A Chinese Junk visits Jersey in 1848
By Nick Jouault
In August 1846 at Canton, China, a group of enterprising English businessmen invested $75,000 in a Chinese junk in the hope of using the vessel as a floating exhibition, with a view to attracting trade and tourists to Hong Kong which had been ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 at the end of the first opium war of 1839-42. The junk was named after the noble Commissioner Qiying (Keying) a Manchu mandarin of the dynasty of Purity who was entrusted by the Emperor to deal with westerners in Hong Kong. The purchase may have been against Chinese law under the Manchu Dynasty which forbade in several ways interaction with foreigners. However, a mandarin known as He Sing and a well known Chinese artist Sam Sing were selected to go on the voyage. It is suggested that the Emperor was aware of the project from the start and secretly kept informed about it and that the mandarin served as an informer to report back in detail.
The junk 800-ton (Chinese) Keying was a 160 feet long, with a hold depth of 19 feet, the mainsail 9 tons, the mainmast was 85 feet high from the deck of the ship and was made of teak. The rudder which also acted as a keel was suspended by a series of ropes and weighed 7 tons and could be lifted by two winches, and at times took 20 men to move. The junk was painted black and white, with a large eagle on her stern and two eyes on her bow which, with its hideous assemblage of planks, gave it the appearance of a great marine monster.
After the Hong Kong Governor, His Excellency Sir John Davis, Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane and all the Officers of the Fleet had visited the Keying the vessel left Hong Kong on 6 December, 1846 bound for London under the command of Captain Charles A. Kellett with a crew including 30 Chinese and 12 English. She rounded Cape Horn on the 6 March and after being at sea for four and half months she put in to St Helena on the 17 April, 1847, setting sail once more leaving on the 23rd. She was driven westward and, running low on supplies, instead made for New York, arriving there on the 9 July, 212 days from Canton. She created a great deal of interest with seven to eight thousand visitors per day initially, each paying 25 cents. She left New York for Boston and arrived there on the 18 November and on Thanksgiving Day attracted four to five thousand visitors.
She left Boston for London on 17 February with her masts adorned with strips of red cloth that the Chinese crew believed would bring them a good and safe journey. On about 11 March 1848 the vessel found herself near the Roches Douvres and was approached by the cutter Pierson under the command of Captain Chevalier who escorted the junk into St Aubin's Bay, for this he was paid £60. The junk having made a quick crossing of the Atlantic in 21 days, anchored of the Island of Jersey her first European port of call where she stayed for ten days in total. Crowds gathered on the Esplanade with their glasses to view the junk in St Aubin's Bay, several boats ventured out to get a closer look of her but no women were allowed to board her as the right of the first
European woman to board was reserved for Queen Victoria. Two boatmen John Stone and John Kimber took a party of onlookers out, as they neared the junk the local packet from Plymouth the Zebra rounded Noirmont and steered a course close to the junk to also view the marvel, in doing so she swamped the boat of Stone and Kimber and the party were thrown into the water with Lieutenant Bassen of the Royal Navy, Boatman Kimber, and a boy George Hamon drowning, and those of the party that survived were as follows: Josue Brayn, George Ingouville Perchard, Jean De Gruchy, Thomas De Gruchy, M. Boisnet (of the Pomme D'Or), with his chef and commisionnaire, Elias Tinckam, Samuel Tinckam, (George Hamon was their apprentice), James Murphy, and others.
The Keying left Jersey for London with the steamer Monarch under Captain Priaulx as her escort, with the trip expected to take three days. She arrived at her destination and tied up at the East India Docks, adjoining the Railway and Steamboat Pier, Blackwall on the 27th of March, 477 days after leaving Canton, she created no less a stir in London as she had elsewhere with her Mandarin of rank and the artist of celebrity hosting visitors in the grand saloon, gorgeously furnished in the most approved style of the celestial empire with its collection of Chinese curiosities, The Times stated, 'There is not a more interesting exhibition in the vicinity of London than the Chinese Junk: one step across the entrance, and you are in the Chinese world; you have quitted the Thames for the vicinity of Canton.' Some illustrious visitors toured the junk including the Duke of Wellington and Charles Dickens, and several of the young Chinese crew visited Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace.
From the Jersey Times, 5 April, 1850:
'The Chinese Junk — On Saturday last an accident of a very serious character, but unattended with any loss of life happened to a large wooden structure which had lately been in the course of erection at the Essex pier, at the bottom of Essex Street, Strand, London, for the purpose of exhibiting the Chinese Junk. This building was erected on piles driven down into the river, and was 400 feet long, 60 feet high, and about 50 broad; and one side the ends, and a portion of the roof had already been enclosed in boards. Throughout Friday night the whole shook and trembled under the influence of the wind, which was very high, and about ten on Saturday morning, while half a dozen workmen were engaged in securing the woodwork, the structure fell down with a large crash. A strong gust of wind was blowing at the time from the east, and the piles were not strong enough to resist the pressure occassioned by the wind acting on the whole length of the side. All the men escaped unhurt, except one, who was precipitated from a considerable height on the mud below, into which he sank several feet; and another who received such injuries on his arm as to render it necessary to remove him to the Hospital. Men had been employed on this building nearly a month, and the cost will be about £500.'
The Keying was eventually taken up to Liverpool where she was scrapped and her timbers used in building Mersey ferry boats.
This article first appeared in the March 2007 edition of The Bulletin produced by The Jersey Society in London. To subscribe please click on the Join link on the left navigation bar.
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