Steamboats on the Yangtze River
Encyclopedia
After thousands of years of junk
Junk (ship)
A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...

 and sampan
Sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat bottomed Chinese wooden boat from long. Some sampans include a small shelter on board, and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. Sampans are generally used for transportation in coastal areas or rivers, and are often used as traditional fishing boats...

 traffic on the Yangtze River (Jiang), river steamers came with the Europeans. While the
steam engines brought technological improvement, they also brought European involvement, war, and opium. The age of the steamer
lasted nearly 150 years—from 1835 to 1980—and had lasting impacts on the Middle Kingdom of China. River trade in China was
essential to the economy in a land with poor roads and few railways. Yet the steam engine and its ability to go upstream came with
the extraterritorial rights, or loss of sovereignty, that went to the Westerners.

First Opium War

The first merchant steamer in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, the Jardine, was built to order for the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co.
Jardine Matheson Holdings
Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited often referred to as Jardines, is a multinational corporation incorporated in Bermuda and based in Hong Kong. While listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Singapore Exchange, the vast majority of Jardines shares are traded in Singapore...

 in 1835. She was a small vessel intended for use as a mail and passenger carrier between Lintin Island, Macao
Mação
Mação is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 400.0 km² and a total population of 7,763 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of eight parishes, and is located in the Santarém District....

, and Whampoa
Whampoa
Whampoa is the old English transliteration of Huangpu District, Guangzhou, in China.From there, it derives its other meanings, and can also refer to:* Relating to the Whampoa district:...

. However, the Chinese, draconian in their application of the rules relating to foreign vessels, were unhappy about a "fire-ship" steaming up the Canton River. The acting Governor-General of Kwangtung issued an edict warning that she would be fired on if she attempted the trip. On the Jardine's first trial run from Lintin Island the forts on both sides of the Bogue
Bocca Tigris
The Bocca Tigris, Bogue, or Humen is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong, People's Republic of China, where the Pearl River discharges into the South China Sea. The strait is formed by the islands of Chuenpee and Anunghoy on the eastern side and Tycocktow on the western side...

 opened fire and she was forced to turn back. The Chinese authorities issued a further warning insisting that the ship leave China. The Jardine in any case needed repairs and was sent to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

.
Subsequently, Lord Palmerston
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...

, the British Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...

 who personified gunboat diplomacy
Gunboat diplomacy
In international politics, gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of military power — implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare, should terms not be agreeable to the superior force....

, decided mainly on the "suggestions" of William Jardine
William Jardine
William Jardine may refer to:* William Jardine , Scottish surgeon and merchant, one of the founders of Jardine, Matheson & Co.* Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet , Scottish naturalist...

 to wage war on China. In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannon fire aimed at a British ship, the Royal Saxon, the British started the first of the Opium Wars
First Opium War
The First Anglo-Chinese War , known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice...

. British warships destroyed numerous shore batteries and enemy warships, laid waste to several coastal forts, indiscriminately bombarding town after town with heavy cannon fire, even pushing up north to threaten the Imperial Palace
Imperial Palace
Imperial Palace may refer to:Institutions*Kaiserpfalz in the Holy Roman EmpirePlaces:*Forbidden City, Beijing, China*Tokyo Imperial Palace , Tokyo, Japan*Heijō Palace, Nara Japan*Heian Palace, Japan...

 in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

 itself. The Imperial Government, forced to surrender, gave in to the demands of the British. British military superiority was clearly evident during the armed conflict. British warships, constructed using such innovations as steam power combined with sail and the use of iron in shipbuilding, wreaked havoc on coastal towns; such ships (like the Nemesis) were not only virtually indestructible but also highly mobile and able to support a gun platform with very heavy guns. In addition, the British troops were armed with modern muskets and cannons, unlike the Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 forces. After the British took Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

, they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, a devastating blow to the Empire as it slashed the revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction of what it had been.

In 1842 the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of Nanjing signed on a gunboat in the river, negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843. In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open five ports to Britain, and cede Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 to Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

. In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue
Treaty of the Bogue
The Treaty of the Bogue was an agreement between China and the United Kingdom, which was concluded in October 1843 in order to supplement the previous Treaty of Nanking...

, the Qing empire also recognized Britain as an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports
Treaty ports
The treaty ports was the name given to the port cities in China, Japan, and Korea that were opened to foreign trade by the Unequal Treaties.-Chinese treaty ports:...

.

The China Navigation Company was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after, and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated.

