After the events recorded in the twelfth chapter, it became certain that the Navy’s share of work on shore had been completed. However, the Brigade with its guns remained in Pekin for about a week before the order was received to return to shipboard. This was recognised to be inevitable now that the Army had come, and, on the whole, the men were ready to welcome the change back to their proper role. The Pekin Brigade embarked on junks at Tung-Chow, and after a very uneventful journey, arrived at Tientsin on the 3rd of September. Here they picked up the remainder of the Force with the exception of Captain Bayley, R.N. (provost-marshal), and his personal staff, and returned to their ships on the following day, in tugs and lighters. Thus, on the 5th September, the only representatives of the senior service ashore were the Blue Marines, a hundred in number, who were left to garrison the North-west fort, until the time came for its demolition, and the three officers and two men at Tientsin. A most satisfactory thing was it to grip one’s messmates by the hand again, and receive their congratulations on one’s safe return, a feeling marred only by thoughts of the missing, about whom many questions had to be asked and answered. Outside the bar, quite close to the fleet, lay the “Salamis,” on board of which were upwards of 300 men of the New South Wales and Victoria Naval forces. It was hoped that these fine fellows would be in time for the occupation of Pasting-fu, which operation was about to be undertaken by a combined British and French force. Most of them did take part in this movement, but unfortunately, either the policy of “Let’s get there first, never mind existing arrangements,” or an utter lack of appreciation of combined movement, was responsible for the fact that, when the British force arrived in front of the town, it was but to see tricolors floating at every point. The place had fallen, with a very slight resistance, and was occupied, because it was the headquarters of the Boxer movement, and the scene of many early atrocities.
To the eastward of Taku, distant about seven miles, lay some other powerful forts called Peh-tang. The arrangement which had allowed them to exist during the past three months had been an eminently common-sense one, when it is considered how the Allies were pressed for time and men. It was simply this, “You don’t hit me, and you won’t get hurt,” an arrangement fulfilled to the letter by both sides. It was, therefore, with feelings of surprise that I, having finished some duty which took me to Tientsin, and having a day or two to look round, heard that the French, Russians, Germans, and Austrians had decided to break the agreement, and attack the forts. I went down to Tong-Ku with the French officers, and hoped to be allowed to go with them, but on arrival I found that our two 4-in. Q.F. guns were being brought up to entrain, and that the Marines from the fort were to be their escort. This was much better, and I immediately attached myself to the officer in command of the latter, and we waited impatiently at the station for the guns. To every one’s great disgust, the only available trucks were not large enough to take the improvised field mountings, and the Russian officer in command of the station would not allow them to be broken. This, of course, did away with the necessity of an escort, and much to their disgust, the “Joeys” were marched back to the Fort at two in the morning. However, by dint of hard walking, a Marine officer and myself managed to see enough of the action to justify a very short account of it.
The Allies attacked from the direction of Taku, and numbered in all about 2600, with a battery of howitzers (Russian) and some French and German artillery. The engagement commenced at about one o’clock in the morning, with occasional shots from the forts; but it was not until daylight that the heavy Howitzer battery replied, and the fight became general. After a somewhat protracted bombardment, a general advance took place, and the Force was almost unopposed from this time. Indeed, so slight were the losses of the Allies, that it at one time seemed as if the whole affair was a “put up job,” and this supposition was further strengthened by a temporary lull in the proceedings at about eight o’clock. The advance was again continued about 9 a.m., and by 10.30 it appeared as if the Forts had been evacuated. Up till now, the attacking Forces had been beyond the range of effective rifle fire, but at eleven o’clock, a bridge about 2000 yards away from the nearest fort was demolished, and shortly afterwards the trouble commenced. The small company of Austrian bluejackets was marching along quickly, when a tremendous explosion took place, and the head of the company was literally blown to pieces. A sailor had trodden on a contact mine, and the result was—one officer killed, one wounded; three men killed and twelve wounded, three of whom afterwards expired. This was the first of a series of explosions, several of which took effect, the most notable being that which caused the death of a Russian Engineer Officer, who had been indefatigable in his exertions to find and destroy these deadly weapons before they could do any harm; one, more cunningly hidden than the rest, practically blew the poor chap to pieces.
