s on the north and south sides, the
principal fort being the north, which is very strong and mounts some 50
guns of all sizes, and connected with this by a covered way is another
on the same side but farther up the river with 30 guns. On the south
side there is a series of strong forts and batteries for about a mile
along the shore, mounting about 120 guns of various patterns, the
greater part being quite modern. Some distance inland is another fort
and the magazines. These forts, designed to protect the sea-front, are
therefore very formidable, and well manned with competent gunners would
constitute a real danger to any ships entering the river. The bar of
the river is 5 miles off, and is so shoaly that vessels drawing 20 feet
have to lie 5 miles off that, that is 10 miles from the forts, and it
was at this point that the fleet of the various nations was at this time
lying at anchor, the British being _Centurion_, flagship, _Barfleur,
Orlando, Endymion, Aurora_.

The only vessels that could therefore enter the river and bombard the
forts were gunboats and destroyers; of these the Russians had three,
_Bobr, Koreelah_, and _Gilyak_; the French, the _Lion_; the British, the
_Algerine_, steel despatch boat with six 4-inch guns, and two
destroyers, the _Whiting_ and _Fame_. These two last captured four
perfectly equipped modern destroyers, whose crews bolted; properly
handled, they might have destroyed all the attacking ships, who without
them found sufficient work to do in keeping down the fire of the forts.

The plan arranged by the others was that, after an effective
bombardment, a landing party should attack the north-west and north
forts and the other forts in succession.

The Chinese, however, had no intention of letting the Westerns have it
all their own way, but at a quarter to one a.m. on the morning of the
17th opened the ball by firing upon the _Algerine_, who promptly
replied, and the battle became general. A terrific bombardment on both
sides roared through the night, the gunboats in addition to the fire of
their big guns keeping up a continuous hail from their quick-firing guns
in their tops. The Chinese were equally determined, and stuck to their
guns through it all, but they were very poor gunners, and their shells
did not burst, and so for six hours the gunboats' targets for two miles
of forts and some 200 or more guns escaped serious injury.

As daylight came, however, the Chinese made better pra