Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Encounters between American Gunboat Patrols and Scientists
Studying the Natural History of China in the 1920s
by Vincent L. Morgan
The Granger Papers Project
2007 Naval History Symposium, 2022 September, Annapolis, MD
March, 1923
American paleontologist Walter Granger is base camped at
Yenchingkou (Yanjinggou), a remote mountain village 10
miles up the Yangtze River from Wanhsien (Wanxian) and
another 10 miles inland from the south bank. His wife Anna
has just departed camp for refuge at the interdenominational
Protestant Christian China Inland Mission in Wanhsien.
r. two coolies in museum
uniform.
m. Chow (No. 1), Kan aka.
“Buckshot” (collector), Chih
(taxidermist), Huei (cook).
f. Walter Granger (leader),
James V. Wong (assistant &
interpreter).
Main party of the CAE’s 19221923 Sichuan Expedition at front steps
of the T’an family ancestral temple.
Walter and Anna Granger at ancestral temple.
Pleistocene epoch: The period from about 2,000,000 years ago to about 11,500 years ago and
covers the world’s most recent period of repeated glaciations. It is associated with the Ice Age, a
period of lower temperatures,resulting in an expansion of ice sheets and glaciers.
Fauna: Both marine and continental faunas were essentially modern. Severe climatic changes
during the Ice Age had major impacts on the fauna and flora. The positions of the continents was
essentially as it is today. With each advance of ice, large areas of continents became totally
depopulated. Plants and animals retreating southward in front of advancing glaciers faced
tremendous stress from drastic climatic changes, reduced living space, and curtailed food supply.
A major extinction of large mammals (megafauna), which included the mammoth, mastodon,
sabertoothed cat, glyptodon, ground sloth, and shortfaced bear, began in the Pleistocene.
Humans: Humans evolved into their present form during the Pleistocene. Neanderthals became
extinct during this period, as did early human ancestors.
Megataprius augustus
(Tapir)
Stegodon orientalis
(Proboscidea)
Late FebruaryEarly March, 1923: General Chang Chung and his army
control Wanhsien and the district. But General Yang Sheng, with support
from warlord Wu Pei Fu, is on the march to drive Chang Chung out. As
he perceives signs of battle looming about him, Granger sends Anna into
Wanhsien for safety. Shortly after, Chang Chung sends his wife out of the
city. Granger, who is carrying a huchao issued by Chang Chung, muses
only that this “is not a good sign for the general.” Granger begins closely
following events in the city via cooliecouriered notes from Anna and
British customs agent Mr. F.D. Arnott. All expedition coolies are wearing
museum uniforms to protect them from instant drafting by either army.
March 8, 1923: General Yang Sheng
takes Wanhsien quickly and constructs a
bridge of boats across the Yangtze to bring
the remainder of his army over, but also to
retreat quickly, if necessary. This blocks all
river traffic. There is a brief standoff
between Sheng and river users, such as the
FNS Doudart de la Gree.
March 19, 1923: With a new huchao in
hand and a promise that the bridge will be
opened for a few hours each day, Granger
breaks camp and heads for Wanhsien.
HMS Widgeon
USS Palos (II)
Palos and Teal are the
two western gunboats
Granger notes in
Wanhsien harbor when he
arrives. Arnott is now
staying aboard the Teal.
The Widgeon was another
gunboat that had assisted
HMS Teal Granger.
March 20, 1923
• Granger’s junk is brought through the bridge of boats into Wanhsien
harbor and moored near the Meifoo at the Standard Oil Company
facility, (The Meifoo was a company vessel that had been seized by Chinese troops in
1922 and then retaken by U.S. sailors and marines (see Patrick H. Roth (Captain, U.S.
Navy, Ret.)).
• Granger and Palos Commander George W. Sampson then join for
tiffin aboard the Meifoo. Granger’s plan is to repack his specimens
and equipment aboard the junk and depart downriver for Ichang asap.
Simpson “[o]ffers Palos as escort to Pan T’ou,” Granger writes that
night.
March 22, 1923
• The Palos swings by the SOC facility at 8 A.M. and the two parties set
off downriver for Pan T’ou. Anna is now aboard the Palos. The
vessels moor at Pan T’ou for an afternoon of R&R and an overnight.
Tiffin and dinner are aboard the Palos.
