account of an ultra animosity to foreigners, consequent upon the existing hostilities between China and Japan. These orders were received late in October, and upon such inquiries as could be made concerning the terra incognita of Newchwang, a port rarely visited by any of our vessels, several items of information were obtained, which may be recapitulated as pertinent to a comprehensive conception of our subject. Item A.-That Newchwang was not Newchwang at all, but was called by the Chinese, Yingtze, and sometimes Yenkow, the real city of that euphonious appellation being situated some twenty miles distant, and inland, Yingtze being its port and having appropriated its name. Item B.-That this so-called Newchwang was a city of Mantchuria, with a population of 70,000 native inhabitants, and a small foreign colony then augmented by some refugee missionaries; that it was to be found at the head of the Gulf of Petchili and fifteen miles above the mouth of the Liáo river, whose navigation was closed from November until April, and that before and after the solid freezing of the river, great floes of ice some thirty inches in thickness, charged up and down its course with every change of tide, and with such force as to render it an impossibility for any vessel to remain at anchor off the town. Item C.-That a provisional dock could be cut in the soft mud of the river's bank, and that in such a dock the ship might winter and be fully protected from the ice; also, that two precedents for this alternative existed, neither of them very reassuring, but evidencing the possibility of such a plan. The first had been the case of a small British gunboat, H. M. S. Grasshopper, which had been ordered to Newchwang in 1870, but had unfortunately broken her back in entering such a dock, so that she was useless for any further work, and in the spring was sold as old material; the second, that of the U. S. S. Palos, which some ten years later had wintered at Newchwang, and had been docked and undocked successfully. The latter case was hardly more encouraging than the former, for the contrast between the size of the Petrel with her 890 tons displacement, length of 176* feet and beam of 31 feet, and that of * Compare this with the length of the old sailing frigates and sloops of war: Constitution, 176 feet; Constellation, 176 feet; Portsmouth, 153 feet; Saratoga, 147 feet. the Palos, 420 tons, 137 feet length and 26 feet beam, made it very questionable if the experience of the Palos could be taken as a criterion, and if the docking could be accomplished without serious risk to so much larger a vessel. Item D.-That H. M. S. Firebrand, an antiquated British gunboat of 455 tons, and with a crew of only 45 men, was to keep the Petrel company in her Mantchurian port for the winter. Item E.-That an inspirating and what was later found to be a quite accurate description of the Petrel's prospective station, could be obtained from the Sailing Directions, which, on this occasion, seemed to depart from their usual imperturbable enumeration of headlands or dispassionate description of rocks and shoals, and to regard the case as one demanding a certain degree of melancholy eloquence as may be judged from the following excerpt: "It is a dreary place. The muddy river winds through a plain. of mud without a single natural elevation to break the dismal monotony of the scene, and indeed except for a few weeks during summer, the region in which the port is situated is little more cheerful than an Arctic swamp." To which may be added the pithy dictum of an English traveler, who aptly terms Yingtze "a putrescent cesspool." † Such scanty information was all that was obtainable, and as there were but a few weeks remaining in which to accomplish the object of our mission there was no time for delay. The November spring tides happened to come in the second week of the month, and failing to take advantage of these, it was questionable if the dock could be entered at all before navigation closed. An order was consequently telegraphed, and the dock was fairly under way when the Petrel arrived on November 7th. The first part of the excavation was comparatively easy, the .ground being of soft mud, with no rocky formation, but the latter part was hindered by the opening out of springs and quick sands, and by the discovery of certain strata of sand through which the water of the river percolated. It was specified that the dock should be 220 feet long by 40 feet wide, and that there should be a depth of at least 13 feet 6 inches * Chinese Sea Directory, Vol. III, p. 655. Travels in Mantchu, Tartary, by George Fleming, Esq. upon the sill, the vessel, after having been lightened and trimmed to an even keel, drawing 12 feet 2 inches both forward and aft; but great difficulty was experienced in getting even 13 feet on the sill owing to an abnormally high tide which had prematurely broken in the as yet uncut gate, and had flooded the dock. The weather was getting colder each day, the temperature falling below the freezing point at night, and as the Chinese coolies could work upon the sill only at the lowest point of the tide, had no dredger of any kind, but were obliged to dig waist deep in the freezing water, it was doubtful for some time if the requisite depth could be obtained. However, by persistent effort all difficulties were overcome, and on November 12th, a first attempt was made to enter. The first and even the second and third attempts were unsuccessful, and it was only by a dogged perseverance and by forcing the ship through the mud of the sill with less than 12 feet of water upon it, that she was finally successfully docked. The operation was a hazardous and an extremely difficult one, owing to the following reasons: 1. The tides in the Liáo, as in many rivers, run with great rapidity, especially at springs. 2. The ebb in shore begins a full hour before the flood ceases running in the center of the stream, thus forming counter currents each of great force, and giving no period of absolute slack water. 3. The best moment to enter the dock was naturally the one when the tide gauge on the sill showed the highest rise of water. From this it may be understood that when approaching the bank great allowance had to be made for the rapid flood current in the stream, and that on nearing the entrance an almost equally strong ebb was encountered, both currents affecting the vessel at the same time, thus forcing her from her normal position to the bank and bringing her nearly parallel to the shore and obliquely on to the mouth of the dock. However, by grounding on the corner of the dock, working the engines and helm, backing to drive the water in, and then going ahead full speed to take advantage of the extra depth thus obtained; by heaving with the steam capstan on wire and manilla hawsers bent to anchors which had been buried deep in the ground at the head and on the sides of the dock, and by using others attached upon the sill, the vessel, after having been lightened and trimmed to an even keel, drawing 12 feet 2 inches both forward and aft; but great difficulty was experienced in getting even 13 feet on the sill owing to an abnormally high tide which had prematurely broken in the as yet uncut gate, and had flooded the dock. The weather was getting colder each day, the temperature falling below the freezing point at night, and as the Chinese coolies could work upon the sill only at the lowest point of the tide, had no dredger of any kind, but were obliged to dig waist deep in the freezing water, it was doubtful for some time if the requisite depth could be obtained. However, by persistent effort all difficulties were overcome, and on November 12th, a first attempt was made to enter. The first and even the second and third attempts were unsuccessful, and it was only by a dogged perseverance and by forcing the ship through the mud of the sill with less than 12 feet of water upon it, that she was finally successfully docked. The operation was a hazardous and an extremely difficult one, owing to the following reasons: 1. The tides in the Liáo, as in many rivers, run with great rapidity, especially at springs. 2. The ebb in shore begins a full hour before the flood ceases running in the center of the stream, thus forming counter currents each of great force, and giving no period of absolute slack water. 3. The best moment to enter the dock was naturally the one when the tide gauge on the sill showed the highest rise of water. From this it may be understood that when approaching the bank great allowance had to be made for the rapid flood current in the stream, and that on nearing the entrance an almost equally strong ebb was encountered, both currents affecting the vessel at the same time, thus forcing her from her normal position to the bank and bringing her nearly parallel to the shore and obliquely on to the mouth of the dock. However, by grounding on the corner of the dock, working the engines and helm, backing to drive the water in, and then going ahead full speed to take advantage of the extra depth thus obtained; by heaving with the steam capstan on wire and manilla hawsers bent to anchors which had been buried deep in the ground at the head and on the sides of the dock, and by using others attached |