Where were the French?

In an exhaustive search, Fung-yin has found a report dated September 16, 1895, from the Chief of Taipei County 田中綱常 (1842-1903) to the first Governor General of Taiwan 樺山資紀 (1837-1922). It indicated that while French graves were found in Keelung, there was no trace of them in Danshui. This was apparently in response to an inquiry from the French Government, 11 years after the Sino-French War.

The burial did take place on Oct 8th (or 9th), 1884 and again on Oct 11th, somewhere in Danshui, but not in the Foreigners' Cemetery. John Dodd reported in his book (1888) that on Feb 24, 1885: "It is reported that the Chinese have found the head of the French officer who fell on the Downs in the engagement of the 8^th October last. The head was buried at Banca; the body on the Downs, it is supposed." If true, this would have been Lt Fontaine. The "Downs" was near Danshui Golf Course and Banca is now Wan-hua.

So the exact whereabouts of the 17 French marines who died in the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf remain unknown.

We will continue searching.

Dutchmen in Tainan

In Koxinga's time, Baxemboy北汕尾(or 北線尾) was a sandbar directly across a narrow channel from Ft Zeelandia. It was where the Dutch infantrymen were annihilated by Koxinga's Iron Man Corps (see previous post: here).

Through the years, the geological changes have greatly altered this area. Initially, the Tai Bay, later the 四草湖, was deep enough for large ships to enter and anchor off Anping. In 1906, the sandy deposits from a huge flood cut off the lake from the sea rendering it nautically useless.

In the Baxemboy area, now known as 四草Shi-chau, a 大眾廟 [Temple of the Public] was built. In 1971, when the temple was being re-constructed, more than 100 sets of skeletal remains with 30+ intact skulls were uncovered. Local legends had long held that this area was an ancient battlefield and a burial ground. And that some of the remains were those of the Dutch soldiers. Indeed, some of the recovered leg bones appeared to be longer than that of the average Han man, suggesting a Caucasian origin.

[Above: the 四草大眾廟]

These bones were carefully cleaned, collected, and stored in large pottery jars in a concrete vault:

[The sign indicates the "Tomb of the Dutch"; these and the picture of the monument below are all from http://www.ttvs.cy.edu.tw/kcc/9310fr/ta5.htm]

And in 2001, a stone monument "海靈佳城" (below) was erected to mark the discovery of the remains. The inscription explains that the skeletons were probably of mixed ancestries. The designation of the Tomb of the Dutch was actually tentative.

On Jan 23, 2003, former PM of the Netherlands, Dr Andreas van Agt visited the tomb following up on a formal invitation. He was very proud that his fore-bearers were brave enough to venture this far from home; although he was also saddened at the same time that these brave souls had lost their lives. He also proposed further study for a historically accurate manner of honoring and interring the skulls and bones. Dr van Agt in fact has paid a second visit on May 31, 2006.

Between Nov 18-29, 2002, an extensive anthropological/biometric examination of the skulls (33 males and 2 females - see one of them above) was performed. It was concluded, and reported in April, 2006, that they were of Southern Island (21) and East Asian (14) origin with none European. The researchers, however, also pointed out that the sample size was small, that DNA analysis would be a better approach, and more important, that the results still could not rule in or out the presence of Dutch bones in the collection.

No additional studies were carried out since.

[Re-posted from http://chenghistory.blogspot.com]