English: The Destruction of the Foochow Arsenal and Chinese Fleet by the French Squadron under Admiral Courbet. Illustration for The Graphic, 18 October 1884.

The battle of Foochow on August 23, 1884 at about 2:15 in the afternoon. Sketches by eyewitness in 1884. The eyewitness stood on top of the hill behind the Custom House on the south bank of the Min River, facing the Lo-Sing Tower (aka pagoda, on the dark island on the right of the centre of the picture) and Mawei (to the left of the centre of the picture). Directly below are the Qing ships Ji-an (aka Tsi-ngan, left) and Fei-yun (aka Feiyune, right). To the right is the French protected cruiser Triomphante. Duguay-Trouin is on the lower left. The two ships located between Triomphante and Duguay-Trouin, close to Lo-Sing Tower are cruisers d’Estaing (top) and Villars (bottom). Toward North from the Duguay-Trouin starboard are the gunboat Aspic, the third-class cruiser (also the flag ship of Courbet) Volta, and the gunboats Lynx and Vipèr.

Ships L-R: French Ships; Volta, Vipere, Aspic, Lynx, Duguay-Trouin, D'estaing, Villars, Triomphante