2 Navy News BOXER REBELLION SUPPLEMENT, MARCH 2000 www. navynews. co. uk

FRONT COVER: Tsu Hsi, theDowager Empress of China in 1900.Inset: Vice Admiral Sir EdwardSeymour, leader of the InternationalNaval Brigade sent to relieve thebesieged Legations at Peking.

TSU HSI, the Dowager Empress of China, was aremarkable figure in the world political scene of thelatter half of the 19th century.

The second wife of the Hsien Feng Emperor, whodied in 1861, she had never really been much morethan a concubine during her husband's lifetime, andowed her title and the authority she later exercised asCo-regent entirely to the fact that she was the newchild-Emperor's mother. Three years after Tung Chih'sminority came to an end, he died of smallpox and,since his father had no other son, Tsu Hsi movedquickly to support the candidacy of the infant son ofher younger sister, who had married one of HsienFeng's brothers.

Tung Chih's own Consort, Alute, had fallen pregnantin the last months of his reign - but Tsu Hsi removedthis complication by suggesting that "as the Empressis so downcast by the loss of her husband she oughtto consider following him."

Alute took the hint and committed suicide on March27,1875 - allowing Tsu Hsi another long period ofRegency. The new emperor, Kuang Hsu, remained inthrall to his formidable aunt for the rest of his life - andshe maintained her position with ruthless tenacity.Driven from Peking by the Allied Expeditionary Force in1900, Tsu Hsi dragged him along in her train - after hewas forced to witness another example of her crueltywhen his faithful Pearl Concubine was flung to herdeath in one of the Palace wells.

Kuang Hsu died on November 14,1908. His widow,Lung Yu, would henceforth he the new EmpressDowager, with Prince Ch'un - father of the very lastEmperor, P'u Yi, recently celebrated in Bertolucci's epicfilm - as Regent.

Everybody still expected Tsu Hsi to stay in the chair,though. She went to bed, tired and happy after herexertions to that end. Next day she was busy in confer-ence all morning - but at lunch she had a seizure. Andat 3p.m. she died.

The common people of Peking, who had a sneakingsympathy for the evil, feisty old dame, mourned her.The rest of the country cried with relief.

P'u Yi later gained notoriety as the puppet monarchused by the Japanese in their occupation of Manchuria- and wound up as a minor functionary of theCommunist Government in his old capital of Peking.

• AFTER THE SIEGE: Vice Admiral Sir Edward Seymour (third left) with Viceroy Lin Kim Ni and other notables. His FlagCaptain, John Jellicoe, looks on (right). Jellicoe - later to command the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland - was wound-ed leading a bayonet charge against the Boxers.

The sleepinggiant stirs. . .

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China, a century ago, under the 350-year rule of the moribund Manchudynasty, was wide open for exploita-tion and had been duly carved upinto 'concessions' and 'leases.Smouldering anger at the depreda-tions of the 'foreign devils' found afocus in an extreme nationalist sect- the Boxers. When representativesof the foreign powers found them-selves suddenly besieged in theirLegations at Peking, an Internat-ional Relief Column was sent to res-cue them.

Richard Brooks tells how they metwith unexpectedly stiff opposition.

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IF T H E B o x e rRebellion is remem-bered at all today, itis for the siege of thei n t e r n a t i o n a l

Legations in Peking. Mostof the garrison were sea-men or marines of variousnationalities - but the con-flict has a wider naval inter-est.

Its opening stages were sus-tained by 7,000 sailors andmarines from warshipsmoored off the mouth of thePeiho River. These came fromthe Austrian, German, Italian,Japanese, Russian and UnitedStates navies, besides theRoyal Navy.

The Boxer Rebellion was a sear-ing experience for the sailors andmarines caught up in it. Battlecasualties were proportionately farhigher than in the contemporane-ous Boer War in South Africa,racial feeling and the cruelty of theconflict causing an unusual degreeof mutual antipathy between theantagonists.

One of the most dramaticepisodes in the history of navalbrigades, the Boxer Rebellion wasthe last occasion in which such for-mations would be employed on solarge a scale.

The events of the BoxerRebellion of 1900 form a morecomplex narrative than a view cen-tred on the Legations might sug-gest. Chinese insurgents - theSociety of Righteous HarmoniousFists, hence 'Boxers' - overran thewhole area around Peking and theforeign 'concessions' at Tientsin.The latter had to be securedbefore any relief force could setoff for the beleagured Legations.

