Whimsical as a Shuttlecock

‘Same time you Englesman take fort,’ said a Chinese merchant to the surgeon McPherson, ‘same time that sky make fall down.’ ¹ The day hostilities resumed in Canton waters, 23 February 1841, British forces began to take the fort, Anunghoy, before which they had halted in January, since when its defences had been increased. Admiral Guan was killed during the taking and was saluted by the guns of the Blenheim ‘as a token of that respect,’ writes the military secretary Mackenzie ‘which by a generous and civilised enemy is scrupulously rendered to a departed and valiant toe.’ ² Over the next week or so, the British proceeded to pick off the Bogue torts one by one. Charles Elliot sailed up the river on the Nemesis with the advance squadron.