US involvement

The US, at the same time, wanted to protect its interests and expand trade, ventured the USS Wachusett six-hundred miles up the river to Hankow about 1860. While the USS Ashuelot
USS Ashuelot (1865)
USS Ashuelot was an iron-hulled, double-ended, side-wheel gunboat in the United States Navy. She was named for a river in New Hampshire.The contract for the construction of Ashuelot was awarded in June or July 1863 to Donald McKay. Her keel was laid down at his shipyard in East Boston,...

, a sidewheeler, made her way up the river to Ichang in 1874. The first USS Monocacy
USS Monocacy (1864)
-External links:*...

, a sidewheel gunboat, began charting the Yangtze River in 1871. The first USS Palos
USS Palos (1865)
The first USS Palos was a 4th rate iron screw tug in the United States Navy during the late 19th century. She was named for Palos de la Frontera in Spain....

, an armed tug, was on the Asiatic Station
Asiatic Squadron
The Asiatic Squadron was a squadron of United States Navy warships stationed in East Asia during the latter half of the 19th century, it was created in 1868 when the East India Squadron was disbanded...

 into 1891, cruising the Chinese and Japanese coasts, visiting the open treaty ports and making occasional voyages up the Yangtze River. From June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankow, 600 miles upriver. Stopping at each open treaty port, the gunboat cooperated with naval vessels of other nations and repaired damage. She then operated along the north and central China coast and on the lower Yangtze until June 1892. With the cessation of bloodshed with the Taiping Rebellion
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty...

, Europeans put more steamers on the river. The French, eager to secure their share, engaged the Chinese in war over the rule of Vietnam. The Sino-French War
Sino-French War
The Sino–French War was a limited conflict fought between August 1884 and April 1885 to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin . As the French achieved their war aims, they are usually considered to have won the war...

s of the 1880s emerged with the Battle of Shipu
Battle of Shipu
The Battle of Shipu was a French naval victory during the Sino-French War . The battle took place on the night of 14 February 1885 in Shipu Bay , near Ningbo, China.- Background :...

 having French cruisers in the lower Yangtze.

Boxer Rebellion

A Chinese song From the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...

 in 1900 sums up the Middle Kingdom's attitude to the European Foreign Devils.

It will not be difficult to exterminate the foreign devils

then.

Push aside the railway track.

Pull out the telegraph poles ;

immediately after this destroy the steamers.


The Boxer Rebellion was a disaster for China with more foreign involvement in the country.
Most of the warring took place in Peking and thus far from the Yangtze River.

Chinese ships on the Yangtze

Yichang or Ichang, 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from the sea, is the head of navigation for river steamers; oceangoing vessels may navigate the river to Hankow, a distance of almost 1,000 km (almost 600 mi) from the sea. For about 320 km (about 200 mi) inland from its mouth, the river is virtually at sea level.
The Chinese Government, too, had steamers. It had its own naval fleet, the Nanyang Fleet
Nanyang Fleet
The Nanyang Fleet was one of the four modernised Chinese navies in the late Qing Dynasty. Established in the 1870s, the fleet suffered losses in the Sino-French War, escaped intact in the Sino-Japanese War, and was formally abolished in 1909....

, which fell prey to the French fleet. The Chinese rebuilt its fleet, only to have it ravaged by another war with Japan in 1895
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...

, the Xinhai Revolution
Xinhai Revolution
The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...

 in 1911, and ongoing inefficiency and corruption. Chinese companies ran their own steamers, but were second tier to European operations at the time. With the Japanese advance into the east coast of China in 1938, enterprises and numerous people withdrew from Wuhan to the west and Sichuan. The Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

 navy undertook the responsibility of defending the Yangtze River and covering the withdrawal. On 24 October, while patrolling the waters of the Yangtze River near the town of Jinkou, in Wuchang (Jiangxia
Jiangxia
Jiangxia District is one of the administrative districts within the City of Wuhan. Jiangxia district has an area of 2,009 km² and a population of 680,000....

, Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...

), the Zhongshan was bombed by six Japanese aircraft . The aircraft dived, strafed and bombed the Zhongshan. Despite shooting down two of the aircraft, the Zhongshan eventually sank due to the serious damage she had sustained. Twenty-five Chinese officers and soldiers were killed in the battle.

