HMS Racehorse was a 695 ton gunboat built at Blackwall, London in 1860. She was a steam powered single screw ship built of wood and rigged for sail 186' long with one 110 pounder and two 20 pounders for armament. In 1864 she was serving in the North China Division in Shanghai. On Nov. 1, 1864 Racehorse was ordered to sail from Shanghai for Chefoo, China, on board were 108 officers and men.

At about 8 p.m. on November 4, 1864 as the ship was approaching Lung-Mun Bay about 12 miles east of Chefoo,
when the ship ran hard aground. All efforts were made to free the ship including cutting the masts away, but soon after the accident a powerful gale came ashore causing much distress to those onboard. The men in the ship had no chance to abandon her as the waves were soon began to break over the ship, washing dozens of men into the raging seas. Some reports state that some of the boats were launched and that soon after this rolling waves swamped the boats capsizing and sinking them.

The men were told to hold on until the following morning and rescue would surely come to them, but as the night progressed the cold and exhaustion claimed man after man until only nine remained alive. The few who survived the dreadful night got into the only boat which remained on the ship and were picked up two or three days later by a Chinese junk.

Commander C. R. F. Boxer, the ships's commanding officer, was one of the survivors and spoke very highly of the men who had perished saying that the conduct of the men was "most cool and collected" and that they followed every order "smartly and energetically". Sadly ninety-nine men perished that night.

By late January fifty-six bodies had been recovered and buried and the ship was stripped of her guns and all other valuable items and left to be taken apart by the sea. In May of 1865 Commander Boxer was court-mar tailed for the loss of Racehorse, the court fount that he had not made allowance for a south-east current and admonished him to be more careful in future. They also said that his conduct before the ship went aground reflected the highest honour on him as an officer and a seaman. The conduct of the rest of the crew was also praised by the court with special acknowledgement given to Boatswain William Lowlett.