A paper communicated to the Institutvon of Electrical Engineers by J. A. Betts, Bai Chuan-ching, Assoc. Mem. Inst. C, £., Mem. Inst. E. E., Mandarin of the Sra renk by Imperial! Rescript.
Mr. Prestpent ano GEnTLEMEN,—Although in this paper I have nothing very new or very novel to present to you, Ihave thought that it would be of interest to the members of this Society to give a detailed account of the torpedo defence of the Canton River during the war of 1884-85. T am aware that torpedo work is a subject with which very few members of this Society are acquainted, with the exception of those members who are Royal Engineer Naval officers; but, as torpedo work, or more properly speaking sub-marine mining, la now so intimately and thoroughly connected with electrical science, I feel cortident that it will be of interest to mem-berg generally to hear what great advances have been made by the Chinese Government in scientific pursuits; although those suite have been followed chidly for warlike th When I first entered the Chinese service in 1874 in_anticipation of war between China and Japan over the Formosa difficulty, I found that, beyond some trivial and unsuccessful experiments at Taku, the Chines> had never seen or heard of submarine mines or taken them into consideration as a valuable accessory in any scheme of coast defence.
China, with an extended seaboard and coast line, between two and three thousand miles in a possessing many large rs, fs arcountey fo which subs marine mining must form a most essential Pact in any defence against. an_aggrossiva leet. His Excellency Li Hung-chang, Viceroy of Chihli, and Secretary of Star for War, and now, undoubtedly, the m prominent statesman in China, was the first official to see the importance of such defence and, in 1875, ordered me to com to Tientsin t" carry out a series of experiments before him. As these experiments were very satisfactory, and as the Japanese trouble had been smoothed over, His Excellency directed me to form a School of Submarine Mining and carry out a course of instruction to some twenty or thirty young Chinese gentlemen in that branch of scientific warfare. 'Twenty-four students were obtained, chiefly from the official classes, who worked most diligently and assiduously, and, after four years' tuition in the various branches of torpedo and telegraphic science, became fairly efficient officers, thus forming the nucleus of the various torpedo and telegraphic departments which have since sprung into existence throughout the eighteen provinces. In 1879 these students built the first Telegraph line opened by the Chinese Government to the public, from Tientsin to Taku, and I remember that the very first wx which was sent over that line was an order from His Excellency Li Hung-chang to the commander at 'T'aku to dress the forts and tire a salute of twenty-one guns on the arrival of General Grant in the U.S. gunboat Ashuelot.
In 1883 when at home in England I received a telegram from His Excellency Chang Shu-sheng, Viceroy of the Liang-kuang, that is to say Kuangtung and Kuangsi, to proceed to Canton at once, to undertake the defence of that city in anticipation of war between Chins and France. 1 arrived in Canton on November 20th of that year, where I found two of my old Tientsin students awaiting my arrival. After an interview with His Excellency the Viceroy, I proceeded to form a torpedo department at Whampoa, some twelve miles from Canton. I first began by overhauling the few stores that we had, and found that for the defence of the Canton River, some ninety miles in length, we had only 4,000 yards of submarine cable in sixty separate lengths, and some ten of twelve obsolete ground mines, For the next two or three months my duties were exclusively confined to surveying the Can+ ton River, taking soundings, and inspecting the various forts and creeks with the view of drawing up a specification for the necessary stores required for the defence of that river. This duty was most arduous and unpleasant, as in many of the forts the soldiers were raw levies from inland provinces who had probably never seen a foreigner before, and, however friendly and genial a mob of celestials may be, it is, to say the least, uncomfortable to realise that their clothing is inhabited by something more than the legitimate wearer. Most of these men were Hunan men, fine stalwart fellows, but disposed to be very quarrelsome with the Canton men, and in many cases I have had to run in and interpose with hand and tongue to prevent them attacking my own guard.
By the early part of next year I had drawn up my plan of defence, made out m: it specification for stores and sent th isi+ tion on to England. During this surveying England.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.