539
by
The proposal originally made certain Native Merchants of Canton was to fit out Cruisers manned chiefly by Chinese, and paid partly by those Merchants but the impossibility of placing any + confidence in Chinese, and the probability of their converting such a trust to the practice of piracy
r part, made it necessary to abandon the project in that precise shape : The parties themselves
.
on their own
had morcover evaded the subject when it
s pressed upon them.
was.
The first steps
on this occasion
must be entirely experimental, and therefore, instead of two Cruisers, it has
been deemed advisable to commence with
one. This was built on the model
only on
of the fastest Chinese vessels for the aggregate sum of 600 Dollars or £125.
She has been armed,
1 from the Ordnance
Stores
Stores with a Six-pounder Gun and small
arms.
• proportioned to her Crew of twenty s
- men, according to the enclosed List.
This Crew consists of a "Gunner in charge," of steady character, on wages of $12 a month, and of five European seamen at 20 Dollars each a month, which rates are to include their subsistence and all charges. There are to be sixteen Manilamen at 12
Dollars a month each, and four Chinese to manage the boat at 8 Dollars, all to provision themselves. The aggregate monthly wages of the twenty-six will be £86.0.10
It is hoped that this Gun-boat will
be of material service in
and
giving protection to Vessels, especially between Hongkong Canton, as well as in conveying Despatcher occasionally.
I have the written consent of Keying for the employment of such,
-
means
towards