PARKES WAS STILL a lowly interpreter in Amoy on his return, his letter to Palmerston having made no difference to his immediate situation. However, he spent little time there, being too useful for tackling difficult matters that nobody else could handle.

One tricky assignment was connected with a ‘very melancholy’ incident in Formosa (Taiwan). On 12 September 1850, the British ship Larpent had foundered off the south of the island. When the survivors reached the nearest beach they were immediately attacked with matchlocks and knives. Nineteen of them had their heads cut off and their bodies were thrown in a heap. Two men, a joiner called William Blake, and a nineteen-year-old ordinary seaman, James Hill, managed to escape by swimming – Hill, pursued by a shark. Eventually they managed to find some villagers who gave them something to eat. This seemed like kindness, but they would become slave labourers, forced to work for their food and shelter. Another man, Able Seaman Alexander Beris, who had escaped separately, joined the other two in the village. After five months, the villagers sold the three men for six dollars a head. Fortunately, their purchasers were less mercenary and they got back to Shanghai seven and a half months after their ship had sunk.

There were loud calls for vengeance among the Shanghai community, as the crews of two other ships had been murdered in similar circumstances. However Parkes’ mission was not to get revenge but to investigate what had happened and reward those who had helped out. So, on 11 August, the Salamander left Amoy with Parkes, Beris and Blake on board. On their arrival, Parkes met with the civil magistrate of the island and after painstaking negotiations, obtained the services of a pilot, who could guide them to where the men had been held. They managed to find the spot, and in stormy weather, Parkes and a Lieutenant Lambert of the Salamander walked onto the beach where most of the men had been murdered – apparently not at all concerned that they might suffer the same fate. Indeed, locals crowded round them, but they managed to free themselves and found a military officer who suggested they speak to Lin Wanchang, who had influence with both the locals and the Chinese.