On the cusp of leaving France to prepare for his journey to China, Manning was trapped by the outbreak of war with Britain, and he was detained for eighteen months as a prisonnier de guerre. This frustrated his plans, which possibly included an attempt to enlist on a Russian Embassy to China. He petitioned anxiously for permission to leave France, and this was eventually granted due to the intervention of influential friends, including the leading statesmen Talleyrand and Lazare Carnot. Manning returned to England in January 1805 to arrange his trip to China. To do so, he approached Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society and noted patron of scientific expeditions. Banks secured permission from the East India Company for Manning to reside in their ‘factory’ (residential offices) outside Canton (modern Guangzhou), where he would find it easier to study Chinese and prepare a trip into China itself. Manning began the hazardous journey to China in April 1806; just a year earlier, William Wordsworth’s brother, John, had drowned when captaining Earl of Abergavenny, which was bound for China but sank off the English coast with a death toll over 250. Manning knew that even if he arrived safely in China, he would never see many of his family and friends again. The chapter concludes with the story of the long sea voyage from England to China, including Manning’s description of the colony at Penang.