Early Relations between the United States and China. 51 



along the western coast of South America.^"* Captain Kempton 

 of H. M. S. "Diana" examined her papers and searched her 

 for deserters. While he was doing so, some disaffected members 

 of the crew told him that the "Topaz" was a pirate. Captain 

 Nicol feared trouble and obtained permission from the governor 

 of Macao to anchor his vessel under the guns of the Portuguese 

 fort and to put his treasure on land for safe keeping. While 

 the schooner was under way moving to her new position, the 

 English approached again, but were refused permission to come 

 aboard until the vessel should come to anchor. They answered 

 by boarding her by force. In the ensuing fight Captain Nicol 

 was killed, eight of his men were wounded, and the vessel itself 

 was captured and sent to Calcutta. This act aroused the Ameri- 

 can shipmasters at Canton, and for a time a local war seemed 

 imminent. Commodore Pellew of the English squadron was 

 reported to have threatened to come to W'hampoa and capture 

 every American ship there. The American ships, eleven in num- 

 ber, organized themselves into a fleet, appointed a commodore and 

 vice-commodore, and prepared for war. The trouble dragged 

 on into November, when Captain Fanning, if we can believe his 

 story, brought the parties together through his personal acquaint- 

 ance with the British commodore, and averted further blood- 

 shed.^"^ In 1809, however, the "Phaeton" was again impressing 

 American seamen in Canton and was attempting to search 

 American merchantmen. ^^° 



The War of 1812 was a distinct break in the trade between the 

 United States and China. Here, as in other branches of com- 

 merce, fear of capture by the British kept American ships at 

 home. The total commerce of the three seasons from 1812 to 

 1815 was barely half of that of the year before the war, and 



™ Felix Renouard de Sainte Croix, Voyage Commercial et Politique 

 aux Indes Orientales .... a la chine .... pendant les annees 

 1803-1807, 3 V. Paris, 1810, 3 : 130, in a letter written from China, Nov. 

 17, 1807, tells of this affair, and his story receives corroboration and 

 additions from Fanning, Voyages to S. Seas, 99-113. Both are by men 

 who were either in China at the time or a few months later. 



'""Fanning, Voj'ages to S. Seas, pp. 99-113. 



""J. B. Fames, The Fnglish in China. London, 1909. p. 136. 



