Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 637

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Progress of the Expedition to China.

Nov.

from which they never recovered, still, surprising to say, only one man was killed, a poor helpless maniac.

By dint of great exertions on the part of the officers and men, (for no other assistance could be procured,) the sick were extricated from the wreck of the hospital, and placed in one of the other barracks. Alas! merely to have the same scene acted over again. Batrack after barrack was leveled with the ground. The officers' houses fol- lowed. The force of the wind tore the very flooring from the sleep- It was now sauve que peut. There was danger in remaining in the vicinity of the lines. The wind and drenching rain continued unabated, and torrents in the form of cascades poured down the hills, sweeping everything before them.

ers.

The sea, at all other times so still and smooth here in the harbor, was now fiercely agitated. It had incroached on the land far be- yond its natural bounds. Ships, drifting from their anchorages, were seen rapidly nearing the shore, while their crews were laboring hard to cut away the masts, their only chance of preservation. Occa- sionally, as the atmosphere cleared across the bay, several ships could be seen clustered in one spot, giving each other a friendly embrace! Ships of seven and eight hundred tons were on shore in water, which on ordinary occasions is barely knee-deep. Innumerable boats were scattered in fragments on the beach, while underneath and around them were many mangled and lacerated corpses of Chinese.

At 3 P. M., the tyfoon was at its height, the houses were all unroof- ed, and no covering remained to protect from the raging elements. The natives were running wildly about in all directions, vainly be seeching succor from their gods. The last days of Hongkong seem- ed to be approaching. It was a grand but awful sight. It will be easier to conceive, than to describe, the helpless and wretched con- dition in which the inhabitants of this newly colonized island spent this night. The following day, temporary buildings were thrown up for the protection of the men, and a second ship was now procured for 250 of the sick. But deaths still daily occurred amongst them.

On the night of the 25th, and the greater part of the 26th of July, the island was again visited by a tyfoon, which though not so violent as that already described, swept away everything that escaped the gale of the 21st. It destroyed the temporary buildings, and exposed the wretched inmates a second time to the fury of a tempest of wind and rain, and the consequences were most disastrous. Meantime, the crews of the men-of-war, and also the troops on board ship were rapidly convalescing, and on the 21st of August, the day on which