Meade transferred to the second-rate HMS "Calcutta", flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station, in August 1857 and, having landed with the naval brigade, took part in the Battle of Canton in December 1857 during the Second Opium War: he was severely wounded in the left arm by a bullet fired from a gingal. He was mentioned in dispatches, promoted to commander on 26 February 1858 and transferred to the sloop HMS "Hornet" later that month.