Battle of Escape Creek

Battle of Escape Creek
Part of the Second Opium War

Commodore Elliot leading gunboats to attack the Mandarin junks
Date25–27 May 1857
Location
Escape Creek, Guangdong, China
23°02′17″N 113°31′19″E / 23.038°N 113.522°E / 23.038; 113.522
Result British victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom Qing China
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Charles Elliot Admiral Sonhay[1]
Strength
13 gunboats
7 cutters & gigs[2]		 41 war-junks
Casualties and losses
31 wounded[3] 27 junks captured or destroyed[1]

The Battle of Escape Creek was a naval engagement fought between the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and the Qing Chinese naval force on 25–27 May 1857 during the Second Opium War. Commodore Charles Elliot's squadron chased the war-junks at Escape Creek (present-day East River) and then, once the British ships were grounded as the river narrowed, they chased them in the ships' boats until all the junks had been overhauled.[4]

  1. ^ a b Behan 1859, p. 1251
  2. ^ Behan 1859, p. 1256
  3. ^ Behan 1859, p. 1259
  4. ^ "Second Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1856 – 1860". William Loney. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2015.