'Concessions' and 'leases' toforeign powers during the late19th century, and the activities ofChristian missionaries, provokedan understandable Chinese reac-tion against foreign interference inthe 1890s. Attacks on railways andmission stations became seriousenough in May 1900 for Britishrepresentatives in Peking andTientsin to request help from theRoyal Navy's China Squadron.

The C-in-C, Vice-Admiral Sir

www.navynews.co.uk Navy News BOXER REBELLION SUPPLEMENT, MARCH 2000 3

'The general historyof our dealings withChina has beenthat we have forcedourselves uponthem and into theircountry. I believewe are too apt toforget this.'- Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Seymour

Edward Seymour, had twice seenservice in China - and he wasunwilling to resort to force: "Thegeneral history of our dealings withChina has been that we haveforced ourselves upon them andinto their country. I believe we aretoo apt to forget this."

The Consul at Tientsin urged"active measures of hostility" - butSeymour demurred: "Our missionhere was solely for the protectionof European lives." He simply rein-forced existing diplomatic guards:76 Royal Marines at Peking with a.45 calibre Nordenfeldt, a Navalarmourer, signalman and sickberth attendant; 130 seamen andmarines at the Tientsin Consulatewith a 9pdr RML gun.

A telegram from the Legationson June 9 hardened Seymour'sa t t i tude : unless Peking wererelieved soon it would be too late.

Such was his confidence that hestarted without awaiting Admiraltyapproval, hoping his colleagueswould co-operate. Such was hisauthority that they did. Over thenext two days an internationalNaval Brigade of four trains and2,072 men set off along 80 miles ofsabotaged railway line fromTientsin to Peking.

The Army and Navy Gazelle mis-leadingly described this expeditionas "Seymour's Dash to Peking". Infact the international columnmoved slowly, replacing hundredsof yards of torn-up track, and nevergot more than halfway to Peking.

It saw off several Boxer attacks,almost without allied loss - butsaboteurs cut the line behind them.On June 18, Imperial troops,recognisable by their banners andmagazine rifles, joined the Boxers.

Already nervous about the sup-ply situation, the allies abandonedtheir trains and personal gear -including the officers' full dressuniforms, which they had hoped towear in Peking - and retreateddown the left bank of the Peiho.Fifty wounded and the heavyweapons followed in four junks.

The next few days were a night-mare, marching 16 hours a day onhalf rations under continual firewith a steady toll of casualties. Oneof them was John Jellicoe,Seymour's Flag Captain, woundedleading a bayonet charge. Had theBoxers shot a l i t t le better, theymight have changed the course ofthe Battle of Jut land . .

J^ Reuters correspon-X^L dent with the column

^^^^ was understandablyI k d e p r e s s e d : "The

JL. _^k»great matter for anxi-ety is the ammunition supply . . .When it is finished I am muchafraid the column is finished also."

Luckily for him, his messmateswere too busy to think, "the mid-shipman of 14 cheering on his half-company with a heavy heart and anempty stomach, or the bluejacketor marine marching without boots'to save his feet'."

By the small hours of June 22the allies were at the end of theirtether. They had lost their guns,were short of ammunition, and thejunks were overflowing withwounded. All the puggarees fromthe marines' and officers' helmetshad gone for bandages.

By accident, the column stum-bled across and captured a Chinesearsenal at Hsiku. Here they found

food and cover as well as enormousquantities of arms and ammuni-tion. Seymour commented drily:"Prospects were now somewhatbetter than they had been." Hecould hold out more or less indefi-nitely, but 230 wounded were toomany to remove. There had beenno news from Tientsin since June13.

Seymour had left Capt EdwardBayly of HMS Aurora in charge ofthe British forces at Tientsin. Hehad instructions to maintain raillinks with the relief force, but thisbecame impossible as Boxersripped up the track within sight ofthe railway station.

Significant reinforcementsarrived, including 150 bluejacketsunder Cdr David Beatty of HMSBarfleur, just before the Boxers cuttelegraphic and rail l inks betweenTientsin and the allied squadronon June 15. Sniping and incendi-arism began at once, with heavyfighting on the 18th and 19th whenregular Chinese soldiers joined theBoxers.

