July 3, 1854 to July 29, 1858

1. July 3, 1854

   William Speiden, Jr., begins volume two of his expedition journal on this date. The U.S. steam frigate Mississippi is in port at Naha, Lew Chew, following completion of trade treaty negotiations between Americans, under the leadership of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, and Japanese commissioners, acting under authority of the Emperor of Japan, at Yokohama, earlier in March. In his first entry in the new journal, Speiden makes reference to the case of William Board, an American who allegedly committed a home invasion and raped an Okinawan woman while he was intoxicated on shore. Board was chased down by villagers, stoned, and drowned. He was discovered dead June 12, 1854. The identity of those involved in his death was guarded by those close to the incident. Due to this situation tensions are high between the Americans and Lew Chewan authorities.

   

2. July 4, 1854

   American Independence Day is celebrated by the officers and crew of the Mississippi with a reading of the Declaration of Independence, the singing of “The Star Spangled Banner,” and a recitation of “America, My Native Home.” Renditions of “Hail Columbia” and “Yankee Doodle” are played by the ship’s band.

3. July 5, 1854

   A Court Martial is convened on board the Powhatan for the trial of George Scott and LeRoy Arnold, a third assistant engineer. Arnold would later resign his naval commission, in 1856.

4. July 6, 1854

   Americans take possession of the Ameku Dera, a place formerly used as a hospital by the U.S. Squadron. Commodore Perry takes this action in order “to intimidate the authorities, and cause them to make stronger efforts to find out the murderer of the man, Board.”

   

5. July 7, 1854

   As tension over the Board affair escalates, the Americans prepare to land marines with a howitzer and take further possessions in Lew Chew. This escalation of force is prevented when the Lew Chewan Regent comes aboard with an entourage, delivering with them a man that has reportedly been found guilty by the laws of Lew Chew for murdering Brown. They announce their intent to turn the man over as a prisoner to the Americans, to meet whatever penalty the Americans consider just. Commodore Perry responds that the man should face the same penalty as if he had committed the crime under aggravated circumstance against a fellow Lew Chewan. He is informed that in such a circumstance, the sentence would be banishment to an uninhabited island for life. The man is removed from the ship and taken back to land.

   

6. July 11, 1854

   The Americans send agricultural implements on shore as a present for the Prince Regent. Commodore Perry goes ashore to meet with authorities. A compact between the United States and the Kingdom of Lew Chew is negotiated to help govern future encounters and avoid the kind of difficulties already experienced. Speiden inserts a copy of the agreement into his diary. Dated 11 July 1854, the compact (the Treaty of Naha) designates rights for visiting Americans to purchase items for use for their ships (provisions, wood, water) and conduct trade by purchase at reasonable prices with local merchants and shop keepers at Naha. It further states that courtesy and protection should be extended to any Americans shipwrecked in the vicinity, with help from Lew Chewans to preserve life and property. The agreement also stipulated use of a burial yard for citizens of the United States, as well as help for arriving American ships in navigating the coastal waters and seeking anchorage. Americans would also be free to come ashore at Naha without being monitored or spied upon, but it they “violently go into houses, or trifle with women, or force people to sell them things, or do other such illegal acts; they shall be arrested by the local officers, but not maltreated, and shall be reported to the Captain of the ship to which they belong, for punishment by him.” The agreement was signed in English and Chinese by Commodore Perry, as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Naval Forces in East India, China, and Japan Seas, and by Sho Fu Fing, Superintendent of Affairs in Lew Chew, and Ba Rio-si, Treasurer of Lew Chew at Shui, on behalf of the government of Lew Shew under the reign of Hien Fung, at the town hall of Naha.

   

7. July 12, 1854

   Commander Henry A. Adams, having been dispatched in April 1854 to convey the Kanagawa treaty to the United States, arrives in Washington.

8. July 14, 1854

   Speiden reports that Lew Chewan officials came aboard for an evening’s entertainment by the ships minstrel group, and that he has inserted a copy of the program in his journal. The program is not extant.

