Of all the foreign ships that stayed in Guangdong, the "Cambridge" ocean-going merchant ship was a rather unique ship, or should it be said to be the most legendary. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Speaking of the "Cambridge", we have to start with its previous captain, the Englishman Douglas Cage.

As a young man, Captain Douglas worked as a pirate for a long time, going through numerous battles, and then slowly amassed his fortune in the process.

Later, for 11,000 pounds, he purchased an ocean-going merchant ship with a displacement of 1,000 and 50 tons, the "Cambridge".

With this ship, Douglas went from being a pirate hated by everyone to a legitimate subject of the venerable Queen of England, with the right to vote and a good social status.

When news of Governor Lin's opium burning spread, Douglas was pulling a shipload of goods bound for China to replenish Luzon.

"What should we do, we can't sell our goods, and we're losing a lot. Captain Douglas was worried.

"A crisis is also an opportunity, and this conflict is not necessarily an opportunity to make a fortune. His wife didn't see it much.

Determined to listen to his wife's advice, Douglas sold the goods at a very cheap price, bought twenty-eight guns locally and rebuilt them on his ship, and then hired ten savage and terrible crews.

By the time the "Cambridge," which had greatly increased its force, arrived in Canton, the British had been deported by Governor Lin to a narrow harbor between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and the British consul was running out of options.

It turned out that Britain had kept two warships in Guangdong, including the "Wolaji", but because of the rebellion in India and other places, these two warships were sent to India, and the British consul encountered the embarrassing situation of having no warships available.

Here, Li Xian also wants to complain, he has always thought that Britain obtained the right to station warships in Chinese ports after the Opium War, but in fact, several years ago, Britain kept warships in China's Guangzhou and other ports all year round, and its contempt for a country's territorial sovereignty can be seen.

In short, Captain Douglas brought a thousand-ton ship equipped with more than 30 guns to the British consul and expressed his willingness to help Mr. Consul defend the interests of the British Empire.

Overjoyed, Consul Yilu cordially received Captain Douglas, appointed Douglas on the spot as Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Navy, and promised to pay him 12,000 pounds after the war to thank Douglas and the Cambridge for their contributions.

It stands to reason that this should be a win-win situation, but it is a pity that Captain Douglas forgot to sign a written agreement with Yilu under great joy, and only made a verbal agreement, which laid the root cause of the tragedy that happened later.

After becoming the commander-in-chief of the British Navy in Guangdong, Captain Douglas dutifully served the consul of Yilu, participated in almost all subsequent battles against the Qing Dynasty, and made great contributions.

In the Battle of Kowloon, which was the first armed conflict between Britain and the Qing Kingdom, Douglas showed heroism and took the Cambridge to fight close to the Qing Navy, and was finally stabbed in the arm by the wood fragments splashed by the cannonballs from the Qing Navy, which can be regarded as a model of blood and sweat for the Queen of England.

However, after that, the British warship Voracil, which had been originally to India, returned one after another, and the importance of the Cambridge gradually decreased, and Consul Yilu began to pay little attention to Douglas and the Cambridge.

Yilu originally verbally promised Douglas to become the commander-in-chief of the British Navy in the Qing Kingdom, and it stands to reason that warships such as the Vola Suspicion would be under the command of the Cambridge, but Yilu turned his face at this time and did not recognize anyone and did not admit that Douglas had command over these warships.

The so-called official words are two mouths, and the same is true for the British.

Douglas had the heart to argue with Yilu, but only then did he remember that the two parties had only agreed verbally and did not leave any written agreement, so he had no way to take Yilu Consul.

At this point, the rupture of the relationship between the two men was inevitable, so Douglas found Yilu and scolded him, and demanded that the consul pay him a pre-agreed reward of 12,000 pounds, and he could take the money back to England to enjoy his happiness.

However, what a person the consul of Yilu turned his face at this time and said that he had only promised to pay Douglas 4,000 pounds, and he had never heard of the sky-high price of 12,000 pounds.

At this time, Captain Douglas was really anxious, and he wanted to duel with the consul, but it was finally calmed down under the persuasion of the other captains.

In the end, Captain Douglas was paid four thousand pounds, and Captain Douglas was very unhappy.

"You idiot, why didn't you make a note in the first place, what a great opportunity for you to waste. Douglas's wife roared, and the venerable Mr. Captain was speechless.

