The hill at the landing-place, which came to be known by the name of Pagoda Hill, is a very striking object from every point of the harbour. The appearance of a temple upon it, and several small detached buildings, which had been recently built as prisons for the English, whom the Chinese intended to capture, and the steepness of its summit, gave it an appearance of strength which it did not possess.
Directly opposite Pagoda Hill are two small islands, called Trumball and Macclesfield Islands, which bound the harbour on the eastern side, and upon the nearest of these a mortar-battery was afterwards erected, for the purpose of shelling Pagoda Hill.
To the southward the harbour is shut in by the highly cultivated and considerable island called Tea Island; while on its western side, at the extremity of the long sea-battery, lies the small island called Guard Island, only separated by a very narrow passage called the Devil's Gates, from the hills which overlook the valley.
As the two steamers now entered the inner harbour by the western passage, leaving Guard Island on the left, they immediately came in sight of a long line of continuous works, constructed of mud, along the top of the whole line of embankment before described. It is strange that such a mode of defence should have been adopted; for the flank of the battery was completely commanded by the range of steep hills running up to the very city itself. Upon the nearest hills, however, at the end of the battery, the Chinese had formed a fortified encampment, in which there appeared to be a large body of troops; and in a hollow at the foot of it there was an unfinished stone fort, intended to mount eight guns. But they had placed their principal reliance upon the line of mud-batteries fronting the harbour, and had run piles and stakes along the water's edge, to prevent our troops from landing from the boats, as if they imagined that a battery could only be attacked in front, and partly perhaps to prevent the washing away of the soil.
The works had been hastily and unscientifically constructed, and consisted principally of heaps of mud, of a conical shape, raised upon the embankment, with embrasures between them for the guns. These intervals were so large, measuring generally from ten to fifteen feet wide, that it would be impossible for the men to stand to their guns, although the mounds of earth between them were about twenty to twenty-five feet broad. The line of battery extended far beyond the Pagoda or Joss House Hill to the eastward, but was not completed at that end. There were altogether nearly two hundred and seventy embrasures, but only about eighty guns mounted, exclusive of those in a newly-built redoubt upon Pagoda Hill, amounting to twelve or fifteen. Of these twenty-five were afterwards found to be of brass and copper, and tolerably well cast. Several improvements had been made by the Chinese for the strengthening of Pagoda Hill, since our evacuation of the place. They had retained the wall which we had formerly carried round the top of it, with an arched gateway of stone on the side looking inland towards the town. Other improvements were in progress; so that, if the attack had been delayed for some weeks longer, the Chinese would have completed their defences, as well as their want of science would permit. As it was, the authorities claimed for themselves the honour of "having fought with heavy toil for six days and nights," reckoning the commencement of their so-called fighting from the day on which the steamers first approached to reconnoitre. Our forbearance was magnified into a great victory by them, for the moment at all events.
On the return of the steamers to the anchorage at Just in the Way, with the rest of the fleet, orders were given for the Nemesis to proceed on the following morning across to the Ningpo river, to reconnoitre Chinhae, &c. &c., but the weather proved so hazy and unsettled, that this purpose was deferred for the present. On the following day, the 28th, the weather still continued very squally, which prevented the fleet from moving; and the admiral, therefore, gave orders that the Nemesis should proceed again to Chusan, in company with the Modeste and Columbine, (the whole under the command of Captain Eyres, of the Modeste,) and they were directed to destroy the unfinished battery already mentioned, at the foot of the hills at the western extremity of the long line of works, and if possible set fire to the encampment on the hill above, or, at all events, disperse the Chinese troops. The object was evidently to prepare for the landing of our force at that point, in order to take the line of Chinese battery in reverse, and then march upon the town by the hills. The increasing severity of the weather obliged them all to come to anchor before they reached Chusan.
At daylight next morning, the Nemesis was sent in alone to reconnoitre, having Captain Eyres and Captain Clarke on board, and she soon discovered that the entrenched camp on the hill was stronger than had been supposed, and that the troops were collected in great strength at that point. As the steamer ran pretty close in shore, a smart but ineffective fire from large ginjals was opened on her from the entrenched camp; but the small stone fort below was quite silent, and, indeed, appeared to be unarmed. Having fired a few shot into the camp on the hill, in order to warn the Chinese of what they had to expect, the Nemesis speedily returned, to bring up the other two vessels; and these, as soon as they had come to anchor as close in shore as their draught of water would permit, immediately opened fire upon the entrenched camp above, and also at the fort below, in order to ascertain if it was occupied. As the Nemesis, however, could stand in much closer than the other vessels, Captain Eyres and Captain Clarke went on board her, and she was then carried within excellent range by Captain Hall, and immediately poured in shot, shell, rockets, and carcases, with such remarkable precision, as to have been made the subject of special mention in the admiral's despatch.
In a short time, the temporary buildings were demolished, and a breach was made in the wall of the fortified encampment. The proper moment for landing was now come; but as the orders were positive not to come to close quarters with the enemy, but merely to reconnoitre their position, and prevent them from adding to their works of defence, no attempt was made to carry the encampment. A small party of men were landed, but merely with a view to ascertain, beyond a doubt, that the small stone fort below was unarmed, and to make a hasty reconnoissance of the line of sea-battery, nearly a mile long, which connected this point with Pagoda Hill. A large body of Chinese troops were now seen forming under the brow of the hill in the rear, in order to make an attack upon the reconnoitring party; but a few well-directed shot from the steamer's guns immediately dispersed them.
The object of this little affair having been now fully accomplished, the Nemesis hastened to rejoin the admiral, with despatches from Captain Eyres. Sir William Parker was, however, already on his way over to Chusan in the Wellesley, and now, without loss of time, came on board the Nemesis, accompanied by the general, and ordered her to carry them once more across the harbour of Chusan. The Chinese again opened a distant and useless fire upon her as she passed, both in going and returning, as they had done on the former occasion.
In the course of the afternoon, several of the ships of war, and some of the transports, reached the outer harbour of Chusan, while the Blonde, Modeste, and Queen steamer, proceeded to take up a position under the two islands which lie opposite Pagoda Hill, and which were called Macclesfield (or Melville) and Trumball Islands. They were directed to cover and assist a party of the Royal Artillery, under Captain Knowles, in erecting a battery of one 68-pounder gun, and two 24-pounder howitzers, upon the top of the ridge of the former island, with a view to shell Pagoda Hill and its defences, which were within range, but rather distant. The Chinese continued firing very ineffectually during the whole time, in the direction of these islands, but their shot always fell short.