The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-09 00:00:00

COMMODORE IKEPP EL IN ,TITE (MIN' TON

RIVER.

We are permitted to .publish the following pri-.
vate letter from Commodore the Hon. H. Keppel,
giving.sonte details of the boat action on the
Ist of June, and other particulars, which will in-
terest those whohave friends in. China,

We regret; to hear a renewed rumour that the
gallant Commodore is ordered home from' this sta-
tion. His late misfortune:4m to "which he has bean
acquitied of blame) and-his later gallant perform,-
ances against the enemy might have b3en expected
to Retire to him the
,advantage of continued active
employment in the Ea=st.—Tinies

- ‘' Allioator, Canton River, June 20.
The three weeks of this mout'i have been full
of excitement. We commenced on-the Ist with as:
pretty a boat action" as any ever recorded in our
naval history, though it may never he appreciated,
because it was foirght in China. The troops are
now, unfortunately, required for India; and I sup-
pose we shall not. get'them before the summer re
over. So much the better for them, as it is broil=
ing Mt just now. In the meantime we have to
keep the Canton river open for them, it being their
high road to-the Celestial city, which I suppose
they will have to occupy before Lord Elgin attempt
to bring Commissioner Yeh to terms:. lam lefthero
in command ofethe river, the fort of Checupee,
which I took possession of op the 18t,114 being my
boundary at one end, and the Maims') Fort. at the
other. They are about 40 miles :matt ; Chucapee
is about that distance from HengKong, and Macao
is three miles from the city of Canton ; all the in-
termediate fOrts have been demolished; and on the
Ist we polished off the remainder of their war
fleet, about 180 Imperial was junks, so that I now:
hold uncontrolled possession. Our worthy chief-el
and a fine fellow he is—remains with his griped
Horeg Kong, paying its occasional . visits in one 'of
the smaller steamers. I have 17 ships, containing
about 2,600 men, stationed at different distsnees ;
and, this being the anniversary of her Majesty's
accession,' they are-all dressed out with flags, and
at noon Commissioner Yeh will be editis d by Royal
salutes fired the whole length of the Imperial river
from Caritonao below the Bogue Forts. My poor
Raleigh no longer belongs to her Majesty's navy,
and the Admiral has appointed myselt and all_ the
officers to the Alligator, and given us tires vessels
to 'mall as tenders. I ive in-the Hong Kong, but
come here :to sleep when not moving about, this
old hulk being a sort of fixture. My steward keeps
mess, and'we all grub together—viz.' Lieutenant
Goodenough, Dr. Crawford, Prince Victor, Autey
(my secretary), Lord Chas. Scott, Montague, and
Harry Stephenson. We are very happy and jolly,
and the temporary arrangement is a 'very good
one. We thought. we -were going-to have a little
fight the other day, as the Admiral had ordered
me to take possession of the Chncupee Fort. We
moved down to do so in good order on the morn-
ing of the 18th, but the enemy guessed what
they might expect, and very wisely hooked it.' I
am afraid this is the last little affair that is likely to
-occur this summer: I have stationed the vessels
under my orders at different distances all the way
up. The upper part of the river is not considered
so healthy as the wider part down here, so that I
"have them relieved every fortnight. There are two
islands near where we were anchored, where the
men and. officers of the ships_ near assemble every
evening, and play at quoits and all sorts of games:
In fact, time seems to, fly•fist, and the mails going;
and coming every fortnight keep us all alive. Tur-
nour, in command of the Bitten, is-now taking his
turn up at the front, which. although less healthy,
is the favourite post. They are obliged to be con-
tinually on thealert, and look out forfire i afts and
all sorts of infernal machines. I generally visit
them once a week in the Heng,Kong. I hope some
one gave you an account of eur-Wat fight on the
Ist, of June.. It must have been abe intifu! sight to
those who witnessed it from the heights. • The shal-
lewavater obliged the Hong Kong to' ground, when
she would otherwise have been in front of every-
thing ; but when she grounded I led on_ the boats
in my gig-; but as the tide was. rising the Hong-
kong kept following us as fast as she could. The
first divieiou of the Chinese fleet were simultaneously
attacked by about '1,900 men, spread ever .a large
surface, and soon gave way ; but I did not take up
more than a quarter of that numbor'to attack their
second division, which- was three miles higher up
the river, in' a well selected place. They nronbered
20 in one compact row • they mounted from 10 to
1-14 guns each, two of them in stt rn an 1 Lo se being
heavy 32-pounders. I saw that I had all the
Ra-
leigh's boats well up, and determined to push on.
'They fired occasional shots, as if to ascertain our
exact distance, but did not open their heaviest fire
until we were within 600 yards, and, thew'. soon
saw how impossible it would be, to force. our way
uptil I had reinforcements. Near the first poor
felloW whose head was knocked ' off was an
amateur of the name of Major--Kearney. ,I had
known him many years. We cheered, and I tried to
get on, when a shot struck my boat right amid-
ships, cut-one man in two, and took off the arm of
another.. Prince Victor, who was with me, jumped
forward to bind the man's arm up with his neck-
cloth. While he was doiog so, another round shot
passed through both sides -of the boat, wounding
two others of the crew. sThe boot was, filling with
water, and I got on one of . the seats to keep my
legs out of the water, and just as I stepped up a
third round shot went through both- sides of the
boat, not mere that one inch below the seat on
which I was standing. Many .of our boats had
now got huddled together, the oars of most being
shot away. A boat of the Calcutta being nearest,
we got in, pulling our wounded .risen with us. My
dog Mike' refusing to leave the Lad body of the
man who had been his favorite,- we were obliged to
leave him. I then gave the order to re-ire on the
Hong Kong, and re-form abreast of her. While we
were going down a-shot cut away all the oars on
one sale. ' I called to Lieutenant Graham to get
his boat ready, as I would hoist my broil pendant
and lead the next attack in his beat. I had n
sooner spoken than a shot disahl, d his boat, wound-
ing him and killing and wounding four others. I
saw Graham one ,mass of blood, but it- was from a
marine who stood next to him, and part of whose
skull was forced three inches in another man's
shoulder. When I reached the Hong Kong the
'whole of the' enemy's fire appealed centred upon
I her. She was hulled 12 times in. a few. minutes;
her deck was -covered with the woundiA who had
been brought on beard from the boats.. I was
looking at them when: a round shot cut down a
marine, and he fell among them. From the paddle-
box I saw that our heavy firing was -n w bringing
up a strong reinforcement. The account. of 'my
having been obliged to retirehad reached them, and
they were pulling up like mad. The Hong Kong
had floated and grounded again. I ordered a bit
of blue bunting to be got ready to represent my
broad pendant ; I called out, Let us try the row-
boats once more, boy's' and went over ov( r the side
into our cutter (the Raleigh's), in which was
Tumour, the faithful Spurrier bringing the bit.
of blue flag. At this moment these arose from the
boats, as if every man took it up at the same instant
one of those British 'cheers so full of meaning that
I knew at once that it was all up with Jebel China-
man. They might sink 20 boats, but there were
30 others who would go ahead all the Later. On
we went. It was indeed a lovely and exciting sight
I saw the move among the junks. They were break-
ing ground and moving off, the outermost first.
This manoeuvre they performed in beautiful order.
They never ceased to fire. Three' more cheers,- and'
then commenced an exciting chase for seven milts.
As our shot told on them they ran on shore, and

