Flagrant Harbour: The Caldwell Affair
Attack of the British Navy
Attack of the British Navy
On the Advice of Daniel Caldwell: A Detailed Account
The P. and O. Company’s steamer Canton, Captain Jamieson, returned unexpectedly yesterday afternoon about four o’clock, bringing despatches for the Admiral from Captain Hay, of H.M. brig Columbine, with seven seamen of that vessel, badly wounded, and we regret to add, the body of Mr. Goddard, one of the midshipmen, a most promising young officer – who expired about two p.m. on the passage down, from the effect of wounds received in an attack made by the Columbine, on a division of Shap-ng-tsai’s pirate fleet, which will appear in its place in the following particulars.
The Canton left this on the morning of the 29th at three a.m. on a cruise northward, after the missing clipper Coquette. She spoke several fishing boats, but obtained no information from them. At 11 a.m. she sighted a fleet of fifteen large junks chased by a square-rigged vessel which turned out to be H. M. brig Columbine. On seeing the steamer, one division of the junks stood out to sea, the other in shore. The Canton observing the Columbine hauling in shore with the view of cutting them off, hauled in likewise, determined to render the most effective assistance in her power, to Her Majesty’s ship, without in any respect compromising herself by any overt attack upon the enemy. When the intention of the steamer (to cut them off from the shore,) was perceived by the junks, the whole fleet put about, and stood out to sea – several of the weaker junks having been previously reinforced by drafts of men from the stronger.
The steamer then took the Columbine in tow, and stood over towards a junk, which appeared from her size and equipment, to be the chief of the fleet. Upon getting within range the brig yawed, and poured in a her broadside, which only took effect in the pirate’s rigging
The junk then rounded too – returned his starboard broadside without doing any mischief – shifted his helm and gave his port guns with like non-effect. Upon this the Columbine cast off and made sail in chase, the steamer following, but keeping out of range of the junk’s guns.
The chase made for a small cove in Hong-hae Bay, the Columbine keeping up a sharp fire upon her from her bow guns, which was returned, shot for shot, by the junk. The latter knowing the channel better, got safely through, into the cove, the Columbine having touched the ground outside was obliged to haul off. The junk having thus got into a land locked position, the brig’s guns could not be brought to bear on her, upon which Captain Hay immediately ordered out his boats. While this was being done, two small forts upon the shore opened fire upon the junk, which was immediately returned, apparently without much effect on either side. By this time the launch and pinnace under command of Lieut. Bridges, first officer of the Columbine, were under weigh through the channel, to carry the junk by boarding.
On rounding the point, a heavy fire was opened upon them, from the decks of the pirate, while she kept up, at the same time, a brisk cannonade upon the forts on shore. Mr. Goddard, a midshipman, in command of the pinnace, had by this time, in the most gallant manner, boarded the pirate, over her bows, followed by his boat’s crew. On seeing one who appeared to be an officer of the junk, going down the fore hatch, he followed with a marine, when, melancholy to relate, the vessel blew up, the magazine having been fired her own crew, supposed to number over ninety, with the whole of the boarders, being blown into the air together. One marine was killed, Mr. Goddard severely wounded and burnt, as well as the greater part of the boats’ crews ; two seamen being missing on the muster being called.
Mr. Bridges having boarded immediately after Mr. Goddard, saved himself and one seaman of the Columbine by jumping overboard at the moment of the explosion, pulling the man along with him. The wounded men were immediately picked up by the boats, and taken on board the Columbine – the junk being totally destroyed with all her crew, but one, now a prisoner on board the brig. Through information received from this man, it was ascertained that the pirate fleet was bound ford place called Tai-poon, whither Captain Hay determined to follow them.
Accordingly at 7 a.m. on the 30th, the steamer took the Columbine in tow, and proceeded towards Tai-poon. On nearing that anchorage, it was ascertained from fishing-boats that nine large junks had entered a place called Byas Bay, and on reaching the entrance the two vessels saw a number of junks working up the inner waters upon which the Columbine came to anchor in a position which commanded all the entrances.
Captnin Hay then despatched the Canton, with the wounded (7 in number) to this place, with letters for the Admiral, the Columbine remaining behind, keeping the pirate fleet under close blockade. The Canton started from Tai-poong at half-past 11 a.m. and reached Hong Kong at a quarter to 4 p.m. Mr. Goddard having died on the passage. The steamer hauled up alongside the Hastings and delivered her despatches, and the wounded men of the Columbine. H.M. Steamer Fury, Capt. Wilcox got under weigh as quickly as possible, and started about 6 p.m. to the assistance of the Brig. The Canton proceeded again this morning before daylight in search of the Coquette.
Services of H. M. Steamer “Fury” Against Pirates.
Our former Nos. have laid before our readers the o operations of the pirates in the Chinese seas, and shown what rapid strides they have made of late, towards rendering trade even when carried on in European vessels well-armed and manned, extremely hazardous. The Sylph and other vessels have doubtlessly fallen victims to these depredators, the fate of whose crews in the hands of these celestial murderers is far too painful to be dwelt upon ; yet, willing as we are, to give credence to the various rumours current regarding the numerical strength and armament of these pirates, we should have paused ere we admitted to our pages a narrative like that which we are about to lay before our readers, did not the source from which our information has been derived, dispel at once all doubt with regard to its veracity and faithfulness of detail.
We trust also that it will settle at once the imperative necessity of H. E. the naval Commander-in-Chief, who is now once again happily in our waters, taking active measures for their immediate and total annihilation ; should he not determine on so doing, our trade will become, ere many months, so hazardous, that but few will be able to venture capital so certain of destruction.
It would appear that H. M. steamer Fury, which gratified so many on Sunday the 30th ultimo, as she glided rapidly out of our harbour, picturing to the imagination the perfect coup-d’oeil of a man-of-war steamer (having during the night examined several large junks of doubtful character), discovered H. M. brig Columbine at anchor off the entrance of ° Bias Bay,” whither she had tracked the pirates on the previous day. The Fury anchored in her immediate vicinity, about 1 a.m. on the morning of the 1st instant, where she lay until daybreak, when she weighed, and having taken the Columbine in tow, proceeded into the bay. At 8.30 the Columbine anchored on account of the water shoaling, and also in order the more effectually to cut off the retreat of the pirates should they have attempted to elude their pursuers by availing themselves of the numerous passages amidst the various islands that studded the bay on either side.
The Fury then proceeded onward, accompanied by the boats of the Columbine, with Commander Hay, who went in advance sounding, and the pinnace of H.M. ship Hastings, under charge of Lieutenant Luard, and forty marines from the latter vessel, and carefully examined the numerous inlets in this beautiful and picturesque spot, and many were the surmises, the while, that Chinese cunning and ingenuity had once again foiled the ardent desires of those emulous to show to these marauders, the punishment ever due to the evildoer.
A small fleet of sampans containing fishermen, soon, however. caused hope to return, by their informing the Chinese pilots on board the Fury, that some piratical junks had put to sea a few days previous ; but that at least ten were in a creek to the entrance of which they pointed. The Fury now proceeded with caution, and after another tedious hour a small inlet gradually opened, which at first only presented to the eye one large junk ; but as the steamer gradually opened it, sixteen junks appeared with colours flying and guns all ready for action, and whilst those on board the Fury were doubtful whether they (the Chinese) would rely on their old system of chicanery and declare themselves merely fishermen armed only for their own protection, and not of course for the destruction of all whom circumstances might throw in their path, weaker than themselves, these surmises were pleasingly dispelled by their opening fire ; thus becoming the attacking party, and commencing a quick and well directed fire on the Fury.
At 10.30 a.m. the steamer returned their fire, and the first shell set one of their number in flames, shot after shot in rapid succession whirred over bead and several struck the ship, one raking and passing through the companion, after wounding in its passage one of the men at the wheel, several also passed through the paddle-casings, but although the direction was good, all fortunately were harmless – in the mean time the 32-pounders from the Fury were telling with fearful effect, some of the shot passing through several of the junks ranged in line, and those from her bow-gun, (a 68-pounder) went ringing through the enemy’s craft and ricochetting along the beach afterwards, finally entering, sans ceremonie, their strong and well-built houses.
At 10 45 a.m. the firing opened from the farthermost junks, and another row on the right which also commenced a rapid fire ; matters proceeded in this style until 11.30, when more of the junks took fire from the shell which exploded in-board, and the exertions of the parties became now for the first time sensibly diminished ; within ten minutes from this period two large junks blew up with fearful effect on their neighbours as well as themselves, and these were succeeded by three others in rapid succession ; a shell now entered one of the largest, from the foremost 68-pounder, and she almost immediately followed her predecessors ; another also proved to be on fire and also exploded – their detachment on the right seemed now hors de combat; numbers might be seen jumping from the sterns of the still remaining junks against whom the grape told with fatal effect, – such as escaped, took to the hills.
A harrassing fire was still kept up from those on the left of the creek, (at this period the boats were dispatched under cover of the fire from the Fury, to inspect and see whether any fire-rafts were in preparation, and they returned at 4.30 towing out one of the smaller junks from the detachment on the right, which had been on fire but extinguished, and those on board were presented with a specimen of our would-be fishing friends. She was fitted to row twelve large sweeps on either aide, and mounted no less than seventeen guns mostly of English manufacture, some evidently of s very recent period, the best of those were taken on board, and are now in Hongkong. The vessel was afterwards destroyed. By two p.m. the firing on the part of the Chinese had ceased.
A party of marines were now despatched on shore under cover of the boats, to examine and destroy the various houses, and to prevent the descent of the enemy, who were watching on the summit of the various hills which surround this beautiful and well chosen site, whilst others of the force were busily engaged firing the yet remaining junks : this accomplished they returned on board.
The cool determination with which these delinquents descended the hills and attempted, nay succeeded in several instances, in allaying the ravages of the flames on their devoted craft, had it been exerted in a worthier cause, must have excited feeling, of wonder and admiration – shot after shot warned them away – grape and cannister did their work, yet still they returned to the task apparently undaunted ; their futile attempts even the deadly shell could not render apparent to them, and nothing save the presence of the boats filled with marines and small arm men, and repeated doses of grape from the boats’ guns, could drive these men from their rash and foolhardy attempts.
The scene which presented itself, as night closed in was beautiful in the extreme – the small bay appeared one burning mass, the cracking of the burning vessels,, ever and anon interrupted by the low boom that announced the explosion of the separate magazines, (several exploding at distant intervals on board of each junk) combined with the report from the guns on board the devoted craft which kept up a constant fire as in succession they became red-hot, rendered the scene one which far surpasses our poor ideas of the picturesque – yet amidst a scene like this might be seen at intervals, the cunning, overreaching Chinese working stealthily, at the hazard of their lives, for the recovery of those articles most valued by those who make their livelihood by plunder – parties might be seen carrying off guns towards the mountains. The explosions of their vessels brought no fear to them – they knew that on them, and them only, their precarious livelihood depended ; they had ventured on the cast, and they knew full well they must
” Stand the hazard of the die.”
What has been the result of this expedition ? One quarter at least of the pirate force, according to the best authorities, is already destroyed ; 23 junks, manned and armed, have been burned, together with four buildings. This, combined with the loss of all their stores and ammunition, and the destruction of at least five hundred of these desperadoes is a heavy blow. Two hundred of their guns have been either taken or effectually destroyed, together with well-stored magazines of powder, which, bearing the English stamp, must have been procured at Hongkong, Macao, or other marts in the East ; or, what is far worse, have been captured, in cases where none have been left to tell to the world the horrible cruelties enacted by these celestial barbarians, the mere retrospect of which causes all well regulated minds to shrink with horror from an abomination that has been, through the supineness of the powers that be, allowed to approach our very thresholds.
This pirate haunt (their naval arsenal in fact) which, be it remembered, is now proved to have been Chui-a-poo’s, is situated in Bias Bay, an inlet within forty miles to the eastward of Hongkong, and there can now be no doubt that these crafty and rapacious villains are able singly to capture many of the merchant vessels at present trading to the northward, their daring in attacking one of the finest and best appointed steamers in H.M. Navy, is now beyond doubt, and whilst narrating the result, we can only attribute it to an all beneficent Providence, that so much has been effected with so little loss of life on the side of our gallant countrymen, and in conclusion we sincerely trust that the entire annihilation of these desperadoes will be effected with equal success.
Were the Chinese a race of beings to whom appeals to their senses were possible, the present must read to them a great moral lesson, – here we see a band of men termed by them barbarians, at the risk of their lives, ridding their coast of the destroyers of their commerce. Is it for their own emolument ? facts answer no ! – here thousands and ten thousands of dollars worth of property have been destroyed, nothing gained by the victors – yet nothing is taken – it therefore is not for tbeir own individual gain, but to evince their horror of those who by their nefarious practices outrage all law, and eventually become the victims of their own cupidity and lawless avarice.
We learn that one of the prisoners who floated alongside the Fury, and whose leg was shot away, the other having been much injured and since amputated, states that his name is Loo-sam and that he is a native of the Loochow country, and a carpenter by trade – that he worked at Chui-a-poo’s dockyard, whither he went to work on hoard a junk there building on Monday morning.- after the steam boat came, he was at work when shot,- after he was wounded they (the pirates) threw him on board the sampan.- He stated that Chui-a-poo was the head man of the pirates – he, (Chui-a-poo) originally belonged to Checkchoo, – that Hong-maou-kop was his country, his younger brother is named Chee-sum, and is also a pirate chief – they both belonged to Shap ng.tsai’s fleet and were implicated in the murders of Da Costa and Dwyer.
