transportation to Shanghai, arriving 1 August. At the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the Chinese, Levant arrived Whampoa on 28 October. Comdr. Andrew H. Foote then sent a landing party from Levant and his own ship, , to Canton to protect American lives and property there. On 15 November, while in the process of withdrawing this force, Commander Foote was fired on while passing in a small boat by the "Barrier Forts" on the Pearl River below Canton. On the 16th Levant was towed upriver to join Portsmouth and in keeping the Pearl open to American shipping. As the forts were being strengthened in disregard of American neutrality, Foote was ordered by Commodore James Armstrong, commanding the squadron, "to take such measures as his judgment would dictate... even the capture of the forts." Commander Foote complied with all the dash and courage for which he became famous during the Civil War. On 20 November he took the first fort by leading an amphibious assault with 300 men, then silenced the second with cannon captured from the first. Next day he took the third, and by the 24th all four were in American hands and the Pearl once again safe for American shipping. Levant, close in through most of the action, received the major part of the Chinese bombardment, with 22 shot holes in her hull and rigging, one man dead, and six injured. Destruction of the earthworks was completed by 5 December, and Levant cruised between Hong Kong and Shanghai until she departed Hong Kong on 7 December 1857 for home, arriving at the Boston Navy Yard 6 April 1858. Pacific Squadron, 1859–60 After repairs into 1859, Levant, Comdr. William E. Hunt in command, sailed on 15 June for the Pacific, arriving at Valparaíso, Chile on 11 October, to serve as Pacific Squadron flagship, wearing Commodore John B. Montgomery's broad pennant, through December. In January 1860 Levant sailed for the coast of Nicaragua, where she relieved and began five months of showing the flag off the coasts of Central and South America. In May 1860, Levant was ordered to the Hawaiian Islands at the request of the Secretary of State to investigate the disbursement of relief funds to American merchant seamen. After receiving a state visit by King Kamehameha IV at Honolulu on 7 May, and investigating at Lahaina, Maui, and Hilo, Hawaii, Levant sailed for Panama on