Her voyage was significant as it was one of the earliest instances of a Chinese sailing vessel making a transoceanic journey to the Western world.

[1] She rounded the Cape of Good Hope in March 1847, 114 days out, having been delayed by strong westerly gales, and a severe hurricane.

A storm on 28 February wrecked her two boats, ripped the foresail, and disabled the hardwood ironbound rudder, which was hung in the Chinese manner without gudgeons or pintles.

The obverse of the medal gives the following account: Keying was praised by the British as excellent in seaworthiness, and practically superior to their own: She lay in the Thames at Blackwall.

[2][3] The Keying was sold to Messrs Crippin & Forster of Rock Ferry, Cheshire and towed from London to the river Mersey by the steam tug Shannon, arriving 14 May 1853.

The Plymouth and Devonport weekly journal for Thursday, 6 December 1855 reported A large-scale model of the Keying is on display at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, at Central Ferry Pier 8.

This model was based on contemporary reports and images allied to a comprehensive analysis of traditional Fuzhou junk lines.

The model is thought by some to be incorrect: the shape of the hull lacks the great curvature which is clearly and consistently shown in some of the many contemporary illustrations of the original vessel.

These large trading junks moored off the waterfront of Guangzhou towards the end of the 19th century would have been broadly similar to the Keying and give us a better idea of how she may really have appeared than the contemporary images of her by western artists.