m all acts of plunder, and treated
the inhabitants so well that they came fearlessly alongside the vessels,
bringing fresh provisions of all kinds. The admiral, not considering it
advisable to retain the city, withdrew his men, leaving only a force
sufficient for the protection of the factory. This place the Chinese
attempted to burn, and made every effort to destroy the fleet with
fire-rafts and enormous explosive machines, some of which, it is said,
contained 3000 pounds of gunpowder. They were invariably, however,
towed clear of the ships. Yeh then one night sent a fleet of 23
war-junks in the hopes of surprising the fleet. Getting news of the
intended attack, the admiral despatched the _Barracouta_ with a fleet of
boats under Captain Wilson of the _Winchester_, the admiral himself
afterwards joining, and in half-an-hour the whole of the fleet was
destroyed, with the exception of the admiral's vessel, carrying 60 guns,
which was brought off.

Still Yeh refused to yield, and Sir Michael therefore attacked the Bogue
Forts, which now mounted upwards of 200 guns, and the whole were
captured with trifling loss the mandarins having run away and deserted
their men, who began in their terror to throw themselves into the sea,
till they were persuaded by Captain Hall that they would not be injured.

Meantime, the Chinese were beginning to repair the Barrier Forts, which,
as they commanded the river, the admiral resolved to destroy. Two of
them, the French Folly and Dutch Folly, were successively attacked.
Captains Wilson and Cochrane landing at the head of 850 seamen and
marines, stormed the latter, and blew up it and the 30 guns with which
it was armed. The Dutch Folly was garrisoned by 140 seamen, under the
command of Commodore Elliott, while, to protect the squadron, two strong
booms were thrown across the river, one above and the other below it.
This terminated the year 1856.

Early in the following year the Chinese having collected a fleet of 90
large junks and 30 row-boats, advanced from three different quarters,
hoping to overwhelm the British squadron; but the ships, opening their
fire, soon put them to flight, when they were followed by the boats and
several more destroyed. For several months no active operations took
place. Unhappily, the Honourable Captain Keppel's ship, the _Raleigh_,
on her way to Hong-Kong, struck on a rock and was totally wrecked. Sir
Michael, however, gave him command of the _Alliga