The 2nd of October was devoted to the completing of the good work so nobly begun on the day previous.- As the sun rose the picturesque pirate creek of Pinghoi presented a far different aspect to that which it did previous to the vomiting forth those messengers of destruction, which had effected their work of demolition so effectually a few hours before, still much remained to be done ; groups of men might he seen congregated on the hills armed with matchlocks and spears, who on the least relaxation of vigilance on the part of those already fatigued with the exertions of the day previous, descended, and recommenced their efforts for the recovery of their guns, and ere the boats had well reached the Fury at the seamen’s dinner hour, small sampans were floated out of the creek and hundreds might be seen busily engaged attempting to recover the yet undestroyed portion of their armament – a party was now despatched under cover of our guns to effect at once their immediate destruction, and all being accomplished at sunset, the Fury gut underweigh and rejoined the Columbine, the pirates again descended from the hills and might be seen prowling over the now useless relics of their former power.
At day-break the succeeding morning the whole force again got underweigh in search of certain junks of which information had been received, but which proved to be either incorrect, or else the loud tongued whelping of the 68-pounder guns on beard the Fury announced her whereabouts too plainly, to be altogether comfortable.
Source: http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Gazette/RN_Vessels/Columbine_&_Pirates.html#Fury
SG & SGTL Vol 7, pp 40-41.
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MED-SLD: Adrift!
MED: SLD Life in a Mining Camp
Ship Northfleet: her service in the tea trade and her tragic end
This ship is of interest because it carried Henry Charles Caldwell from London to Hong Kong in 1856. Henry was the brother of Daniel Richard Francis Caldwell. Henry was wanted by the Singapore authorities for stealing the court’s trust funds when he was court clerk there. Strangely, he was not arrested upon arrival in Hong Kong but permitted to transship and continue to Macao where Daniel had arranged accommodation for him. Henry never did face a court for his actions. He became a popular and wealthy Hong Kong lawyer, paid back the monies owed and retired to England. The Northfleet is also of interest because she was an outstanding example of the tea clippers and the skilled captains and crew who operated them. Peter Bruce
This ship is remembered for her bad ending to her career, but she was also a very fine wooden passenger ship, numbered among the best of these ships sailing in the ‘fifties between London and the East. She was a first class London ship, run Blackwall fashion, but also had a good turn of speed and ran with the first flight of sailing tea clippers.
She was built on the Thames, at Northfleet, for the shipowner Duncan Dunbar. She registered 951 tons new measurement. In appearance she was a typical Blackwall frigate, with first-class passenger accommodation under the poop. She also had a spacious ‘tween-deck for troops or emigrants.
The NORTHFLEET was a lucky ship right up to the moment when the fates struck her a foul blow which sent her to the bottom with 293 souls — men, women and children.
The first few voyages of the NORTHFLEET were spent in trooping to the Black Sea in the Crimean War. Her commander was Captain Benjamin Freeman, who took her over in the spring of 1855. He was already a famous captain for his exploits while in command of the PYRENEES.
In 1856 she was sent to Hong Kong with troops. It was on this voyage that she made her first tea passage, She sailed from Whampoa and reached London only 126 days out. She then took troops at Woolwich and made the run to Hong Kong in 88 days. Captain Freeman then left Hong Kong after loading tea up the Canton River on August 8th and anchored in Plymouth Sound on October 29th, only 82 days out. This was the fastest voyage of her career and proved that she was a very fast ship indeed!
The NORTHFLEET came to the rescue of the crew of the little brig Hebe on November 13th, 1858 while sailing back to Plymouth. The Hebe was fallen in with in a very heavy, stormy sea. She had been struck by a heavy sea and had three or four feet of water in her hold, having had her decks swept clear of everything, including caboose, boats and bulwarks. The rescue required superb seamanship. The NORTHFLEET was sailed to windward of the sinking brig and hove-to; the long-boat, with five volunteers, was lowered, and veered down on the wreck at the end of a hawser. A line was thrown aboard the Hebe from the boat which was used to haul the crew, one by one, through the raging sea to the boats side. They were taken aboard the NORTHFLEET from the boat by using a whip secured to the end of the spanker-boom. Mr. Knight, the second mate of the NORTHFLEET and the man in charge of the boat, was given a telescope as a reward for his rescue efforts — the crew each having received a monetary reward of two pounds.
The NORTHFLEET had many fine passages in the Eastern trade throughout the ‘sixties. On her outward voyage to Hong Kong from London in 1862 she was badly pooped. There was a very strong sea with furious squalls and a very high sea. At 4:20 a.m. on Friday, 13 June, she was pooped by a heavy sea resulting in washing the man from the wheel, carried away the stern boat and filled the decks and cabins with water, injuring the stern in the process. At 9 a.m. she was pooped again. This time her stern deadlights and frames were stove in, breaking all the joiner work inside the cabins, filling them with water and washing out and destroying all captains and passengers effects. Almost all the moldings and decorations on the stern were carried away. Starboard topgallant bulwark smashed and main bulwarks very much injured. Repaired damages as best as possible under the circumstances.
It must have really been something to have experienced a period at sea such as is described above. It was extremely rough on the men — imagine the reaction of the women and children! On this same voyage, the NORTHFLEET left Macao with tea on September 7th, 1862, and raced home against the crack Aberdeen liner BALLARAT from Shanghai. These two ships raced neck and neck all the way to London. Some of the 24 hour runs of the NORTHFLEET during this time were 236, 267, 263, 244, 269, 273 and 246 miles. Both ships arrived in London within a few minutes of each other.
About this time Duncan Dumbar passed away, and Captain Freeman purchased his old ship from the executors, placed her under the command of his chief officer, William Symington, and retired from the sea.
The NORTHFLEET continued to sail the China trade. In 1866 she successfully weathered out a typhoon. In 1868 it appears that the NORTHFLEET is now owned and commanded by Captain A. Pearson, but by 1871 she had again changed hands, coming under the flag of J. Patton, Junior, and commanded by Captain T. Oates.
The tragic end came in January, 1873. With her ‘Tween- decks crammed with emigrants for Tasmania, consisting mostly of railway navvies and their wives and children, she sailed down the Channel under Captain Knowles, who had his newly-married wife with him. A strong westerly gale compelled the ship to bring up under the shelter of Dungeness. Here, while she lay at anchor on a comparatively clear and fine night, the sailing ship was cut down to the water’s edge at 10:30 p.m. by the Spanish steamer MURILLO.
Everyone was asleep aboard the NORTHFLEET. The anchor watch did not even have time to cry out before the steamer backed out and disappeared in the darkness. Water immediately poured into the ship, and the navvies, many who had never seen the sea before, panicked and rushed the boats. Captain Knowles, with smoking pistol in hand, fought manfully to save the women and children while his chief officer tried vainly to block up the gaping wound forward.
By the most determined use of his revolver, Captain Knowles managed to get a boat away containing his wife and a number of other women, but there was no time to do more, for within twenty minutes of the collision the NORTHFLEET was on the bottom. The only men saved were found clinging to her upper masts and yards, which were above water.
The widow of the heroic Captain Knowles received a pension from the Civil List. The MURILLO was tracked down in a Continental port with her bow stove in. She had no name-boards forward on her bow (so that no one on the NORTHFLEET could identify her) which resulted in the Board of Trade passing a law compelling all British ships to paint their names on either bow.
Beautifully built of imperishable wood, the NORTHFLEET, though twenty years old at the time of her destruction, was still in her prime, and would no doubt have made a name for herself in the Australian emigrant trade had she survived
Source: http://www.shipmodelersassociation.org/research/fam9704.htm
Opium Wars
Losers rarely name wars, an exception being the conflict between Britain and China from 1839 to 1842, known bluntly ever since as the Opium War. To most Chinese, a century of humiliation began with this war, in which Westerners sought to force a deadly drug on an Asian people, and then imposed an unequal treaty that pried open their country and annexed the island that became Hong Kong.
In embarrassing truth, that is essentially what happened. As Hong Kong reverts to China at month’s end, many of us for the first time may see a bit of history from a different end of the telescope. Yet a further point needs making. Even the authors of the Opium War were ashamed of it, and Western protests against it marked the beginning of a concern with international human rights that in a fresh turn embarrasses today’s leaders in Beijing.
Along with the slave trade, the traffic in opium was the dirty underside of an evolving global trading economy. In America as in Europe, pretty much everything was deemed fair in the pursuit of profits. Such was the outlook at Russell & Company, a Boston concern whose clipper ships made it the leader in the lucrative American trade in Chinese tea and silk.
In 1823 a 24-year-old Yankee, Warren Delano, sailed to Canton, where he did so well that within seven years he was a senior partner in Russell & Company. Delano’s problem, as with all traders, European and American, was that China had much to sell but declined to buy. The Manchu emperors believed that the Middle Kingdom already possessed everything worth having, and hence needed no barbarian manufactures.
The British struck upon an ingenious way to reduce a huge trade deficit. Their merchants bribed Chinese officials to allow entry of chests of opium from British-ruled India, though its importation had long been banned by imperial decree. Imports soared, and nearly every American company followed suit, acquiring ”black dirt” in Turkey or as agents for Indian producers.
Writing home, Delano said he could not pretend to justify the opium trade on moral grounds, ”but as a merchant I insist it has been . . . fair, honorable and legitimate,” and no more objectionable than the importation of wines and spirits to the U.S. Yet as addiction became epidemic, and as the Chinese began paying with precious silver for the drug, their Emperor finally in 1839 named an Imperial Commissioner to end the trade.
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Commissioner Lin Tse-hsu proceeded to Canton, seized vast stocks of opium and dumped the chests in the sea. This, plus a melee in which drunken sailors killed a Chinese villager, furnished the spark for the Opium War, initiated by Lord Palmerston, the British Prime Minister, and waged with determination to obtain full compensation for the opium. The Celestial Empire was humbled, forced to open five ports to foreign traders and to permit a British colony at Hong Kong.
But as noteworthy, the war was denounced in Parliament as ”unjust and iniquitous” by 30-year-old William Ewart Gladstone, who accused Palmerston of hoisting the British flag ”to protect an infamous contraband traffic.” The same outrage was expressed in the pulpit and the press, in America and England, thereby encouraging Russell & Company and most other American businesses to pull out of the opium trade.
Warren Delano returned to America rich, and in 1851 settled in Newburgh, N.Y. There he eventually gave his daughter Sara in marriage to a well-born neighbor, James Roosevelt, the father of Franklin Roosevelt. The old China trader was close-mouthed about opium, as were his partners in Russell & Company. It is not clear how much F.D.R. knew about this source of his grandfather’s wealth. But the President’s recent biographer Geoffrey Ward rejects efforts by the Delano family to minimize Warren’s involvement.
The family’s discomfort is understandable. We no longer believe that anything goes in the global marketplace, regardless of social consequences. It is precisely this conviction that underlies efforts to attach human rights conditions to trading relations — to temper the amorality of the market — a point that, alas, seems to elude the Socialist soon-to-be masters of Hong Kong. KARL E. MEYER
Source: NYTimes
St Helena Bruces
Correspondence with Ian Bruce who has ancestry in St Helena and whom I queried for a possible connection. None apparent. Ian lives in Huddersfield Yorkshire and is a book publisher. He has considerable knowledge of the history of St Helena. Suggests I look into the Ancestry DNA analysis which provides more rigorous proof of connection. I could, for example, compare my code with his.
Feb 11, 2019
Hi Ian,
I was thrilled to get your prompt and helpful reply. In light of your busy days, it was kind of you to take the time. Thank you. I had noted the absence of Elizabeth Watts on your tree but anxious to make inroads on mine, I added Elizabeth, per the trees of Peter Gyton and Joan Mary Campbell. Then blithely went ahead and added half the population of St Helena. On receiving your email I had an uh-oh moment and went back to check the sources for Elizabeth. There are none! So for the month of February (not a particularly inviting time in this part of the world anyway) you may well find me sitting at the computer deleting half the population of St Helena from my tree — one by one. Joan’s source is simply not credible to me; Peter I will contact for his source. Ah me.
It’s interesting to hear that you have or are aware of considerable info on the Caldwells. I have very little. Several years ago I canvassed the St Helena Yahoo group for info but got nothing. If you could steer me in the right direction I’d be most grateful. No rush, whenever the smoke clears for you.
Yes, I have done the ancestry DNA test. I have not explored the code. I will do so and let you know what I find. Many thanks for the info Ian. You are clearly a details person. From the Elizabeth Watts matter, I evidently, am not.
Yorkshire, is it? Damn shame we didn’t meet sooner. My wife Randi and I were in Yorkshire (York mostly) in September. Did not see you around but did not go to Huddersfield. That could account for it. I’ve got deep roots in Yorkshire — Richardsons, the chocolate people, Wighams, etc. — Quakers all. More roots in Birmingham and Worcester. Well, all over England and Ireland, actually.
Here’s a silly account of our trip (which was grand): www.newearthvillage.com/
Thank you again for your help Ian. Let’s stay in touch. Attached are the promised edited images. All the best, Peter
Feb 14, 2019
Hello Peter
After centuries of interbreeding between white European farmers/merchants/
This wide range of colours and ethnicities has already been a feature of St Helena for several centuries. In my experience, “native” is not a common term on St Helena. However, it is safe to assume that white children born on St Helena would not be described as “native”. Because of the level of interbreeding, there was a wide range of skin colours and it is hard to know how dark the colour of children described as “native” would be.
Far more common is the term “free” and almost all such persons would have slave ancestry. That said, anyone claiming ancestry from St Helena is highly likely to have some slave blood within them. Some slaves were freed even in the 1600s, although they were not given easy lives by the ruling white population and were encouraged to leave the island. St Helena was one of the first EIC/British colonies to start the process of emancipating its slave population, but for that very reason was one of the last to end it. Whereas most owners were compensated by the Government for the loss of their slaves, at St Helena the slaves were effectively expected to pay for their own freedom via a loan which was passed onto their owners. Each liberated slave was encumbered with a crippling debt that would take years to pay off. Whereas most colonies liberated their slaves overnight, the process took many years at St Helena and did not end until about 1836.