• The Grangers have coffee aboard the Palos early the next morning.
Granger’s junk then departs downriver at 7 A.M. with two sailors from
the Palos aboard.
• They are P.N. McRoberts, Seaman 2nd Class, and Burt Crabtree,
Fireman 3rd Class. Automatic pistols from the Palos are provided for
the sailors’ use, if needed. Granger and his men are also wellarmed
with a variety of weapons.
• The Palos returns to Wanhsien.
l. One Palos sailor, with James V.
Wong.
b. The other Palos sailor on
Granger’s junk, in white shirt.
March 24, 1923
• In the course of the trip, an anxious Chinese soldier in uniform and
wishing to go to Ichang is allowed to come aboard the junk.
• It is one o’clock P.M. Granger’s junk is passing through Wushan
gorge and is near the village of Pei Shih. All aboard have just finished
tiffin when a shot rings out from the bank. It is intended for the junk’s
steersman, but misses. Forty to fifty rounds are immediately returned
from the junk while perhaps two more shots are fired from the bank.
The Chinese soldier takes off his uniform and hides in the cabin with
Anna and Chow.
• The shooting stops and the junk continues downriver.
Granger’s junk. A close look along the bottom of the photograph at lower right shows
(from l. to r.) James Wong, Anna Granger, and the Chinese soldier in uniform. The two
Palos sailors are still on board the junk at the cabin entryway. One is in the white shirt.
The other, with a man standing in between them, is behind him in dark. He is the same
man sitting with Wong in an earlier photo.
March 27, 1923
Ichang: “[A]t about 11:30 A.M., Walter boarded the
Quiros with the two sailors to substantiate their
reasons for the loss of some of their cartridges. The
captain, Mr. McLaren, invited us to [stay for lunch].”
USS Quiros
Quiros was a 350ton gunboat built for the Spanish Navy at Hong Kong in 1895. Captured at
Manila in 1898 by the U.S. Navy, she was recommissioned in March 1900. Her next decade was
spent in the Philippines. In 1911, Quiros was sent to Chinese waters and spent the remainder of
service there. She was decommissioned at Shanghai in August 1923 and sunk as a target the
following October. (19001923, later PG40) Source: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/shusn/usnshq/pg40.htm
End of Story?
• What were the bad conduct charges?
• Did either sailor provide an account of this incident?
• Did Captain Sampson have a potential or actual morale issue while the two sailors
remained on board?
• Were they required or entitled to be removed from combat immediately upon
discharge?
• Was their consent required before they were put aboard Granger’s junk?
• What was their status while in transit with Granger and his party?
• What was Granger’s viz the sailors?
• What were among Granger’s options in case serious trouble with the sailors arose?
• And, speaking of Uniforms & Science/Flags & Formations, was the CAE quasi
military?
• Material for interdisciplinary inquiry?
CAE, 1928 (Mongolia Division) British
military topographer, Captain W.P.T. Hill.
Lieutenant Wyman (l.) with RoyAndrews
(r.), Inner Mongolia, 1930.
(WG and the camel series…….)
Central Asiatic Expeditions, 19211930
• China Division, 19211927 Walter Granger (Anna),
Clifford H. Pope and Nels C. Nelson (Ethelyn). Also a
number of Chinese assistants.
• Mongolia Division, 19221930 Roy C. Andrews, Walter
Granger, a variety of parties, and a number of Chinese and
Mongol assistants. Only Granger and ”Buckshot” served
both divisions throughout.
• Working premise: the work of the China division
presented far greater danger, but fewer and far less
spectacular fossils. The work in Mongolia, on the other
hand, presented very little danger. On both, the men
carried a variety of arms.
• Awkward juxtaposition: a) how does someone like
Andrews, who owns the rights but not the experiences, tell
that story; and b) what becomes of Walter Granger’s
expedition diaries, the only firsthand account of the CAE?
(a la Fayum, 1907, and history of.)
3 1/2 years later…
Anna’s entry regarding news of the Wanhsien incident as reported
in a Hongkong newspaper; "It seems that Gen. Yang Sheng
thought he could commandeer a couple of British steamers to carry
come of his troops in. The British boarded the seized steamers and
later bombarded the town. It also states that three China Inland
Mission people are being held as hostages of Yang Sheng." AGd
9/30/26.
End