The Royal Navy . ir E. H. Seymour, , Britishcommander-in-chief on the China Station (nowAdmiral of the Fleet Sir E. H. Seymour, ,, , ). Of this force half wasBritish, for our contingent was 915, viz., 62 officers,640 seamen, and 213 marines, the Naval Brigadebeing under the command of Captain J. R. Jellicoe,flag captain to the commander-in-chief (now Rear-Admiral J. R. JeUicoe, , ), and themarines under Major J. R. Johnstone, also of theflag-ship the Centurion (now Lieutenant-ColonelJ. R. Johnstone, ). A push for Pekin torelieve the besieged legations
The Royal Navy . ir E. H. Seymour, , Britishcommander-in-chief on the China Station (nowAdmiral of the Fleet Sir E. H. Seymour, ,, , ). Of this force half wasBritish, for our contingent was 915, viz., 62 officers,640 seamen, and 213 marines, the Naval Brigadebeing under the command of Captain J. R. Jellicoe,flag captain to the commander-in-chief (now Rear-Admiral J. R. JeUicoe, , ), and themarines under Major J. R. Johnstone, also of theflag-ship the Centurion (now Lieutenant-ColonelJ. R. Johnstone, ). A push for Pekin torelieve the besieged legations was at once made;but the fact that the Chinese Imperial troopsopenly connived with the Boxers, and joined inthe destruction of the railway lines, made thefailure of the attempt inevitable, and the force hadto fall back on Tientsin, which it reached on 26thJune, after severe fighting, in which the allies lostQ5 killed and 230 wounded, the British casualtiesamounting to 30 killed and 97 wounded. PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR. NAVY OF STEAM AND STEEL 285 Meanwhile the fleet had not been idle. The in-tensely critical character of the situation, and thefact that the Chinese were endeavouring to minethe mouth of the Pei-ho, led to an ultimatumwhich demanded that the Taku forts should besurrendered to the allies by 2 on the morningof the 17th, failing which forcible seizure would bemade. Owing to the shallow waters at the mouthof the Pei-ho—the draught on the Taku bar is onlytwelve feet—the allied fleet were moored sometwelve miles out at sea, and so the big ships couldtake no action against the forts. The attack uponthese, therefore, devolved entirely on the small httle flotilla comprised the British sloopAlgerine and destroyers Fame and Whiting, andfive gunboats, the Russian Koreetz, Giliak, andBobr, the German litis, and the French Lion,These ships carried on board, in addition to theirordinary crews, 900 men from the allied fleet—of which 320 were British, under the co
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgreatbritainroyalnav
