Battle of Shipu The Battle of Shipu ( Chinese : 石浦沉船事件 ) was a French naval victory during the Sino - French War ( August 1884 – April 1885 ) . The battle took place on the night of 14 February 1885 in Shipu Bay ( 石浦灣 ) , near Ningbo , China . Background . The battle arose from an attempt by part of the Chinese Nanyang Fleet ( Southern Seas fleet ) to relieve the French blockade of Formosa ( Taiwan ) . On 18 January 1885 the Chinese cruisers " Nanchen " ( 南琛 ) , " Nanrui " ( 南瑞 ) and " Kaiji " ( 開濟 ) left Shanghai , accompanied by the frigate " Yuyuan " ( 馭遠 ) and the composite sloop " Chengqing " ( 澄慶 ) , and sailed towards Formosa . The Chinese flotilla was under the command of Admiral Wu Ankang ( 吳安康 ) . The Nanyang ships were originally to have been accompanied by " Chaoyong " ( 超勇 ) and " Yangwei " ( 揚威 ) , two relatively modern cruisers from the Beiyang Fleet , under the command of the German ' guest - admiral ' Siebelin , but Li Hongzhang diverted these two Beiyang ships to Korean waters . ( Tension between China and Japan over Korea was running high at the period , following Yuan Shihkai ' s defeat of the Gapsin Coup in December 1884 . ) According to L . C . Arlington , an American naval officer serving as a ' foreign adviser ' aboard the frigate " Yuyuan " , the sortie was made in a mood of deep despondency . The Chinese captains had no confidence in their ability to meet the French in combat and were determined to avoid battle if they possibly could . The Chinese flotilla sailed south slowly and hesitantly , never out of sight of land , and with frequent halts to exercise the ships ' guns . Before the flotilla reached the Taiwan strait Admiral Wu had already despaired of completing his mission . He proposed instead merely to announce that the Chinese flotilla was on its way to Formosa , in the hope that this false rumour would force the French to raise the blockade of Formosa and concentrate their warships for defence . The Chinese flotilla turned around and headed back to Sanmen Bay , close to the Chinese port of Ningbo . The Chinese sortie was duly reported in the Hong Kong newspapers at the end of January 1885 . Captain Baux of " Triomphante " , who had been stationed in Hong Kong to monitor the news from China , immediately cabled the news to Admiral Amédée Courbet at Keelung ( Jilong ) . The French , weary of the monotonous routine of the blockade and frustrated with their inability to get to grips with the Chinese , jumped at the chance of destroying half the Nanyang Fleet at sea . Courbet sailed north from Keelung in early February to hunt down the Chinese with the ironclads " Bayard " and " Triomphante " , the cruisers " Nielly " , " Éclaireur " and " Duguay - Trouin " , the gunboat " Aspic " and the troopship " Saône " . The chase . Uncertain where to find the enemy , Courbet first looked into the mouth of the Min River ( 7 February ) , then headed northwards along the China Coast . On 9 February , with supplies of coal beginning to run short on some ships , Courbet was obliged to send the cruiser " Duguay - Trouin " back to Keelung . On 10 February the rest of the French squadron reached the Chusan Islands and on 11 February entered the mouth of the Yangzi River , to the alarm of the Chinese batteries at Wusong . There was still no sign of the Chinese . Eventually the French established communications with the shore and combed the Chinese newspapers for the latest news of the sortie . They discovered that the Far East Squadron had passed the Chinese cruisers on its voyage north , and that the enemy vessels were now lurking in Sanmen Bay . Courbet immediately headed southwards , and led the squadron at night through the hazardous passages of the Chusan Islands to close with the enemy as soon as possible . On 13 February , off Shipu Bay ( Sheipoo Bay , as it was then known by Europeans ) , to the south of the Chusan Islands , " Éclaireur " caught sight of the Chinese flotilla and signalled ' Five steamships in view to the south ' . The French squadron immediately offered battle , and bore down on the Chinese . The Chinese flotilla initially advanced against the French in a ' V ' formation , led by Admiral Wu ' s flagship " Kaiji " , and for one brief , exhilarating moment the French believed that the Chinese had accepted battle . They had no doubt that they would destroy the Chinese ships with ease . Suddenly , however , before the range closed , the enemy flotilla broke its formation and scattered . The three cruisers headed south , pursued by Courbet ' s squadron , while " Yuyuan " and " Chengqing " took refuge in Shipu Bay . According to Arlington , Admiral Wu had a grudge against the captains of these two ships , and deliberately sacrificed them in order to save the rest of the Chinese flotilla . Courbet ' s ships were unable to catch the faster Chinese cruisers , and on the evening of 13 February Courbet took his squadron back to Shipu Bay to deal with " Yuyuan " and " Chengqing " . The battle . On the night of 14 February the French attacked the Chinese ships with two torpedo launches , commanded respectively by " capitaine de frégate " Palma Gourdon and " lieutenant de vaisseau " Émile Duboc . Both men had already distinguished themselves in the early battles of the Tonkin campaign . Gourdon had been one of the first officers into the Vietnamese defences at the Battle of Thuan An ( 20 August 1883 ) , and Duboc had fought heroically at the Battle of Paper Bridge ( 19 May 1883 ) and the Battle of Phu Hoai ( 15 August 1883 ) . The two French officers timed their attack to coincide with the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year festival , in the hope of catching the Chinese off their guard . The bay was also full of junks and sampans which had taken refuge there from the French , and Duboc and Gourdon hoped that their small launches , painted black for camouflage , could mingle with these vessels and approach their targets unseen . ( Arlington had warned the Chinese captains to clear these small boats away from the two Chinese warships , but his advice had been ignored . ) The two French launches , under cover of darkness , managed to approach to within 100 metres of their targets without being seen . But the Chinese sentries on both ships were on the alert , and the French launches were spotted some distance away from their objectives . Under heavy Chinese rifle fire , Duboc and Gourdon made an extremely dangerous approach and successfully exploded their spar torpedoes against " Yuyuan " ' s hull , crippling the Chinese frigate . Both launches then made their escape from Shipu Bay and were recovered the following morning by " Saône " . One French sailor was killed by rifle fire during the attack . Arlington has left a valuable description of the battle from the Chinese viewpoint . He was aboard " Yuyuan " when the frigate was attacked by the two French launches , and described vividly the panic that ensued after the explosion of the spar torpedoes , as the Chinese crewmen abandoned ship and swam for the shore . During the confusion of the French attack the Chinese shore batteries opened fire . The Chinese artillery fire was wildly inaccurate and at least one shell seems to have hit the composite sloop " Chengqing " , crippling her also : The scene that now occurred almost beggars description . Some tried to lower the boats , some rushed between decks to try and save their possessions , many jumped overboard into the sea . It was , in fact , everyone for himself , and the devil take the hindmost . When I had time to realise what had really happened , a strange scene was unrolled before me . Just ahead of us lay the little " Ching - ching " slowly settling down beneath the waters ; she had been attacked by the same torpedo boat that had sunk us . Our own ship was gradually sinking , her guns just level with the water ’ s edge . Along the shore and in the water about us were seamen , soldiers , chickens , ducks , geese and baggage of every description . The fault rested entirely with the Chinese — even at the last moment , had they made any attempt to repel the torpedo boat they might have warded off the catastrophe , and possibly sunk the enemy instead . No such attempt was made , and the French escaped scot - free . On the morning of 15 February the French scouted Shipu Bay and discovered that both Chinese ships had been sunk . Gourdon and Duboc were feted on their return to the French squadron , and were both decorated for the heroism they had shown in pressing home their torpedo attack under fire . Embarrassed by the loss of one of their ships to friendly fire , the Chinese authorities later claimed that " Chengqing " had been deliberately scuttled to prevent her from falling into the hands of the French . However , both Arlington and Duboc record seeing a bright flash and hearing a loud explosion aboard " Chengqing " during the battle . Arlington assumed that the sloop had been struck by a French torpedo , but she seems rather to have fallen victim to a Chinese shell . Duboc and Gourdon were insistent that they had only attacked " Yuyuan " , not " Chengqing " .