Regards Ian
Feb 14, 2019
Once again Ian, thank you for your very cogent and interesting piece on racial intermixing on St Helena. My DNA analysis shows 2% SE Asia and 5% China, both probably a mix of my St Helena connection and notably my Chinese GG grandmother (Hong Kong). As they say, the great thing genealogy teaches us is that we are indeed, all one. It is also a reminder about (a) how brutal we human beings have been and continue to be to one another and (b) how determined and successful we can be to build a better world — slaves and slave owners, warriors and saints, dictators and rebels, often all in one tree. It is certainly true of my tree. Such an odd species, we are.
All the best, Peter
Sickness At Sea
Child mortality
Those who died were generally children. In the 1860s and 1870s, one in five of the infants below the age of one died on the voyage. Births on the voyage seldom outnumbered deaths.
Children were particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough and measles, and the shipboard diet lacked supplies of preserved milk and was overloaded with starchy foods. The surgeon of a ship on which 18 children died in 1874 declared more preserved milk and foods containing protein, such as eggs, cheese and beef tea, should be carried on ships with large numbers of children.Infection
Poor ventilation in steerage was often blamed for the deaths of children. But when infectious diseases came on board, passengers died even on well-ventilated ships. Careless medical inspections of embarking passengers were often blamed for outbreaks of disease.
In 1873, passengers boarded the Scimitar and Mongol in Plymouth from disease-ridden barracks. The Scimitar became a ‘floating pest-house’, where measles and scarlet fever carried off 26 people.
The conditions in which emigrants boarded were also blamed for outbreaks of disease. When the Woodlark sailed in 1874, emigrants were kept huddling on deck in a dense fog, their bedding and luggage strewn about, before being allowed to go below. Twenty died on the voyage.Hospitals and surgeons
Cramped hospitals below deck were often blamed for deaths at sea. However the Merope in 1872 had its hospital on deck, which ensured that patients in critical condition received the comfort, ventilation and quiet they needed. Incompetent surgeons failed to prevent the spread of disease. Positions as surgeons on immigrant ships to New Zealand were poorly paid, and securing a passage back to England was uncertain. Inexperienced men were sometimes appointed. Some surgeons were over-fond of drink, and a number admitted to taking opium for their own medical conditions.Keeping the spirits up
The ‘medical comforts’ on board included sherry, spirits and stout for the sick. One surgeon complained that his supply included 240 bottles of gin for which he ‘had no use whatever, except as inducements for men to clean out the apartments’. 1 Another reported he had been abused for refusing to supply brandy for supposed diarrhoea, commenting that there were a remarkable number of stomach aches in the evening which could be cured by gin.
Besides looking after the health of the immigrants, surgeons had to keep order below decks. To help them, they appointed matrons, who looked after the moral welfare of the single women, and constables, who maintained discipline among the single men, helped distribute rations, and organised the male steerage passengers for shipboard duties.
Surgeons were also expected to appoint schoolmasters to teach the children. Attempts to conduct lessons met with limited success, usually because no suitable place for a classroom could be found, especially during the long haul through the Southern Ocean.
Encyclopedia of New Zealand: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/the-voyage-out/page-5
Cabin & Steerage
Assisted immigrants
Some immigrants paid for their own passages, but many had their fares paid by colonisation companies or the government. They travelled in steerage – a low-ceilinged space beneath the main deck. Those paying their own way were usually in ‘second’ or ‘intermediate’ cabins, or in a saloon cabin below the poop deck, at the stern. In 1866 the cheapest saloon fare was more than three times that of steerage. Steerage passengers generally outnumbered those in the cabins by 10 to 1.Class distinctions
Britain’s class distinctions continued on board. Privileged cabin passengers enjoyed more space, privacy and better food. When the Otago paused at the island of Madeira in 1879, fresh fruit was brought on board, but it was ‘all for the cabin’. Down in steerage, class resentment sometimes simmered. One reason given by the surgeon of the Christian McAusland (1872) for keeping cabin passengers off emigrant ships was that ‘an ignorant and unreasoning lot of agricultural people are made doubly discontented and dissatisfied at only viewing the cabin victuals, livestock and fresh meat etc. which they are unable to obtain’. 1
However, on many ships rigid class distinctions began to break down, anticipating New Zealand’s more fluid class structure. Some cabin passengers mingled with those in steerage. The explorer and writer Samuel Butler formed a choir on the Roman Emperor through which, he said, he was ‘glad … to form the acquaintance of many of the poorer passengers’. 2
Not all the cabin passengers approved: there were complaints about ‘the impudence of steerage’, and one remarked that ‘even the poorest imagine that they will be grand folk in New Zealand’. 3Conditions in steerage
Writing of the conditions in steerage, one cabin passenger commented, ‘Poor creatures, it is a horrible place between decks, so many people in so small a space, I wonder how they live’. 4 Steerage passengers slept in tiers of bunks. They were provided with mattresses, but not bedding. Bunk space was cramped, and tables and forms occupied the spaces between tiers. The headroom between decks could be as little as 1.8 metres.
Steerage was divided into three compartments: single men occupied the forward area, next to the crew’s quarters; single women were aft; and married couples were in the middle. Separate hatchways gave access to each compartment.The cuddy
When Michael Studholme named the first small hut on his Te Waimate sheep station in South Canterbury in 1854 he brought the nautical term ‘cuddy’ ashore. At sea, this was the saloon cabin at the stern, in which the wealthier immigrants travelled in greater comfort than those in steerage. The use of the word for a cramped but snug hut seems to be confined to New Zealand. There is also a surviving cuddy at Mt Gladstone in Marlborough.Church services
During religious services the separation between cabin and steerage was relaxed. On the Lord Auckland (1842) the captain initially read prayers to the cabin passengers in the cuddy (the saloon cabin), while the doctor read them to the steerage passengers and crew below. Later on this voyage, all the passengers assembled on the main deck for prayers. Finally steerage passengers were admitted to the cuddy for prayers.
Eventually it became usual for cabin and steerage passengers to form a single congregation. Shipboard concerts also brought passengers of all classes together as both performers and audience.Single women
On ships with all-male crews and single men as passengers, the character and future prospects of single female immigrants were thought to be at risk. Men were denied access to the women’s compartments, and captains were instructed to ‘prohibit familiarities’ between unmarried men and women.
When the Friedeberg sailed without a matron in 1872, a ‘serious breach of discipline’ resulted. Two men gained access to the single women’s compartment by night, but the surgeon judged it ‘more a case of frolicsome mischief’ than anything else. 5
The vulnerability of single women to the attentions of young upper-class men, who tended to look on single, lower-class women as ‘fair game’, was one argument against having cabin passengers on emigrant ships.
Source:Encyclopedia of New Zealand: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/the-voyage-out/page-3
To New Zealand
The longest journey
Europeans who decide to make a new home in New Zealand embark on the longest journey of migration in human history. In the 19th century this voyage was made by ship. Not only was the passage long and comparatively expensive, it was miserable and dangerous.The Atlantic comparison
Most who left Europe in the 19th century opted for North America – a shorter, cheaper passage across the Atlantic. In 1850 this took 10 days and cost £4. By comparison, the journey to New Zealand took from 75 to 120 days and cost at least £15. But trans-Atlantic emigrants faced worse conditions and, because the passage to New Zealand was better regulated, greater risks of death by shipwreck or illness.Government regulations
In the 1830s the British government began stationing officers at British ports to ensure that regulations about the seaworthiness, ventilation and provisioning of emigrant ships were observed. Those promoting emigration to New Zealand had a particular reason to see that standards were maintained: on such a long voyage, bad rations and poor conditions would have led to disease and death. To prevent the passage to New Zealand becoming notorious, the New Zealand provincial and central governments insisted on even higher standards than those of the British. This spared migrants to New Zealand the worst abuses of the Atlantic crossing.Bad press
Reports of the dreadful conditions on board, from those who had made it to the other side of the world, put many people off. In the early 1870s a Wellington immigration officer informed the agent general in London that ‘letters written home by immigrants who have been made miserable throughout the passage by causes entirely remediable, do more to retard emigration than all the costly advertisements, peripatetic lecturers, and highly paid agents do to advance it’. 1The dividing line
Although the journey was easier for 20th-century immigrants, whether they were boarding a sailing ship at London’s East India docks or a plane at Heathrow, leaving your homeland to make a new beginning was a major life event. New Zealanders have an experience common to all recent immigrant nations: they or their ancestors left one place for another. The sense of belonging to another place has been passed down even to those who did not themselves migrate. The memory of Hawaiki may be stronger for many Māori than the memory of a European or other place of origin is for most non-Māori New Zealanders, but all share stories of a journey made by ancestors from a distant homeland.
An immigrant in 1956, approaching New Zealand by steamer, rose at the crack of dawn for a first sight of land. What appeared to be just a bank of cloud resolved itself into land with cloud above. His thoughts turned to others who had approached the same land after a long voyage, and perhaps to the name the early Polynesian navigators gave it – Aotearoa, the ‘land of the long white cloud’. This, he told himself, ‘would have been what the early canoeists would have seen’. 2Ships and shipping companies
Between 1839 and the 1890s, several hundred sailing ships brought tens of thousands of immigrants from Europe to New Zealand. In the 1840s the ships were generally around 500 to 600 tons and carried between 100 and 250 passengers. By the 1880s they could weigh over 2,000 tons and carry up to 500 passengers.
The ships were owned by several companies. When the New Zealand Shipping Company was founded in Christchurch in 1872, the government welcomed it as competition to British firms whom they perceived as tending to place cost-saving above the wellbeing of passengers.The route
In the late 18th century a route to transport convicts from Europe to Australia had been developed. This took ships south-west down the north Atlantic, often as far west as Brazil, then south-east to Cape Town. The ‘easting’ to Australia from Cape Town was roughly along the 39th parallel. By the 1840s ships bound for New Zealand were following a similar route across the Atlantic (though seldom reaching Brazil), then swinging wide round the Cape of Good Hope into the roaring forties – westerly winds that moved ships along at great speed.
Vessels were sailed as far south as their captains dared, in order to benefit from stronger winds, but there was a risk of violent storms and icebergs. In 1850, when the Charlotte Jane went as far south as 52˚ 36′, the Lyttelton Times criticised its captain for inflicting miseries on passengers in the interests of making a fast passage.Conditions
Immigrants were subjected to a great variety of conditions en route. Storms in the English Channel or the Bay of Biscay were followed by pleasant sailing in the trade winds. In the equatorial doldrums, awnings were often raised over the decks to provide shade from the incessant sun. Storms were encountered again in the Southern Ocean or Tasman Sea, sending ships tumbling and rolling.
Encyclopedia of New Zealand: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/the-voyage-out/page-1
St Helena History
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Helena has a known history of over 500 years since its recorded discovery by the Portuguese in 1502. Claiming to be Britain’s second oldest colony, this is one of the most isolated islands in the world and was for several centuries of vital strategic importance to ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa. For several centuries, the British have used the island as a place of exile, most notably for Napoleon Bonaparte, Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo and over 5,000 Boer prisoners.
Discovery and early years, 1502–1658
Most historical accounts state the island was discovered on 21 May 1502 by the Galician navigator João da Nova sailing at the service of the Portuguese Crown, on his voyage home from India, and that he named it “Santa Helena” after Helena of Constantinople. Given this is the feast day used by the Greek Orthodox Church, it has been argued that the discovery was probably made on 18 August, the feast day used by the Roman Catholic Church.
It has also been suggested that the island may not have been discovered until 30 July 1503 by a squadron under the command of Estêvão da Gama and that da Nova actually discovered Tristan da Cunha on the feast day of St Helena.[1][2][3] The Portuguese found it uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and fresh water. They imported livestock (mainly goats), fruit trees, and vegetables, built a chapel and one or two houses, and left their sick, suffering from scurvy and other ailments, to be taken home, if they recovered, by the next ship, but they formed no permanent settlement. The island thereby became crucially important for the collection of food and as a rendezvous point for homebound voyages from Asia. The island was directly in line with the Trade Winds which took ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope into the South Atlantic. St Helena was much less frequently visited by Asia-bound ships, the northern trade winds taking ships towards the South American continent rather than the island.
It is a popular belief that the Portuguese managed to keep the location of this remote island a secret until almost the end of the 16th century. However, both the location of the island and its name were quoted in a Dutch book in 1508, which described a 1505 Portuguese expedition led by Francisco de Almeida from the East Indies: “[o]n the twenty-first day of July we saw land, and it was an island lyng six hundred and fifty miles from the Cape, and called Saint Helena, howbeit we could not land there. […] And after we left the island of Saint Helena, we saw another island two hundred miles from there, which is called Ascension”.[4]
Also, Lopo Homem-Reineis published the “Atlas Universal” about 1519 which clearly showed the locations of St Helena and Ascension. The first residents all arrived on Portuguese vessels. Its first known permanent resident was Portuguese, Fernão Lopez who had turned traitor in India and had been mutilated by order of Albuquerque, the Governor of Goa. Fernando Lopez preferred being marooned to returning to Portugal in his maimed condition, and lived on Saint Helena from about 1516. By royal command, Lopez returned to Portugal about 1526 and then travelled to Rome, where Pope Clement VII granted him an audience. Lopez returned to Saint Helena, where he died in 1545.
When the island was discovered, it was covered with unique indigenous vegetation. Claims that on discovery the island “was entirely covered with forests, the trees drooping over the tremendous precipices that overhang the sea”[5] have been questioned.[6] It is argued that the presence of an endemic plover and several endemic insects adapted to the barren and arid coastal portions of the island are strong indications that these conditions existed before the island was discovered. Nevertheless, St Helena certainly once had a rich and dense inland forest. The loss of endemic vegetation, birds and other fauna, much of it within the first 50 years of discovery, can be attributed to the impact of humans and their introduction of goats, pigs, dogs, cats, rats as well as the introduction of non-endemic birds and vegetation into the island.
