{{Short description|1839 battle of the First Opium War}} {{for|the 1841 battle|Second Battle of Chuenpi}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox military conflict | conflict = First Battle of Chuenpi | partof = the First Opium War | image = Volage & Hyacinth in Chuenpee.jpg | image_size = 300 | caption = The ''Volage'' and ''Hyacinth'' engaging Chinese war junks | date = 3 November 1839 | place = Humen, Guangdong, China | coordinates = {{coord|22.802|113.605|display=title}} | result = British victory | combatant1 = {{flagcountry|UKGBI}} *{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg}} British East India Company | combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of China (1862–1889).svg|border=no}} Qing China | commander1 = Charles Elliot<br>Henry Smith | commander2 = Lin Zexu<br>Guan Tianpei | strength1 = 1 frigate<br>1 sloop | strength2 = 16 junks<ref name="janin">Janin, Hunt (1999). ''The India-China Opium Trade in the Nineteenth Century''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 120. {{ISBN|0-7864-0715-8}}.</ref><br>13 fire rafts<ref name="janin" /> | casualties1 = 1 wounded<br>1 Frigate lightly damaged<br>1 Sloop lightly damaged | casualties2 = 15 killed<br>1 fire raft sunk<br>1 junk blown up<br>3 junks sunk<br>several other junks damaged | notes = }}
The '''First Battle of Chuenpi'''<ref>Hoe, Susanna; Roebuck, Derek (1999). ''The Taking of Hong Kong: Charles and Clara Elliot in China Waters''. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. p. xviii. {{ISBN|0-7007-1145-7}}. "Elliot wrote Chuenpee for what some have written Chuenpi and is called Chuanbi in pinyin".</ref> ({{zh|t=穿鼻之戰}}) was a relatively minor naval engagement fought between British and Chinese ships at the entrance of the Humen strait (Bogue), Guangdong province, China, on 3 November 1839 near the beginning of the First Opium War. The battle began when the British frigates HMS ''Hyacinth'' and HMS ''Volage'' opened fire on Chinese ships they perceived as being hostile.
It is named after Chuenpi island (also known as Chuanbi), one of two islands in Humen.
== Background == For foreign ships to be allowed to dock in Canton (Guangzhou) for trade, Chinese authorities required a signed bond agreeing not to trade opium. Captain Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, ordered British ships not to sign the bond because if opium was found, the cargo would be confiscated and the perpetrators executed. This in turn interfered with the trade of British merchantmen in China.<ref name="elleman">Elleman, Bruce A. (2001). ''Modern Chinese Warfare, 1795-1989''. London: Routledge. pp. 18–20. {{ISBN|0-415-21474-2}}.</ref> In October 1839 a cargo ship, the ''Thomas Coutts,'' under the command of captain Warner arrived in Canton from Singapore. The ship carried cotton from Bombay, and, since the captain was not trading opium, he defied Elliot's request and signed the Chinese bond. He held a legal view that Elliot's ban on the signing was not valid under English law.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=StpbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA466 Additional Correspondence Relating to China]''. London: T. R. Harrison. 1840. pp. 8–9.</ref><ref name="hanes">Hanes, William Travis; Sanello, Frank (2002). ''The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another''. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks. pp. 68–70. {{ISBN|1-4022-0149-4}}.</ref>
thumb|left|175px|''Thomas Coutts'' in 1836 Before Warner left China, Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu gave him a letter addressed to Queen Victoria in which he disapproved the use of opium and requested the opium trade to stop. After arriving in London, he handed the letter to a co-owner of the ''Thomas Coutts'', who asked for an appointment with Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston. After Palmerston's office refused to see him, Warner forwarded the letter to ''The Times'', which published it.<ref name="hanes" /> Viewing Warner's defiance as a threat to his authority, Elliot ordered {{HMS|Hyacinth|1829|6}} and {{HMS|Volage|1825|6}} to be positioned {{convert|1|mi}} south of the Chuenpi battery on 27 October to blockade any other British ships bound for Canton.<ref name="elleman" />
== Battle == thumb|250px|''Volage'' and ''Hyacinth'' in Chuenpi
After a second British ship, {{ship||Royal Saxon|1829 ship|2}}, tried to defy Elliot's blockade on 3 November 1839, ''Volage'' under Captain Henry Smith fired a warning shot across the ''Royal Saxon''{{'}}s bow. In response, Chinese war junks under Admiral Guan Tianpei moved out to protect ''Royal Saxon''. After Elliot gave in to Smith's pressure for an attack, the more maneuverable British ships approached the Chinese vessels and fired broadsides at them from starboard.<ref name="elleman" />
thumb|250px|Depiction of the battle by Captain Peter William Hamilton Smith wrote, "I did not conceive that it would be becoming the dignity of our flag, the safety of the merchant shipping below, and my own character, to retire before such an imposing force, sent out at that moment evidently for the purpose of intimidation."<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=bVZHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA571 The Annual Register, or a View of the History and Politics, of the Year 1840]''. London: J. G. F. & J. Rivington. 1841. p. 571.</ref> According to a Chinese account by Wei Yuan, "five of our war-ships went to preserve order on the sea-board" and "the English mistook our red flags for a declaration of war, and opened fire;—for in Europe a red flag means war, and a white one peace."<ref>Parker, Edward Harper (1888). ''[https://archive.org/details/chineseaccountof00parkrich Chinese Account of the Opium War]''. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh. pp. 10–11.</ref>
One Chinese fire raft immediately sank, and a war junk exploded after its magazine was struck. After the first run, the ''Volage'' and ''Hyacinth'' turned and repeated the same maneuver using their port broadsides.<ref name="elleman" /> The stationary guns on the Chinese vessels could not be aimed effectively.<ref name="hanes" /> One junk was blown up, three were sunk, and several others were damaged. Faced with superior firepower, the Chinese fleet sailed away except for Kuan's 12-cannon flagship, which returned fire. Since it posed a minimal threat, Elliot ordered Smith to stop firing, allowing the damaged flagship to sail off. The ''Volage'' sustained light damage on its sails and rigging, and the mizzen-mast of the ''Hyacinth'' was hit by a 12-pound (5.4 kg) ball. One British sailor was wounded and 15 Chinese were killed.<ref name="elleman" />
== Aftermath == The ''Royal Saxon'' sailed on to Canton and Elliot returned to Macau.<ref name="hanes" /> Historian Bruce A. Elleman wrote, "the origin of this battle was not even between the British and the Chinese, but was really as a result of the British Navy fighting to stop one of Elliot's own British ships that had refused to uphold his free-trade principles. The 'Battle of Chuanbi,' perhaps more than any other conflict during the Opium War, vividly revealed the underlying free-trade tensions."<ref name="elleman" />
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Opium in China}}
Category:1839 in China Chuenpi 1 Chuenpi Category:Military history of Guangdong Chuenpi 1 Category:November 1839