The pivotal events of the risingtook place at Taku - a tradit ionalflashpoint for Sino-European rela-tions. The allied attack on the fortson June 17 at once intensified theconflict, and contained the seeds ofits resolution. Senior naval officers13 miles off the shallow Peiho estu-ary, and in imperfect touch withevents ashore, were alarmed byChinese troop movements andrumours of electrically detonatedmines. Fearful for Tientsin andSeymour's column, which had van-ished into thin air, a council of wardecided to take control of the forts- with or without Chinese agree-ment.

This may have provoked theImperial Army to join the Boxersattacking Seymour and Tientsin, orit may have pre-empted deliberateChinese mil i tary action. Eitherway, it allowed the relief ofTientsin on June 23 by a mixedforce, including a party under CdrCradock of HMS Alacrity.Coincidentally with the reinforce-

• ANGLO-US CO-OPERATION: The Royal Marines and the United States Marine Corps join forces at Peking. There werehopes that joint action against the Boxer Rebellion would begin an era of international global policing.

ments came news of Seymour'sforce surrounded in the HsikuArsenal, a happy conjunctionresulting in their rescue and returnto Tientsin on June 26.

International forces were strongenough to capture Tientsin'sWalled City on July 13-14. Most ofthe Naval Brigades returned totheir ships by July 20. Somereturned for the relief of Peking inAugust with three 12pdr field guns- the only naval guns to reach theImperial City.

PL/[ven this bald narrativeshows that the Boxerrebellion far exceeded

•previous conflicts with'China in the 1840s and

50s. The hawkish Army and NavyGazette complained that the Navyhad been asked to undertake mili-tary operations once too often:

". . . the Powers have been sobusily engaged in trying to secure agenerous portion of the leviathan'sinheritance that they forgot theleviathan. So far from being dead,as they have all taken for granted,he seems to be very much alive andboiling with fanatical passion."

This was certainly true of theBoxers, who possessed a supremeindifference to rifle fire. A partici-pant in "Seymour's Dash" com-mented on the awful unreality ofmowing them down a few yardsfrom the trains. The big .45 calibrebullets of the Maxim laid themdown in heaps, while the humanenickel-coated rounds of the LeeMetfords "failed altogether to stopthese pertinacious swordsmen,unless it struck a vital spot."

The only fatal casualties theBoxers appear to have inflicted inthe early stages of the Dash werefive Italian sailors caught playingcards when they should have beenkeeping watch.

The Boxers had more successinspiring low-level popular resis-tance. Masses of Chinese tore upthe railway track with their hands,lit fires beneath bridges, and twist-ed the rails in the flames of burningsleepers. Bluejacket railwaymanworked with a wil l , seeming toenjoy the novel experience - butthe extent of the damage exceeded

the resources available for repairs.A repair train sent after Seymourwas still in sight from Tientsin aday later.

Bayly had to deal with massobstruction at the station, "dou-bling a company up and down theplatform, the Chinese flying in alldirections."

Not all Chinese supported theBoxers, but the insurgents couldforce them to remove supplies, oruse them as cover for spies andsnipers who infested the Tientsinset t lement. Those caught wereins tan t ly shot, but "nothing

seemed to check the system ofespionage which enabled theChinese to know the time andmeaning of every movement whichtook place." It was impossible toexpel all native Chinese, as manywere Christian refugees facing tor-ture and death at the hands of theBoxers.

Other moral dilemmas, typicalof later "People's Wars", becameapparent du r ing the retreat toHsiku. It was found necessary toburn the villages: "a tiresome and

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The Chinese mostdisgusting task" Officers were dis-tressed to see old people sitting bythe remains of their homes, andtried to stop their "ore-tried menfrom roughing up the inhabitants'

"peaceful villagers wot sells uschickens by day and snipes bynight."The Boxersmay have been an ill-

armed rabble - but the ImperialChinese Army was "a hard andarrogant foe" who believed in theirleaden and their cause. Westernmilitary assistance had made theChinese soldiersof 19(N) a different

proposition to their ill-armed pre-decessors. Sgt C. F Cooper, RMUwas trapped in the Ilsiku arsenalduring Seymour's Dash. lie foundboxes lull of the latest weapons,Complete with instruction manuals.It struck me how foolish the

nations were to train Orientala inthe arts of modem warfare or sup-ply them with such materials ...There seemed to be everythingrequired for war, from the oldround shot ofthe old muzzle loaderarid wood fuses to the latest quirk'firing guns and ammunition - - -And someone told me afterwardsat home that we only had to lightagainst bows and arrows,"

Chinese regulars had knockedover six of his section of 15 RoyalMarines with one volley: "Theycan shoot alter all" remarked oneofours. Ambusheswere a favouritetactic. One at Tlentsin claimed IScasualties within a few minutes,including Cdr ficatty. whom theyhit twice.

