He wrote an article on his experiences in China for the Naval Review in Nov 1950

IN the early summer of 1900, a Chinese society called The Society of the Harmonious
Fist was in great strength in the then province of Chihili which included
the cities of Pekin and Tientsin. The avowed aim of this society was to exterminate
the Foreign Devils. The society was christened the Boxers by the
British Navy and this was soon the official name of these bloodthirsty gentry.
The Empress Dowager who was virtually the ruler of China had promised the
foreign diplomats to use force against the Boxers, and the large Chinese regular
Army in Chihili was supposed to be dealing with the matter. Actually this
anti-foreign old lady had told her generals to support the society, and eventually
the affair developed from a Boxer rising into a healthy war.
q Towards the end of May, H.M.S. Orlando in which I was serving as a midshipman
arrived and anchored off Taku, where owing to the shallow water she
actually lay thirteen miles off-shore. The Taku forts at the mouth of the Peiho
river were very strong and were reported impregnable, which proved later to
be incorrect. A few miles up-river was Tongku the terminus of the Pekin,
Teintsin and Tongku railway, efficiently run by Europeans. On arrival the
Orlando dispatched her Royal Marine detachment to Pekin to reinforce the
British Legation Guard. For some years past it had been the custom in accordance
with arrangements with the Chinese Government, to maintain an armed
guard in all the Legations, and at that time the British guard was composed of
Royal Marines ; Captain Halliday who commanded the Orlando's R.M. detachment
gained a V.C. during the siege and eventually became Adjutant General,
Royal Marines. A company of bluejackets were sent to Tientsin to reinforce
the garrison of the British concession which consisted of a handful of volunteers,
and the Chinese regiment raised in Wei-hai-Wei with British officers. This
regiment fought gallantly and took part in most operations. From then on
ships of all the powers were constantly arriving and landing small parties of
sailors and eventually the Centurion wearing the flag of the British Commanderin-
Chief, Admiral Seymour, arrived. He was a man of great personality and
presence and was thoroughly liked and respected by all nationalities. As the
Senior Flag Officer he automatically became the Allied Commander-in-Chief.
Landing parties were organized and held in readiness and the " Expeditionary
Force towards Pekin " (the official title-the unofficial one being " The
Admiral's Column ") was made up and composed as follows :-British 800
rifles, German 400, Russian 400, French 250, United States, Italy and Japan
100 each, Austrians 50. British and United States included Marines, otherwise
all were sailors. In fact it was a big Naval occasion.
The British contingent of which I was a member was drawn from the
Centurion, Aurora, Endymion and Orlando. Companies were 100 strong equipped
with up-to-date arms, but rather antiquated equipment. There was no khaki,
officers and ratings all wore blue uniform. Officers wore swords, midshipmen
cutlasses-a heavy weapon for some of the little ones. We had a battery of
four 9-pounder muzzle loading field guns which were handled by manpower.
Maxim or Nordenfelts on travelling, or tripod mountings, were our machine
guns, about one to each detachment. None of our allies had guns and few of
them machine guns?
The British provided three Medical Officers, complete with stretcher bearers
and a medicine chest apiece. No one had first aid dressings. Later on officers
and marines handed in the puggarees from their helmets for bandages. There
was no transport of any sort. It might well be asked why such a small force
so ill-equipped ever took on such a task. The position in Pekin, however, was
very critical ; the German minister had been assassinated and all the Foreign
Legation personnel and guards were concentrated in the British Legation. Had
this been captured all the occupants would have been killed after torture, rape
and all the other atrocities at which the Chinese were expert. The Commanderin-
Chief simply had to make an effort. There were no troops available within
hundreds of miles, wireless telegraphy did not exist and Sir Claud MacDonald,
the Br&ish Minister, could only communicate with the Admiral by telegraph
and, when that failed, by courier. So the man on the spot had to act and did so.
Accordingly at 2 a.m. on the 10th of June, 1900, the Admiral's column
was towed in ship's boats to Tongku and there embarked in fike trains. The
Imperial Chinese Troops had not yet come in on the side of the Boxers, so no
opposition was made to the landing. The Chief of Staff was Captain John
Jellicoe, later to become Earl Jellicoe of Scapa Flow. The German Commanding
Officer, Captain Von Usedom, was in 1915 Admiral Commanding the Dardanelles,
and was a good type of officer whom the British liked and respected. The O.C.
of the Italian contingent provided some comic relief by going to war in a frock
coat, white duck trousers, patent leather buttoned boots and a blue silk sash
over his shoulder.
At Tientsin the party stopped and our friends and shipmates met us at the
station with the latest news, most of which consisted of the wildest rumours.
One, which turned out to be true, was that the Chinese troops had joined the
Boxers. This meant that serious opposition would be met on the way to Pekin,
and that the Taku forts would try to stop any reinforcements landing. It also
meant that the European settlement in Tientsin would be in great danger.
I suppose some of the senior officers realized that we were on a pretty bad wicket,
but the younger element considered it a party with all sorts of exciting possibilities.
