2-979-058 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The War with China - Capture of French Folly Fort, near Canton, by H.M.S. "Barracouta" and "Coromandel" - Commencement of the Action, 1857. 'The advices by the Overland Mail confirm the statement we gave last week as to the Americans having taken part in the quarrel. It appears that a pinnace belonging to the United States' frigate Portsmouth was fired on by the Chinese as she was sounding opposite a fort, and one man killed. The American Admiral thereupon bombarded the fort, and after a cannonade of an hour and a half, which was vigorously replied to by the Chinese, the fort was silenced. The Portsmouth had one man mortally wounded, and a dozen shots in her. Two others of the squadron were also hit. The firing of the Americans is said not to have been so destructive as that of her Majesty's ship Barracouta'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.