Sometime before 1557, two slaves from Mozambique, one from Java, and two women, escaped from a ship and remained hidden on the island for many years, long enough for their numbers to rise to twenty. Bermudez, the Patriarch of Abyssinia landed at St Helena in 1557 on a voyage to Portugal, remaining on the island for a year. Three Japanese ambassadors on an embassy to the Pope also visited St Helena in 1583.
Strong circumstantial evidence supports the idea that Sir Francis Drake located the island on the final lap of his circumnavigation of the world (1577–1580).[7] It is suspected this explains how the location of the island was certainly known to the English only a few years later, for example, William Barrett (who died in 1584 as English consul at Aleppo, Syria)[8] stated the island was “sixteene degrees to the South”, which is precisely the correct latitude. Again, it is also clear that the Elizabethan adventurer Edward Fenton at the very least knew the approximate location of the island in 1582.[9]
It therefore seems unlikely that when Thomas Cavendish arrived in 1588 during his first attempt to circumnavigate the world, he was the first Englishman to land at the island. He stayed for 12 days and described the valley (initially called Chapel Valley) where Jamestown is situated as “a marvellous fair and pleasant valley, wherein divers handsome buildings and houses were set up, and especially one which was a church, which was tiled, and whitened on the outside very fair, and made with a porch, and within the church at the upper end was set an alter…. This valley is the fairest and largest low plot in all the island, and it is marvellous sweet and pleasant, and planted in every place with fruit trees or with herbs…. There are on this island thousands of goats, which the Spaniards call cabritos, which are very wild: you shall sometimes see one or two hundred of them together, and sometimes you may behold them going in a flock almost a mile long.”
Another English seaman, Captain Abraham Kendall, visited Saint Helena in 1591, and in 1593 Sir James Lancaster stopped at the island on his way home from the East. Once St Helena’s location was more widely known, English ships of war began to lie in wait in the area to attack Portuguese India carracks on their way home. As a result, in 1592 Philip II of Spain and I of Portugal (1527–1598) ordered the annual fleet returning from Goa on no account to touch at St Helena. In developing their Far East trade, the Dutch also began to frequent the island. One of their first visits was in 1598 when an expedition of two vessels piloted by John Davis (English explorer) attacked a large Spanish Caravel, only to be beaten off and forced to retreat to Ascension Island for repairs. The Italian merchant Francesco Carletti, claimed in his autobiography he was robbed by the Dutch when sailing on a Portuguese ship in 1602.[10]
The Portuguese and Spanish soon gave up regularly calling at the island, partly because they used ports along the West African coast, but also because of attacks on their shipping, desecration to their chapel and images, destruction of their livestock and destruction of plantations by Dutch and English sailors. In 1603 Lancaster again visited Saint Helena on his return from the first voyage equipped by the British East India Company. In 1610, by which time most Dutch and English ships visited the island on their home voyage, François Pyrard de Laval deplored the deterioration since his last visit in 1601, describing damage to the chapel and destruction of fruit trees by cutting down trees to pick the fruit. Whilst Thomas Best, commander of the tenth British East India Company expedition reported plentiful supplies of lemons in 1614, only 40 lemon trees were observed by the traveller Peter Mundy in 1634.
The Dutch Republic formally made claim to St Helena in 1633, although there is no evidence that they ever occupied, colonised or fortified it. A Dutch territorial stone, undated but certainly later than 1633, is presently kept in the island’s archive office. By 1651, the Dutch had mainly abandoned the island in favour of their colony founded at the Cape of Good Hope.
East India Company, 1658–1815 ‘A View of the Town and Island of St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to the English East India Company’, engraving c. 1790
The idea for the English to make claim to the island was first made in a 1644 pamphlet by Richard Boothby. By 1649, the East India Company ordered all homeward-bound vessels to wait for one another at St Helena and in 1656 onward the Company petitioned the government to send a man-of-war to convoy the fleet home from there. Having been granted a charter to govern the island by the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth Oliver Cromwell in 1657,[11] the following year the Company decided to fortify and colonise St Helena with planters. A fleet commanded by Captain John Dutton (first governor, 1659–1661) in the Marmaduke arrived at St Helena in 1659. It is from this date that St Helena claims to be Britain’s second oldest colony (after Bermuda). A fort, originally named the Castle of St John, was completed within a month and further houses were built further up the valley. It soon became obvious that the island could not be made self-sufficient and in early 1658, the East India Company ordered all homecoming ships to provide one ton of rice on their arrival at the island.
With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the fort was renamed James Fort, the town Jamestown and the valley James Valley, all in honour of the Duke of York, later James II of England. The East India Company immediately sought a Royal Charter, possibly to give their occupation of St Helena legitimacy. This was issued in 1661 and gave the Company the sole right to fortify and colonise the island “in such legal and reasonable manner the said Governor and Company should see fit”. Each planter was allocated one of 130 pieces of land, but the Company had great difficulty attracting new immigrants, the population falling to only 66, including 18 slaves, by 1670. John Dutton’s successors as governor, Robert Stringer (1661–1670) and Richard Coney (1671–1672), repeatedly warned the Company of unrest amongst the inhabitants, Coney complaining the inhabitants were drunks and ne’er-do-wells. In 1672 Coney was seized by rebellious members of the island’s council and shipped back to England. Coincidentally, the Company had already sent a replacement governor, Anthony Beale (1672–1673).
Finding that the cape was not the ideal harbour they originally envisaged, the Dutch East India Company launched an armed invasion of St Helena from the Cape colony over Christmas 1672. Governor Beale was forced to abandon the island in a Company ship, sailing to Brazil where he hired a fast ship. This he used to locate an East India Company flotilla sent to reinforce St Helena with fresh troops. The Company retook the island in May 1673 without loss of life and reinforced it with 250 troops. The same year the Company petitioned a new Charter from Charles II of England and this granted the island free title as though it was a part of England “in the same manner as East Greenwich in the County of Kent”. Acknowledging that St Helena was a place where there was no trade, the Company was permitted to send from England any provisions free of Customs and to convey as many settlers as required.
In 1674 discontented settlers and troops seized Richard Keigwin (1673–1674), the next acting governor; it was only the lucky arrival of an East India Company fleet under the command of Captain William Basse that freed Keigwin. By 1675, the part-time recruitment of settlers in a Militia enabled the permanent garrison to be reduced to 50 troops. On leaving the University of Oxford, in 1676, Edmond Halley visited Saint Helena and set up an observatory with a 24-foot-long (7.3 m) aerial telescope and observed the positions of 341 stars in the Southern hemisphere.[12] His observation site is near St Mathew’s Church in Hutt’s Gate, in the Longwood district. The 680m high hill there is named for him and is called Halley’s Mount. Amongst the most significant taxes levied on imports was a requirement for all ships trading with Madagascar to deliver one slave. Slaves were also brought from Asia by incoming shipping. Thus, most slaves came from Madagascar and Asia rather than the African mainland. By 1679, the number of slaves had risen to about 80. An uprising by soldiers and planters in 1684 during the governorship of John Blackmore (1678–1689) led to the death of three mutineers in an attack on Fort James and the later execution of four others. The formation of the Grand Alliance and outbreak of war against France in 1689 meant that for several years ships from Asia avoided the island for fear of being attacked by French men-of-war. Soldiers at the end of their service thereby had restricted opportunities to obtain a passage back to Britain. Governor Joshua Johnson (1690–1693) also prevented soldiers smuggling themselves aboard ships by ordering all outgoing ships to leave only during daylight hours. This led to a mutiny in 1693 in which a group of mutineer soldiers seized a ship and made their escape, during the course of which Governor Johnson was killed. Meanwhile, savage punishment was meted out to slaves during this period, some being burnt alive and others starved to death. Rumours of an uprising by slaves in 1694 led to the gruesome execution of three slaves and cruel punishment of many others.
The clearance of the indigenous forest for the distillation of spirits, tanning and agricultural development began to lead to shortage of wood by the 1680s. The numbers of rats and goats had reached plague proportions by the 1690s, leading to the destruction of food crops and young tree shoots. Neither an increase on duty on the locally produced arrack nor a duty on all firewood helped reduce the deforestation whilst attempts to reforest the island by governor John Roberts (1708–1711) were not followed up by his immediate successors. The Great Wood, which once extended from Deadwood Plain to Prosperous Bay Plain, was reported in 1710 as not having a single tree left standing. An early mention of the problems of soil erosion was made in 1718 when a waterspout broke over Sandy Bay, on the southern coast. Against the background of this erosion, several years of drought and the general dependency of St Helena, in 1715 governor Isaac Pyke (1714–1719) made the serious suggestion to the Company that appreciable savings could be made by moving the population to Mauritius, evacuated by the French in 1710. However, with the outbreak of war with other European countries, the Company continued to subsidise the island because of its strategic location. An ordinance was passed in 1731 to preserve the woodlands through the reduction in the goat population. Despite the clear connection between deforestation and the increasing number of floods (in 1732, 1734, 1736, 1747, 1756 and 1787) the East India Company’s Court of Directors gave little support to efforts by governors to eradicate the goat problem. Rats were observed in 1731 building nests in trees two feet across, a visitor in 1717 commenting that the vast number of wild cats preferred to live off young partridges than the rats. An outbreak of plague in 1743 was attributed to the release of infected rats from ships arriving from India. By 1757, soldiers were employed in killing the wild cats.
William Dampier called into St Helena in 1691 at the end of his first of three circumnavigations of the world and stated Jamestown comprised 20–30 small houses built with rough stones furnished with mean furniture. These houses were only occupied when ships called at the island because their owners were all employed on their plantations further in the island. He described how women born on the island “very earnestly desired to be released from that Prison, having no other way to compass this but by marrying Seamen of Passengers that touch here”.
Following commercial rivalries between the original English East India Company and a New East India Company created in 1698, a new Company was formed in 1708 by amalgamation, and entitled the “United Company of Merchants of England, trading to the East Indies”. St Helena was then transferred to this new United East India Company. The same year, extensive work began to build the present Castle. Because of a lack of cement, mud was used as the mortar for many buildings, most of which had deteriorated into a state of ruin. In a search for lime on the island, a soldier in 1709 claimed to have discovered gold and silver deposits in Breakneck Valley. For a short period, it is believed that almost every able-bodied man was employed in prospecting for these precious metals. The short-lived Breakneck Valley Gold Rush ended with the results of an assay of the deposits in London, showing that they were iron pyrites.
A census in 1723 showed that out of a total population 1,110, some 610 were slaves. In 1731, a majority of tenant planters successfully petitioned governor Edward Byfield (1727–1731) for the reduction of the goat population. The next governor, Isaac Pyke (1731–1738), had a tyrannical reputation but successfully extended tree plantations, improved fortifications and transformed the garrison and militia into a reliable force for the first time. In 1733 Green Tipped Bourbon Coffee seeds were brought from the coffee port of Mocha in Yemen, on a Company ship The Houghton and were planted at various locations around the Island where the plants flourished, despite general neglect.
Robert Jenkins, of “Jenkins Ear” fame (governor 1740–1742) embarked on a programme of eliminating corruption and improving the defences. The island’s first hospital was built on its present site in 1742. Governor Charles Hutchinson (1747–1764) tackled the neglect of crops and livestock and also brought the laws of the island closer to those in England. Nevertheless, racial discrimination continued and it was not until 1787 that the black population were allowed to give evidence against whites. In 1758 three French warships were seen lying off the island in wait for the Company’s India fleet. In an inconclusive battle, these were engaged by warships from the Company’s China fleet. Nevil Maskelyne and Robert Waddington set up an observatory in 1761 to observe the transit of Venus, following a suggestion first made by Halley. In the event, observations were obscured by cloud. Most of the cattle were destroyed this year through an unidentified sickness.
Attempts by governor John Skottowe (1764–1782) to regularise the sale of arrack and punch led to some hostility and desertions by a number of troops who stole boats and were probably mostly lost at sea — however, at least one group of seven soldiers and a slave succeeded in escaping to Brazil in 1770. It was from about this date that the island began, for the first time, to enjoy a prolonged period of prosperity. The first Parish Church in Jamestown had been showing signs of decay for many years, and finally a new building was erected in 1774. St James’ is now the oldest Anglican church south of the Equator. Captain James Cook visited the island in 1775 on the final leg of his second circumnavigation of the world.
An order by governor Daniel Corneille (1782–1787) banning garrison troops and sailors from punch-taverns, only allowing them to drink at army canteens, led to a mutiny over Christmas 1787 when some 200 troops skirmished with loyal troops over a three-day period. Courts martial condemned 99 mutineers to death. These mutineers were then decimated; lots were drawn, with one in every ten being shot and executed.
Saul Solomon is believed to have arrived at the island about 1790, where he eventually formed the Solomon’s company, initially based at an emporium. Today the Rose and Crown shop occupies the building. Captain Bligh arrived at St Helena in 1792 during his second attempt to ship a cargo of breadfruit trees to Jamaica. That same year saw the importation of slaves made illegal.
In 1795 governor Robert Brooke (1787–1801) was alerted that the French had overrun the Netherlands, forcing the Dutch to become their allies. Some 411 troops were sent from the garrison to support General Sir James Craig in his successful capture of the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Fortifications were improved and a new system of visual signalling introduced. Brooke had a battery built at Ladder Hill, and a tower to protect its rearward approaches at Knoll Hill.
As a result of a policy of recruiting time-expired soldiers calling at the island on their voyage home from India, the St Helena Regiment was built up to 1,000 men by 1800. At the same time, every able-bodied man joined the island’s militia.