Commercial involvement

Steamers came late to the upper river. The three gorges and the strong current hindered plans. Archibald Little
Archibald Little
Archibald Little was an Ontario merchant and political figure. He represented Norfolk North in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal member from 1903 to 1904....

 attempted a voyage with the Lee-Chuan, and the Kuling, delays and weak engines meant that he only succeeded in the first vessel in 1898. Little soon built the first truly successful boat, the Pioneer, in about 1899. She plied the river for two more decades and was even the flagship for the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 on the China Station
China Station
The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....

. There were a few commercial steamers on the upper river by the turn of the century and the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...

. The commercial firms of Jardine Matheson, Butterfield and Swire, and Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

 had their own steamers on the river. Until 1881, the India and China coastal and river services were operated by several companies. In that year, however, these were merged into the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, Ltd., a public company under the management of Jardines. The Jardine company pushed inland up the Yangtze River on which a specially designed fleet was built to meet all requirements of the river trade. For many years, this fleet gave unequalled service. Jardines established an enviable reputation for the efficient handling of shipping. As a result, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by Scot James Macqueen. After good and bad times it became the largest shipping group in the world in 1927 when it took over the White Star Line....

 invited the firm to attend to the Agency of their Shire Line which operated in the Far East. Standard Oil ran the tankers Mei Ping, Mei An, and Mei Hsia on the river, in addition to many motor barges, launches, tugboats and other tankers. These three tankers, the largest in the oil company's fleet, operated on the river until 1937 when they were bombed by the Japanese in the USS Panay
USS Panay
Three vessels of the United States Navy have been named USS Panay, after the Visayan Island Panay.* The first Panay was originally a Spanish gunboat in the Philippines, purchased in 1899 after the American occupation, and in various service until 1914, and sold in 1920. Among those who served upon...

 incident.

With the Treaty Ports, the European powers and Japan were allowed to float navy ships into China's internal waters. The British, US and French did this. A full international fleet featured on Chinese waters: Austro-Hungarians, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, and German navy ships came to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 and the treaty ports. The Bank of Indochina was among the members of a western banking syndicate given control of China’s finances. French civil servants took control of China's postal service. In 1901 the gunboat Orly was detached from the Far East Squadron for a cruise up the Yangtze Kiang. The Olry was accompanied by the steam launch Takiang as far as Chunking before Lieutenant Hourst continued on in a vain search for an inland waterway linking Szechwan with Tonkin. The Orly very nearly was taken in a sinking in the Three Gorges in 1911. It hit the shore and damaged its rudder; out of control, it nearly foundered. However, excellent boatmanship and improvisation saved the day and the vessel.

The Japanese engaged in open war with the Chinese twice, and Russians twice, over conquest of the Chinese Qing empire—in the First and Second Sino-Japanese War 1895, and 1905; and the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...

 of 1904. Incidentally, both the French
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 and Japanese navies
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 were heavily involved in running Vietnamese opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

 and narcotics to Shanghai, where it was refined into morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...

. It was then transhipped by liner back to Marseilles and France (i.e. French Connection
French Connection
The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Turkey to France and then to the United States. The operation reached its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it provided the vast majority of the illicit heroin used in the United States...

) for processing in Germany and eventual sale in the US or Europe.
In 1909 the gunboat USS Samar
USS Samar (PG-41)
USS Samar was a gunboat of the United States Navy. She was initially built for the Spanish Navy, but was captured during the Spanish-American War and taken into service with the US Navy .-Spanish career:...

 changed station to Shanghai, where she regularly patrolled the lower Yangtze River up to Nanking and Wuhu. Following anti-foreign riots in Changsha in April 1910, which destroyed a number of missions and merchant warehouses, Samar sailed up the Yangtze River to Hankow and then Changsa to show the flag and help restore order. The gunboat was also administratively assigned to the United States Asiatic Fleet
United States Asiatic Fleet
The United States Asiatic Fleet was part of the U.S. Navy. Preceding the World War II era, until 1942, the fleet protected the Philippines.Originally the Asiatic Squadron, it was upgraded to fleet status in 1902. In 1907, the fleet became the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. However, on 28...

 that year, which had been re-established by the Navy to better protect, in the words of the Bureau of Navigation
Bureau of Navigation
The Bureau of Navigation was an agency of the U.S. government established in 1884 to enforce laws relating to the construction, equipment, operation, inspection, safety, and documentation of merchant vessels. The Bureau of Navigation was an agency of the U.S. government established in 1884 to...