9. July 17, 1854

   The Mississippi departs Lew Chew in company of the Powhatan. The Rev. Dr. Bernard J. Bettelheim, who has departed his missionary post at the Lew Chew mission at Naha, travels aboard the Powhatan for Hong Kong.

10. July 21, 1854

    At anchor in the Lymoon Passage, Speiden reports that “the sea as smooth as a mill pond.”

    

11. July 22, 1854

    Upon arrival at Victoria, Hong Kong, the Mississippi finds the Plymouth, the surveying brig Porpoise, and the store ship Southampton already in harbor. The American Consul and Governor of Hong Kong visit the Mississippi.

12. July 25, 1854

    The Mississippi leaves Victoria and come to anchor at Blenheim Reach. “While below at Hong Kong we heard that the Rebels were expected to attack Canton, and we have come up for the purpose of sending assistance to the American residents of that place.” In the evening they send a howitzer with members of the crew up to Canton in charge of Lieut. John Mellen Brady Clitz. A career officer, Clitz would later (in 1880) achieve the rank of Rear Admiral in command of the Asiatic Station.

13. July 26, 1854

    Two howitzers and forty men are sent aboard the U.S. steam tender Queen, which arrived in the morning from Hong Kong. Commodore Perry also goes aboard, as well as thirty marines with officers, and the ship heads up the Canton River. The U.S. Vincennes and U.S. surveying steamer John Hancock meanwhile go down river to Macao.

    

14. July 27, 1854

    The USS Fenimore Cooper arrives and anchors near the Mississippi.

15. July 28, 1854

    The Mississippi takes the Fenimore Cooper in tow and stands down the Canton River. The Fenimore Cooper makes for Macao Roads, while the Mississippi passes through Cum Sing Moon passage and anchors at Victoria, Hong Kong.

16. July 29, 1854

    The Mississippi sends birds and Japanese Chin (or Spaniel) dogs presented by the Emperor of Japan as gifts to the U.S. government aboard the Plymouth, for care taking to the United States. They also transfer stones brought from Shimoda, Japan, and Naha, Lew Chew, as specimens for the Washington Monument. The Plymouth gets underway out of harbor, bound home to the United States.

17. July 31, 1854

    Commodore Perry visits the English frigate Spartan. The Mississippi gets underway and stands through Green Island passage for Macao Roads, where the Vincennes is already at anchor.

18. Aug. 2, 1854

    Speiden visits onshore at Macao [Macau], stopping at the Union Hotel with his father, purser William Speiden, Sr. Young Speiden is tasked with returning the band members to the ship by small boat, half of whom “were beastly drunk.” Faced with high winds and seasick passengers, Speiden makes the decision to return to shore, passing responsibility for the bandsmen to Captain Sydney Smith Lee.

    

19. Aug. 4, 1854

    Speiden, in the company of officers, leaves Macao for Cum Sing Moon harbor on the steamer Hong Kong and rejoins the Mississippi there.

20. Aug. 10, 1854

    The Mississippi leaves Cum Sing Moon harbor for Macao Roads. Speiden and his father again visit shore.

21. Aug. 11, 1854

    Speiden returns to the ship and the Mississippi gets underway up the Canton River, passing the Bogue, and anchoring at Blenheim Reach. Commodore Perry takes the fast boat for Canton. A heavy squall comes up, and lightning strikes the Mississippi’s mainmast. Other Chinese and American vessels are also struck or damaged in the storm. Speiden, in the process of going ashore when the squall came up, is “thoroughly drenched” and takes refuge on shore with the ship’s carpenter “where we expected every moment to be carried away” by the storm.

22. Aug. 14, 1854

    The Mississippi is at anchor in the Canton River, below the first Pagoda, where they do repairs and caulk ship. The American marine guard sent earlier to protect American merchants in Canton return by cutter, and the Mississippi gets underway in company of the Susquehanna.

