Battle of Fatshan Creek

Battle of Fatshan Creek
Part of the Second Opium War

Advance of British boats during the naval battle at Fatshan Creek, by Oswald Walters Brierly
Date1 June 1857
Location
Foshan, Guangdong, China
23°01′44″N 113°07′08″E / 23.029°N 113.119°E / 23.029; 113.119
Result British victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom Qing China
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Sir Michael Seymour Unknown
Strength
1,900+ marines & sailors
1 screw sloop
1 paddle steamer
7 gunboats		 1 fort
25 guns
100 war-junks
Casualties and losses
13 killed (3 officers)
44 wounded (4 officers)
1 launch destroyed
1 gunboat damaged		 1 fort captured
25 guns captured
2 war-junks destroyed
70–80 war-junks captured

The Battle of Fatshan Creek (佛山水道之戰) was a naval engagement fought between the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and the Cantonese fleet of Qing China on 1 June 1857. Rear-Admiral Sir Michael Seymour sought out and destroyed the Chinese fleet before advancing to the city of Canton (modern-day Foshan) for its capture.[1]

Background

The Qing fleet at Fatshan Creek included many of the war junks which had attacked the British position at Macao Fort in January 1857 and subsequently attempted to obstruct the Macao passage.[2][3] The anchorage was protected by the narrow channels around Hyacinth Island, with a 19 gun fort stood on high ground beside the creek and a six gun battery on the opposite bank, while approximately 70 war junks were moored so that their guns commanded the approaches.[2] Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour assembled his force below these defences on 31 May. His plan assigned the paddle tender Coromandel, the gunboat Haughty, seamen commanded by Commodore Charles Elliot and a detachment of Royal Marines to capture the fort. Commodore Henry Keppel was to lead the remaining boat divisions against the Chinese fleet once the assault on the fort had begun.[2]

Battle

Before dawn on 1 June, Seymour in charge of the Coromandel, followed by Haughty proceeded inshore.[2] At a distance of approximately 1,000 yards (910 m), Coromandel grounded on a barrier formed from stone filled sunken junks and came under fire from the Chinese fortifications and fleet. The assaulting seamen and Marines transferred to their boats and continued under round shot and grapeshot.[2] They rapidly occupied the fort without suffering casualties during the landing and turned several of its guns against the war junks.[2] Most of the British gunboats also grounded in the shallow water, although Haughty and Plover remained afloat and the smaller boats continued through the eastern channel.[2] The first line of Chinese vessels maintained its fire until the British boats came alongside, but its crews then began abandoning their junks across the surrounding paddy fields. The British reported taking possession of approximately 50 junks within 20 minutes.[2][4]

Keppel and his ship then proceeded approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) farther up the creek, where he encountered a second division of about 20 junks moored across the channel in a stronger defensive position. The Chinese fire sank the launch from Calcutta, damaged Keppel's ship and several other boats, forcing the British to withdraw temporarily and reform.[5] Keppel later recalled that the paddle steamer Hong Kong, around which the surviving boats regrouped, was struck in its hull 12 times within a few minutes.[6] After reinforcements arrived, Keppel renewed the attack. The Chinese vessels withdrew in good order while continuing to fire, beginning a pursuit of approximately 7 miles (11 km) towards Fatshan. Seventeen junks were overtaken, captured and burnt. Three others escaped through the waterway passing through Fatshan because Seymour had ordered that the city itself was not to be attacked.[2][6]

British order of battle

Ship Commander Ref.
Coromandel Rear-Admiral Sir Michael Seymour
Lieutenant Sholto Douglas		 [2]
Hong Kong Commodore Henry Keppel
Lieutenant James Graham Goodenough
Haughty Commodore Charles Elliot
Lieutenant Richard Vesey Hamilton
Plover Lieutenant Keith Stewart
Opossum Lieutenant Colin Andrew Campbell
Bustard Lieutenant Tathwell Collinson
Forester Lieutenant Arthur Innes
Starling Lieutenant Arthur Villiers
Staunch Lieutenant Leveson Wildman
Boats from Calcutta, Nankin, Raleigh, Tribune, Highflyer, Inflexible, Niger, Sybille, Hornet, Fury, Elk, Acorn, and Cruizer

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Second Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1856 - 1860". William Loney. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Clowes, William Laird (1903). The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Death of Queen Victoria. Vol. 7. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Company. pp. 104–108. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  3. ↑ Bonner-Smith, David; Lumby, E. W. R., eds. (1954). The Second China War, 1856–1860. Publications of the Navy Records Society. Vol. 95. London: Navy Records Society. pp. 201–208. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  4. ↑ Cooke, George Wingrove (1859). China: "The Times" Special Correspondence from China in the Years 1857–58 (4th ed.). London: George Routledge and Company. pp. 19–43. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  5. ↑ Kennedy, Sir William Robert (1900). Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor!: Fifty Years in the Royal Navy. Blackwood. p. 90. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  6. 1 2 Keppel, Henry (1899). A Sailor's Life Under Four Sovereigns. Vol. 3. London: Macmillan and Company. pp. 1–7. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Battle of Fatshan Creek at Wikimedia Commons

Sources

  • Clowes, William Laird (1966) [1903]. The Royal Navy, a History from the Earliest Times to the Death of Queen Victoria. Vol. 7. New York: AMS Press.
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