, "American interests in the Orient." After returning to Shanghai in August, she sailed up river again the following summer, passing Wuhu in June but then running aground off Kichau on 1 July 1911. After staying stuck in the mud for two weeks, Samar broke free and sailed back down river to take on coal. Returning upriver, the gunboat reached Hankow in August and Ichang in September, where she overwintered, owing to both the dry season and the outbreak of rebellion at Wuchang in October 1911. Tensions eased, and the gunboat turned downriver in July 1912, arriving at Shanghai in October. Samar patrolled the lower Yangtze after fighting broke out in the summer 1913, a precursor to a decade of conflict between provincial warlords in China. In 1919, she was placed on the disposal list at Shanghai following a collision with a Yangtze river steamer that damaged her bow.

The seamen's strikes were staged by the seamen at Hong Kong and by the crews of the Yangtse River steamers early in 1922. The Hong Kong seamen held out for eight weeks. After a bitter and bloody struggle, the British imperialist authorities in Hong Kong were finally forced to raise wages, lift the ban on the Seamen's Union, release the arrested workers and indemnify the families of the martyrs. The crews of the Yangtze steamers went on strike soon afterwards, carried on the struggle for two weeks and also won victory.

Increased US presence

The Spanish boats were replaced by newer vessels in the 1920s. Luzon
USS Luzon (PG-47)
The first USS Luzon was laid down 20 November 1926 by the Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai, China; launched 12 September 1927; sponsored by Miss Mary C. Carter, daughter of Commander Andrew F...

 and Mindanao
USS Mindanao (PR-8)
The first USS Mindanao was a river gunboat in the service of the United States Navy before and during World War II.-Construction and commissioning:...

 were the largest, Oahu and Panay
USS Panay (PR-5)
|-External links:* * *...

 next in size, and Guam and Tutuila the smallest. China in the first fifty years of the twentieth century, was in low-grade chaos. Warlords, revolutions, natural disasters, civil war and invasions contributed. Yangtze boats were involved in the Nanjing Incident
Nanjing Incident
The Nanjing Incident, or Nanking Incident, , occurred in March of 1927 during the capture of the city by Communistforces from the Nationalists. Warships bombarded Nanjing in defense of the foreign citizens within the city. Several ships were involved in the engagement, including vessels from Great...

 in 1927 when the Communists and Nationalists
Chinese nationalism
Chinese nationalism , sometimes synonymous with Chinese patriotism refers to cultural, historiographical, and political theories, movements and beliefs that assert the idea of a cohesive, unified Chinese people and culture in a unified country known as China...

 broke into open war. Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....

's massacre of the Communists in Shanghai in 1927 furthered the unrest, US Marines with tanks were landed.

River steamers were popular targets for both Nationalists and Communists, and peasants who would take periodic pot-shots at vessels. During the course of service the second USS Palos
USS Palos (PG-16)
The second USS Palos , a shallow draft gunboat built for service on the Yangtze River, China, was pre-constructed at Mare Island Navy Yard in 1912; dismantled and shipped to Shanghai, China: laid down by the Shanghai Dock and Engineering Co., on 28 April 1913; launched on 23 April 1914; sponsored...

 protected American interests in China down the entire length of the Yangtze, at times convoying U.S. and foreign vessels on the river, evacuating American citizens during periods of disturbance and in general giving credible presence to U.S. consulates and residences in various Chinese cities. In the period of great unrest in central China in the 1920s, Palos was especially busy patrolling the upper Yangtze against bands of warlord soldiers and outlaws. The warship engaged in continuous patrol operations between Yichang
Yichang
Yichang is a prefecture-level city located in Hubei province of the People's Republic of China. It is the second largest city in Hubei province after the province capital, Wuhan. The Three Gorges Dam is located within its administrative area, in Yiling District.-History:In ancient times Yichang...

 and Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...

 throughout 1923, supplying armed guards to merchant ships, and protecting Americans at Chungking while that city was under siege by a warlord army

In the second half of 1934 Settle arrived in China, tasked with sailing USS Palos (PG-16) 1,300 miles (2,100 km) up the Yangtze River from Wusong to Chongqing.[6] Palos, a gunboat stationed around Shanghai since 1914, had recently been refitted and over time became twice as heavy against her original displacement (340 vs. 180 tons), making her hardly capable of the upstream journey.[6] In 1929 alone, of 67 Yangtze steamers three were totally destroyed by the rapids with 47 casualties; a thousand junk sailors perished every year.

Royal Navy boats on the Yangtze River

Of course, the British Royal Navy had three generations of gunboats on the Yangtze River spanning fifty years. The first were the Heron-class river gunboats, of
which HMS Nightingale [1897-98]; and HMS Robin, HMS Sandpiper, HMS Snipe served on Yangtze and West Rivers until 1914 and were sold in 1919.
Later, in the Woodcock Class of gunboats came into service: these included the Woodcock, Moorhen, Teal and Widgeon.