    

23. Aug. 15, 1854

    Commodore Perry and all the men who departed with him for Canton return and come aboard. The Mississippi anchors at Victoria, Hong Kong. Over the next week, the ship takes on provisions and stores and the men are allowed to go on liberty.

24. Aug. 24, 1854

    The Mississippi gets underway with the U.S. commissioner to China and Commodore Perry aboard to Macao Roads. The crew scrapes the ship inside and out and sets up the rigging. Speiden goes ashore with his father to Mr. Goodridge’s house.

    

25. Aug. 28, 1854

    The French minister plenipotentiary to Canton, Alphonse de Bourboulon, comes aboard with Commodore Perry, and the Mississippi returns to Hong Kong.

26. Sept. 2, 1854

    Sir John Bowring, British governor of Hong Kong, visits the ship. Bowring, an English political economist, served as governor from 1854 to 1859.

27. Sept. 4, 1854

    The Susquehanna and Southampton get underway out of harbor headed for home by way of Japan. They salute Commodore Perry and the Mississippi as they depart.

28. Sept. 9, 1854

    The Hancock and Fenimore Cooper go to sea and the U.S. store ship Lexington departs for the United States.

29. Sept. 11, 1854

    Speiden reports that Commodore Perry and Lieut. Silas Bent leave the Mississippi and start passage home to the United States aboard the British mail steamer Ganges, via an overland route. Some sources say Perry and Bent left on the Peninsular & Oriental mail steamer Hindostan and traveled via the Isthmus of Suez on to European destinations. Perry would travel via Ceylon to the Suez and on to Europe, and from there to America, arriving on the East Coast in advance of the Mississippi. The Mississippi sees the Commodore off with a seventeen-gun salute and the Broad Pennant is hauled down. Plans for the Mississippi to go to sea are prevented by bad weather.

    

30. Sept. 12, 1854

    The Mississippi goes to sea to being her voyage home to the United States. She stands out of the Victoria harbor and through the Lymoon passage, with the Vincennes and the Porpoise also underway. The bad weather continues, and Speiden meanwhile ponders whether he has any regrets leaving China, and will miss those acquaintances he is leaving behind, though the majority of English residents he finds to be “a regular snobby sett [set].” He will return to work in Hong Kong as a U.S. naval storekeeper in 1856. Speiden notes that the Chinese pilot who helped guide them out of harbor has departed, but one Chinese citizen remains on board to work as a waiter.

31. Sept. 21, 1854

    The Mississippi arrives at Shimoda, Japan. The Susquehanna and Southampton are in harbor.

32. Sept. 30, 1854

    Adams departs from New York to return to the Far East with an official copy of the ratified Kanagawa treaty, as approved by the U.S. Senate and President Franklin Pierce.

33. Oct. 1, 1854

    A delay occurs as the Mississippi tries to head to sea from Shimoda with the Southampton in tow, when the Southampton runs afoul while clearing Centre Island. Things are put to right and they make sail with double reefed topsails and at sundown cast off the Southampton. The Susquehanna had meanwhile left Shimoda for Honolulu. Speiden notes that before leaving Japan, the ship’s band had gone ashore to play and had been followed by thousands in a parade around town. “Our visit to Japan this time has been an exceedingly pleasant one.” Speiden went on shore during their time at Shimoda and visited friends, including Dr. Watanabe Tayarn and his wife.

    

34. Oct. 23, 1854

    The Mississippi reaches Honolulu, Oahu, in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). The Susquehanna is already there in harbor. Speiden reports that they are grateful at their arrival, having experienced a very unpleasant twenty-three day passage from Japan. A cyclone struck on October 7 that gave them “an awful time and [we] never expected to reach port again.” They lost their port whaleboat and port dingy as well as the port wheelhouse and head rail in the violent storm, and the head bulwarks were smashed in. The day after the cyclone abated, a strong wind carried away their fore topgallant mast. Then their main topgallant sail was lost in a squall. Despite all the difficulty, they made passage a day and a half faster than the Susquehanna, which had beautiful weather the entire way.