Chinese gunners had modern

artillery pieces that outranged any-thing available to British NavalBrigades - and they knew how touse them front concealed positions.Seamen gunners made up for poorequipment with skill and courage.Bayly pasteda 9pdr "under the wallof the Consulate from the roof ofwhich a good view could beobtained, in the hope that by direc-tions from the roof we should beable to silence the Chinese lick)guns which were entirely hiddenfrom our position by a half-burnt

siltage"Two or three shells did the job.

but not before return lire mortallywounded It Wright in the head,Souvenir photographs of his man-gled binoculars appeared in con-temporary albums beside gruesomesnapshots of Boxer atrocities.,

Chinese infantry rarely stood a

bayonet charge- but their training

and monk was not much inferiorto that of their naval opponents.General Nieh's trooper attacked theIlsiku arsenal in European styleskirmish lines, and were mint dis-contented, said a prisoner, at theirlack of success, During the attackon the SWlkd City "the Chinesemost gallantly stuck to their lxvii-tion, keeping up a heavy rifle fireuntil literally "s-P1 55.111 mid

all," he later commented.The allies only entered Teentsin

overnight, after the defenders hadleft in good order.

Seymour's l)ash depended onthe Imperial Army standing aside-and their intervention made hisretreat inevitable, The Chinese

only just failed to annihilate the so-called relief force, which met a sub-dued

receytionon its return to

Tientain: There was hardly aspectator who would not havefound his voice choked with emo-tion had he tried to cheer. It wasthe first experience of anything ofthe kind, and the contrast betweenthe jaunty smartness of the columnwhen it started for Peking, and the

ghastly bedraggled footsore menwho came hack, was too marked tobe pleasant."

Cape Ilayly had never expeeledto see any of them again. SgtCooper was glad to be back amongfriends, but found the occasion asad one, carriers barely able tostand, struggling along with thewounded on improvised stretchers."We altogether presented a verydamaged appearance"

So

did the foreign conces-sion: hueldinp burntdown or riddled with shellholes, every tree and wallstudded with bullets

which littered the barricadedstreets.The Royal Navy had no mown)..

oly ofthe meansof maritime powerprectiot The French had longtrained their sailors as finilin-inaron, while their Infanterie de lit

Marine were Tough. long-serviceprofessionals recruited for colonialcampaigns. Both had fought ashorewith distinction during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. An RMIJscr$eant invalided home fromChina thought the French "excel-lent comrades, sharing everythingwhile in the field. The men of theFrench Marine Infantry were thebonds which united the foreigndetachments." Seymour told thecommander of their naval landing

Ily that he regarded Them as the

M'I,I'dctuchmcnt of hts force.New naval competitors had

emerged: the imperial German andJapanese navies and 11w 135 Navy .The English-speaking contingentsco-operated well, although SgiCooper was astonished by a USMarine's complaint about the lackof syrup with his canned peaches.when everyone cIsc was living on a

quarter pound of biscuit a day.Cape Me('alta of USS Newark

took personal command of a com-

pany of British bluclackets, whileRoyal Naval surgeons cared forboth nations' wounded. MeCallawas particularly concerned to drawattention to the heroism of twol-tritilc L.infl'n, AN, k..pr cliii " the

gallar

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t'eiho ti tow' ,i junk full ofAmerican wounded out of the lineof lire during the attack on theUsiku arsenal, Roth received CsotdMedals from the Life-Saving?\ssiwiation of New link And let-

.1It rtt ti, -'1.-i I''

" 5A\ lN(. TI-'L U A 4y: Or/andy Plordcttc'nr crc-is at Ticnrscr

Gte slip a liedgunners defending the railway station turned almost certain defeat into a grand victory

the US Sass At Tient'.in Britishseamen went to the support of the9th US Infantry under unexpect-edly heavy lire, and helped cleartheir numerous casualties.

Russian infantrymen greatlyadmired Ucatty for his coolnessunder fire, and cheered It Wrightas he brought his single pdr intoaction at Tientsin railway station,when their own battery had left thefield an disorder.

