Battle of Whampoa



The Battle of Whampoa was fought between British and Chinese forces at Whampoa Island on 2 March 1841 during the First Opium War.

Battle
On 2 March 1841, Commodore James Bremer, commander-in-chief of the British forces, sent Captain Edward Belcher of the Sulphur to reconnoitre up Junk River. The ship was towed by three of the Wellesley's boats under Lieutenant Richard Symonds. As they approached the north-east end of Whampoa Island, a Chinese battery of about 25 guns, which were masked by thick tree branches, opened fire on the ships. Lieutenant Symonds immediately cut the tow line, the boats sailed towards the shore, and the boat crews landed. 250 Tartar troops defended the battery. They fled for shelter in the neighbouring jungle, but were dislodged by artillery from the Sulphur. After the British captured the forts, the guns were destroyed, and the works and magazines blown up.

Bremer reported 15 or 20 Tartars killed. One British seaman from the Wellesley died from mortal wounds after being shot through the lungs by grapeshots. Bremer resigned the command of the land forces to Major-General Hugh Gough, who joined the fleet on board the Cruizer. Former Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu wrote in his diary entry of 2 March: "I hear that the English rebel ships have already forced their way to the fort at Lieh-te. Early in the morning I went to talk things over at the General Office in the Monastery of the Giant Buddha."