The five trains moved off that afternoon and crossed the river at Yangtsun
where a company from the Endymion was left to guard the bridge. The Peiho
river is not navigable above Tientsin by anything larger than a shallow draft
junk. For the next few days as we slowly proceeded, the railway line was
constantly found to be torn up, and, whilst a carpenter's party from the Centuricm
repaired it, the train was constantly attacked by hordes of Boxer braves. These
attacks were always made in daylight and were easily beaten off, as the Boxers
were armed mostly with swords and spears and were simply a very brave and
fanatical rabble.
The Company at Yangtsun was attacked by a large force and was lucky
not to have been wiped out, so they were withdrawn to the main column. The
trains got as far as Lang Fang, twenty-one miles from Pekin, and the line there
was so badly damaged that even shipwrights and carpenters of the Royal Navy
were unable to compete. Leaving two trains under Captain Von Usedom, with
Commander Boothby in command of the British detachment, the Admiral took
three trains back to Yangtsun and tried to organize a march up-river using
junks for transport work. The force under Captain Von Usedom was British
and German only, the British being a detachment of Royal Marines from Aurora,
and one company of bluejackets from Endymion and Orlafido respectively.
At about 10 a.m. the next day whilst all hands were cleaning rifles and
equipment, and doing various odd jobs, they were attacked with great dash and
courage. The allies were greatly out-numbered, but discipline told. After
between two and three hours stiff fighting, the enemy retreated leaving hundreds
of dead and wounded on the field. Our casualties were considerable and Captain
Von Usedom, after a conference with Commander Boothby, decided to rejoin
the Admiral. Junks had been already collected in which stores and ammunition
were stowed.
When the Admiral realized that the Chinese Army were opposing us and
that he was hampered by about fifty wounded he decided to march back to
Tientsin by river. One junk was improvised as a hospital carrier and two extra
were put in readiness. The trains were burnt with all surplus kit. All were then
informed that the column was retreating to Tientsin, that heavy fighting was
certain, that food would be limited to a handful of ship's biscuits and,a small
piece of bully-beef a day per man. All shared alike. Nobody had blankets or
anything except what he stood up in, and what he could cram into his haversack.
Rifles and equipment were carefully inspected and a full quota of ammunition
was issued. The force marched off at 2 p.m. in good heart, the British, realizing
now that they werC in a tight corner, had much to jest about in discussing the
joys of playing soldiers.
After the first mile or so the guns had to be embarked in a junk, it was
impossible to manhandle them across the plains and ploughed fields of North
China. The junk was sunk the next day, so we had written off our artillery.
Fortunately the weather was fairly good, hot all day and cold at night. Every
village or town wel came to had to be attacked and captured before we could
get past, opposition was always stiff and the finale was usually a bayonet charge
which was really rather exciting. There didn't appear to be any Boxers such
as we had met earlier on. Our opponents were well-armed troops with cavalry
and light field guns. Fortunately they were badly trained and led, and easily
demoralized. Marching and fighting all day and spending half the night on
picket plus the lack of food told heavily on the force. The sailor of those days
seldom wore boots except on leave, so a large number of ratings were suffering
from sore feet. It was quite common to see men marching and fighting in bare
feet with their boots attached to their equipment. The water question was
terrible ; whenever we captured a village or town a rush was made for the wells
which generally had a human or animal corpse floating in it. The river water
was foul on account of the constant fighting on both banks. Passing through
cultivated areas some of the men pulled up turnips and other roots and eat them
raw, and after a very short time, dysentry and other " tummy " troubles were
prevalent.
After our fourth day on the go, during which Captain Jellicoe was dangerously
wounded, we were informed that the following day, starting just before
dawn, we were hoping to fight our way through to the European settlement
at Tientsin. After spending half the hours of darkness on picket, we marched
off just before dawn.
When the sun was above the horizon we saw on the opposite bank of the
river to us, a group of large buildings, a lot of Chinese troops fully armed drawn
up on the bank and three rather large guns trained on us-the river was only
about twenty-five yards wide at this point. Our interpreter shouted for an
officer to speak to him and a portly gentleman wearing a sword and carrying a
fan duly appeared and bowed to us. Our interpreter stated we were a force of
European troops on our way to Tientsin and that we did not wish any hostile
action. The officer said we could pass without interference, but as soon as we
resumed our march (we had naturally halted and taken cover) every rifle and
gun opened fire on us. The range was so short and the fire was so high that we
had very few casualties. The junks containing the wounded were heavily fired
on but owing to the gallantry of the Brjtish crews who manhandled them upstream
and into safety, only two wounded men were killed. It was here that
Leading Seaman George of the Orlando gained the very rare Conspicuous
Gallantry Medal.
There were luckily some boats on the enemy's side of the river so in less
than no time British and Germans had crossed the river, the first wave by
swimming, and had delivered a combined bayonet charge on the Chinese troops
who hesitated and were lost. The remainder of the force crossed the river at their
leisure. The column found itself in possession of a large Chinese arsenal named
Hsiku. It was full of guns, machine guns, rifles of all types and ammunition
which fitted all the rifles except the Austrians who had just re-armed themselves.
