War had been declared with China in
consequence of her continued evasions of the treaty she had made
with us, and it was expected that a strong naval force would soon
gather to bring her to reason. In the meantime the ships on the
station had a busy time of it, chasing the enemy's junks when they
ventured to show themselves beyond the reach of the guns of their
forts, and occasionally having a brush with the piratical boats
which took advantage of the general confusion to plunder friend as
well as foe.
The Perseus had that afternoon chased two government junks up
a creek. The sun had already set when they took refuge there, and
the captain did not care to send his boats after them in the dark,
as many of the creeks ran up for miles into the flat country; and as
they not unfrequently had many arms or branches, the boats might,
in the dark, miss the junk altogether. Orders were issued that four
boats should be ready for starting at daybreak the next morning.
The Perseus anchored off the mouth of the creek, and two boats were
ordered to row backwards and forwards off its mouth all night to
insure that the enemy did not slip out in the darkness.
Jack Fothergill, the senior midshipman, was commanding the gig, and
two of the other midshipmen were going in the pinnace and launch,
commanded respectively by the first lieutenant and the master.
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