The next day I left Canton for the ship in one of the barges, which came up for the purpose of carrying down specie for the use of the squadron. They were all well armed; though the river-pirates are always, by some fraternal telegraph, posted of the movements of treasure to Whampoa, they will scarcely dare attack a man-of-war’s boats, yet if not watched, they are willing to attempt, the apparently accidental, running down of a boat with treasure, that they may subsequently fish it up, knowing as they do every spot.
The 25th of December—a drizzly, disagreeable Sunday, that was not “Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusion of our childish days, and transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fireside and his quiet home,”—saw us passing the fortifications of the Bogue, which stupidly neglect crown-batteries with admirable physical formation for them, by which the rigging, tops, and spars of an enemy’s ship might be sorely troubled, bound down through the Cap-sing-moon passage, back of Lantow island, to Hong Kong. The next day the Lexington arrived.
The news of the death of Vice-President King we had seen, but the official intelligence we did not get for some time. On the 29th of December, in honor of the deceased, each American man-of-war in the harbor, fired minute guns at daybreak, mid-day, and sundown. In this they were very courteously joined by the English flag-ship Winchester, commanded by Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew, son of Lord Exmouth of naval renown.
The beginning of 1854 found us in the harbor of Hong Kong, preparing for departure for Japan, and awaiting the arrival of the next oriental mail-steamer. The intervening time was occupied in coaling the storeships, and in an occasional dramatic performance on one of the steamers; a thing not at all calculated to improve discipline; whose burnt-cork and dramatic performances make “Rome howl” much oftener than good sailors; besides, the lights employed not contributing to the safety of a man-of-war from fire. At such times the quarter-deck awnings are usually elevated, and draped with the numerous flags; underneath, chandeliers of windsail-hoops and lashed bayonets and suspended overhead, the guns rolled out of the way, the mainmast decked with palm-branches; and when the music arises in the floating ball-room, the guests flit in the mazes of the dance, and nothing interrupts the twinkling feet of the en-bon-point English women save an occasional ring-bolt in the deck. Tables were spread in the different messes. At such times, “H. E., Sir Samuel, K. C. B., governor and commander-in-chief, and vice-admiral,” and the “major-general, K. H., of the forces,” and the officers of the “59th,” and foreign naval officers, were aboard.
CHAPTER XI.
Six months precisely from the day of the first landing of the Americans in Japan, the mail having arrived from Suez, and the other vessels of the squadron having left in advance, we prepared to follow. On the morning of the 14th of January, the black smoke rolling away from their funnels, announced steam being gotten up on three as large war-steamers as were to be seen in any waters—the Powhatan, the Susquehanna, and the old Mississippi steam-frigates. Considering their size, it was a sight that the harbor of Hong Kong had never before witnessed, and will no doubt be many a day before it shall see again. At half-past ten in the morning, everything being ready, agreeably to signal the ships got under way, the Susquehanna leading out, and the Powhatan and Mississippi following, with the Lexington and Southampton in tow. As the flag-ship passed the Winchester, the English admiral manned his rigging, cheered, and fired a parting salute, which was returned promptly.
The first part of the run we had fine steamingweather. We stood up to Breaker Point on the China coast, and then headed across the channel for the south end of the island of Formosa. In three days this land was in sight, and we ran past it on a lovely evening, with the cultivation and fine growth of trees in full view. The setting sun soon lit up gorgeously the whole picture, and nature in its beauty having no barbaric phase, one could scarcely realize that a spot so lovely to the sight, was the home of a lot of throat-cutting, piratical Chinese refugees. Before daylight disappeared, we saw the lonely spike-headed Velo Rete rocks, standing in mid-ocean, a dreaded thing to mariners, and right ahead was visible the conical little island of Botel Tobago.
At night we passed the island of Sammassama, inhabited by a peculiar people. In two days more we had rough, stormy weather, and the ships in tow were cast off to proceed under sail. The navigation among the islands on the northeastern side of Formosa, owing to the currents, becomes very intricate.
On the night of the 19th we could hear the breakers, on the reef surrounding the island of Typinsan, on which the Providence, English twenty-gun ship, was wrecked in 1790. We passed the Amakarimas on the 21st, and in the evening the three steamers anchored in the roads of Napa, Loo-Choo, where we found the razee Macedonian, the sloop-of-war Vandalia, and the storeship Supply. In a few days the two other storeships arrived, and the weather became very rough. The sea broke and tumbled furiously in over the reefs, while the ships rolled at their moorings, and communication by boat between them was almost discontinued.