No further opposition being encountered, the two forts were successfully occupied by one o’clock, when it was clearly demonstrated that the Chinese had left some hours since. It is doubtful if the enemy lost more than a dozen men in this ridiculous action, while the loss of the Allies was but slightly larger. It should be mentioned that the British were carefully prevented from taking part in this action by the lack of proper intelligence, and by being thwarted at every turn by the Russians, who only sent word to the Australian brigade when it was too late to leave Tientsin. Curiously enough, but perhaps for the same reasons, neither the Japanese nor Americans participated, but it must be admitted that, but for the use of land mines, the affair was neither very difficult nor particularly exciting.
A more interesting, and, to the British, a much more satisfactory affair, shortly happened at Shan-Hai-Kwan. This place is situated between 150 and 200 miles to the north-eastward of Taku, and is the site of some more very powerful forts. It is also a railway terminus, and once had some slight strategical importance on account of being the place where the Great Wall of China comes down to meet the sea. It possesses no Naval value, being an open roadstead, and ice-bound during the winter months. It became imperative to take the forts on account of the valuable line of communication afforded by the railway, and because of the possibility of the place becoming a rallying centre for the enemy. The “Whens” and “Hows” were the reason for many conferences between the Admirals; and it became evident that, to them, it appeared to be a difficult and risky matter, and one, moreover, likely to entail severe loss on the attacking fleet. This conclusion having been arrived at, the difficulty arose of choosing a leader who would make all the arrangements, and hold himself responsible for the result.
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I have heard, but refuse to be responsible for the statement, that both the French and German admirals were asked if they would care for the task, but declined on various grounds, and that then Sir Edward Seymour was requested to deal with it, and at once accepted the responsibility. What credence can be placed in the former part of this I do not know, but the latter part of it is undoubtedly true, and the British Commander-in-Chief took the work of organisation in hand forthwith. As far as the arrangements became public, it was believed that Admiral Seymour intended to employ none but armoured ships for the bombardment, and the fleet would probably consist of H.M.S. “Centurion,” “Barfleur,” and either “Aurora” or “Orlando,” the first two being battleships and the others armoured cruisers; “Navarin” and “Sissoi Veliky,” (Russian battleships), two German, one French, “D’Entre Casteaux” one Japanese “Tokiwa” (armoured cruiser), one Austrian battleship, and one Italian armoured cruiser, being a total of, roughly speaking, a dozen heavily armed ships. Before sailing, however, the “Pigmy,” a small gunboat, was sent on ahead, with a political officer on board, who was told to endeavour to parley with the Chinese commanding officer. So the little ship stood right in under the forts and lowered a boat, when to the captain’s surprise the Chinese were seen to be streaming out at the back of the forts, and running up to the hills. He immediately grasped the situation, and sent one officer and seventeen men ashore to garrison the five big forts, and to hold them against all comers. He then went back to Taku as fast as possible, and told the Admiral what had happened. Was there ever such a ridiculous situation? The forts had been taken by that powerful and important ship H.M.S. “Pigmy,” and were at that moment held by the overpowering force of one Naval officer and seventeen bluejackets; whilst at Taku were waiting a dozen or so leviathans, with 7000 men at least on board, who as yet were not aware that they had been baulked of their prey by the aforesaid gunboat of considerably under 1000 tons! However, the news had not to be told just yet, and in an hour’s time the “Pigmy” was hurrying back for all she was worth, packed with Marines to assist the so-called Garrison. At last she disappeared over the horizon, and then the secret was let out. Sparks and clouds of smoke were soon issuing from the funnels of the Fleet’s cruisers, and one by one, as they raised enough steam to move, they got under weigh for Shan-Hai-Kwan to see what had really happened. What had happened was as equally ridiculous as the rest of the farce, for during the night much tramping was heard around No. 1 Fort, as if an army had come down to retake the place. And, as a matter of fact, this is more or less what the noise represented; for the force turned out to be 4000 Russians, who in their guileless way, had turned up from goodness knows where, to surprise and capture the forts, without a word to any of her very good Allies! “Halt! who goes there?” and the column halted out of sheer surprise. “Who are you,” from the other party. “The officer commanding the British garrison of Shan-Hai-Kwan forts,” and so on, till at last the Russian colonel, smelling a rat, asked to go in. “Very sorry, strictly against my orders, you’d better encamp in the open to-night.” Sounds of much discontent from outside, and then, still being dissatisfied about the bona-fides of the occupation, the column began to solemnly march round each fort, only to be challenged time after time by the active sentries, who, by dint of hard running, passed and re-passed each other, with the effect that the forts appeared to be strongly held. The Russian column, therefore, retired to the railway station, where they encamped until authority arrived to give the forts up to the Allies. This was done, the British laughing heartily for some days to come, at the “capture of the Shan-Hai-Kwan forts”.
