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Auction: 21042 - The Opium Wars Collection
Lot: 69

First Opium War
The Eastern Expedition
The Battle of the Bogue
1841 (19 Mar.) a very long (8 pages) entire letter to John Thompson in Liverpool from his brother in Macao "p Parrock Hall", rated "1/4" and with a very fine strike of boxed "india letter/portsmouth", the reverse with London and Liverpool c.d.s. (30.8); free from the usual filing folds.


The writer gives an important insight and an eye-witness account following his visit to Whampoa. "... Everything of course depends on the steps taken by our Plenipotentiary at Canton, and whether they will be of such a nature as at once to admit of the Americans residing in Canton and of a smuggling trade being conducted either through Macao or to the outside anchorages ... But who would be foolish enough to build in Hong Kong on the faith that it will be kept after Elliot has shown himself such a vacillating and uncertain being? ... His ships that the 'Blonde' in company with the 'Blenheim', 'Conway' and 'Queen' Steamer are said to be under orders for Amoy and only wait to hear the nature of the Emperor's reply about the destruction of the Bogue forts before the start ... The first ten days of this month I spent in making an excursion to Whampoa ... We had a splendid view of the Bogue forts and saw one of the largest of them blown up, I cannot tell whether it afforded me to move delighted to walk over the mass of ruins which is all that remains of the Anunghoy fort of to see our brave countrymen keeping guard in Wantung which is now an English garrison ... When I got up to Whampoa, I found the whole fleet of men of war and transports full of US coats and all were on the qui vive for Canton on the following morning but their evil genius the Plenipotentiary interposed; during the night a Chop had been received, and many a curse was directed to the dirty white flag that appeared at the force of H.M.S. 'Calliope' at early dawn on the morrow. The Quong Chow Foo, or Mayor of Canton has promised to come on board in the afternoon... ... but after the 40 hours of grace had elapsed, the force moved upwards and I had the pleasure and satisfaction of being present at the capture of the Chinese fort. I allude to Napier's Fort, so called from it having been built while his Lordship was here. I certainly never expected that the Chinese would show much fight but I was hardly prepared for the comical scene which followed. Napier's fort is about 4 miles below Canton. It is built on the extreme point of a small island and is immediately opposed at a distance of about a mile, to Howqua's folly another fort also situated at the extreme point of an island. The last named fort had been taken possession of some days previously and my obliging friend the Governor and Major Pratt ... placed his accommodation at our disposal during the expected fight. At 11 am our ships began to get under weigh led by the 'Sulphur' ... which as soon as she got into position was hassled down as the flag descended. I eagerly matched the enemy in the fort and certainly I had not long to nail before they commenced gun after gun did they fire, but ... Captain Smith of the 'Druid' who stood by me soon explained the mystery for said the Commandant of the fort sent notice to Captain Belcher of the 'Sulphur' that meant merely to fire off all his guns to save appearances, and to make a good report in Canton, and he therefore implored Capt. Belcher not to think of killing any of his people. He kept his word and as soon as he had fired off every gun he and the garrison retreated with a most indecorous haste, and our men took quiet possession of the Fort. Our party soon followed but being most ungraciously received by Commodore Bremer and finding there was no move down that day, we returned to Whampoa and next morning started for Macao.". An unusually illuminating and fascinating report by a non-military bystander.

provenance:
Eddie Lawrence, September 2014


1841年3月19日從澳門經由私人輪船 "Parrockhall" 攜往利物浦John Thompson 信函, 遞送費為1s4d, 蓋有清晰的長框型 "India letter/ Portsmouth", 封背有倫敦及利物浦8月30日到達日戳. 此信函內容以目擊者的位置, 具體敘述了虎門之戰及黄埔之戰的當時情况. 虎門戰役, 發生於清道光二十一年(1841) 二日, 是第一次鴉片戰爭期間, 英國遠征軍進攻廣州門戶虎門時, 與清廷守軍發生的一場重要戰役, 這塲戰役最終以虎門要塞陷落, 英軍獲勝告終, 廣東水師提督關天培亦在這場戰役中陣亡. 而黃埔之戰則因虎門之役清軍大敗, 致使廣州失去一道重要的防禦屏障, 英軍艦沿珠江口直抵廣州城下, 在同年3月2日清軍被廹發生陷入被動局面的黃埔之戰. 下面是該信函的部份敘述: "我們看到了博格堡壘的壯麗景色, 看到其中最大的一個被炸毀，我不知道應否讓我高興地走在這一片廢墟上, 這整個廢墟是 Anunghoy 堡壘的遺跡, 可以看到我們的英勇的同胞們守衛在現時是英國駐軍的萬通.....我們一行人很快就跟了過來, 但遭到了布雷默 (Bremer)準將的無禮接待, 發現當天沒有動靜, 我們返回黃埔, 第二天一早啟程前往澳門.”一位非軍事旁觀者異常真實和引人入勝的報告."

Estimate
HK$30,000 to HK$40,000

Starting price
HK$20000