A ranar 31 ga Oktoba, Comdr. William N. Smith a umurninsa, "Levant" ya tashi a ranar 13 ga watan Nuwamba zuwa Rio de Janeiro, Cape of Good Hope, da Hong Kong, inda ta isa ya shiga rundunar jiragen ruwa ta Gabas ta Gabas a ranar 12 ga Mayu, 1856. Ranar 1 ga watan Yuli ta shiga kwamishinan Amurka zuwa kasar Sin don sufuri zuwa Shanghai, ya isa ranar 1 ga watan Agusta. A lokacin barkewar cutar
A lokacin tashin hankali tsakanin Birtaniya da kasar Sin, "Levant" ya isa Whampoa a ranar 28 ga Oktoba. Kwamandan Andrew H. Foote ya aika da wani jirgin ruwa daga "Levant" da kuma jirginsa,, zuwa Canton don kare rayukan Amurka da dukiya a can. A ranar 15 ga Nuwamba, yayin da ake janye wannan rundunar, an harbe Kwamandan Foote yayin da yake wucewa a cikin karamin jirgin ruwa ta hanyar "Barrier Forts" a Kogin Pearl da ke Kudancin Canton. A ranar 16 ga watan "Levant" an tura shi zuwa kogin don shiga "Portsmouth" da kuma kiyaye Pearl a bude ga jirgin Amurka. Yayin da ake karfafa sansanonin ba tare da la'akari da tsaka-tsakin Amurka ba, Commodore James Armstrong, wanda ke jagorantar rundunar, ya umarci Foote, "ya dauki irin wadannan matakan kamar yadda hukuncinsa zai nuna... har ma da kama sansanonin. "