1823 to November 1852

1. 1823

   At the age of eighteen, William Speiden, Sr. (1805-1861) begins work in the U.S. Navy Yard purser’s office in the city of Washington.

2. 1825

   Japanese nationalist Aizawa Seishisai (1781-1863) produces the Shinron theses, analyzing Western power and the importance of resistance to foreign incursion in Japan.

   

3. Sept. 26, 1835

   William Speiden’s son, William Speiden, Jr., (1835-1920), is born.

4. 1836

   William Speiden, Sr., becomes purser for the U.S. Navy in Norfolk, Virginia.

5. Aug. 18, 1838

   The U.S. Exploring Expedition departs Hampton Roads, Virginia, under the command of naval officer Charles Wilkes (1798-1877). During the 1838-1842 expedition the sloop of war Vincennes will become the first American warship to circumnavigate the globe. After the expedition’s completion, the Vincennes sees deployment in the China Seas.

6. 1839

   The U.S. steam frigate Mississippi, a side-wheel steamer, is laid down by the Philadelphia Navy Yard and constructed with supervision of Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858) of the U.S. Navy. Perry is a naval veteran of the War of 1812, U.S. Navy educator, commander of the USS Fulton, and founder of the Naval Engineer Corps.

7. 1840-1841

   Matthew C. Perry receives the title of Commodore and is appointed by the Secretary of the Navy as commandant of the U.S. Navy Yard in New York.

   

8. 1842-1845

   Perry serves as commander of the U.S. African Squadron aboard the USS Saratoga.

9. 1842

   At launch, the U.S. steam frigate Mississippi is 228 feet long and has a draft of 19 feet, with two paddle wheels 28 feet in diameter, and masts that carry 19,000 square feet of canvas when fully rigged.

   

10. 1844

    U.S. Commissioner to China Caleb Cushing (1800-1879) negotiates the Treaty of Wanghia, resulting in the opening of designated ports to American trade and granting certain protections to U.S. ships and citizens.

11. 1846

    Bernard J. Bettelheim (1811-1870), a Protestant missionary who will become an acquaintance of the Speidens during the U.S. Naval Expedition to Japan, begins his mission work at Naha, Lew Chew, in the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa).

12. July 1846

    The U.S.S. Columbus and the U.S.S. Vincennes anchor in Edo Bay, Japan, under Commodore James Biddle. In keeping with two centuries of Japanese foreign policy, the Americans are asked to depart by Japanese authorities.

13. 1846-1847

    Part of the U.S. Home Squadron, the Mississippi sees action in the Mexican War under Matthew C. Perry’s command.

    

14. Late 1840s

    The Mississippi is used for a time in the U.S. Mediterranean Squadron.

15. 1850

    Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) is elected President of the United States.

16. 1852

    A strong advocate for steam-powered ships and naval policies that secure commercial interests and military advantage, Perry is named commander-in-chief of the U.S. Naval Forces, East India, China and Japan Seas (the East India Squadron). He is tasked under the authority of U.S. President Fillmore with commanding an overseas expedition to negotiate a trade treaty between the United States and Japan.

    

17. March 9, 1852

    Sixteen-year-old William Speiden, Jr., is appointed purser’s clerk of the Mississippi. The young Speiden is living at his family’s home in the city of Washington at the time of the appointment. He travels to the Philadelphia Navy Yard to join his father, purser William Speiden, Sr., to help keep the financial accounts and supervise provisions for the Mississippi. He finds the Mississippi “very dirty, having not long since returned from a cruise to the Mediter[r]anean.”

18. March 21, 1852

    The Mississippi, having been “set a little to rights,” arrives at New York for repairs.

19. May 11, 1852

    Preliminary to the voyage to Japan, the Mississippi is put into commission under the command of Captain William J. McCluney (c. 1796-1864). McCluney proves a popular leader among the men. Later in 1858 he will head the U.S. Atlantic Squadron as commodore. With a full crew, the frigate heads “to Boston for the purpose of towing the Steamer Princeton from that place to Baltimore.” The newly fitted screw-steamer Princeton is in need of mechanical repairs.

20. May 17, 1852

    At anchor outside Boston, the crew of the Mississippi cheer the Cumberland, flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, as she passes full sail on her outward passage. The band plays “Hail Columbia” and the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Speiden notes that the “beauty of a scene of this kind cannot half be imagined.”

    

21. May 18, 1852

    The Mississippi is at the Boston Navy Yard. Speiden goes ashore to visit a friend in Jamaica Plains. He admires the Bunker Hill monument, “ a grand structure of Architecture,” which looms on the skyline, and regrets not having enough time to see the pastoral Mount Auburn Cemetery.

    

22. May 19, 1852

    On its return southward, the Mississippi passes Point Judith, Rhode Island.

