Cheshire to Russell Young, February 21, 1883

Mr. Cheshire to Mr. Young.

Sir: In answer to the inquiry made in your dispatch No. 35, I have the honor to submit the following information which I have obtained from Chinese sources.

Some few months ago Peng Keng Pao, commonly known as the admiral of the Yangtse, memorialized the throne in reference to the advisability of building small gunboats of light draught for service on the Yangtse River. I understood that the memorial received the favorable consideration of the Emperor, and Peng, acting in conjunction with the viceroy Tso of Nanking, decided to build ten vessels of 109 feet (Chinese) in length, at the Shanghai and Foochow arsenals.

The stocks for the first vessel, which will be built as an experiment, will be laid shortly at the Kiangnan arsenal at Shanghai; and after she has been completed, and if found to be a success, it will then be decided as to where the others are to be built. It is thought, however, that half will be built at Shanghai and half at Foochow.

These vessels are to be iron plated, and all of the material necessary for their construction is to be imported from foreign countries.

They are intended to perform the same services on the Yangtse as the Foochow class of gunboats perform along the coast, i. e., protecting Chinese commerce against pirates.

I am, &c.,