The Insect class of gunboats, built in Britain for service on the Danube in 1915, were moved to the China Station and the Yangtze River in the 1920s.
Concomitant to the Insect class were the Dragonfly class of smaller boats—Dragonfly, Grasshopper, Locust and Mosquito. Unfortunately, most of these became casualties of war in 1942 with the Japanese attacks.

In 1926 the Wanhsien incident, brought the attention of the perils of China. A local warlord seized the Swire steamer Wahsien and held ship and officers for ransom. British gunboats attended and fired. The officers escaped, and the gunboats shelled the shoreline, from where the Chinese were firing rifles and artillery at the boats.See HMS Cockchafer
HMS Cockchafer
Four ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Cockchafer after the insect, the cockchafer: was a 5-gun schooner tender, previously the American schooner Spencer. She was captured in 1812 and sold in 1815. was an Albacore-class wooden screw gunboat launched in 1855 and sold in 1872. was a...


Japanese takeover

The British had a series of Insect-class gunboats
Insect class gunboat
The Insect class patrol boats were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube...

 which patrolled between Chungking and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

. Cruisers, destroyers and Fly-class vessels also patrolled the river.

On January 28, 1932, the Japanese attacked the Chinese nationalists around Shanghai. Around midnight, Japanese carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 aircraft bombed the city in the first major aircraft carrier action in the Far East. Three thousand Japanese troops proceeded to attack various targets, such as train stations, around the city. From 1931 to 1933, the cruiser Tenryū
Japanese cruiser Tenryu
was the lead ship in the two-ship of light cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Tenryū was named after the Tenryū River in Nagano and Shizuoka prefectures.-Background:...

 was assigned to patrol the Yangtze River and was thus in combat during the January 28 Incident at Shanghai in 1932. The Battle of Shanghai
Battle of Shanghai
The Battle of Shanghai, known in Chinese as Battle of Songhu, was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Army of the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

 of 1937 was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...

, Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

 and the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

, Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

. It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the entire war. On August 13, 1937, the Japanese and Chinese exchanged fire in Shanghai in the ongoing war. The Chinese 88th Division
88th Division (National Revolutionary Army)
The 88th Division was a German-trained and reorganized division in the National Revolutionary Army.-First Battle of Shanghai:The division was present at the First Battle of Shanghai in 1932 under the command of General Yu Jishi as part of the Fifth Army, fighting alongside the 19th Route...

 retaliated with mortar attacks. Sporadic shooting continued through the day until 4pm, when the Japanese headquarters ordered the naval ships of the Third Fleet, stationed in the Yangtze and the Huangpu River
Huangpu River
The Huangpu River is a -long river in China flowing through Shanghai...

 to open fire on Chinese positions in the city. In the late night of August 13, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang Zhizhong
Zhang Zhizhong
Zhang Zhizhong was a general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China. He was born in Chaohu, Anhui, and attended the Baoding Military Academy from which he graduated in 1916...

 to begin the Chinese offensive the next day. On August 22, the Japanese 3rd
3rd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the .-History:The 3rd Infantry Division was formed in Nagoya in January 1871 as the , one of six regional commands created in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. The Nagoya Garrison had responsibility for the central...

, 8th
8th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call-sign was the .-History:The 8th Infantry Division was formed on 1 October 1898, as one of the six new reserve divisions created after the First Sino-Japanese War. It consisted of troops from the Tōhoku region of Japan, primarily Aomori...

, and 11th Divisions
11th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the .-History:The 11th Infantry Division was created on 1 October 1898, as one of the six new reserve divisions formed after the First Sino-Japanese War. It consisted of troops from the four prefectures of Shikoku...

 made an amphibious assault under cover from naval bombardments and proceeded to land in Chuanshakou (川沙口), Shizilin (獅子林), and Baoshan
Baoshan District
The Baoshan District of Shanghai has a land area of 424.58 km² and a population of 1,905,000 as of 2010.-Landmarks:Downtown Baoshan is the location of Baosteel's head office. The main campus of Shanghai University is also located in Baoshan District...

 (寶山), towns on the northeast coast some fifty kilometers away from downtown Shanghai. Japanese landings in northeast Shanghai suburban areas meant that many Chinese troops, who were deployed in Shanghai's urban center, had to be redeployed to coastal regions to counter the landings.
The most infamous incident was the Panay incident
Panay incident
The USS Panay Incident was a Japanese attack on the American gunboat while she was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking , China on December 12, 1937. Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. The Japanese claimed that they did not see the American flags painted on the deck...