"Now, there is no point in continuing to use this ship, it is better to sell it to those Americans. The wife continued to give the captain advice.

It turned out that at this time, there were more than 60 British merchant ships anchored in Victoria Harbour, and they could neither enter Guangzhou to trade, nor were they willing to return to Britain empty-handed.

That's when the Americans stepped in.

The Americans had no bad relations with Governor Lin and the officials of Canton, and they regarded themselves as mediators between China and Britain, and were actually recognized by the officials of Canton.

During this period, eighteen American merchant ships were active in the entire waters of Guangdong, and at this time they started to carry goods.

These American merchant ships transported tea from Canton to British merchant ships in Victoria Harbour, and at the same time transported the goods of British merchant ships to Canton.

The Americans have always been black-hearted, and their freight rates are as high as $35 to $40 per tonne, and considering that the cost of transportation from London to Guangzhou is about the same price, you can understand how good they are at this ready-made bamboo pole.

All in all, Americans at this time were rich and willing to expand their transportation capabilities.

In the end, Captain Douglas sold the ship to these Americans at a fairly favorable price, but this price was not necessarily unfair, given that the Cambridge had been wounded many times in previous battles.

As a result, the flagship of the former British naval commander in China became an American merchant ship, and began to move back and forth between Macao, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou, engaged in all kinds of decent cargo work, and it can only be said that the world is impermanent.

On this day in February 1840, the Cambridge, which had been renovated in Macao, set out from Macao to Hong Kong Island with a considerable amount of silver and goods.

Although China and Britain fought frequently, both sides were very restrained, so this section of the sea and land was relatively calm, there were no pirates, and after the Pearl River Estuary was blocked, there were no naval divisions to invade, so it was quite safe.

When the Cambridge arrived near Lantau in the north of Lantau Island, everything looked normal, with only one European-style sailing ship with a displacement of about 400 tons appearing on the side of the Cambridge, and two Chinese schooners of more than 300 tons coming out of Lantau Strait.

It's just that all this did not alarm any of the sailors on board.

The European sailboat, obviously in Portuguese style, seems to be a local sailing ship in Macau, with many ladies and gentlemen in bright clothes, and it seems that some high-class people came out to play.

"Beauty, look this way!" the Cambridge sailors did not feel anything unusual, and waved wildly at the Portuguese ship, trying to get the attention of the ladies.

The people of the Portuguese ship noticed the Cambridge, and several ladies waved their hands in greeting the sailors, which made the sailors boil at once.

It's a pity that both gentlemen and ladies on Portuguese ships wear hats, and the brim is so low that it is impossible to see what they look like.

The current captain of the Cambridge, Captain Jack Johnny Sparta, was still smiling and watching the sailors do all kinds of tricks, but he couldn't help frowning when he saw that the Portuguese ship was getting closer and closer to his ship, and the ships on both sides were less than a few tens of meters away.

"Hell, are the people on that boat stupid, what if two ships are so close and collide.

Let them back out of the way and don't make any trouble in this narrow waterway. The captain said angrily.

His first mate immediately ran to the side of the ship and shouted, signaling the Portuguese ship to keep a distance and not rush to the road, but unfortunately with little success, the other party not only did not get out of the way, but also leaned over harder.

What is even more worrying is that the two Chinese ships coming from the front did not think to avoid it, but rushed almost straight towards the Cambridge.

"No, that's not right. "Captain Jack is a well-informed man after all, and he finally figured out that something was wrong.

"Oh no, damn it, these ships are all pirates, and all the crews are taking up arms to defend our ship. Captain Jack finally understood, and snarled at his crew.

Unfortunately, this awakening was a little late, and the Portuguese ship in the rear had come close enough, almost parallel to the Cambridge, and the two ships were less than ten meters apart from each other.

The mast of the Portuguese ship suddenly tilted down, just upside down towards the Cambridge, and straddled between the two ships to become an improvised bridge.

The gentlemen and ladies on the ship also lost their disguises at this time, showed their hideous true colors, took out triangular grips, planks, poles, etc., and threw them on the side of the Cambridge, and then climbed from the Portuguese ship to the Cambridge.

"Pirate, this is a pirate!" the crew of the Cambridge woke up from a dream, and rushed over to pick up their weapons.

"It's going well ahead, it's up to us to do the rest. Li Xian shouted loudly and jumped from the mast of the Portuguese ship to the Cambridge.