35. Oct. 24, 1854

    In the company of officers from the Mississippi and other vessels, Speiden goes on shore to attends a presentation to King Kamehameha III (1813-1854).

    

36. Oct. 26, 1854

    Mataio Kekuanao’a (1794-1868), the governor of Oahu from 1839 to 1864, visits the Mississippi, while King Kamehameha III is a guest on the Susquehanna. That evening a large ball is given on board the St. Mary’s.

37. Oct. 30, 1854

    King Kamehameha III is taken for a short excursion on board the Susquehanna, after which the ship stands out to sea for San Francisco.

    

38. Nov. 6, 1854

    The U.S. store ship Southampton arrives in port. The body of Marine Private William Miller is brought on shore for internment.

39. Nov. 8, 1854

    Foreign dignitaries visit the Mississippi, including French, Peruvian, Bremen, and Danish consuls. They are joined by the Governor of Oahu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

40. Nov. 9, 1854

    After sixteen days in port, Speiden notes “We just left Honolulu, a place I should desire soon to visit again. I have left some very dear friends. I have never visited a place where I enjoyed myself so much. . . . We are now off to San Francisco with a head wind, going between six and seven knots.”

41. Nov. 21, 1854

    The Mississippi reaches sight of San Francisco, California, at daylight, discovering the Susquehanna lying off the city. The ship experienced another unpleasant passage on the trip between Oahu and California, encountering a gale.

42. Nov. 22, 1854

    On his separate travels, Commodore Perry visits the home of his son-in-law, August Belmont (1813-1890), who as an appointee of President Franklin Pierce is serving as American ambassador to the Netherlands, at The Hague. Belmont is the husband of Perry’s daughter Caroline (1829-1892).

43. Nov. 22, 1854

    Speiden socializes in San Francisco, with shore visits and ladies and gentlemen from the city coming on board. Speiden stays at the house of Thomas Larkin and enjoys a drive around the city.

    

44. Nov. 23, 1854

    Speiden receives letters from home with good news, which makes him glad, and he attends a performance by the Bacchus Minstrels.

45. Nov. 24, 1854

    After a good time on shore leave, Speiden comes aboard for a circuit by the Mississippi around San Francisco harbor. They anchor off Benicia.

46. Nov.-Dec. 1854

    Severe earthquakes and tsunamis strike Japan, resulting in great loss of life and damage to coastal regions, including the port of Shimoda.

47. Dec. 16, 1854

    The Mississippi stands out of San Francisco harbor. Speiden pens a long journal entry about his time in California. His father went inland to visit Speiden’s aunt and uncle in Sacramento, followed by some days visiting together in San Francisco. The Speidens then took a steamer up the Sacramento River to Sacramento, and from there took a long ride into the country to see the American River at Coloma, where “gold was first discovered” (near Sutter’s Mill, in 1849, spurring the California gold rush). They observed gold panning and had dinner at Patterson’s Hotel. Speiden received dental care in Sacramento, having need of an emergency extraction, during which chloroform was administered. After return to the ship at Benicia, “we had a number of ladies on board to visit the ship, nearly every day. A great many parties were given on shore to which the officers were always invited.” Speiden attended the Pike County Ball at the town of Martinez on December 8. The ship left Benicia on December 13 and returned to anchor off San Francisco. Speiden notes that “our visit to California will ever be looked back to with a great degree of pleasure.” While in California the Mississippi lost “17 or 18 men by desertion and discharged 5 or 6, the term of their enlistment being up.”

48. Dec. 18, 1854

    The effects of the deserters are sold on board at auction.

    

49. Dec. 23, 1854

    An earthquake-triggered tsunami severely damages residences and public buildings in Shimoda.

50. Dec. 30, 1854

    Perry departs from Liverpool, England, for the United States.