, when USS Panay
USS Panay (PR-5)
|-External links:* * *...

 and HMS Bee
HMS Bee (1915)
HMS Bee was an Insect class gunboat of the Royal Navy, launched on 8 December 1915. This class are also known as "Large China Gunboats".Initially built for service on the River Danube, after World War I the Insects were transported to China and served on the Yangtze River...

 were dive-bombed by Japanese aircraft in late 1937 during the Rape of Nanking.
The tanker Mei Ping was sunk in the same attack. After that outrage, much of the population and government of China fled inland to the wartime capital at Chungking, thousands
of journeys were made by steamer. Whole factories, libraries, and households were picked up and moved up the perilous river. Even the National Palace Art Collection,
the storied treasure of the Chinese Emperors, was boxed and moved inland. Junks, carts, and sampans were pressed into service, and cargoes kedged through the
Three Gorge Rapids, with ropes and gangs of men.
In 1939 the Japanese put further restrictions on foreign shipping on the lower Yangtze, trying to undo the near British Monopoly. The Europeans were forced to leave the Yangtze River with the Japanese takeover of the Settlements in 1941. The former steamers were either sabotaged or pressed into Japanese or Chinese service.

The Post War Period

After the Japanese surrender, the Communists and the Nationalists continued their civil war. The Americans and British tried to re-instate their presence as it had been before the war, but to little avail. Nationalist China signed an agreement with
the Allies in 1943 making China an Equal Partner, and thus abrogated the
Unequal Treaties of a century previous.
On April 21, 1949, Communist forces crossed the Yangtze River, capturing the Capital Nanking. And with the Communist takeover of Peking in late 1949, the European exploitation of China was over, though steamers continued to work the river.
The SS Shenking of the Butterfield and Swire Line made an epic rescue of stranded civilians from Shanghai, running them across the China Sea to Keelung, Formosa.

One steamer sank in 1947, drowning 400 people. Mao and the Chinese Communist Party
journeyed upriver by steamer in 1959 to Lushan to the Lushan Conference to discuss the Great Leap Forward. However, little is known in the west about this period, as China became a closed country. Many retired North American steamers were sent to Japan or Taiwan for scrapping. Some were pressed into mainland china service. By the 1970s China embarked on its own ship and engine building programs, and steamers have since been replaced by diesel tugs, freighters and ferry boats.

See also

  • China Station
    China Station
    The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....

  • The Sand Pebbles
    The Sand Pebbles (film)
    The Sand Pebbles is a 1966 American period war film directed by Robert Wise. It tells the story of an independent, rebellious U.S. Navy Machinist's Mate aboard the fictional gunboat USS San Pablo in 1920s China....

  • USS Asheville
    USS Asheville (PG-21)
    USS Asheville was a gunboat that served in the United States Navy during the early days of America's participation in World War II...

  • Brown water navy
  • Yangtze Patrol
    Yangtze Patrol
    The Yangtze Patrol, from 1854 to 1945, was a prolonged naval operation to protect American interests in the Yangtze River's treaty ports. Initially the patrol was carried out by ships of the United States Navy's East India and Asiatic Squadrons. In 1922, the "YangPat" was established as a formal...

  • HMS Amethyst
  • Robert Dollar
    Robert Dollar
    Captain Robert Dollar was born in Falkirk, Scotland. The title "Captain" was honorary and he was called the “Grand Old Man of the Pacific". Both were bestowed after his entry into the shipping industry. Dollar became a lumber baron, shipping magnate, philanthropist; he was also a Freemason...

  • APL
    APL
    -Organizations:*Advanced Production and Loading, a Norwegian marine engineering company formed in 1993.*Party of Labour of Albania, the sole legal political party in Albania during communist rule...

  • Canadian Pacific
  • RMS Empress of China
    RMS Empress of China
    RMS or SS Empress of China may refer to one of these Canadian Pacific Steamship Company ocean liners:, a ship launched from Barrow, England in 1891 as one of the first three ships Canadian Pacific ordered in creating the White Empress fleet...

  • USS Augusta
    USS Augusta
    Five ships of the United States Navy have been named Augusta, the first four after the city of Augusta, Georgia, and the fifth after Augusta, Maine.* The , was a 14-gun brig in use from 1799 to 1801....

    1930

External links

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