The arrival of a fleet of ships in January 1807 caused an outbreak of measles. The outbreak led to the death of 102 “Blacks” (probably under-reported in church records), and 58 “whites” in the two months to May. With the importation of slaves no longer being legal, Governor Robert Patton (1802–1807) recommended that Company import Chinese labour to grow the rural workforce. The first Chinese labourers arrived in 1810, and the total number rose to about 600 by 1818. After 1836, many were allowed to stay on and their descendants became integrated into the population.
Governor Alexander Beatson (1808–1813) took action to reduce drunkenness by prohibiting the public sale of spirits and the importation of cheap Indian spirits. As in 1787, these actions resulted in a mutiny by about 250 troops in December 1811. After the mutineers surrendered to loyal troops, nine of the mutineers’ leaders were executed. Under the aegis of governor Mark Wilks (1813–1816) farming methods were improved, a rebuilding programme initiated, and the first public library opened. A census in 1814 showed the number of inhabitants was 3,507.
British rule 1815–1821, and Napoleon’s exile Napoleon at Saint Helena. Longwood House, St Helena: site of Napoleon’s captivity.
Main text: Napoleon I of France: Exile on Saint Helena
In 1815 the British government selected Saint Helena as the place of detention of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was brought to the island in October 1815 and lodged at Longwood, where he died on 5 May 1821.
During this period the island was strongly garrisoned by regular British regimental troops and by the local St Helena Regiment, with naval shipping circling the island. Agreement was reached that St Helena would remain in the East India Company’s possession, with the British government meeting additional costs arising from guarding Napoleon. The East India Company Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe (1816–1821), was appointed by and directly reported to Lord Bathurst, the Secretary for War and the Colonies, in London. Brisk business was enjoyed catering for the additional 2,000 troops and personnel on the island over the six-year period, although restrictions placed against ships landing during this period posed a challenge for local traders to import the necessary goods.
The 1817 census recorded 821 white inhabitants, a garrison of 820 men, 618 Chinese indentured labourers, 500 free blacks and 1,540 slaves. In 1818, whilst admitting that nowhere in the world did slavery exist in a milder form than on St Helena, Lowe initiated the first step in emancipating the slaves by persuading slave owners to give all slave children born after Christmas of that year their freedom once they had reached their late teens. Solomon Dickson & Taylor issued £147-worth of copper halfpenny tokens sometime before 1821 to enhance local trade.
British East India Company, 1821–1834
After Napoleon’s death the thousands of temporary visitors were soon withdrawn. The East India Company resumed full control of Saint Helena and life returned to the pre-1815 standards, the fall in population causing a sharp change in the economy. The next governors, Thomas Brooke (temporary governor, 1821–1823) and Alexander Walker (1823–1828), successfully brought the island through this post-Napoleonic period with the opening of a new farmer’s market in Jamestown, the foundation of an Agricultural and Horticultural Society and improvements in education. The importation of slaves was banned in 1792, but the phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves did not take place until 1827, some six years before legislation to ban slavery in the colonies was passed by the British Parliament.[13] An abortive attempt was made to set up a whaling industry in 1830 (also in 1875). Following praise of St Helena’s coffee given by Napoleon during his exile on the island, the product enjoyed a brief popularity in Paris during the years after his death.
British rule, a Crown colony, 1834–1981
The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the India Act in 1833, a provision of which transferred control of St Helena from the East India Company to the Crown with effect from 2 April 1834. In practice, the transfer did not take effect until 24 February 1836 when Major-General George Middlemore (1836–1842), the first governor appointed by the British government, arrived with 91st Regiment troops. He summarily dismissed St Helena Regiment and, following orders from London, embarked on a savage drive to cut administrative costs, dismissing most officers previously in the Company employ. This triggered the start of a long-term pattern whereby those who could afford to do so tended to leave the island for better fortunes and opportunities elsewhere. The population was to fall gradually from 6,150 in 1817 to less than 4,000 by 1890. Charles Darwin spent six days of observation on the island in 1836 during his return journey on HMS Beagle. Controversial[14] figure, Dr. James Barry, also arrived that year as principal medical officer (1836–1837). In addition to reorganising the hospital, Barry highlighted the heavy incidence of venereal diseases in the civilian population, blaming the government for the removal of the St Helena Regiment, which resulted in destitute females resorting to prostitution.
In 1838 agreement was reached with Sultan of Lahej to permit a coaling station at Aden, thereby allowing the journey time to the Far East (via the Mediterranean, the Alexandria to Cairo overland crossing and the Red Sea) to be roughly halved compared with the traditional South Atlantic route. This precursor to the effects of the Suez Canal (1869), coupled with the advent of steam shipping that was not reliant on trade winds led to a gradual reduction in the number of ships calling at St Helena and to a decline in its strategic importance to Britain and economic fortunes. The number of ships calling at the island fell from 1,100 in 1855; to 853 in 1869; to 603 in 1879 and to only 288 in 1889.
In 1839, London coffee merchants Wm Burnie & Co described St Helena coffee as being of “very superior quality and flavour”. In 1840 the British Government deployed a naval station to suppress the African slave trade. The squadron was based at St Helena and a Vice Admiralty Court was based at Jamestown to try the crews of the slave ships. Most of these were broken up and used for salvage. Between 1840 and 1849, 15,076 freed slaves, known as “Liberated Africans” were landed at Rupert’s Bay on the island, of which number over 5,000 were dead or died there.[15] The final number up to the 1870s when the depot was finally closed has not yet been accurately determined, but would be over 20,000. Surviving freed slaves lived at Lemon Valley – originally the quarantine area, later for women and children, Rupert’s and High Knoll, and only when numbers became too great were they sent to Cape Town and the British West Indies as labourers. About 500 remained on St Helena, where they were employed. In later years, some were sent to Sierra Leone.
It was also in 1840 that the British government acceded to a French request for Napoleon’s body to be returned to France in what became known as the retour des cendres. The body, in excellent state of preservation, was exhumed on 15 October 1840 and ceremonially handed over to the Prince de Joinville in the French ship La Belle Poule.
A European Regiment, called the St Helena Regiment, comprising five companies was formed in 1842 for the purpose of garrisoning the island. William A Thorpe, the founder of the Thorpe business, was born on the island the same year. There was another outbreak of measles in 1843 and it was noted that none of those who survived the 1807 outbreak contracted the disease a second time. The first Baptist minister arrived from Cape Town in 1845. The same year, St Helena coffee was sold in London at 1d per pound, making it the most expensive and exclusive in the world. In 1846, St James church was considerably repaired, a steeple replacing the old tower. The same year, huge waves, or “rollers”, hit the island causing 13 ships anchored off Jamestown bay to be wrecked. The foundation stone for St Paul’s country church, also known as “The Cathedral”, was laid in 1850. Following instructions from London to achieve economies, Governor Thomas Gore Brown (1851–1856) further reduced the civil establishment. He also tackled the problems of overpopulation of Jamestown posed by the restrictions of the valley terrain by establishing a village at Rupert’s Bay. A census in 1851 showed a total of 6,914 inhabitants living on the island. In 1859 the Diocese of St Helena was set up for St Helena, including Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha (initially also including the Falkland Islands, Rio de Janeiro and other towns along the east coast of South America), the first Bishop of St Helena arriving on the island that year. Islanders later complained that succeeding governors were mainly retired senior military officers with an undynamic approach to the job. St John’s church was built in upper Jamestown in 1857, one motivation being to counter the levels of vice and prostitution at that end of the town.
The following year, the lands forming the sites of Napoleon’s burial and of his home at Longwood House were vested in Napoleon III and his heirs and a French representative or consul has lived on the island ever since, the French flag now flying over these areas. The title deeds of Briars Pavilion, where Napoleon lived during his earliest period of exile, were much later given to the French Government in 1959.
St Helena coffee grown on the Bamboo Hedge Estate at Sandy Bay won a premier award at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851. Saul Solomon was buried at St Helena in 1853. The first postage stamp was issued for the island in 1856, the six-pence blue, marking the start of considerable philatelic interest in the island.
By the 1860s it was apparent that wood sourced from some condemned slave ships (possibly a Brazilian ship) from the 1840s were infested by termites (“white ants”). Eating their way through house timbers (also documents) the termites caused the collapse of a number of buildings and considerable economic damage over several decades. Extensive reconstruction made use of iron rails and termite-proof timbers. The termite problem persists to the present day. The cornerstone for St Matthew’s church at Hutt’s Gate was laid in 1861.
The withdrawal of the British naval station in 1864 and closure of the Liberated African Station ten years later (several hundred Africans were deported to Lagos and other places on the West African coast) resulted in a further deterioration in the economy. A small earthquake was recorded the same year. The gaol in Rupert’s Bay was destroyed and the Castle and Supreme Court were reconstructed in 1867. Cinchona plants were introduced in 1868 by Charles Elliot (1863–1870) with a view to exporting quinine but the experiment was abandoned by his successor Governor C. G. E. Patey (1870–1873), who also embarked on a programme of reducing the civil establishment. The latter action led to another phase of emigration from the island. An experiment in 1874 to produce flax from Phomium Tenax (New Zealand flax) failed (the cultivation of flax recommenced in 1907 and eventually became the island’s largest export). In 1871, the Royal Engineers constructed Jacob’s Ladder up the steep side of the valley from Jamestown to Knoll Mount Fort, with 700 steps, one step being covered over in later repairs. A census in 1881 showed 5,059 inhabitants lived on the island. Jonathan, claimed to be the world’s oldest tortoise, is thought to have arrived on the island in 1882.
An outbreak of measles in 1886 resulted in 113 cases and 8 deaths. Jamestown was lighted for the first time in 1888, the initial cost being born by the inhabitants. Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo, son of the Zulu king Cetshwayo, was exiled at St Helena between 1890 and 1897. Diphtheria broke out in 1887 and also in 1893 which, with an additional outbreak of whooping cough, led to the death of 31 children under 10. In 1890 a great fall of rock killed nine people in Jamestown, a fountain being erected in Main Street in their memory. A census in 1891 showed 4,116 inhabitants lived on the island. A submarine cable en route to Britain from Cape Town was landed in November 1899 and extended to Ascension by December and was operated by the Eastern Telegraph Company. For the next two years over six thousand Boer prisoners were imprisoned at Deadwood and Broadbottom. The population reached its all-time record of 9,850 in 1901. Although a number of prisoners died, being buried at Knollcombes, the islanders and Boers developed a relationship of mutual respect and trust, a few Boers choosing to remain on the island when the war ended in 1902. A severe outbreak of influenza in 1900 led to the death of 3.3% of the population, although it affected neither the Boer prisoners nor the troops guarding them. An outbreak of whooping cough in 1903 infected most children on the island, although only one died as a result.
The departure of the Boers and later removal of the remaining garrison in 1906 (with the disbandment of the St Helena Volunteers, this was the first time the island was left without a garrison) both impacted on the island economy, which was only slightly offset by growing philatelic sales. The successful reestablishment of the flax industry in 1907 did much to counter these problems, generating considerable income during the war years. Lace making was encouraged as an island-industry during the pre-war period, initiated by Emily Jackson in 1890 and a lace-making school was opened in 1908. Two men, known as the Prosperous Bay Murderers, were hanged in 1905. A fish-canning factory opened in 1909 but failed due to an unusual shortage of fish that year. S.S. Papanui, en route from Britain to Australia with emigrants, arrived in James Bay in 1911 on fire. The ship burned out and sank, but its 364 passengers and crew were rescued and looked after on the island. A census in 1911 showed the population had fallen from its peak in 1901 to only 3,520 inhabitants. Some 4,800 rats tails were presented to the Government in 1913, who paid a penny per tail.
Islanders were made aware of their vulnerability to naval attack, despite extensive fortifications, following a visit by a fleet of three German super-dreadnoughts in January 1914. With the outbreak of World War I, the defunct St Helena Volunteer Corps was re-established. Some 46 islanders gave their lives in World War I. The 1918 world pandemic of influenza bypassed St Helena. The self-proclaimed Sultan of Zanzibar, Seyyid Khalid Bin Barghash, was exiled in St Helena from 1917 to 1921 before being transferred to the Seychelles.
William A. Thorpe was killed in an accident in 1918, his business continuing to operate on the island to the present day. In 1920 the Norwegian ship Spangereid caught fire and sank at her mooring at James Bay, depositing quantities of coal on the beach below the wharf. A census in 1921 showed the islands population was 3,747. The first islanders left to work at Ascension Island in 1921, which was made a dependency of St Helena in 1922. Thomas R. Bruce (postmaster 1898–1928) was the first islander to design a postage stamp, the 1922–1937 George V ship-design—this significantly contributed to island revenues for several years. South African coinage became legal tender in 1923, reflecting the high level of trade with that country. There were nine deaths from whooping cough between 1920 and 1929 and 2,200 cases of measles in 1932. The first car, an Austin 7, was imported into the island in 1929. A census in 1931 showed a population of 3,995 (and a goat population of nearly 1,500). Cable and Wireless absorbed the Eastern Telegraph Company in 1934. Tristan da Cunha was made a dependency of St Helena in 1938.
Some six islanders gave their lives during World War II. The German battle cruiser Admiral Graf Spee was observed passing the island in 1939 and the British oil tanker Darkdale was torpedoed off Jamestown bay. As part of the Lend-Lease agreement, America built Wideawake airport on Ascension in 1942, but no military use was made of St Helena. As in the previous war, the island enjoyed increased revenues through the sale of flax.
