Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1892-11-08
He Was in a Hot Place Once.

Lieut.. Senez, the second officer of the
French gunboat Hussard, now lying in
the North river, is young man who
has acquired considerable reputation
for courage and enterprise among his
fellow officers of the French navy. In
January, 1885, when Gen. Briere de
T'Tsle, Commander-in-C of the
French expedition to Tonquin, decided
TO carry the war into Chinese territory,
he sent Commander Domino and 600
men to occupy the citadel Of Thuyen-
guam. This fortress stands at the en-
trance of the passes which lead west
ward toward Yunnan, and was point
which had to be occupied in order TO
keep communication open between the
French advance column and the sea.
Two gunboats, 60 feet in length and of
Is feet beam each, armed with six
inch breach-loading rifle and two Cat
ling guns, with crew of Is men all
told, were assigned to duty in the Clear
river to keep open communication be-
tween Thuyen-quan and Sontay One
gunboat was commanded by Lieut..
Senez, the other by Lieut.. de Balain-
court.
The French column, in command of
Gen. Negrier, had hardly started
through the mountain passes when the
Chinese army corps ofth Yunnan, 49,
600 strong, came down from Laokai to-
ward the delta of the Red river and at
tackled Thuyen-quan. The Chinese
general besieged the citadel and ex-
pected to capture it easily on account
of the greater numerical force of his
army and the power of his modern ar
tillery. But he soon found that he
could do nothing as long as the two
gunboats kept provisioning the fort.
He therefore established four batteries
of Krupp guns six miles below Thuyen-
guam, at point on the river where the
rocky shores narrowed and turned the
stream into foaming rapids On the
most prominent rocks he built an adj
ditional battery of barbette guns. To
make the place even more impossible,
the Chinese commander filled two
junks with stone and sank them III
midstream.
When Senez and de Balaincourt
found their retreat cut off they used
their guns to help defend the fort. But
at the end of bombardment of thirty
six days two-thirds of the French gar
rison and most of the officers had been
killed. 4 breach had been made
in the walls at which Commander
Domino had been compelled to
repulse seven assaults of Chinese
infantry, and still the siege artillery Of
the enemy was pounding away in at
tempts to make other openings in the
defences. The commander of Thuyen-
GUAM saw that something must be done
to save theme still left.
In few hours it was decided to send
a gunboat down the river. The decks
and machinery were protected by adj
ditional steel plates. and Lieut.. Senez
was put in command The craft start
ed down the stream, and in short
while had arrived in sight of the
rapids. The officer rang for full speed,
and steered straight ahead toward the
distractions. A shower of shells and
cannon balls was sent from the shore
batteries, and the protected infantry on
the rocks kept up q hail Of bullets.
Lieut.. Senez was wounded eight times,
and thirteen out of the fifteen of his
crew were killed. The steel protective
plates were blown to atoms, and the
whole top hamper Of the boat was torn
away, but the gunboat got by the bar
ricade and reached Hai-Phong in safe
ty. There Senez found Gen. Briere de
Isle with 5000 men. In three days,
by means of forced marshes, these
troops reached Thuyen-quan, and after
a bloody fight relieved the fort, which
must have surrendered before night
n. Y. San.