There were tons of good rice and some mules, which were slaughtered for the
benefit of the wounded, whose number had increased consigerably since the
beginning of the retirement. There was a very thick earth wall completely
surrounding Hsiku on three sides and the river formed the fourth side, so it
was easy to defend.
With plenty of ammunition and lots of food (though it was all rice) we
were not too badly off, but the wounded, now about 200, had to be considered.
After cleaning up and having a good meal, we were attacked by a strong force
which was repelled without much trouble, though a Royal Marine patrol was
ambushed, killed to a man, and the bodies horribly mutilated. A Chinese soldier
was captured later on with a bundle containing the Marine officer's head ! For
the next three days a sand storm blew making living conditions rather uncomfortable,
and under cover of this the enemy made several attempts to
recapture the arsenal, but were repelled without much trouble or many casualties.
All day long from the direction of Tientsin we could hear heavy gun-fire, and at
night rockets were also seen. We sent up rockets at night hoping someone
would guess that we were in Hsiku, and also dispatched a number of Chinese
couriers who were heavily paid in advance. From information received later
we learned that only one got through, having swallowed his despatch.
For a fortnight or more the column had been out of touch with everyone,
and it was not known whether the Foreign settlement at Tientsin still existed
or not. One strong rumour was that we would have to destroy our wounded
and fight our way back to the sea. The Royal Marines of the Endymion tried to
get through to Tientsin, to find out the situation, and if possible to get a relief
column out. The Chinese for the first time fought at night, the Marines were
very badly cut up, and were forced back to Hsiku. The bodies of the casualties
were found later on horribly mutilated. Finally, two or three mornings later
at dawn, a column was sighted approaching from the direction of Tientsin,
obviously European troops.
This force was commanded by Commander Christopher Cradock (who
went down in the Good Hope at Coronel in November, 1914) and was known as
" Cradock's Circus " owing to the queer mixture of British sailors and Volunteers
and Russian soldiers, and the fact that the gallant Commander rode a skewbald
pony. We had a great reunion with our friends, who we really had neler expected
to see again. From them the latest news was received, true and genuine this
time. The Taku forts, after being bombarded by the Algerine, a little British
sloop, had been stormed by allied sailors and captured after hot fighting. Two
of our destroyers, Fame and Whiting, under Lieutenant Roger Keyes (afterwards
Admiral of the Fleet Lord Keyes) had captured four Chinese destroyers.
The Terrible, fresh from assisting to relieve Ladysmith in South Africa,
with her long range guns and improvised field mountings had arrived and her
guns were now in Tientsin. She had also brought up the Royal Welsh Fusiliers
from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong regiment had also arrived and American,
Russian, French and Japanese troops were on the way. The relief force said
they were surprised when it was known that we still existed, news for which
the pluck of the despatch-swallowing courier was responsible.
The final march to Tientsin was most unpleasant, the relief column did the
fighting, and our column had to carry the non-walking wounded in stretchers
for eight miles over rough country, as the river ran through the Chinese lines and
could not be used.
On arrival at Tientsin all the Europeans turned out to greet their friends
from Pekin, and when they found we had not brought them back, and had not
got nearer than twenty miles from that city, the dirty, worn out members of
the Admiral's column marched into the settlement in dead silence, and, after
all hands had settled in and cleaned up, there was a marked coldness. The
Admiral and his staff soon returned to the fleet and the British members of the
column joined the British Naval Brigade under Captain Bayley, Royal Navy, of
the Aurora. Under this fire-eater we saw a lot of interesting service including
the capture of two other big arsenals, Pi Yang and Hi Kong Su. Why there
were three big arsenals so close together was a mystery. Late in July the detachments
which had served with the Admiral were decimated with sickness and, as
plenty of troops from Siberia, Japan and the Philippines were arriving, the sailors
returned to their ships. As the Orlalzdo company was being towed down the
river they watched the allies advancing for the great attack on the vast Tientsin
native city where Midshipman Guy of the Barfleur gained a V.C. at the age of
seventeen-and-a-half.
The relief of Pekin was accomplished many weeks later by a strong and
well-equipped Allied Army under the German Field Marshal, Count Von
Waldersee. The British contingent were all from India except the Royal Welsh
Fusiliers and the Terrible guns, and were under the command of General Gaselee.
Old Indian Army officers are often heard to say, " The China show, absolute
picnic, no fighting, lots of loot," but the sailors who did all the dirty work before
the Indian contingent were even embarked did not have much of a picnic, nor
could they complain of any lack of fighting.
No praise could be too high for Admiral Seymour, who handled the forces
of eight different nationalities so diplomatically, that there was good feeling and
cameraderie amongst them all. The great worry of his personal staff was the
way he exposed himself under fire. To quote the words of an old Petty Officer,
" , E was a proper b-y gentleman."
The force left their ships on the 10th of June and reached Tientsin after
the retreat from Yangtsun on the 2nd of July. They had fought every day for
seventeen days, been completely out of touch with the outer world for fifteen
days, one seventh of the force were killed and wounded (just over 300), most of
the casualties being sustained by the British. The expedition was a failure,
but it was a gallant failure.
AMPHIBIAN