There was surprisingly little dis-sension during Seymour's Dash,Seymour thought their all beingnaval men together allowed him toexercise an informal command:They were very nice to me, and asit went on mitre and more, said 'asos ordres, and whatever you saywe will do'"

Capt Mc('alla attributed the har-mony to Seyniour's tact and leader-

ship- Seymour was. of course, themost senior ollieer present. withmuch the largest contingent. but healso had an absolutely fearlesssense of responsibility, lie was con-stantly with the advance guard.risking his life so freely that officersof both English-speaking navies,and the French, feared (or his ate-

31 It ggi% .uddcn departure for Pic kingr~w sharp criticism, the Arnie' and

1Van Gazette pointed out that theNavy usually acted in concert withthe Army, or on the seaboard,

Peking was ItO mites inland, andcontained no signilie.ant Britishforce:

"In the whole course of ournaval history it may he doubted if a

parallel Case can he found for the

despatch ofa Naval Brigade insucheireunntances as those existing inChina at the present moment.Perhaps the nearest is Nelson'smove to aid the Neapolitans. but itwa,s strongly condemned by the

Admiralty. and the conditions wereinfinitely more favourable to suc-cess in his case than in Admiral

Seymour's.-

Seymour's despatches produceda change of tack., the paper claim-

ing they bore out everything it had

always said. There had been everyhope of success at the moment of

departure, when there was no rea-son to doubt the friendly disposi-tion tot the Chinese authorities.Seymour himself was unapologetic:"I never regretted I had started as Icould not have respected myself if Ihad not done so."

N;a%;il

llrigades duringthe Boxer Rebellion

fought mainly withrifle and bayonet.Where attackers

could approach Chinese positionsunder con-cr. noisy bayonet chargeswere an effective tactic, but the flat,

open terrain outside l'icntstn pro-vided a foretaste of the tacticalstalemate caused by modernweapons during World Wtir I- Totalallied kisses during the attack onlient.ans Walled City were 87'i outor -litiNt, a higher percentage of thetotal force than in any action of thealmost contenspeirars Biter War:

"l'he artillery fire of the ('lunetsewas very accurate, and we had

many casualties. Cape Lloyd waskilled by a rifle bullet in the neck.The shells screamed and the riflebullets whined over our heads.Most of us bobbed when we heardthem, but of course that was nouse.as we only heard them when it wasloo late to bob. i'he ones that hitdone it silently, it was the fellow hitthat made the noise,"

The firelight tasted all day,extended lines of riflemen lying

all,

-

a a .- - -,-

behind such ctaer as there was,only moving when the enemy gotthe range Rushing for coverbehind a wall, Sgt Cooper receiveda bullet through the thigh: "That

put me out of the operation fin

The obsolete guns available atthe start ofthe uprising were "a dis-grace to, the glorious service whichat that time had to use them,"None of the ships on the ChinaStation had received the "new"l2pdr field gun introduced almostten years before. The old 9pdrRM1 demanded a be~ style tit

gunnery. tIMS Orlando's field guncrew trundled their gun up by handto save the day at the railway sta-tism, "teed up like a golf ball infront of the platform, the mark ofever hostile gun, it was fought tosuch purpose that it indisputablyturned almost certain defeat into a

zared%itltbry.' The price ".% (isle

o Is down in as many minutes,and a crew of 21) reduced to twoofficers and twit ratings in half anhour.The advent of IIMS Terrible

improved the odds, ('apt PercyScott mounted three of her l2pdrguns on improvised field carriages.Supported by 4-in guns from I (MSAlgerine. They subdued Chineserifle fire during the attack on theWalled City. Fire control

tech-niqueswere notably modern- Itaytydirected the guns by telephonefrom an observation post on the(isirdeen hall, some of the gun posi-tions being out of sight of their ear-

c11,The Bgiti-*h military Lonmean-

rwas duly appreciative:

"The success of the operationswas largely due to the manner inwhich the naval guns were worked

by It Drummond., RN, the accura-cy of their fire alone rendering

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" -lIE tfl THE '. J;ritj St,?c'U i).iI 1rQqrcsa . 4.J.! .uw as 11)0 6'- up the trr it'd twisted n 'ms'LicJe IJP mC *Turn to neil peg.

