CHAPTER VIII

A SHORT BUT EVENTFUL CHAPTER-CHANGE OF

CAPTAINS-FAREWELL TO CHINA

OCTOBER 1858 brought important changes for the Tribune, as she, being no longer required in Chinese waters, was ordered to return to the Pacific, and Captain Edgell, whose services had been recognised by the bestowal of a second-class commodore's broad pendant, left for the East Indies to join his new command, the Chesapeake. He had been an admirable naval commandant and commissioner at Canton for nearly a year, a special post of the sort for which he was well fitted.

We moved once more down to Hong Kong, and the officers rowed him to the mail steamer amid parting cheers from the crew and the regrets of us all, his last official act being to read the commission of his successor, Captain Geoffrey Phipps Hornby, who had just arrived from England. There was a third Christian name which its owner sensibly ignored as being redundant; besides, he was not quite the sort of man who cared about being known as a Thomas.

As schoolboys quickly take stock of a new master, and quickly gauge his capabilities, so do a ship's company a new captain; and in this case the verdict was not long in forthcoming, that this tallish, slightly-built young man of thirty-three, with chestnut hair, knowing hazel eye, and quiet, firm, composed high-toned

manner, knew his work. He did exceptionally well, but how, has always puzzled me and excited my wonder, for, apart from his midshipman's, he had had next to no experience. Entering the navy in 1837, he got his acting-lieutenant's commission in 1844 just after "passing," by a death vacancy, and had a couple of years' service in a frigate, which must have been about the sum total of his lieutenant's experience as a "watchkeeper;" for the rest of his time at sea in that rank, two years and three months, was passed in the capacity of flag-lieutenant to his father in the Asia two-decker, of which ship, again by death vacancy, he became commander on February 18, 1850. For the next sixteen months, until the ship was paid off, he held the appointment, but served no more as a commander, as he was "posted" from half-pay by interest in December 1852. So, prior to his appearance on the Tribune's quarter-deck, he had never held independent command of any sort, and, moreover, had passed the previous seven and a half consecutive years on half-pay. Bitterly did he feel and complain of such a long period of forced inaction, he told me. Yet he had every detail, low and aloft, at his finger-ends, and not only revealed himself as an organiser, a disciplinarian, a leader of men, but curiously enough as a "sailor-man." The truth is, he was a sailor by intuition, it having been born in him; moreover he had profited by whatever experience he might have passed through fivefold more than the average man would have done. He was certainly one of the many prizes amid many blanks which the lottery of promotion by interest secured for the navy.

We had not quite seen the last of Whampoa, for before setting out on our long and stormy voyage across the North Pacific, it was thought prudent to avail ourselves of Cowper's Dock at Whampoa for the execution of various repairs. We had great difficulty in getting into it, and were obliged to land all the guns and shot, cables and provisions, to get out the mizzenmast, to fill up the screw-well with bamboos, and to sling tanks under each quarter and pump them out, but, even so, her heel would only just scrape over the sill.

Trade, suspended for so long, had begun to revive, and we found four tea-ships, Cairngorm, Morning Star, Chieftain, and Lammermuir, laden with the first Congou of the season, and ready to start for the race homeward. Of course one might look in vain now for the old familiar sight of tea-ships "backing and filling" up and down the Canton River.

The competition between rival firms, and rival ships of the same firm, to land the first cargo of tea of the season in London or Liverpool was tremendous, but no ship was allowed to leave Whampoa till she had received "the grand chop," or Chinese Customs Clearance, which had to come through the hands of Consul Allcock at Canton. On the present occasion Jardine's people (I suppose by a cumshaw, a species of palm-oil to which Chinese officials were particularly amenable) had managed to get the Cairngorm's chop without troubling the consul at all, to the envy and consternation of the other ships, over which she would thus gain an important advantage.

To give an idea of the magnitude of Jardine and Co.'s operations, I may say that they sent in a claim of

two million dollars to our Government for destruction of their property at Canton during the bombardment and disturbances of 1856.

Allcock, however, was one one too many for these adroit gentlemen, for as soon as he got wind of the little manœuvre, he sent an express to Hornby to beg him to detain the Cairngorm.

I was accordingly despatched to the Cairngorm—a magnificent clipper of 936 tons and found her sheeting home" preparatory to weighing; but when I informed her "old man" of the nature of my mission he was much disconcerted, and declared that the delay would make a difference of thousands of pounds to the owners. However, he made the best of the situation, clewed up, and hospitably entertained myself and my boat's crew, after which I went aloft and examined his "Cunningham's self-reefing topsail apparatus," a new invention which was much in use at that time.

Next day all the ships got away.

I took a corresponding opportunity of inspecting a splendid new American clipper, 217 feet over all, one of a sort called "pickpocket ships," that is, so fine both forward and aft that they would hardly carry their register, whereas the old style of tea-ship sometimes carried 300 tons in excess of it.

While we were in dock there was a naval execution, a Marine being hung at the fore-yard arm of the Hesper for the murder of her engineer. She went to sea for the purpose with detachments of several ships' companies, Captain M'Cleverty of the Cambrian being in special command.

The Canton River is a river of currents, cross currents, and eddies, which are very puzzling.

On

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many occasions I observed that ships swung to the flood while the surface current was plainly still ebbing, for the first of the flood being denser, would be lower. Our decked bumboats, when waiting for their time to come alongside, had a simple but ingenious device for keeping their position without anchoring by towing a basket astern while under easy sail. If the boat forged ahead, they checked its way by allowing the basket to fill; if it lagged astern, they neutralised the action by means of a jerk-line.

From the first I was impressed with the celerity with which Chinese vessels of all sorts answer their helms. That is accounted for by the fact that their rudders are proportionately much longer than those of European construction. A long rudder, however, though it provides rudder power or leverage at a distance from the boat, which is what is aimed at, has its disadvantages. It is more difficult to work, and tends to check the boat's way objections which are in great degree obviated by holes as shown in the illustration.

We again returned to Hong Kong, completed our refit, shipped 164 Marines, including seven officers, for British Columbia, and bade farewell to China, where my last undertaking was to arrange for the erection in the Happy Valley Cemetery of a granite monument in memory of the many lamented shipmates whom we left under its soil, a picture of which appears at the end of this volume.

I am not surprised to find from Captain Hornby's "Biography," pp. 54-56 (Blackwood, 1896), that he was disappointed with his new ship when he had got her to sea and began that thirty-three days' battling