Battle of Zhenhai - Arlington's Version

Arlington's Version

Interesting light on Ouyang Lijian's patriotic account is shed by the testimony of L. C. Arlington, an American naval officer serving as a 'foreign adviser' with the Nanyang Fleet at Zhenhai. According to Arlington, the Zhenhai authorities were extremely reluctant to allow Admiral Wu Ankang to take refuge in Zhenhai Bay with his three cruisers. Fearful of drawing the French down upon their heads, they begged him to go elsewhere, and Admiral Wu threatened to take his ships upriver to Ningbo and leave them to deal with the French squadron on their own. When the French appeared off Zhenhai on 28 February, the land authorities urged Wu to sail out and attack the French with the seven ships at his disposal. Wu, wisely in Arlington's opinion, refused to do so. None of the Chinese or foreign naval officers believed that Wu's ships would win such a battle.

According to Arlington, the Chinese gunners were reluctant to fire on the French on 1 March, and the artillery duel was precipitated by a German gunner named Jerkins, who opened fire without orders on one of the French ships. A shot from Admiral Courbet's flagship, the ironclad Bayard (incorrectly identified as her sister ship Atalante by Arlington), hit the artillery battery that had opened fire, killing 26 Chinese soldiers and wounding 30 more. The engagement developed and spread, eventually drawing in all the Chinese shore batteries and all the Chinese warships.

Arlington also mentions a second engagement on 3 March, in which a French warship was damaged. This engagement is not mentioned in any French source.