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" IN LOVING MEMORY: Left, the 1891 first-classcruiser HMS Endymion. Above and right: BobHookway of Cosham, Hants, sent Navy Newsthis memorial card, posted home by his wife'sgrandfather, Chief Stoker Charles Larcombe -Inscribed by the Endymion's ship's company

in loving memory' of 12 -shipmates and com-rades who were killed or succumbed to injurieswhile nobly fighting with Admiral Seymour'sexpeditionary column in its gallant attempt toreach Pekin".

H hatter to accompany the plannedlicking relief column, whichSeymour agreed to send: ISO sea-men with three l2pslr and two 4-inguns. Ilowever, he demuned at 3(N)rnannes: "not easy to give so manyan view of the fact that the Navy

steady fire on the pan of the troops (apt Bayty at Tientain ordered ling."1 posskle against the strong Chinese hers of Oregon pine and acts of

ptritaon. and largely reducing the pony harness. which permitted thenumber to[ easualtws prompt removal of disabled ani'

11w General requested a naval mals.The advance to Peking wasanti-climactic.although trying to the

troops "being quite unable tomarch during the day on account ofthe heat. duai and high crops whichkept out every breath of air.However, we never did more than

- -' .... must he ready for a perhaps serious IS milesa day and generally ten

- 'nuthreak out the Tung-Tu or ]*he junks kept up in a wonderfulShanghai." way, a good southerly wind nearly

lucre was nan question of even day helped them on well."-

_

--

trundling l2pdrsto Peking hs hand.Only two fights inn the was, the first-

"1'

Iat#11

r..'sn

" beaf~"-

'I

tan

Wit

two days out from Si Ku Arsenal(sic). but never cut the enemy up.nor took their guns."v Cooper had already expert.

eneed a Chinese summer:"The heat was beyond anything

people living in England couldelm-rye. I took my coat and shirt off

and got one man to pour a bucketof water all over me. It was what Ishould imagine an ice cream inHell would feel like. We used to fillour helmets with water from theriver and put them on. letting thewater run down all over us underour clothes. It Mann dried, ;end wewere .1% hot as ever-

,En,"tt as'.

S

4-4t".S.aflash- -_-e--"

On August 11 1900, while theJapanese and Americans saw heavyfighting. the Itnitish walked in thesouth-east gate of Peking's Chinesecity unopposed, risked a short cutthrough the 'ranar city, and enteredthe Legations by a small side gate.The new arrival.. were greatlyimpressed by the Lcgations'defences, the barricades only a fewyards apart: "Take it all round, wewere here none too soon."

Naval participation in the Reliefof the Peking Legalions naturallyrecalled the part played by HMSShannon's Naval Brigade duringthe Indian Mutiny of 1S57, Like theResidency at Lucitnow, theLegations were under continualckwe.rane fire, with a constantrisk of incendiarism and mines.Numerous foreign and Chinesecivtlians swelled the garrison

Fewean

have had any illu-sions as to their late ifoverrun by the &ners.Cpl F. CL Smith RMLIof IIMS Orlando

helped rescue 541) RomanCatholics Wore the ImperialArmy invested the Legations."Some were only half clad, some

cut and hacked about most dread-tally It could not be described bypen... the had cases were put incart', we had brought for that pur-pose, the others walked by them. It'va. a sight enou1b

to turn theliardcst heart sick.'

At leant tour Royal Marines keptsiege diarie& Smith wrote his up for

lecture at the Portland Sailors.'nd Soldiers Home in IM)2. Ilis.ieeount is sometimes florid. but its

professional audience ruaranteesits plausibility, if not Its precise.accuracy. Flic marines sent up froml'ientsin at the end of May hadthree weeks to prepare for thesiege. The imperial Chineseauthorities pvc the Europeandipkwnaiie corps notice lii quit onJune 19. but the subsequent mur-der nit the German Ambassador didnot encourage anyone to move.I lorses and mules were collectedfor the pot, rice commandeeredfrom shops, walls and windowsbuilt up or blocked: "All the menwere told off for different post-tiorus, and served out with as muchammunition as they could carry.'

The first shots into the Legationswere fired on June 21. A RoyalMarine nailed upthe Union Jack:

Navy News BOXER REBELLION SUPPLEMENT . MARCH 2000 5their position'RIPa 4,

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6 Navy News BOXER REBELLION SUPPLEMENT, MARCH 2000 www. navynews. co. uk

• The Taku Forts under RN occupation after the attack of June 17, 1900. Inset: one of the destroyed fort guns.

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'Sha! Sha! Sha!'('Kill! Kill! Kill!')