their crews forsook them. Seventeen were conic
up with and captured this way, three only escaped.
It was in this last chase that my poor Spurner was
shot detwn by my side. I saw his bowels protrude
as he lay in the bottom of the boat holding my
hand. He asked me if I thought there was any
hope. I could only say, Where 'there is life there
is hope ' but I had none. Stracge to say, the good
Crawford sewed him up, and the Admiral's last
letter from Hong Kong states that Spurner hoped
to return to his duty in a few days. What a long
yarn I have spun you ; but as I began the little
affair came fresh to my memory, and I have filled
no end of paper all about self. My own prospects
for the future I cannot guess af, but, going on with
self, I may be allowed to s ty to you, whom it is so
sure to gratify, tbat the Admiral speaks highly of
my services in the late boat affair. Whether ho
overrates them or not is not my business, but I do
think that they ought to insure my continued em-
ployment out here, even should I be on the flag
list.. There is a fleet out and coming sufficiently
large for two admirals. I see the French have re-
warded my services in .the Crimea higher than our
own Government has done.
"July 7.—These Chinese rascals still give us
enough to do. We aro supposed not to interfere
with the trade, so that hundreds of vessels pass
daily up and down the river, but piratical boat-3
and all sorts of rascals get in among these traders,
who quarrel and attack one another, so that it is
difficult for us to distinguish the trader from the
pirate. There are other long rowboats carrying 60