Now, it may be gathered from the recent half-hearted operations, that the enemy had had more than enough of the struggle, and indeed, from this time to the conclusion of hostilities, the campaign degenerated into the hunting down of robber bands, the destruction of Boxer strongholds, and the almost vain endeavour to prevent actual collision between the Powers. Tientsin seemed to be the chief place for the important affrays, which might have led to more serious consequences had it not been for the prompt measures taken for their repression. A drunken Russian officer was shot dead by a German patrol, English officers were pulled out of their Jinrickshaws, two Russians were shot by an American sentry, a British patrol was attacked by 250 French and Germans, every member of it was hurt, but seven killed and eleven wounded was the bill on the other side. Without American assistance, it is extremely doubtful whether it would have won its way back to barracks. A mad Sepoy killed a comrade, and then rushed to the Russian barracks, where he killed a warrant officer, and wounded three men. This led to an affray between some of his own comrades, who were chasing him, and the Russians, who imagined that they were being attacked, which only resulted in further loss.
And so on, and so on; with incidents like the Tientsin railway siding, to set the world’s Press on the jabber about War. It appears that some dispute arose over the piece of ground in question, which ended in Russia placing double sentries on it. The British immediately did likewise, to prevent any advance from the further side. Matters stood like that, until the Russians put half a company there, when half a company of Indian troops immediately faced them. This was really rather critical, as but four or five yards separated the two bodies, who stood, with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets, eyeing each other with the greatest suspicion. At this time, the French soldiers off duty used to come up in considerable numbers and make use of the most filthy expressions anent our Indian troops, calling them coolies, and worse. This so enraged the men, who throughout the latter part of the campaign had affected to utterly despise the French, that it was evident that white soldiers would have to be employed, and, no others being available, a detachment of Royal Marine Artillery, than whom no finer body of men exist, was brought from the forts at Taku. The changing of the guard was effected by night, and when the French arrived next morning, they were much astonished to find themselves faced by a body of men who, even on the colour question, could hardly be called coolies. This little incident, together with the efficient police work afterwards carried out by the Australian sailors, completed the work of the Naval Brigade, and except to the officers and men who took part in the operations, the China Campaign means but little.
Not much remains to be said. How the Rising nearly spread to the Yangtse, but was stopped by the powerful Yangtse Viceroys, is common knowledge. A Fleet, of course, gathered at Wusung at the first sign of trouble, and a few little things are worth recording. For instance, the Chinese were completing the armament of the powerful Yangtse forts with feverish anxiety, and, on one occasion, they found some difficulty with the mounting of a 15-cm. “Krupp.” A certain officer happening to notice this, took charge of the party with the greatest assurance, and, Hey Presto! down came the whole show, much to every one’s disgust. On another occasion two midshipmen managed to crawl into the Forts, and had a good look round before they were discovered and ejected. After this, the Chinese threatened to shoot at any football parties near the Forts, and the Fleet’s playground had also to be shifted. Occasionally the Chinese navy used to show up, and it was a funny sight to see a Chinese cruiser passing up the river, with the guns of one of our armoured cruisers laid for her waterline as she passed, and following her up until out of range. An equally funny sight must have been one of our tiny river gunboats lying under the 12-in. guns of the up-river forts, pretending that she was only waiting for the big ’un to start hostilities, before knocking down the whole place. While things were still a little touchy, Chinese New Year arrived, and it was rumoured that on that night the forts would open on the fleets. Every preparation was made, but nothing happened, and eventually the fleets quietly dispersed to their respective spheres to give that much-needed leave which all their hard-worked crews so thoroughly deserved.
The Naval Brigades had done their work. Who shall say it was not as satisfactory as it was important, or that the British Contingent was found wanting in any way from first to last? The same traits which have made it the envy of the World—the initiative, the daring, the dash—found ample scope in China, and were equally conspicuous there, as they have ever been elsewhere, when Duty called for their display, in upholding the glorious traditions of the Senior Service, and of our ever increasing Empire.
FINIS