Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 166

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Official Reports of Capture of Amoy.

MARCH

ART. IV. Capture of Amoy: Official Reports of their excellencies, the military and naval commanders-in-chief, lt.-general sir Hugh Gough, G. C. B., and rear-admiral sir William Parker, K. C. H. Published by command of the governor-general at Calcutta.

Head-quarters, ship Marion, Amoy Harbor, Sept. 5th, 1841. To the Rt.-hon. the Earl of Auckland, G. c. B.,

Governor-general, &c., &c.

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MY LORD,—I am happy to be enabled to report to your lordship the complete success of the operation against Amoy with very trifling loss-my anticipations in regard to the enemy have been fully realized, but I did not calculate on so fee- ble a resistance.

1. The expedition left Hongkong on Saturday, the 21st August, but in conse- quence of light winds, the fleel did not clear the Lemma passage until Monday the 23d, and on the evening of the 25th we arrived in the outward anchorage of Amoy, a few shots only having been fired, as we were running through a chain of islands, which form the mouth of this anchorage, and most of which the Chinese had fortified. As it was blowing very fresh, I could not get on board the flag ship until the following morning, when I accompanied their excellencies sir Henry Pot- tinger and admiral sir William Parker, in the Phlegethon steamer, to reconnoitre the defences, with a view to the commencement of immediate operations. The enemy allowed us to do so without firing a shot, and the plan of attack wasat once decided upon, a summons having been previously sent in requiring the surrender of the town and island of Amoy to her majesty's forces.

2. The enemy's defences were evidently of great strength, and the country by nature difficult of access. Every island, every protecting headland, from whence guns could bear upon the harbor, was occupied and strongly armed. Commencing from the point of entrance, into the Inner harbor on the Amoy side, the principal sea-line of defence, after a succession of batteries and bastions in front of the out- er town, extended for upwards of a mile in one continuous battery of stone, with embrasures roosed by large slabs, thickly covered with clods of earth, so as to form a sort of casement, and afford perfect shelter to the men in working thir guns. Between some of the embrasures were embankments to protect the masonry, and 96 guns were mounted in this work, which terminated in a castellated wall, con- necting it with a range of precipitous rocky heights, that run nearly parallel to the beach at a distance varying from one fourth to half a mile. Several smaller works were apparent at intervals amid the rocks.

3. The entrance to the Inner harbor is by a channel about 600 yards across be- tween Amoy and the island of Kúláng sú, upon which several strong batteries were visible, and some of those flanked the sea-line and stone battery. It ap- peared expedient therefore to make a simultaneous attack on these prominent lines of defence.

4. It was proposed that the two line-of-battle ships with the two large steamers, should attack the sea defences on the island of Amoy nearest the town, and that some of the smaller vessels of war should open their fire to protect the landing of the troops, which was to be effected below the angle formed by the junction of