"although it was torn in rags bybullets, it was not pulled down inthree days, as they swore on theirheads to do." Cpl Smith appears tohave found divine support:

"Many were the lessons thatwere learnt in those horrible daysthat followed. There are very fewwho took part in that awful timecan look back and say, 'There is noGod'. It was nothing but firing, theChinese keeping up a wild fire dayand night."

It was otherwise wi th thedefenders. The British had 240rounds per man, to last "we knewnot how long. The only ar t i l l e rywas two mach ine -guns - andBetsy, the In te rna t iona l Gun .She was an 1860-vintage Bri t ishgun barrel found in a burnt-out

shop, mounted on an Italian fieldcarriage, loaded with Russianshells and fired by GunnerMitchell, USN: "It used to causesport at f irst , but we soon used upall our lead." To save LeeMetford cartridges, the marinesthrew bricks, or sniped wi th oldMar t in i Henrys borrowed fromLegation watchmen.

There were frequent sor-ties to keep snipers andfire-raisers at bay.Smith took part in two.Capt Lewis Hall iday

RMLI won the VC in the first,dropping four Chinese with hisrevolver after they had shot him inthe shoulder.

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In the second - "a night never tobe forgotten by anyone who tookpart in it" - Capt Myers, USMCled 26 British and Americanmarines through torrential rain topull down a snipers' tower just 15yards from the defenders' barri-cades: "The Chinese were taught alesson that night and they neverforgot it, for we could never catchthem napping again."

As early as June 28 Smith was"getting tired of it. There did notseem to be so much sport now."The cemetery was fu l l , and foodbecoming scarce. The daily rationwas 6oz of horse or mule, and 12ozof rice, "which we ate with relishafter we got used to i t . . . then theycut it down much finer, and wewere getting finer." Sometimesthere was an excuse for bread,washed down with green tea.

Fighting was not continuous. Aceasefire lasted from July 18 u n t i l aweek before the end of the siege,perhaps a psychological ploy toreduce the garrison's vigilance.During an earlier ceasefire,Chinese soldiers hung up a posteroffering protection against theBoxers - if the defenders agreed tobe escorted down to Tientsin. Theyeven offered food, if the garrisonwould tell them exactly how manyrequired to be fed. At other timesthe besiegers contented them-selves with sending in messengerswith false information, or blowinghorns and shouting "Sha! Sha!Sha! kill! kill! kill!"

The approach of the relief col-umn spurred the Chinese on torenewed aggression - and Smithto fresh heights of eloquence.He may have been laying it onthick for the benefit of his audi-ence, but one cannot doubt "thepen cannot expres the feelings

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'Had no pain to speak ofARRIVING at Taku in HMS Orlando, Capt Lewis

Stratford Tollemache Halliday, RMLI left bytrain on May 31, 1900 for Peking, where he

took command of the British contingent.By June 8 refugees were streaming into the com-

pounds. Boxer attacks began in earnest on the 14th.Halliday recorded the incident on June 24 that earnedhim the VC in his diary:

"I was sent with six Marines and six civilians to helpthe Japs, who, however, said they were able to hold theirown: so came back to find a bad attack on the south-west stable. Led sorties among some ruined houses.Went down a narrow alley and came upon five men withrifles round the corner of a house.

"One immediately plugged me in the shoulder, cuttingthe left brace of my Sam Browne belt in half. I then beganto empty my revolver into them, as they were only a yardaway there was no question of missing. I finished fourand the fifth bolted round another corner.

"The men had then come up and I told them to go on.I found my way back to the hole in the wall throughwhich I was helped. Poole helped me to the hospital anddressed me there. Had no pain to speak of. That finishedmy active share in the siege which was rather hard luck."

For some days, the surgeons feared Halliday s wound

was mortal - fired at point-blank range, the bullet hadcarried away part of the lung - and he was still in hospi-tal on August 15, when the siege was over and hereceived Queen Victoria's message of congratulationsand thanks.

He recovered, though, being embarked with otherwounded in the SS Jelunga and returned to Englandwhere he became a patient of Miss Agnes Kayser at herhospital for officers at Grosvenor Square, London.

While recovering he was promoted Brevet-Major andwas awarded the VC on January 1, 1901. Twenty-onedays later Queen Victoria died and Halliday noted:

"At the funeral ... some of us 'walking wounded' in anearby London hospital were allowewd to watch the pro-cession from a window in Picadilly overlooking theGreen Park. I was proud to see that the troops lining thestreet below us was a fine Battalion of RMLI.."

