This week we will be spotlighting HMS Jasper in the Taiping Rebellion. Initially built for the British Royal Navy in 1857, HMS Jasper was a small but powerful wooden gunboat designed to navigate both shallow coastal waters and winding rivers. With both sails and a steam engine powering a single screw propeller, she could reach speeds up to 9 knots (or 16.67km/h), which is considered pretty impressive for her size!
Armed and ready, HMS Jasper was deployed to uphold British interests around the globe. Her missions included suppressing piracy, enforcing colonial order, and hunting down illegal slave ships. After ending her moment with the British Royal Navy, her story prevailed eastward, turning towards one of the deadliest conflicts on the other end of the world — China.
The Taiping Rebellion
By the 1860s, China was in turmoil. The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864)—a massive civil war led by a visionary preacher named Hong Xiuquan—had already claimed millions of lives and threatened to topple the ruling Qing dynasty. Desperate to modernize their forces and regain control of China’s waterways, Qing officials turned to the West for help.
The British government, aiming to remain neutral in China’s civil war, sold HMS Jasper to a British official named Horatio Nelson Lay, who was acting on behalf of the Qing. After being renamed Amoy, the ship became part of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla: a small fleet of modern, steam-powered gunboats commanded by Sherard Osborn, in an attempt to bolster Qing naval strength.
While it all seemed pretty promising – their shared goal of defeating the Taiping rebel, tensions soon erupted between the Qing government and the flotilla’s British commanders. The Qing wanted to assert authority over their own navy. The British ,however, refused to serve under Chinese command. Neither side would budge, and in doing so, created a diplomatic debacle. The Qing dismissed Lay, revoked the purchase, and the entire flotilla—including the former HMS Jasper—sailed away without ever firing a shot for China.
The Quiet after the Storm
The Taiping Rebellion, meanwhile, continued its bloody course. Led by Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ, the rebels captured Nanjing and renamed it to be “Heavenly Capital.” Promising radical social reforms like land redistribution and gender equality, the movement drew in millions—especially among China’s poor and disenfranchised.
But internal struggles, strategic failures, and a relentless Qing counterattack eventually took their toll. With the help of Western-trained mercenaries and local militias, the Qing forces slowly pushed the rebels back. In 1864, after a brutal siege, Nanjing fell. Hong Xiuquan died shortly before the city’s capture. The rebellion was over—but at an unimaginable cost.
Legacy
The story of HMS Jasper—a ship that journeyed from empire to empire, from Britain to China—is just one minor thread in the larger tapestry of the Taiping Rebellion. Her voyage reveals how global technologies and ambitions intersected with local conflicts during the 19th century.
The rebellion left tens of millions dead and reshaped the course of Chinese history. For HMS Jasper, it was a mission that ended not in glory, but in unresolved ambition—an imperial gunboat caught in the currents of a changing world.
FYI: We do hold some of HMS Jasper’s ship records in our archives at Monsoon Voyage’s Zooniverse site. Do join us and contribute back to the reconstruction of Southeast Asia’s historical rainfall patterns!
Leave a Reply