142 



CHINA. 



was blown up by a torpedo. A cigar-shaped 

 torpedo-boat, about fifty feet long, steaming 

 twenty knots an hour, was sent out against 

 her as soon as the fight began. When the 

 French flag-ship, the Volta, opened fire, she 

 answered with a broadside, which caused the 



destroyed, the French trained their guns on 

 the arsenal and the forts and barracks in the 

 neighborhood, and kept on firing for two hours 

 after the Krupp guns were silenced. On the 

 24th and 25th the French shelled the arsenal 

 and camps, and a village where, in shoal wa- 



chief loss of lifo suffered by the French dur- ter, the escaped transports had taken refuge. 



CHINESE PICTORIAL VERSION OP THE BATTLE AT FOG-CHOW. 



ing the action. Four minutes later she was 

 struck by the torpedo. The next instant noth- 

 ing was seen of the stately vessel of 2,000 tons 

 displacement but floating timber. The Chinese 

 sunken torpedoes failed to work. The fire- 

 junks did no damage. The guns of the Chinese 

 gunboats were mounted to fire end-on, and 

 were not in position when the fight began. 

 Except the two eighteen-ton gunboats, the Chi- 

 nese vessels were mere yachts. Resistance was 

 offered with Hotchkiss guns, but, under the 

 'heavy fire, the guns could not be served. The 

 French machine-guns, of the same pattern, 

 performed admirably, as did the breech-loading 

 guns of French design. The resistance the 

 Chinese were able to offer to the ponderous 

 artillery of the heavily- armored French ves- 

 sels was very slight. In fifteen minutes the 

 combat was practically ended. All the Chi- 

 nese vessels were disabled, except two that es- 

 caped. They ceased firing altogether, the sur- 

 vivors leaping overboard. The French allowed 

 no surrender, but continued to fire for hours 

 at the sinking ships and at the numerous war- 

 junks in the river. The river was strewed with 

 dead and wounded. On the French side seven 

 were killed. The Chinese loss was estimated 

 at 1,000 killed and 3,000 wounded. The iron- 

 clad Triomphante joined the French fleet after 

 the bombardment was begun. The shore-bat- 

 teries of the arsenal did little execution. They 

 ceased firing at three o'clock, two hours after 

 ttie action opened. As soon as the fleet was 



On the 25th the ironclad Galissoniere attempt- 

 ed to enter the channel. The Chinese gunners 

 in the "White Fort, three miles away, found the 

 range at once, and sent a shot into her hull, 

 and then another, which drove her off. On 

 the 26th Admiral Courbet raked from behind 

 the Mingan forts, which could not reply, as all 

 their guns were directed outward. On the 

 27th and 28th the Kimpai batteries were also 

 enfiladed. Small landing parties destroyed all 

 the guns of European make. Although the 

 narrow passes of the river afforded excellent 

 shelter for sharpshooters, there were but few 

 musketry-shots, which were so poor that only 

 three or four Frenchmen fell. Hotchkiss guns 

 in the tops of the vessels drove the infantry 

 from the hill-sides, while Krupp shells caused 

 the speedy evacuation of the forts. After dis- 

 mantling all the forts and fishing up a few 

 sunken torpedoes, which were not in working 

 condition, Admiral Courbet steamed out of the 

 river, and stationed his fleet at Matsou. The 

 French made use nightly of electric lights both 

 to watch the enemy and for telegraphic sig- 

 naling. The Foochow populace and the flee- 

 ing soldiery indulged in looting in the European 

 quarter, the inhabitants of which had all taken 

 refuge on shipboard. The French destroyed 

 the police junk-fleet. American, British, and 

 German naval forces afterward policed the 

 harbor, and also kept order in the city, where 

 the civil administration was utterly disorgan- 

 ized. After the departure of the French, the 



