Last updated: July 27, 2022
Place
The Second Opium War and The Royal Marines
Quick Facts
Location:
Guangzhou, China
The first Royal Marines stationed at English Camp were recruited from the British forces that occupied Guangzhou, China and arrived in North America on the HMS Tribune. They left Guangzhou in November of 1859 and along the way they stopped in Nagasaki, Japan, where they repaired and resupplied their storm-tossed ship. After a six week trip across the Pacific Ocean, the Royal Marines arrived at Esquimault Naval Base, on Vancouver Island. But why were these redcoats fighting a war in China in the first place?
In the 1800’s, European powers sought access to Chinese markets where they could purchase products that were in high demand in Europe, such as silk, tea, spices, and furniture, but found few European products that interested Chinese consumers save such natural commodities as fur and sandalwood. The only ready currency that Europeans could use in China was silver, but that made the trade far less profitable. European merchants, working in conjunction with the British East India Company, began trafficking opium, an illegal drug in China (though not in the US) to China.
Chinese authorities soon caught on to this traffic. In 1810, the emperor issued a statement that “Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law.” Despite these official statements, Westerners, including Americans, continued to circumvent the law, leading to increased amounts of illegal drug use in China. Bemoaning the effects of opiod addiction on his population, Lin Zexu was sent in 1839 by the emperor of China to Guangzhou, the only place in China open (on a limited basis) to European traders and the center of the illegal opium trade. By this time, Opium exports to China were estimated to be approximately 1400 tons per year.
Lin demanded that Euro-American traders surrender their opium and after some conflict the foreign traders in Guangzhou surrendered their opium supplies which were publicly destroyed. Trade was allowed to resume again, but under strict supervision. A few months later, British sailors in modern day Hong Kong murdered two Chinese civilians and refused to allow them to be punished by Chinese authorities. China retaliated by cutting off food supplies to British ships on the coast of China and eventually the British attacked a Chinese fort for failing to supply it. This incident led to a war which lasted for almost three years and that led China to surrender Hong Kong to the British and in which China agreed that foreign subjects would not have to answer to Chinese law while in China.
The Second Opium War, which brought English Camp's Royal Marines to Guangzhou, started after the Chinese seized a suspected pirate ship that was registered as a British merchant vessel. In retaliation, Britain began destroying Chinese forts and eventually gathered an international force that would include British, French, and American combatants. This war would last for four years and climaxed with the burning and looting of the Summer Palace in Beijing, shortly after the Royal Marines arrived at English Camp.
The HMS Tribune, which brought the Royal Marines to English Camp, was a participant in the battle of Guangzhou, during which it had successfully destroyed a fleet of Chinese warships in the Pearl River Delta. Members of the Royal Marines had seen combat across China during the Second Opium War, including fighting in sieges of Chinese forts and naval battles. This wartime experience was part of what it meant to be a Royal Marine; you were fighting for a global empire and might see service in China, India, the West Indies, Africa, and the Americas. In fact, redcoats stationed at English Camp had fought for their country around the globe prior to arriving at English Camp.
In the 1800’s, European powers sought access to Chinese markets where they could purchase products that were in high demand in Europe, such as silk, tea, spices, and furniture, but found few European products that interested Chinese consumers save such natural commodities as fur and sandalwood. The only ready currency that Europeans could use in China was silver, but that made the trade far less profitable. European merchants, working in conjunction with the British East India Company, began trafficking opium, an illegal drug in China (though not in the US) to China.
Chinese authorities soon caught on to this traffic. In 1810, the emperor issued a statement that “Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law.” Despite these official statements, Westerners, including Americans, continued to circumvent the law, leading to increased amounts of illegal drug use in China. Bemoaning the effects of opiod addiction on his population, Lin Zexu was sent in 1839 by the emperor of China to Guangzhou, the only place in China open (on a limited basis) to European traders and the center of the illegal opium trade. By this time, Opium exports to China were estimated to be approximately 1400 tons per year.
Lin demanded that Euro-American traders surrender their opium and after some conflict the foreign traders in Guangzhou surrendered their opium supplies which were publicly destroyed. Trade was allowed to resume again, but under strict supervision. A few months later, British sailors in modern day Hong Kong murdered two Chinese civilians and refused to allow them to be punished by Chinese authorities. China retaliated by cutting off food supplies to British ships on the coast of China and eventually the British attacked a Chinese fort for failing to supply it. This incident led to a war which lasted for almost three years and that led China to surrender Hong Kong to the British and in which China agreed that foreign subjects would not have to answer to Chinese law while in China.
The Second Opium War, which brought English Camp's Royal Marines to Guangzhou, started after the Chinese seized a suspected pirate ship that was registered as a British merchant vessel. In retaliation, Britain began destroying Chinese forts and eventually gathered an international force that would include British, French, and American combatants. This war would last for four years and climaxed with the burning and looting of the Summer Palace in Beijing, shortly after the Royal Marines arrived at English Camp.
The HMS Tribune, which brought the Royal Marines to English Camp, was a participant in the battle of Guangzhou, during which it had successfully destroyed a fleet of Chinese warships in the Pearl River Delta. Members of the Royal Marines had seen combat across China during the Second Opium War, including fighting in sieges of Chinese forts and naval battles. This wartime experience was part of what it meant to be a Royal Marine; you were fighting for a global empire and might see service in China, India, the West Indies, Africa, and the Americas. In fact, redcoats stationed at English Camp had fought for their country around the globe prior to arriving at English Camp.