An excellent overview of naval and military activities from 1856 to 1862 in the Far East. During the Crimean War a Russian squadron was pursued by a small British contingent, but as a result of the latter’s ignorance of the local coastline the Russians were able to make their way to the safety of the Amur river. In 1856 the British sent two survey vessels to the region, and the author was a surveyor on board one of them, H.M.S. Actaeon. The vessels’ assistance during the Second Opium War helped to establish British influence in the area, and the survey work extended to the coasts of Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Manchuria. The illustrations include a large extending panorama of Hong Kong, and charts of the Actaeon’s tracks during the period.