Battle of Kowloon

Battle of Kowloon
Part of the First Opium War
The Chinese fort in Kowloon, 1841
Date 4 September 1839 Location Kowloon Peninsula, China 22°17′34″N 114°10′14″E / 22.29278°N 114.17056°E / 22.29278; 114.17056 Result Stalemate
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Qing China
Commanders and leaders
Charles Elliot Henry Smith Joseph Douglas (WIA)	Lai Enjue
Strength
4 boats1	3 junks 1 fort
Casualties and losses
3 wounded	2 killed 6 wounded
1 1 cutter, 1 schooner, 1 pinnace, and 1 barge.

The Battle of Kowloon (Chinese: 九龍海戰) was a skirmish between British and Chinese vessels off the Kowloon Peninsula, China, on 4 September 1839, located in Hong Kong, although Kowloon was then part of the Guangdong province. The skirmish was the first armed conflict of the First Opium War and occurred when British boats opened fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community. The ban was ordered after a Chinese man died in a brawl with drunk British sailors at Tsim Sha Tsui. The Chinese authorities did not consider the punishment to be sufficient as meted out by British officials, so they suspended food supplies in an attempt to force the British to turn over the culprit.

Captain Charles Elliot was the chief superintendent of British trade in China, and he sailed to Kowloon in the cutter Louisa for food supplies during the embargo, accompanied by the schooner Pearl and a pinnace from HMS Volage. They encountered three Chinese junks, and Elliot sent interpreter Karl Gutzlaff with demands to allow the supply of provisions. He finally delivered an ultimatum after several hours of correspondence: the junks would be sunk if supplies were not received. The stated time period expired with no results, so the British opened fire on the junks, which returned fire with support from the on-shore fort. The larger junks pursued the British boats which were sailing away after running low on ammunition, but the British re-engaged the ships after replenishing their ammunition, and the Chinese retreated to their former position, ending the clash in a stalemate.