23. May 21-22, 1852

    The shell room and spirit room of the Mississippi flood due to the malfunction of one of the cocks used to admit water into the ship in case of fire. Nearly all the shells are “rendered unfit for service.” The sugar supplies are spoiled by water damage and thrown overboard.

24. May 23-24, 1852

    The Mississippi stands up the Chesapeake Bay and anchors a few miles below Baltimore.

    

25. May 27, 1852

    Hundreds of citizens of Washington, D.C., visit the Mississippi.

26. May 27-30, 1852

    Speiden goes on shore leave to see his family. The Speidens live in the First Ward of Washington, D.C., in a home located in what is now the Federal Triangle area.

27. June 2, 1852

    The Mississippi arrives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

28. June 29, 1852

    Kentucky politician Henry Clay (1777-1852), former candidate for the presidency of the United States, secretary of state, and long-time leader in the U.S. Congress and Whig Party, dies in Washington, D.C.

    

29. July 3, 1852

    Commodore Matthew C. Perry comes aboard the Mississippi, is greeted with fanfare, and hoists the pennant of the East India Squadron, making the frigate his flagship for the beginning of the expedition. He would move the pennant from time to time to different vessels during the voyage, significantly to the steamship Susquehanna. On this day he orders the ship flags set at half-mast to honor Henry Clay.

    

30. July 31, 1852

    The Mississippi heads north up the coast of the United States with orders to proceed to the fishing banks of the north Atlantic and Bay of Fundy, Canada, in order to investigate reported restrictions by the British on American fishermen.

31. August 3, 1852

    The Mississippi reaches Eastport, Maine.

    

32. August 7-12, 1852

    St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada. Speiden attends church. Commodore Perry visits the Governor of New Brunswick in Fredericton. The ship lays in supplies of coal and lumber.

33. August 15, 1852

    The Mississippi reaches Halifax, Nova Scotia, the base of Britain’s North American Squadron. Archbishop William Walsh of Nova Scotia joins Archbishop John J. Hughes of New York and a party of bishops to visit the ship, as does the commander of forces at Halifax. Speiden attends a ball given to the officers of the ship.

    

34. August 21, 1852

    Near Magdalen Islands.

35. August 22, 1852

    Bird Islands.

36. August 23-25, 1852

    The Mississippi encounters various fishing vessels at sea, almost all of them American.

37. August 31, 1852

    Back in New York, Speiden notes that on the entire trip north he only saw one English shipping vessel and it “contained but one Man” and was in a dilapidated condition. “This now fully convinces me what a small interest the English take in the Fisheries on the North Eastern coast of America.”

38. Sept. 3, 1852

    A court martialed seaman and attempted deserter, Otis Austin, who is accused of striking an officer, is informed of his sentence by Captain McCluney. He is ordered disrated to a Landsman, is to be transferred to the North Carolina, and held in solitary confinement for a year, during the first month of which he will be fed only bread and water.

39. Oct. 17, 1852

    Speiden notes the first religious service held on board the Mississippi, led by Episcopal clergyman Rev. George Jones (1800-1870). Jones served as an astronomer and geologist during the expedition to Japan.

40. Oct. 26, 1852

    After laying in stores and coal while in New York, the Mississippi anchors off Annapolis, Maryland. The fort at the U.S. Naval Academy salutes her with 13 Guns.

    

41. Nov. 5, 1852

    Under the direction of President Fillmore, the U.S. State Department conveys instructions to the U.S. Navy Department for Perry’s expedition to Japan.

42. Nov. 8, 1852

    President Fillmore visits the ship with Secretary of the Navy John P. Kennedy (1745-1870), governor of Maryland Enoch L. Low (1820-1892) of Frederick, Maryland, and other dignitaries. The crew gives the President a 21 Gun salute. Low would later support the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Fillmore served in the presidency until March 1853. His successor was Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), who served from 1853 to 1857.

43. Nov. 13, 1852

    Kennedy instructs Perry that as soon as the Mississippi is ready for sea, Perry should proceed with her to Macau, or Hong Kong, in the China Seas, and there rendezvous with other vessels in his command. Acting Secretary of State Edward Everett (1794-1865) drafts a letter from President Fillmore to the Emperor of Japan, for delivery by Perry.

44. November 1852

    Captain McCluney receives a fond farewell from officers and crew as he is detached from the Mississippi and assigned command of the Powhatan. Mexican War veteran Sydney S. Lee (1802-1869) commands the Mississippi under Commodore Perry. Henry A. Adams (1800-1869) serves as Commander and Captain of the Fleet. As Chief of Staff to Perry, Adams will be involved in negotiations in Japan and shepherd the signed Kanagawa treaty to the United States.

    

45. Nov. 24, 1852

    The Mississippi sets to sea from Norfolk, Virginia, and begins the Atlantic crossing, the first leg of her voyage to the China Seas and Japan.