In World War I Halliday served as a General Staff offi-cer in Malta and France. Promoted Colonel in 1920, hewas appointed ADC to the King in 1924. The followingyear he became Major General and was appointedAdjutant-General, Royal Marines in 1927, being promot-ed General while in office.

He was knighted in 1930, shortly afterward retiring athis own request, and was for the next 20 years DeputyLieutenant for Devon. He died in 1966 at the age of 96.

'Many were the heartyhandgrips that afternoon'

that came to each heart" whenrelieving guns were heard onAugust 14.

Smith's own shipmates of theRM Battalion arrived next day:"Left behind at Tientsin threemonths ago, and never expected tosee again. Many were the heartyhandgrips that afternoon." Halfthe marine detachment's 18,000rounds of ammuni t ion stillremained - evidence of theirsteadiness and careful shooting.

Smith was lucky to complete hisdiary unscathed. The other siegediarists were all wounded. Allthree officers were casualties, RMcasualties totalling three killed and23 wounded out of the original 79.This was twice the average rate forthe campaign, hut RN casualtieswere generally high: 359 out of2,207.

More naval personnel werelanded during the Boxer Rebellion

than in the Boer War, sufferingmore casualties in a much shorterperiod. The contrast struck CaptBayly, who compared the one-sixth casualties suffered by theNavy at Tientsin with one-four-teenth losses suffered by theBritish Army at Spion Kop, thebloodiest action of the Boer War.

Bayly was not entirely fair; loss-es at Spion Kop fell upon a fewbattalions who lost almost halftheir numbers. However, his analy-sis shows the strain placed onships' crews facing three ways atonce: Seymour's Dash, Tinctsinand the Taku Forts. Cradock'slanding party were the gleanings ofthe fleet, armed with a few rifles,cutlasses, pistols, tomahawks andboarding pikes. When RogerKeyes had to cut out four Chinesedestroyers, his stokers carried their

• Turn to next page

• Capture of a Boxer standard by Sgt Preston, RMLIfrom The Regiment magazine.

• The 1886 armoured cruiser HMS Orlando, whose fieldgun crew saved the day at Tientsin railway station.

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'We got no Tarn o'Shanter caps,No chocolates in a box,No knitted stockings came our way,But we gave the Boxers socks'

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fire irons. Bayly was not alone infeeling that the Boer War unfairlyovershadowed events in China.Seymour's memoirs remarked onthe lack of a medal clasp for thedefence of Tientsin: "especiallywhen it is compared to what someclasps were given for in anothercontinent at about the same time.""Naval R. K." wrote: Only thosethat fought Kruger, Arc allowed togive themselves airs:

We got no Tarn o 'Shunter caps.No chocolates in a box,No knitted stockings came our

way,But we gave the Boxers socks.Three doubtfully authent ic

members of the lower deckthanked all concerned for thenumerous messages of apprecia-tion for their efforts at Tientsin:

"They regret that they areunable to communicate to thePress any of the contents or termsof these telegrams or letters owingto the unfortunate fact that theyhave not yet been received, butdoubtless, as every other forceconcerned in any way with theoperations in North China ... havereceived such telegrams and let-ters, those referred to must havebeen mislaid or delayed in trans-

mission . .. Signed: Jack Ragbag -Able Seaman, Seaman Gunner,torpedo man and diver; JosephBrasswork - Royal Marine; PeterPiston - Stoker, mechanic, andprovider of sanitation and waterfor Tientsin."

Even those saved from theBoxers showed scant gratitude.The Gordon Hotel complainedabout cases of stout missing fromits cellars, while owners ofgodowns used as barracksdemanded rent.

Bayly observed that he had norecollection of any question as torent or other compensation beingraised when the Navy entered intooccupation. It must have seemedthat the Royal Navy was beingasked to pay for the privilege ofsaving Tientsin.

j Main article in this featureis taken from The Long Arm ofEmpire - Naval Brigades fromthe Crimea to the BoxerRebellion by Richard Brooks,published last year byConstable at £25.

Pictures courtesy of theRoyal Naval Museum and theRoyal Marines Museum.

• Below: Royal Navy sailors of the Naval Brigade comeashore In June 1900. Right: 'Betsy', the International Gunassembled from parts found in the Peking Legations.

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