Capture of Chusan

5 July 1840, Dinghai, Chusan island

British victory; Chusan occupied

The British expeditionary force sailed north from the Pearl River and anchored off Dinghai, the chief town of Chusan, to seize a base at the mouth of the Yangtze. When the garrison refused to surrender, Commodore Bremer's ships opened fire: the bombardment silenced the war junks and the shore defences in about nine minutes, and the troops landed and took the town the next morning. Disease went on to kill far more of the British garrison than the fighting had.

Map

• The expeditionary force sails north June – July 1840