The resistance which the Chinese might have offered to our forces will be seen from the following account of the ordnance captured during the day. On the southern Anunghoy fort, were 107 guns, of various calibre; one being a 68-pounder, one a 42, and a good many of 32, 24, and 18. Four of them were very large brass guns, made by the Portuguese, in 1627, two of these being upwards of eleven feet long, and ten inches and three-quarters in diameter of the bore; three of the iron ones were of English manufacture, and the remainder were heavy Chinese guns. On the northern Anunghoy fort were 40 guns, about half of them varying from 18 to 42-pounders. All of these were Chinese. At the two sand-bag batteries, erected to the eastward of the southern fort, were about 30 guns of small calibre; so that there were altogether on that side of the river one hundred and seventy-seven guns. Again, upon the little fortified island of North Wantung, were planted upwards of one hundred and sixty guns, of which, however, one third were very small, and of little service; and another third of them varied only from six to twelve pounders. The remainder were mostly very good, and some very heavy guns; one being a 68, and another a 42-pounder. Several of these bore a curious inscription, similar to some others subsequently taken on Lord Napier's fort, near Canton.
On the fort and works, on the mainland, on the western side of the river, facing Wantung, were also mounted about forty guns. Thus, the whole number captured in this day's operations amounted to three hundred and eighty pieces of cannon; to which, if we add eighty pieces more, captured on the preceding day by the Nemesis and boats, under Capt. Herbert, at the masked battery and stockades in the river, at the bottom of Anson's Bay, we shall find the whole number taken and destroyed in these two days alone, at the first resumption of hostilities, to have amounted to four hundred and sixty pieces.
Immediately after the British flag was planted triumphantly upon the forts of the Bogue, or at any rate before the close of the day, a notice was issued by Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer, by which the blockade of the river of Canton was raised. British and foreign merchant-ships were now permitted to proceed as far as the Bogue, and were to be allowed to go further up the river, as soon as the obstructions to the navigation could be removed.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] This was, on more than one occasion, the case during the war. Soldiers were often found among the killed and wounded each having two dollars on their persons, and, on one occasion, even six dollars.
[26] This, probably, alludes to the maxim of the Chinese moral code, which says that it should be remembered that a "foreigner, though he be a good man, and on terms of intimacy with you, is still of a different race."
[27] This alludes to the famous pirate Kochinga, who was bought off and made an admiral.
[28] During the heat of the action against the batteries of Anunghoy, a very dashing thing was done by Commander Sullivan, who was serving as a supernumerary commander on board the Melville. One of the boats got adrift, owing to some accident, and was being carried by the tide close in under the batteries. The instant this was perceived by Commander Sullivan, he jumped into his gig, and pulled off to recover the boat, in doing which he was of course exposed to the close fire of the batteries, but he fortunately escaped unhurt, and brought the boat safely back. This little spirited incident was not taken public notice of.