The attack upon the Shameen battery was now renewed, and it was soon silenced by the fire of the vessels. A few shot and shell were thrown into the adjoining suburbs, where the fire had broken out; but some of the Chinese soldiers, who had already abandoned their guns, when they found that our men did not land immediately to take possession of the works, actually returned and fired another round or two from the Shameen battery. They were soon, however, driven out, and eight fine large brass guns were captured.
It was during these operations at Canton, that Capt. Elliot and Capt. Herbert narrowly escaped a very dangerous accident, which might have proved fatal to many, had it not been fortunately averted by the personal coolness and resolution of the captain of the Nemesis. A Congreve rocket, which had been placed in the proper tube from which it is fired, and had been already ignited, accidentally hung within it, instead of being projected, as intended. In another second it would have burst in the tube itself, and must have killed or wounded all those who were standing near it upon the bridge between the paddle-boxes. With instant coolness and presence of mind, Capt. Hall put his arm into the tube and forcibly pushed it out from behind, although the rush of fire which came out of it burnt his hand severely and caused intense pain. Indeed, it was not done without great personal risk. It is difficult to calculate what disastrous results might not have followed, had the rocket burst in the tube, on board ship.
Just when all opposition at the Shameen battery had been overcome, an unlooked-for opportunity occurred of rendering signal service, by the discovery of the principal rendezvous of all the fire-rafts and men-of-war junks, whose place of retreat had hitherto been concealed. Every fresh report had confirmed the previous information that preparations of an extensive kind had been made by the Chinese higher up the river, but it was supposed to be at some place much more distant than was now found to be the case. The first thing which led to the discovery was the suspicious appearance of a large war-junk, which suddenly came out from behind a point of land some way above the fort. Having fired one or two distant shots, she again withdrew out of sight.
The Nemesis instantly proceeded in search of the expected prize, under the orders of Captain Herbert, who was on board. The junk again stole out from her hiding-place, but, the moment she observed the steamer coming towards her, she made off in all haste up a large creek, which turned round to the northward. About a mile or less within this passage, the whole Chinese fleet of war-junks, fire-rafts, boats, &c., was suddenly descried, to the number, probably, of more than a hundred.
This was an exciting moment. The Chinese were thrown into the utmost consternation by the sudden approach of the steamer; and the more numerous were the junks and craft of all kinds, the greater was the confusion into which they were thrown. Every shot now told upon the confused mass. The Chinese ran most of their boats ashore, in order to make their own escape; others tried to make their way up the creek, each one striving to pass the other. Suddenly a small masked battery opened fire upon the steamer; but a few round shot, followed by grape, drove the Chinese from their guns, and served to disperse a small body of troops, who were drawn up in the rear. The water soon became too shallow for the steamer to proceed further, and she, therefore, came to anchor.
Some boats from the Calliope and Herald and other vessels now joined, and, together with the boats of the Nemesis, continued the pursuit, and destroyed or run ashore an immense number of junks, fire-rafts, and fishing-boats of every kind.
About fifty boats were found filled with combustibles, and were joined eight or nine together, having been destined to drift down with the tide upon our vessels. Many of the junks had troops on board, from distant parts of the empire, intended for the relief of the city.
The scene was extremely animating; numbers of the Chinese were scrambling ashore, or clinging to fragments of their boats or spars, as they floated about in the water. Some of the junks were burnt, and others blown up, but the precaution was taken to examine carefully every one of them before it was set on fire, in order to rescue any of the panic-stricken Chinese who might be trying to find concealment in it. But, in spite of this precaution, the structure of the junks afforded so many little hiding places for the terrified Chinese, that, as the fires gradually burnt more briskly, and took more certain effect upon the vessels, several poor fellows were observed to rush up from below, and then, unable to support the heat upon deck, to jump desperately overboard. Some of these swam easily on shore; others, who could not swim, remained clinging to the outside of the junk, or to the rudder, until the heat became insupportable, or the vessel itself blew up. In this way, some few necessarily perished, for it was not possible to save them all, owing to the small number of boats employed on our side, and the large number of those destroyed on theirs; besides which, the heat and danger were often too great to be able to approach near enough to render timely assistance.
Thus, in the short space of three hours, forty-three war-junks were blown up, and thirty-two fire-rafts destroyed, besides smaller boats. Some which had been run ashore were left untouched.
This important encounter produced one very valuable result, as it led to the discovery of the most desirable landing-place for our troops, in the projected attack on the heights of Canton. This spot was distinctly seen and remarked upon by the different officers on board the Nemesis, and was particularly noticed by Captain Herbert, in his report of this affair to Sir Le Fleming Senhouse, written on the very same day. This is not a matter of slight moment, because all allusion to this circumstance was omitted in the public despatch of Sir Le Fleming Senhouse. In Captain Herbert's report, dated on the 22nd of May, on board the Nemesis, that officer, after having described the destruction of the numerous boats and fire-rafts, distinctly said:—"Their wrecks are lining both banks of the river nearly close up to Tsingpoo, the landing-place, from which a good approach appears to lead direct to the north gate of the city wall, not more than four miles distant, with dry footing the whole way." He also intimated that artillery might probably be brought there. Moreover, while Captain Hall was lying in bed with pain and fever from his disabled hand, the general himself and other officers subsequently came down into his cabin, purposely to make inquiry concerning the landing-place and the country about it, such as it had been seen from the Nemesis.