There were 217 cases of poliomyelitis, including 11 deaths, in 1945. A census in 1946 showed 4,748 inhabitants lived on the island. In 1948 there were seven deaths from whooping cough and 77 hospital admissions from acute nephritis. In 1951, mumps attacked 90% of the population. Solomon’s became a limited company the same year. Flax prices continued to rise after the war, rising to their zenith in 1951. However, this St Helena staple industry fell into decline because of competition from synthetic fibres and also because the delivered price of the island’s flax was substantially higher than world prices. The decision by a major buyer, the British Post Office, to use synthetic fibres for their mailbags was a major blow, all of which contributed in the closure of the island’s flax mills in 1965. Many acres of land are still covered with flax plants. A census in 1956 showed the population had fallen only slightly, to 4,642. 1957 witnessed the arrival of three Bahrain princes as prisoners of Britain, who remained until released by a writ of habeas corpus in 1960. Another attempt to cooperate a fish cannery led to closure in 1957. From 1958, the Union Castle shipping line gradually reduced their service calls to the island. The same year, there were 36 cases of poliomyelitis. A census in 1966 showed a relatively unchanged population of 4,649 inhabitants.
A South African company (The South Atlantic Trading and Investment Corporation, SATIC) bought a majority share in Solomon and Company in 1968. Following several years of losses and to avoid the economic effects of a closure of the company, the St Helena government eventually bought a majority share in the company in 1974. In 1969 the first elections were held under the new constitution for twelve-member Legislative Council. By 1976, the population had grown slightly to 5,147 inhabitants. Based from Avonmouth, Curnow Shipping replaced the Union-Castle Line mailship service in 1977, using the RMS St Helena, a coastal passenger and cargo vessel that had been used between Vancouver and Alaska. Due to structural weakness, the spire of St James church was demolished in 1980. The endemic flowering shrub, the St Helena Ebony, believed to have been extinct for over a century, was discovered on the island in 1981.[16]
1981 to present
The British Nationality Act 1981 reclassified St Helena and the other crown colonies as British Dependent Territories. The islanders lost their status as ‘Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies’ (as defined in the British Nationality Act 1948) and were stripped of their right of abode in Britain. For the next 20 years, many could find only low-paid work with the island government and the only available employment overseas for the islanders was restricted to the Falkland Islands and Ascension Island, a period during which the island was often referred to as the “South Atlantic Alcatraz”.
The RMS St Helena was requisitioned in 1982 by the Ministry of Defence to help in support of the Falklands Conflict, and sailed south with the entire crew volunteering for duty. The ship was involved in supporting minesweeper operations but the volunteers were refused South Atlantic Medals. The Prince Andrew began his relationship with St Helena in 1984 with a visit to the island as a member of the armed forces.
The 1987 census showed that the island population stood at 5,644. The Development & Economic Planning Department, which still operates, was formed in 1988 to contribute to raising the living standards of the people of St Helena by planning and managing sustainable economic development through education, participation and planning, improving decision making by providing statistical information and by improving the safety and operation of the wharf and harbour operations. After decades of planning, the realisation of the three-tier school system began in 1988 under the aegis of the Head of Education, Basil George, when the Prince Andrew School was opened for all pupils of 12 onwards. Middle schools would take the 8- to 12-year-old children and the First schools from 5-year-olds.
The Prince Andrew launched the replacement RMS St Helena in 1989 at Aberdeen. The vessel was specially built for the Cardiff–Cape Town route, and featured a mixed cargo/passenger layout. At the same time, a shuttle service between St Helena and Ascension was planned, for the many Saint Helenians working there and on the Falklands. In 1995 the decision was made to base the ship from Cape Town and limit the number of trips to the UK to just four a year.
The 1988 St Helena Constitution took effect in 1989 and provided that the island would be governed by a Governor and Commander-in-Chief, and an Executive and Legislative Council. The Executive Council members would be elected for nomination by the elected members of the Legislative Council, and subsequently appointed by the Governor and could only be removed from office by the votes of a majority of the five members of the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council Members would be re-elected by the voters every four years. With few exceptions the Governor would be obliged to abide by the advice given to him by the Executive Council. Five Council Committees would be made up from the membership of the Legislative Council and civil servants so that at any time there would always be a majority of elected members. The five Chairpersons of these committees would comprise the elected membership of the Executive Council.
The Bishop’s Commission on Citizenship was established at the Fifteenth Session of Diocesan Synod in 1992 with the aim of restoring full citizenship of the islanders and restore the right of abode in the UK. Research began (Prof. T. Charlton) in 1993, two years before its introduction on the island and five years after, to measure the influence that television has on the behaviour of children in classrooms and school playgrounds. This concluded that the island children continued to be hard working and very well behaved and that family and community social controls were more important in shaping children’s behaviour than exposure to television. The Island of St Helena Coffee Company was founded in 1994 by David Henry. Using Green Tipped Bourbon Coffee plants imported in 1733, crops were grown on several sites, including the Bamboo Hedge Estate Sandy Bay estate used for the 1851 Great Exhibition entry. In 1997, the acute employment problem at St Helena was brought to the attention of the British public following reports in the tabloid press of a “riot” following an article in the Financial Times describing how the Governor, David Smallman (1995–1999), was jostled by a small crowd who believed he and the Foreign Office had rejected plans to build an airport on the island.
Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997, and the same year the British government published a review of the Dependent Territories. This included a commitment to restore the pre-1981 status for citizenship. This was effected by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, which restored full passports to the islanders, and renamed the Dependent Territories the British Overseas Territories. The St Helena National Trust was also formed the same year with the aim of promoting the island’s unique environmental and culture heritage. A full census in February 1998 showed the total population (including the RMS) was 5,157 persons.
In a vote held in January 2002, a majority of islanders (at home and abroad) voted in favour for an airport to be built. The island’s two-floor museum situated in a building near the base of Jacob’s Ladder was opened the same year and is operated by the St Helena Heritage Society. The Bank of St Helena, located next to the Post Office, commenced operations in 2004, inheriting the assets and accounts of the former St Helena Government Savings and the Ascension Island Savings Banks, both of which then ceased to exist. In April 2005 the British Government announced plans to construct an airport on Saint Helena to bolster the Island’s economy, and reduce the dependence on boats to supply the Island. Impregilo S.p.A. of Milan have been selected as the preferred tender to design, build and operate the airport, which is currently expected[17] to be open in 2012/13, although final UK ministerial approval was still not been given. The following December, DfID announced they and the “Treasury are in continuing discussions about issues of concern regarding access to St Helena. As a result, there will be a pause in negotiations over the St Helena airport contract”.[18] This is widely interpreted as meaning the project is in abeyance, probably for a number of years until the UK’s economy recovers. In March 2009, DfID announced the launch of a new consultation on options for access to the island.[19] In a parliamentary debate[20] in which DfID were accused of delaying tactics, the ministry accepted the conclusion in their 2005 Access document[21] but argued good fiscal management required this to be re-reviewed. In December 2008, the British Government decided not to go ahead with the long-promised airport. [22] If and when the airport eventually goes ahead, the Royal Mail ship will cease operations when flights begin.
A census held in February 2008 showed the population (including the RMS) had fallen to 4,255. In the first half of 2008, areas of the cliff above the wharf were stabilised from rock falls with netting at a cost of approximately £3 million. On 14 August, about 200 tons of rock fell from the west side of Jamestown severely damaging the Baptist chapel and surrounding buildings. Plans are in hand to net the most dangerous sections of the mountains either side of Jamestown over the period to 2015 at an estimated cost of about £15 million.[23]
The Medway
Medway to Melbourne
In her book The Somerset Years, Florence Chuk writes of the voyage from London to Melbourne aboard the Medway. Aboard with Florence, were our Lawrences – Elizabeth(23), Rosa(24), William(24) and George(25).
“sailed from London April 27 1849, from the Downs April 29, arrived Point Henry August 9 1849.
Master: Abel Mackwood. Surgeon Benjamin King Johnson……
The Scarborough vessel Medway belonged to Tindall and Son. She had been built of oak and saul in her home port in 1845, and in 1849 was sheathed with yellow metal to discourage the growth of weeds and barnacles. Saul was a valuable timber tree grown in India and Malaysia, which yielded ‘dammar’ or ‘cats-eye resin’ often used in place of pitch for caulking vessels.
The ship was towed down the river from Gravesend on a cool spring day, passing the mouth of the River Medway as she went. Compassionate masters often delayed entering the channel in rough weather to allow emigrants to accustom themselves to the motion of the ship, and the Medway sheltered in the Downs for two days before sailing into the English Channel and towards Plymouth. This thoughtfulness was only one example of Captain Mackwood’s consideration towards his passengers.
The Medway had a very pleasant passage out to Port Phillip, and arrived in a particularly clean state. The imigrants appeared quite satisfied with their treatment at sea, and spoke highly of the kindness and attention of Captain and Surgeon towards them. The Acting Immigration Agent, Mr Addis, also commended the Surgeon, Master and Officers for having performed their duties in a most efficient and humane manner.
The passengers comprised 45 married couples, 48 single men, and 37 single women. There were 77 children on board, and ten infants, two healthy babies being born at sea. Conditions on vessels carrying a large number of children in proportion to adults became a little crowded at times.
Regulations laid down for the conveyance of emigrants stated that the ‘tween deck should not be lower than six feet in height, and that no more than two tiers of berths should be constructed, and that the lower tier should be at least six inches from the floor. Each passenger was to have a sleeping space of eighteen inches by six feet. Children shared accommodation with their parents until fourteen years of age, usually accommodated in the lower berths. Each child was allowed the space of half an adult, and babies under twelve months were not counted at all, but tucked into any available space. Small wonder that some infants were ‘overlaid’ in those narrow bunks.
After reaching the age of fourteen there was strict separation of the sexes, men to the single men’s compartment in the bow of the vessel and the girls to the single women’s compartment in the stern, under the watchful eye of the Matron. Conditions in the married quarters were a breeding-ground for disease, particularly when the vessels reached the steamy doldrums of the tropics, and ventilation by means of the main hatchway became inadequate. It is to the credit of Dr Johnson and the emigrants themselves that only two deaths occurred during this voyage: an adult and a child.”
Source: The Somerset Years, Pennard Hill Publications, 1987, Florence Chuk, pp120-121. The book contains a photograph of a painting of the Medway. Taken from the website: http://hector.davie.ch/knight/Medway.html
Straits Settlements
Straits SettlementsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediia
The Straits Settlements (Malay: Negeri-negeri Selat; Chinese: 海峡殖民地 Hǎixiá zhímíndì) were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867. The colony was dissolved in 1946 as part of the British reorganisation of its south-east Asian dependencies following the end of the Second World War.
The Straits Settlements consisted of the four individual settlements of Malacca, Dinding, Penang (also known as Prince of Wales Island), Singapore (with Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands). The island of Labuan, off the coast of Borneo, was also incorporated into the colony with effect from 1 January 1907, becoming a separate settlement within it in 1912. With the exception of Singapore, Christmas Island, and the Cocos Islands, these territories now form part of Malaysia.Contents
History and government
The establishment of the Straits Settlements followed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south. This resulted in the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. The Settlements were largely Chinese in population, with a tiny but important European minority.[1] Their capital was moved from Penang to Singapore in 1832. Their scattered nature proved to be difficult and, after the Company lost its monopoly in the China trade in 1833, expensive to administer.[2]
During their control by the East India Company, the Settlements were used as penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners,[3] earning them the title of the ‘Botany Bays of India’.[4] The years 1852 and 1853 saw minor uprisings by convicts in Singapore and Penang.[5] Upset with East India Company rule, in 1857, the European population of the Settlements sent a petition to the British Parliament[6] asking for direct rule; but the idea was overtaken by events – the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
When a ‘Gagging Act’ was imposed to prevent the uprising in India spreading, the Settlements’ press reacted with anger, classing it as something that subverted ‘every principle of liberty and free discussion’.[7] As there was little or no vernacular press in the Settlements, such an act seemed irrelevant: it was rarely enforced and ended in less than a year.[8]
On 1 April 1867 the Settlements became a British Crown colony, making the Settlements answerable directly to the Colonial Office in London instead of the Indian government based in Calcutta, India. Earlier, on 4 February 1867, Letters Patent had granted the Settlements a colonial constitution. This allocated much power to the Settlements’ Governor, who administered the colony of the Straits Settlements with the aid of an Executive Council, composed wholly of official (i.e. ex-officio) members, and a Legislative Council, composed partly of official and partly of nominated members, of which the former had a narrow permanent majority. The work of administration, both in the colony and in the Federated Malay States, was carried on by means of a civil service whose members were recruited by competitive examination held annually in London.
Penang and Malacca were administered, directly under the governor, by resident councillors.
Dindings and Province Wellesley
The Dindings, consisting of some islands near the mouth of the Perak River and a small piece of territory on the adjoining mainland, were ceded by Perak to the British government under the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. Hopes that its excellent natural harbour would prove to be valuable were doomed to disappointment, and the islands, sparsely inhabited and altogether unimportant both politically and financially, were administered by the government of Perak.
Province Wellesley, on the mainland opposite the island of Penang, was ceded to Great Britain in 1798 by the Sultan of Kedah, on its northern and eastern border; Perak lies to the south. The boundary with Kedah was rectified by treaty with Siam (now Thailand) in 1867. It was administered by a district officer, with some assistants, answering to the resident councillor of Penang. Province Wellesley consisted, for the most part, of fertile plain, thickly populated by Malays, and occupied in some parts by sugar-planters and others engaged in similar agricultural industries and employing Chinese and Tamil labour. About a tenth of the whole area was covered by low hills with thick jungle. Large quantities of rice were grown by the Malay inhabitants, and between October and February there was snipe-shooting in the paddy fields. A railway from Butterworth, opposite Penang, runs into Perak, and thence via Selangor and Negri Sembilan to Malacca, with an extension via Muar under the rule of the sultan of Johor, and through the last-named state to Johor Bharu, opposite the island of Singapore.
The governor’s wider role
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (which were settled and once owned by a Scottish family named Clunies-Ross) and Christmas Island, formerly attached to Ceylon, were in 1886 transferred to the care of the government of the Straits Settlements in Singapore along with the addition of Labuan in 1906.
