and got back,, proud of having been privileged to seetho interior of the city before any of the others. , . Bombarding Maoao. ' "When everything was ready, we commenced to bombard night and dayshot, shells, rockets, oblongs, carcasses, red-hot shot I What a sight it was. at night. The Chineso houses are very inlianimablo, and they took'fire readily, but the Chinese are splendid. firemen,. Our practice was to send in shot and

shell, and smash up the buildings, aid then up with rockets, oblongs, and carcasses (the two latter are hollow shells filled with combustible material, which do not bursti but send out flames for a considerable timo after they alight). To do the same work we fired red-Tiot shot —shot made red-hot, and shoved into the guns with, a double-handled scoop. After-the bombardment some ship's.. gijns,. and, scaling-ladders, andwhilst the 'Joeys'. and French were ranking up and seeing that their belts were pipe-clayed and so on, we were off with a push, dragging our. guns, scaling tho walls, and , taking tho city. The "Jacks" did not wait for the offi- . cers,. .and - itv. was ..with ■ some little amusement; t'hat.ibno. (heard the latter ask as they came up to the_ walls: (Where are my men?' 'Have you seen my mon?' But the Jacks were over the walls and into the city quick and

lively.-. -Governor '. Yeh was. collared at once.-.V'A Tartar.general tried: to make out that ho was the Governor, •so as to nllow Teh to escape, but Consul Parks, knew him too ..well (asYehhad slapped Parks on the' face). ; 'So Yeh , was taken and sent a prisoner to Fort William in India. . - -. . ;.. , v ' ~;Lpptl.'.' I "Then .we took ..the Tfeaeury, and' I with four others was .selected to pack., up the contents. It consistod mostly of silver blocks-called shoes,-and pieces of all shapes and sizes.-. We packed 74 large tubs and four cases, one box .of bar gold, and-one large cheat of notes. 1 think the. lot was valued at about a million and a half. Captain Wi" Hair and I weighed the packets and marked them, and a battalion oF diinairien carried the treasure down to the landing and so off to,the ship. "Whilst we were in the city we saw some strange and repulsive sights. A row of women who had had their eyes gouged out came begging, and there was a small army of male beggars who, for trivial offences, Qiad had their feet and hands twisted out of their sockets. 16 was said that Governor Yeh had put 80,000 people to death after torturing them in the vilest fashion. Yeh himself was for all the world like a great fat pig. ... On- one oc'casion me had the pleasure of seeing ,the rebel chief of Taipingo. We went into where the rebel fleet lay, and as we came in, tho rebels cheered jis, and their chief came on board. He wished to help us against the' Chinese but the' Admiral refused his aid. Up the FatshaiV Again. '■ "Not long afterwards we had a-nother expedition up the Fatshan owing to some treaty not being adhered to. This time we took field guns and the mairjnes. When we got up to tho city, there lay another fleet of junks all in their'. war-paint lying in : the grand canal. Tho junks' were moored close tn the houses, the roofs,of which wero crowded with Chinese in, a great state of excitement. We ranged alongside of tho junks "and strutted about their clocks whilst awaiting orders. The Admiral and his staff, with a bugler, had gone into the city by the _ water-gate, and we wore.to do certain work, on hearing the blast of the biigle. We lay there for hours ,not knowing, what had happened. Wβ were all getting anxious and impatient, as the Chinese could have killed us all with bricks. In the

aftornoon.we were all relieved to see the water-gate slowly open, and the Admiral's .barge emerging safe and sound.,. ' Everything had been arranged to the > Admiral's satisfaction—our victory was a blood- I less one;/ About this time a horrible; thing happened on a little river steamer which was conveying some of our wounded to Hong-Kong. While en routo tho Chinese passengers took possession of tho steamer and: slaughtered nearly every. Englishman on board. Taking of tho Taku Forts. "Our next expedition was to the Yang-teo-Kiang River, then after tak T ing.Hi water above the salt-water mark wo weighed anchor again and pulled up above the bar of tho Peiho River, about a mile below the first two forts (Taku forts). I was on the dispatch boat Cormorant, and we were accompanied by tho Nimrod. In that position we lay for about six weeks reconnoitring tho river for obstacles and mines. Wo could see tho Chinese busy mounting fresh guns every day, and as for flags, why , the forts wore simply aflame with thorn. On the loft bank—on the Taku village side—tho Chinese had erected a large marquee.tent, and wo could see tho mandarins (or head men) continually passing in and out of it) and 1 determined if there was a chanco to havo a look inside that tent.

, "In going into action, I was made captain of the bow gun, and as we were going to run tho gauntlot it was tho placo of honour. Steam was got up on both sets of boilers, and the anchor was raised and dropped just enough to hold us whilst tho tackle was laid along tho deck so that we could' run the anchor up in an instant. All the guns word loaded, and all.hands were at tho ropes. Tho monieat tho signal flag broko from tho masthead of tho ilug-

ship outside the bar we were off like a shot, the boilers were blowing off like mad things, the anchor was up, the booms out, and with a boat out on each side (to enable any obstruction to be cut away). The Chinese opened fire from all forte at onco, but we went right into it. We had every - boat smashed, the funnel was riddled, all our rocoket staves were shot away, and we were hulled eleven, times.- My gun was knocked out of action, and two ports 'were smashed into one, yet our casualties wore light. I was told to go down in the magazine and send up shot and shell, and wo worked like demons down thore. When it came to 'Ceaso I'iring, , the doctor said ipe had had ..work to. do in the magazine and ordered us a tot. Then tho captain made the same remark, and ordered another tot, and thus primed I had just time to get my arms and drop into the last boat leaving for the shore with the landing party. We landed in the mud at low water, and it promptly sucked tlie shoes off my feet. Now for the marquee, I thought, but when I got near I found a sentry posted, who said that no one was'to go in until the Adniiral came. 'I have orders to shoot anyone attempting to go in I , eaid.he. 'Shoot away,' 'so can ll' 'We 11 , ,. Baid he, 'don't let me see you!' and in I went., What a sight met my eyes I Such a spread—all kinds of sweets, delicacies, tobacco, etc., etc. I filled the inside of my blue shirt and hat aiid left with eleven French sailors in chase across the Taku plains. When we returned we found that we were the only ones ashore. The 'Frenchies , hailed their vessel, and I .hailed the Cormorant, and so we parted after our little spree. . ■.•-.■' When : • the Admiral steamed past each vessel to take the list of casualties he hailed each ■commander. When he came past us it was. 'Captain Sauman, Low many kill:ed? 'None, sir.' 'How many wounded?' 'None, sir!' TVell done,' said the Admiral, 'I thought you' would have been all killed!' We had made such a sudden dash on seeing the signal to attack that every, other vessel was. taken by surprise, and an hour and twenty minutes bad elapsed before the first vessel came up tp'us, and in two hours and twenty minutes from the time we started the forts were taken. Next day the flotilla steamed up the river to Tientsin, and' we had the honour of going ashore to spike the guns in the forts, knock the trunions off, destroy the powder, and do damage generally."