Battle of Chuenpi

First Battle of Chuenpi

The Volage and Hyacinth engaging Chinese war junks

Date	3 November 1839
Location	Humen, Guangdong, China Coordinates: 22°48′07″N 113°36′18″E / 22.802°N 113.605°E / 22.802; 113.605
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

British East India Company

Qing China

Commanders and leaders

Charles Elliot
Henry Smith

Lin Zexu
Guan Tianpei

Strength

1 frigate
1 sloop

16 junks
13 fire rafts

Casualties and losses

1 wounded

15 killed
4 junks sunk

United Kingdom

The First Battle of Chuenpi was fought between British and Chinese ships at the entrance of the Humen strait (Bogue), Guangdong province, China, on 3 November 1839 during the First Opium War. The British Hyacinth and Volage opened fire on Chinese ships they perceived as being hostile.

For foreign ships to be allowed to dock in Canton (Guangzhou) for trade, Chinese authorities required a signed bond agreeing not to trade opium. Captain Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, ordered British ships not to sign the bond because if opium was found, the cargo would be confiscated and the perpetrators executed. It also interfered with their free trade goal. In October 1839, the Thomas Coutts cargo ship under Captain Warner arrived in Canton from Singapore. The ship carried cotton from Bombay, and, since Warner was not trading opium, he defied Elliot's request by signing the bond. He held a legal view that Elliot's ban on the signing was not valid under English law.

Before Warner left China, Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu gave him a letter addressed to Queen Victoria in which he disapproved the use of opium and requested the opium trade to stop. After arriving in London, he handed the letter to a co-owner of the Thomas Coutts, who asked for an appointment with Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston. After Palmerston's office refused to see him, Warner forwarded the letter to The Times, which published it. Viewing Warner's defiance as a threat to his authority, Elliot ordered HMS Hyacinth and HMS Volage to be positioned 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the Chuenpi battery on 27 October for a blockade.

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Wikipedia