The governor of the Straits Settlements was also High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States on the peninsula, for British North Borneo, the sultanate of Brunei and Sarawak in Borneo, and since the administration of the colony of Labuan, which for a period was vested in the British North Borneo Company, was resumed by the British government he was also governor of Labuan. British residents controlled the native states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang, but on 1 July 1896, when the federation of these states was effected, a resident-general, responsible to the (governor as) high commissioner, was placed in supreme charge of all the British protectorates in the peninsula.
Japanese invasion and dissolution
During World War II, the Japanese invaded Malaya and the Straits Settlements by landing on Kelantan on 8 December 1941, and on 16 December, Penang became the first Straits Settlement to fall to Japanese hands. Malacca fell on 15 January and Singapore fell on 15 February, following the famous Battle of Singapore. The Straits Settlements, along with the rest of the Malay Peninsula, remained under Japanese occupation until August 1945.
After the war, the colony was dissolved with effect from 1 April 1946, with Singapore becoming a separate crown colony (and ultimately an independent republic), while Penang and Malacca joined the new Malayan Union (a predecessor of modern-day Malaysia). Labuan was briefly annexed to Singapore, before being attached to the new colony of British North Borneo.
The Cocos or Keeling Islands and Christmas Island, originally made part of the crown colony of Singapore in 1946, were transferred to Australian administration in 1955 and 1957 respectively.
Population
The following are the area and population, with details of race distribution, of the colony of the Straits Settlements, the figures being those of the census of 1901:
Area in square milesPopulation in 1891Population in 1901TotalEuropeansEurasiansChineseMalaysIndiansOther nationalitiesSingapore206184,554228,5553,8244,120164,04136,08017,8232,667Penang, Province Wellesley and Dindings381235,618248,2071,1601,94598,424106,00038,0512,627Malacca65992,17095,487741,59819,46872,9781,27693Total1,246512,342572,2495,0587,663281,933215,05857,1505,387
The population, which was 306,775 in 1871 and 423,384 in 1881, had in 1901 reached a total of 572,249. As in former years, the increase was solely due to immigration, more especially of Chinese, though a considerable number of Tamils and other natives of India settled in the Straits Settlements. The total number of births registered in the colony in 1900 was 14,814, and the ratio per 1000 of the population during 1896, 1897 and 1898 respectively was 22–18, 20–82 and 21–57; while the number of registered deaths for the years 1896–1900 gave a ratio per 1000 of 42–21, 36–90, 30–43, 31–66 and 36-25 respectively, the number of deaths registered during 1900 being 23,385. The cause to which the excess of deaths over births is to be attributed is to be found in the fact that the Chinese and Indian population, which numbers 339,083, or over 59% of the whole, is composed of 261,412 males and only 77,671 females, and a comparatively small number of the latter were married women and mothers of families. The male Europeans also outnumbered the females by about two to one; and among the Malays and Eurasians, who alone had a fair proportion of both sexes, the infant mortality was excessive, due to early marriages and other well-known causes. The number of immigrants landing in the various settlements during 1906 was:
Singapore 176,587 Chinese; Penang 56,333 Chinese and 52,041 natives of India; and Malacca 598 Chinese. The total number of immigrants for 1906 was therefore 285,560, as against 39,136 emigrants, mostly Chinese returning to China. In 1867, the date of the transfer of the colony from the East India Company to the Crown, the total population was estimated at 283,384
Straits Settlements 2
The Straits Settlements (Malay: Negeri-negeri Selat; Chinese: 海峡殖民地 Hǎixiá zhímíndì) were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867. The colony was dissolved in 1946 as part of the British reorganisation of its south-east Asian dependencies following the end of the Second World War.
The Straits Settlements consisted of the four individual settlements of Malacca, Dinding, Penang (also known as Prince of Wales Island), Singapore (with Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands). The island of Labuan, off the coast of Borneo, was also incorporated into the colony with effect from 1 January 1907, becoming a separate settlement within it in 1912. With the exception of Singapore, Christmas Island, and the Cocos Islands, these territories now form part of Malaysia.
History and government
The establishment of the Straits Settlements followed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south. This resulted in the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. The Settlements were largely Chinese in population, with a tiny but important European minority.[1] Their capital was moved from Penang to Singapore in 1832. Their scattered nature proved to be difficult and, after the Company lost its monopoly in the China trade in 1833, expensive to administer.[2]
During their control by the East India Company, the Settlements were used as penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners,[3] earning them the title of the ‘Botany Bays of India’.[4] The years 1852 and 1853 saw minor uprisings by convicts in Singapore and Penang.[5] Upset with East India Company rule, in 1857, the European population of the Settlements sent a petition to the British Parliament[6] asking for direct rule; but the idea was overtaken by events – the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
When a ‘Gagging Act’ was imposed to prevent the uprising in India spreading, the Settlements’ press reacted with anger, classing it as something that subverted ‘every principle of liberty and free discussion’.[7] As there was little or no vernacular press in the Settlements, such an act seemed irrelevant: it was rarely enforced and ended in less than a year.[8]
On 1 April 1867 the Settlements became a British Crown colony, making the Settlements answerable directly to the Colonial Office in London instead of the Indian government based in Calcutta, India. Earlier, on 4 February 1867, Letters Patent had granted the Settlements a colonial constitution. This allocated much power to the Settlements’ Governor, who administered the colony of the Straits Settlements with the aid of an Executive Council, composed wholly of official (i.e. ex-officio) members, and a Legislative Council, composed partly of official and partly of nominated members, of which the former had a narrow permanent majority. The work of administration, both in the colony and in the Federated Malay States, was carried on by means of a civil service whose members were recruited by competitive examination held annually in London.
Penang and Malacca were administered, directly under the governor, by resident councillors.Dindings and Province Wellesley
The Dindings, consisting of some islands near the mouth of the Perak River and a small piece of territory on the adjoining mainland, were ceded by Perak to the British government under the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. Hopes that its excellent natural harbour would prove to be valuable were doomed to disappointment, and the islands, sparsely inhabited and altogether unimportant both politically and financially, were administered by the government of Perak.
Province Wellesley, on the mainland opposite the island of Penang, was ceded to Great Britain in 1798 by the Sultan of Kedah, on its northern and eastern border; Perak lies to the south. The boundary with Kedah was rectified by treaty with Siam (now Thailand) in 1867. It was administered by a district officer, with some assistants, answering to the resident councillor of Penang. Province Wellesley consisted, for the most part, of fertile plain, thickly populated by Malays, and occupied in some parts by sugar-planters and others engaged in similar agricultural industries and employing Chinese and Tamil labour. About a tenth of the whole area was covered by low hills with thick jungle. Large quantities of rice were grown by the Malay inhabitants, and between October and February there was snipe-shooting in the paddy fields. A railway from Butterworth, opposite Penang, runs into Perak, and thence via Selangor and Negri Sembilan to Malacca, with an extension via Muar under the rule of the sultan of Johor, and through the last-named state to Johor Bharu, opposite the island of Singapore.The governor’s wider role
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (which were settled and once owned by a Scottish family named Clunies-Ross) and Christmas Island, formerly attached to Ceylon, were in 1886 transferred to the care of the government of the Straits Settlements in Singapore along with the addition of Labuan in 1906.
The governor of the Straits Settlements was also High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States on the peninsula, for British North Borneo, the sultanate of Brunei and Sarawak in Borneo, and since the administration of the colony of Labuan, which for a period was vested in the British North Borneo Company, was resumed by the British government he was also governor of Labuan. British residents controlled the native states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang, but on 1 July 1896, when the federation of these states was effected, a resident-general, responsible to the (governor as) high commissioner, was placed in supreme charge of all the British protectorates in the peninsula.Japanese invasion and dissolution
During World War II, the Japanese invaded Malaya and the Straits Settlements by landing on Kelantan on 8 December 1941, and on 16 December, Penang became the first Straits Settlement to fall to Japanese hands. Malacca fell on 15 January and Singapore fell on 15 February, following the famous Battle of Singapore. The Straits Settlements, along with the rest of the Malay Peninsula, remained under Japanese occupation until August 1945.
After the war, the colony was dissolved with effect from 1 April 1946, with Singapore becoming a separate crown colony (and ultimately an independent republic), while Penang and Malacca joined the new Malayan Union (a predecessor of modern-day Malaysia). Labuan was briefly annexed to Singapore, before being attached to the new colony of British North Borneo.
The Cocos or Keeling Islands and Christmas Island, originally made part of the crown colony of Singapore in 1946, were transferred to Australian administration in 1955 and 1957 respectively.
Hong Kong: History
Hong Kong
Hong Kong held 3,000 Chinese scattered in small fishing villages until the mid 19th century. The city itself is a small island in the mouth of the Pearl River, 76 miles southeast of Canton. Its waterfall at Aberdeen had initially attracted British attention because it provided a convenient fresh water supply, but Hong Kong’s superb harbor was its main asset. The British traveler Robert Fortune captured this promise early on:
After their victory in the first Opium War, the British acquired the island under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, and named the island’s capital city Victoria. Soon the Chinese population more than doubled, to fifteen- to twenty-thousand people, and Hong Kong along with Shanghai surpassed Canton as the main centers of China’s foreign trade. Piracy and disease afflicted the colony in the early years, but many Chinese fled to Hong Kong to escape the rebellions and disorder that struck the Chinese interior in the 1850s. By 1859 Hong Kong had over 85,000 residents, and had become the center of a wide-ranging overseas Chinese trading network, dominated by the prosperous Hong Kong business elite under British colonial protection. The founding of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in 1864, based on Chinese capital, showed that Hong Kong had become the leading financial center on the Chinese coast for international trade.
Perry himself observed that there was “every sign of commercial prosperity, although the place is not very attractive to visitors.”
“View of Hong Kong From East Market, April 7, 1853”
by William Heine”
Commodore Matthew Perry’s Japan Expedition [cwHK_1853_Heine_bx]
Victoria peak dominates most pictures of the city in the early years. The small but growing settlement gradually climbed up the peak as the city grew. The waves of new immigrants clustered around the port while Western-style residences higher up the peak became the most prestigious in the colony.
“View of Victoria Town, Island of Hong Kong, 1850”
by B. Clayton
Hong Kong Museum of Art [cwHK_1850_AH64251]
Unlike Canton, the British faced no restrictions from Chinese officials on where they could live or walk, and men and women could associate freely. The British tried to recreate a small version of English life at home on the distant shores of Asia. Although they were still a minority in the midst of a growing Chinese population, the colonial government protected Westerners from the local population and gave them privileges. Chinese merchants and workers, who could do business without facing the hong merchant monopoly or supervision from the hoppo, found that they could prosper in Hong Kong if they cooperated with the British. They helped to defend the colony against attack in the second Opium War and used their access to the British global empire to gain wealth and prestige. In the face of rebellions in China and threats from the Qing imperial government, the British carefully kept order in Hong Kong while encouraging trade by both Chinese and Western merchants.
In this idealized view of early Hong Kong, Western men and women gather in the gardens while a Chinese man bows respectfully to them. Hong Kong was a single woman’s paradise, according to the naval officer Lt. Edward Cree, with “forty ladies and four times as many men.” Even though thousands of Chinese had come to the city, artists chose to focus mainly on the foreign occupants.
“View of Spring Gardens, Hong Kong, 20th August, 1846”
painting by Murdoch Bruce, lithograph by A. Maclure
Hong Kong Museum of Art [cwHK_1846_AH643890]
Flagstaff House, built in 1846 for the first military governor of the colony, still survives as the oldest residential colonial structure in Hong Kong. It continued to be the British military headquarters until 1932, and is currently the Museum of Tea Ware.
“Flagstaff House, Hong Kong,” 1846
drawn by Murdoch Bruce, lithograph by A. Maclure
Hong Kong Museum of Art [cwHK_1846_AH643898]
The urban architecture of Hong Kong reflected the British determination to remold Chinese territory on the European model. Causeway Bay, for example, became the celebrated site of both a mint (with a formal garden) and the powerful Scottish trading firm of Jardine and Matheson. William Jardine and James Matheson founded their company in 1832 in Canton and they grew rapidly by exporting tea and silk to England and smuggling opium from India to China. As soon as Britain acquired Hong Kong, they purchased land in the Causeway area. In contrast to many initially skeptical merchants, Jardine and Matheson believed that Hong Kong had a prosperous future. Later they expanded to the other major treaty-port cities on the Chinese coast, but they kept their headquarters in Hong Kong and played a dominant role in the political and economic development of the city. Jardine Matheson is still the largest private employer in Hong Kong and one of the largest shipping companies in the world.
Causeway Bay became the site of British financial institutions like the Mint, depicted here in the 1860s.
“The Mint and its Garden, Hong Kong,” 1860’s, unknown artist
Hong Kong Museum of Art [cwHK_1860s_AH8813]
American businessmen, however, soon entered the trade to compete with the British. The Massachusetts traders Augustine Heard, Joseph Coolidge, and John Murray Forbes broke away from the firm of Russell and Company to create their own business in 1840, and in 1856 moved their headquarters from Canton to Hong Kong. They built their residence on a hill overlooking the harbor. The Heards introduced steamboats to China, and after the legalization of the opium trade made great profits from shipping opium along China’s inland rivers. The Heard company collapsed in bankruptcy in 1875.
In 1856 the head office of major American trading firm Augustine Heard and Company, with operations in Shanghai and Fuzhou, was moved to Hong Kong from Canton.
“Residence of Augustine Heard and Company, Hong Kong”
ca. 1860, unknown artist
Peabody Essex Museum
[cwHK_1860c_M17297]
As in Canton, British and Americans commissioned Chinese painters to depict their new outposts in the Pacific. Western artists likewise focused on the new Western buildings, ships clustered in the harbor, and the dramatic mountain scenery. Unlike Canton, however, Hong Kong was a colonial possession completely under the domination of a foreign power, and many foreigners viewed the native Chinese population with fear and contempt. The visiting missionary George Smith, for example, wrote this in 1846:
His attitude reflected the increasingly negative views of the Chinese that grew among missionaries and merchants after the Opium War.