51. Jan. 1, 1855

    Adams arrives in Hong Kong.

52. Jan. 3, 1855

    The Mississippi stands up Panama Bay to Taboga Island, twelve miles from the Panama Naval Yard, after a pleasant passage down the coast.

53. Jan. 11, 1855

    Perry arrives in New York, having taken passage from Liverpool, England.

54. Jan. 12, 1855

    Speiden reports a pleasant stay at Panama Bay, including a trip to the city of Panama on January 4.

55. Jan. 16, 1855

    Off the coast of South America. One of Commodore Perry’s Japanese cats, while playing on deck, jumps overboard. A boat is lowered “and picked poor puss up.”

    

56. Jan. 26, 1855

    Adams arrives with the ratified treaty at Shimoda and views the altered landscape wrought by the disaster of the previous month.

57. Feb. 1, 1855

    The Mississippi reaches Valparaiso, Chile. They discover the U.S. sloop John Adams at anchor, as well as a large number of merchant vessels. The American Consul, Mr. Merwin, visits the ship. The crew and officers are surprised by receiving letters from home written the previous August.

58. Feb. 4, 1855

    Speiden goes ashore at Valparaiso. Back on the ship, the captain’s clerk duty of reading the Rules and Regulations for the better government of the Navy falls to him, as the regular clerk is ill.

59. Feb. 10, 1855

    The Mississippi is back at sea, out of the harbor at Valparaiso. Speiden notes he had no chance to visit the Chilean countryside, but enjoyed his time meeting American families in Valparaiso.

    

60. Feb. 11, 1855

    A sentence for Court Martial of three men for mutinous conduct committed on board the Independence while in New York is read.

    

61. Feb. 16, 1855

    Speiden makes the final entry in the second volume of his journal. He reports that he forgot to note that before the ship reached Valparaiso, one of Commodore Perry’s prized pet Japanese dogs, Master Sam Spooner, died suddenly (in January 1855). He reports that the morning of February 16th, a second of the pet dogs, Madame Simoda, was also discovered dead, her body buried at sea. “Monsieur Yedo or Jeddo, the only one of the family left, has been running about all day with his rocky heart almost broken” notes Speiden, who then closes his journal with this verse:

    Happy dogs to die,
    Upon the broad blue sea,
    For there your bones will lie,
    Buried, and forever, be.

    

62. March-April 1855

    From Chile, the Mississippi passes through the Straits of Magellan to Rio de Janeiro and on to New York.

63. April 23, 1855

    The Mississippi completes her circumnavigation of the world. Arriving in New York, she is greeted by Perry and welcoming crowds. She comes bearing the memorabilia, ship logs, notes, diaries and records that will be used to compile the official report of the expedition. She docks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

    

64. 1856

    The first volume of the report Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, performed in the Years 1852, 1853, and 1854 under the Command of Commodore M. C. Perry, USN, by Order of the Government of the United States compiled from notes and journals of Perry and his officers by Perry and Francis L. Hawks, with illustrations, is published under order of the Congress of the U.S. in Washington. Supplemental volumes are published in 1857 (vol. 2) and 1858 (vol. 3). Wilhelm Heine publishes his Graphic Scenes of the Japan Expedition, helping to feed Western interest in Oriental art and Orientalism. William Speiden, Jr., becomes a U.S. Naval storekeeper in Hong Kong. He will serve in the position until 1864 and live for the last part of his life in New York City.

65. Mar. 4, 1858

    Matthew C. Perry dies in New York City.

66. July 29, 1858

    The Treaty of Amity and Commerce (the Harris Treaty) is signed between the United States and Japan on board the Powhatan in Edo (Tokyo Bay), Japan, further opening Japan to foreign trade. It is negotiated by American Consul to Japan and New York merchant Townsend Harris (1804-1878) with the Tokugawa Shogunate. The agreement adds the ports of Kanagawa and Nagasaki to the harbors open to American ships, along with other stipulations.