'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎145] (164/622)

history of the iivdian nayy.
145
The following account of the service rendered by the 4 Sesos-
tris' at the capture of Amoy, on the 26th of August, appears in
the Asiatic Journal for January, 1842 :— 64 The plan of attack
seems to have been soon arranged, for, at one o'clock, the 6 Sesos-
tris' and 'Queen' steamed up to the long battery, consisting of
seventy-six guns, on the right of the harbour; these allowed
them to come very near without firing. The first shot was fired
at the 4 Sesostris,' and was followed by eleven others before she
returned the compliment; she then, however, kept up a good
fire from three of her guns, passed along the whole length of
the battery (more than half a mile) till she came opposite the
white semicircular battery, behind which the suburbs of the
town on this side of the hill commence; here she remained all
alone for more than half-an-hour, firing shot and shell at the
battery and into the town in right good style, when she was
relieved by the 'Wellesley' and 'Blenheim' coming up and
anchoring so near as to render her further presence unnecessary.
She then passed on to the batteries on the island (Colun-soo)
and added her guns to those of the 4 Blonde,' 4 Modeste,' and
4 Druid,' who had taken up their position there; here she re
mained until the close of the whole affair, dividing her favours
between the batteries on that island and another strong one
in front of part of the suburbs of the city, which was also
within her range. When the 'Queen' had done as much
mischief as she thought proper to the battery at the end of
the wall, or rather as soon as she had finished protecting the
landing of the troops at that point, she joined the 6 Blonde,'
6 Druid,' 6 Modeste,' and 6 Sesostris,' in their attack upon
the island and town. The two small steamers, 'Nemesis'
and 'Phlegethon,' were most usefully employed in landing the
troops."
The combined naval and military force sailed from Amoy on
the 5th of September, and, on the 21st, reached the Chusan
islands, which had been evacuated in February by the British
garrison. On the 26th, a reconnaissance was made of the
defences of Tinghae and Chusan harbour, when it was found
that the place had been considerably strengthened since its
capture by Sir Gordon Bremer. The 'Wellesley' was moored
as close as possible to the intended point of landing, and
the 4 Cruiser' and 4 Columbine' were advanced within 200 yards
of the beach. By occasional well-directed round shot from
those vessels, and shells from the ' Sesostris,' the Chinese were
completely kept in check. The disembarkation of the troops
took place on the morning of the 1st of October, in two
columns, that destined for the attack of the sea defences being
strengthened by a detachment of seamen and marines ; in
landing the troops, the ' Sesostris' rendered great assistance.
" The steam vessels," says the Admiral, " moved into the inner
vol. ii. r