In this “View of Hong Kong Harbor,” done by a Western artist some time between 1860 and 1870, Western architecture and foreign ships dominate the scene and there is no evidence of a Chinese presence.
“View of Hong Kong Harbor,” 1860–1870
Watercolor by Marciano Antonio Baptista
Peabody Essex Museum [cwHK_1860-70_M10874]
In Canton, the foreigners lived in a well-established urban center whose population was governed by a systematic bureaucracy. Hong Kong was more like a frontier boomtown, where both foreigners and migrant Chinese went to escape the constraints of life at home or to get rich in a new place. Much of the population was unruly, but the British created an environment of security that could guarantee profits to most people. Refuting early skepticism about its future, during the late 19th century Hong Kong grew to become the primary port of trade with China, rivaled only by Shanghai. The British control of the island, its status as a free port, and its convenient coastal location made it the ideal place to gain access to the large Chinese market. Hong Kong was a freer place than Canton, but a much more colonial one.
Here again, Western buildings and vessels dominate the scene, with little sense of a human presence and no indication that this was part of China. This was typical of much of the colonial artwork centering on Hong Kong.
“City of Victoria, Hong Kong,” 1860–1865
Gouache on paper, unknown Chinese artist
Peabody Essex Museum [cwHK_1860-65_E81235]
Coda: Macau, Canton, & Hong Kong
This fan combines views of Hong Kong (left), Macau (center), and Canton (right), 1845–65.
Peabody Essex Museum [cwOF_1845-65_E81311]
The three Pearl River delta cities represented three distinct phases of Western commercial contact with China, and each city developed a special style. All three reflected the shift from strict Chinese control over foreign trade from the 16th through 18th centuries to the free trade era dominated by British colonialism in the mid 19th century. Portuguese Macau, the oldest Western settlement, retained a modest, charming, relaxed atmosphere dominated by its stunning beach, the fishing trade, the forts and churches. Canton, already a giant city before the Westerners arrived, placed the new foreigners in a segregated quarter but actively mingled native Chinese and foreign cultures in the interest of profit. Hong Kong, the most Western dominated, became a prize British colonial possession, where Chinese flocked to take advantage of the opportunities offered by contact with a wider world.
Architecture and street life in the three cities reflected their particular origins and populations. In Macau, the Portuguese churches and forts provided the backdrop for scenes of the many different religions and cultures of the local population. In Canton, Westerners in the factories peered out at the population of a giant empire, tantalizingly close, but mainly inaccessible. In Hong Kong, the colonial settlers and officials made themselves into a distinct class tightly closed off from the Chinese around them, and often ignored or feared the local population.
All three cities attracted visitors and temporary residents from around the world, while simultaneously serving as funnels for Chinese products entering the global market. For most Westerners, they became windows on a far-away and alien world—albeit windows that were always narrow and usually all but closed to any real appreciation or understanding of life in the interior and among the Chinese people as a whole. Foreigners by and large celebrated their own lives in sequestered enclaves on the China coast. They revealed their fine taste by collecting elegant Chinese artworks, all the while remaining largely silent about the fact that the funds that supported their exotic connoisseurship often rested on illicit trade in opium. Even while extolling the superior morality and civilization of the West and berating the Chinese for their shortcomings in “moral, honorable” conduct, they waged not one but two wars to force the Chinese to legalize opium imports, open additional ports to receive them, and agree to a low fixed tariff on all items in this great exercise in “free trade.”
The Opium Wars signaled the end of the old Canton trade system under which the great Qing dynasty held the upper hand and dictated who and how and under what restrictions trade could be carried out. China was indeed the “central kingdom” during this long span of time—powerful, self-sufficient, capable of warding off foreign threats and dictating the terms of its relations with other nations and peoples. Defeat in the Opium Wars, and the ensuing collapse of the old Canton-system regimen of controlled trade, signaled the emergence of the European and American powers as the new imperial arbiters of wealth and power—and the consequences for China were dire. England’s colonialization of Hong Kong was, in its way, a perfect symbol of this new impotence—and the modern history of China for a century and a half thereafter reflected this catastrophe. Once the commanding great civilization of Asia, China abruptly became an object to be acted upon—besieged for decades to come by both external threats and internal upheaval.
When Chinese in the 20th and even early 21st century spoke of their country’s “humiliation,” it was generally understood that this is when the great decline began.
The Opium Wars
Opium Wars
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Opium Wars is a term referring to two wars that Britain fought against imperial China in the middle of the nineteenth century, presumably over the attempts of the Chinese authorities to stop the growing influx of foreign-produced opium. The real cause of the first Opium War (1839–1842), also called the “Anglo-Chinese War,” was Chinese resistance to Britain’s free-trade demands and practices, of which the unrestricted trade in opium was only the most controversial example. Seeking to end high Chinese import duties and other restrictions on foreign trading, the British found a pretext for war when China prohibited the importation of the drug and then confiscated a British shipment of opium.
Opium had long been used in China to treat some ailments, but in the seventeenth and the early part of the eighteenth centuries millions of Chinese from all social classes began to use it recreationally. Britain’s East India Company was shipping large quantities of Indian-grown opium to China, which it traded for Chinese tea and other local products. The imperial government was so concerned at the growing number of Chinese opium addicts that in 1799 it forbade its import trade and even decreed the death penalty for illicit trafficking in opium. Despite this legal prohibition, the opium trade continued to thrive, as private traders from Britain and other Western countries, including the United States, made huge profits from selling the extract to Chinese “opium eaters.” By the late 1830s foreign merchants were importing into China an estimated 5 million pounds of the illegal drug annually. Opium smuggling had so upset China’s balance of trade that its backward economy seemed to be on the verge of collapse. The alarmed imperial authorities made opium possession illegal in 1836 and began to close down the numerous opium parlors.
In 1839 Chinese customs officials seized a shipment of opium that British merchants were planning to market in the seaport city of Canton. In response, Britain rejected the legitimacy of China’s opium ban and threatened to use military force if the confiscated opium was not returned to its British owners. When China refused, the British navy shelled Canton and occupied the coastal areas around it, including Hong Kong. The war continued until China was forced to accept the humiliating terms of the 1842 Treaty of Nanking and compensate British merchants for their lost opium. The opium trade continued and even expanded under the generous import-license privileges that the Treaty of Nanking had granted to British merchants. This first of the so-called “unequal treaties” with China also ceded Hong Kong to Britain, opened five coastal cities, including Canton, to British rights of residence and trade, and imposed a very low tariff on British imports under the “most-favored-nation” principle. In 1844 the French and the Americans pressured China into granting them the same trading rights as the British.
The second Opium War (1856–1860) is sometimes called the “Arrow War” because the British, incensed by what they felt were clear treaty violations, used as a pretext to renew hostilities the boarding and seizure of the British ship Arrow and the arrest of its twelve crew members for opium smuggling and piracy. This time France joined the British in launching a punitive expedition inland after an initial British attack had been repelled by the Chinese. A combined Anglo-French military raid into China’s hinterland led to the signing of the 1858 Treaty of Tientsin. The Chinese imperial court refused to accept the onerous terms of this second “unequal treaty” until another joint Anglo-French expedition captured the capital Peking in 1860 and forced China’s total surrender. The Treaty of Tientsin allowed foreign embassies in Peking, a closed city at that time, opened eleven more coastal cities to foreign trading, and completely legitimized the opium trade. It also allowed westerners to travel in the Chinese interior, gave Christian missionaries the right to proselytize and hold property throughout China, and lowered even further import duties on British goods. In 1860 similarly imposed treaties were signed with France, the United States, and Russia.
The Opium Wars marked the beginning of China’s century-long subjugation and servitude to foreign powers. The defeated Chinese were forced to legalize the importation of opium, accept unfair and unbalanced terms of foreign trade, open up China’s seaports and the Yangtze River to foreign commercial penetration under the so-called “treaty port” system, and exempt westerners from China’s local laws and national jurisdiction. So severely curtailed was China’s independence in that period that the Chinese still view the Opium Wars as a national disgrace.
SEE ALSO Colonialism; Drugs of Abuse; Imperialism; Protected Markets; Protectionism; Sovereignty; TradeBIBLIOGRAPHY
Beeching, Jack. 1977. The Chinese Opium Wars. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Fay, Peter W. 1975. The Opium War, 1840–1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They Forced Her Gates Ajar. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Hu, Sheng. 1991. From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement. Trans. Dun J. Li. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Inglis, Brian. 1976. The Opium War. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Rossen Vassilev
Source: “Opium Wars.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 7 Aug. 2014 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Second Opium War
Second Opium War – Causes:
In the mid-1850s, the European powers and the United States sought to renegotiate their commercial treaties with China. This effort was led by the British who sought the opening of all of China to their merchants, an ambassador in Beijing, legalization of the opium trade, and the exemption of imports from tariffs. Unwilling to make further concessions to the West, the Qing government of Emperor Xianfeng refused these requests. Tensions were further heightened on October 8, 1856, when Chinese officials boarded the Hong Kong (then British) registered ship Arrow and removed 12 Chinese crewmen.
In response to the Arrow Incident, British diplomats in Canton demanded the release of the prisoners and sought redress. The Chinese refused, stating that Arrow was involved in smuggling and piracy. To aid in dealing with the Chinese, the British contacted France, Russia, and the United States about forming an alliance. The French, angered by the recent execution of missionary August Chapdelaine by the Chinese, joined while the Americans and Russians sent envoys. In Hong Kong, the situation worsened following a failed attempt by the city’s Chinese bakers to poison the city’s European population.Second Opium War – Early Actions:
In 1857, after dealing with the Indian Mutiny, British forces arrived at Hong Kong. Led by Admiral Sir Michael Seymour and Lord Elgin, they joined with the French under Marshall Gros and then attacked the forts on the Pearl River south of Canton. The governor of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, Ye Mingchen, ordered his soldiers not to resist and the British easily took control of the forts. Pressing north, the British and French seized Canton after a brief fight and captured Ye Mingchen. Leaving an occupying force at Canton, they sailed north and took the Taku Forts outside Tianjin in May 1858.Second Opium War – Treaty of Tianjin:
With his military already dealing with the Taiping Rebellion, Xianfeng was unable to resist the advancing British and French. Seeking peace, the Chinese negotiated the Treaties of Tianjin. As part of the treaties, the British, French, Americans, and Russians were permitted to install legations in Beijing, ten additional ports would be opened to foreign trade, foreigners would be permitted to travel through the interior, and reparations would be paid to Britain and France. In addition, the Russians signed the separate Treaty of Aigun which gave them coastal land in northern China.Second Opium War – Fighting Resumes:
While the treaties ended the fighting, they were immensely unpopular within Xianfeng’s government. Shortly after agreeing to the terms, he was persuaded to renege and dispatched Mongolian General Sengge Rinchen to defend the newly returned Taku Forts. The following June hostilities recommenced following Rinchen’s refusal to allow Admiral Sir James Hope to land troops to escort the new ambassadors to Beijing. While Richen was willing to allow the ambassador’s to land elsewhere, he prohibited armed troops to accompany them.
On the night of June 24, 1859, British forces cleared the Baihe River of obstacles and the next day Hope’s squadron sailed in to bombard the Taku Forts. Meeting heavy resistance from the fort’s batteries, Hope was ultimately forced to withdrawal with the aid of Commodore Josiah Tattnall, whose ships violated US neutrality to assist the British. When asked why he intervened, Tattnall replied that “blood is thicker than water.” Stunned by this reversal, the British and French began assembling a large force at Hong Kong. By the summer of 1860, the army numbered 17,700 men (11,000 British, 6,700 French).
Sailing with 173 ships, Lord Elgin and General Charles Cousin-Montauban returned to the Tianjin and landed on August 3 near Bei Tang, two miles from the Taku Forts. The forts fell on August 21. Having occupied Tianjin, the Anglo-French army began moving inland towards Beijing. As the enemy host approached, Xianfeng called for peace talks. These stalled following the arrest and torture of British envoy Harry Parkes and his party. On September 18, Rinchen attacked the invaders near Zhangjiawan but was repelled. As the British and French entered the Beijing suburbs, Rinchen made his final stand at Baliqiao.
Mustering over 30,000 men, Rinchen launched several frontal assaults on the Anglo-French positions and was repulsed, destroying his army in the process. The way now open, Lord Elgin and Cousin-Montauban entered Beijing on October 6. With the army gone, Xianfeng fled the capital, leaving Prince Gong to negotiate peace. While in the city, British and French troops looted the Old Summer Palace and freed Western prisoners. Lord Elgin considered burning the Forbidden City as punishment for Chinese use of kidnapping and torture, but was talked into burning the Old Summer Palace instead by other diplomats.Second Opium War – Aftermath:
In the following days, Prince Gong met with the Western diplomats and accepted the Convention of Peking. By the terms of the convention, the Chinese were forced to accept the validity of the Treaties of Tianjin, cede part of Kowloon to Britain, open Tianjin as a trade port, allow religious freedom, legalize the opium trade, and pay reparations to Britain and France. Though not a belligerent, Russia took advantage of China’s weakness and concluded the Supplementary Treaty of Peking which ceded approximately 400,000 square miles of territory to St. Petersburg.
The defeat of its military by a much smaller Western army showed the weakness of the Qing Dynasty and began a new age of imperialism in China. Domestically, this, coupled with the flight of the emperor and the burning of the Old Summer Palace, greatly damaged the Qing’s prestige leading many within China to begin questioning the government’s effectiveness.
Selected Sources
Source: http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars1800s/p/secondopiumwar.htm