The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-15
OPENING OF JAPAN'S PORTS
Interesting "reminiscences Of Com
m0d9rp PerTy's Expedition

4 Retired Naval officer Tells of His
Experiences Aboard the Flagship
mississippi in the Hay of Yedo-
The signing Of the Treaty.
Nearly fifty years after she signing of
the treaty between Japan and the United
States. which was successfully brought
about by Commodore Perry, the Japanese
Government Is proposing to erect d monu-
ment to this American naval officer The
space OF time elapsed since that event
ful expedition has su-,iced to bring to an
end. in a g-sat many cases through old
age. the lives OF nearly all the Off
GERS who took part in It. IN the ships that
sailed from Shanghai TO the port OF Ma
kagawa. where the document was COnsid-
cred and : sI.rd. there were 1s1 men bear
inS commissions. OF these only nine are
still alive. The list, with the titles under
which they served in the expedition, in
cIudes Passed Midshipman J II. JTpshur,
now rear admiral retired, who lives in
Washington; SomerviIIe Nicholson. then a
| lieutenant and now commodore retired,
! also q resident of this city: George b.
Balch, then a lieutenant, now rear adn1i-
! raj retired who lives in Baltimore: Ed
| engineer and retired as q chief engineer
in 1882. and now a citizen Of Baltimore;
William Speicien, purser's clerk, who has
been Eor some time connected with the
United States sub-TreaSury at New York
city; George r. Morrison. who was a
midshipnan. retired with the rank Of
/ lieutenant commander: Rear Admiral
Oscar F Stanton retired, of New Lon
don, and Rear Admiral Lester A Boards
lee, We're both midshipmen; Commodore
| Edward d Robbie retired. Of Washington
was third assistant engineer
The flagship that dropped anchor in the
! Bay Of YsidO and demanded that the
! ports OF OLD Japan be opened to the trad
| ers from the new America was the Mis-
1 sissiTFi. and Commodore Robbie was one
J OF her officers. Commodore Robbie retains
a vivid recollection Of all the incidents of
| that eveEtfuI voyage around the earth to
| the strange land OF the Acknowledged
| Japs-
| 4 was but boy when I shipped on the
| mississippi As a third engineer he said
| when asked to give some personal rem
| iniscences of the journey Il could not
/ have been more than t=venty-one years
! old, though I had done a good deal Of
! work, even before that time, on rail
J roads and in ships on the Great Lakes.
1 was glad enough 10 go. however. on
| such a cruise We set out from Norfolk
! late in IS52- The Mississippi was alone.
! and II vas not until we had arrived IN
| Shanghai that tae feet WAS assembled
! Our boat was q big one for her time,
! but she would cut small figure now.
! She was about 80 feet long and of 80
! feet beam, and was OF the six paddle
/ type You might call her an auxiliary
! now. for her bunker capacity was not
! large. and she was designed TO rely a
! good deal upon her sails. She was fitted
! with most satisfactory and reliable en-
/ CINE, with side levers and great deal OF
! copper boiler. which was calculated TO
/ carry safely eight pounds Of steam TO the
! square inch. Nowadays we carry 2U9
J pounds, which viii give You an idea OF the
/ progress in nautical engineering which
! has taken place since Perry's trip The
! maximum speed Of the Mississippi was
! eight knots an hour which was cOnsid-
/ cred very good at the time
! The sending Of Perry to Japan Origi-
/ mated with President Fillmore, and had as
| its object The opening up OF Japan 40 our
/ merchants allowing them to land for the
! purpose Of selling and buying goods, the
/ protection OF our Ssaueu when they
I should chance 10 be shipwTeckcd upon the
: coast and Ehe ESta DiIShnsnt Of diplomat ic
/ suIates al the ports Every preparation
/ was made TO thoroughly Investigate the
! islands. in regard to their agriculture.
/ their fauna and flora their people their
/ customs, their products. and their geOEra-
/ ply We had on board our snip a host Of
| experts in Various Breaches Of science
J an,y among others Bayard TAYLOR who
! was invited 10 90 By the commodore in
! order to write the expedition up from
| literary point OF view
! The trip 10 China was not at ali eX-
J citing We had very fine weather and
/ met with no rliShdDS. The SueZ Canal
/ had not Yet been built End Ts had to go
/ around the Cape We went to Madeira
! under steam, and from Madeira to St
! Helena under steam and sail From Ma
/ derira we made for Cape Town thence
/ TO NIauriJiUs- CeyIOn- Singapore and at
| last arrived al Shanghai It WAS at
/ shanghai that the feet assembled The
| SUsGUehdHnd a steam fTiEate Of similar
/ make 20 the mississippi, had been station
| ed IN China and greeted Us at the Chi
! neSe pot one by one the remaining boats
| Of the squadron came in; The Macedonia
/ was IN the command OF capt Joel ABB
| bolt, Capt. W J. AcCIuny commanded
| the Powhatau. the third steam frigate.
! Capt John Kelly had the Plymouth The
/ SusquehaE7a was IN the hands Of Frank
| lin Buchanan. v no directed the MeTTi-
/ mac. during the civil war, when she
/ fought the Monitor. Commander W :.
| walker had the Saratoga, Commander
| John Pope the Nandaiia, Lieutenant Com
/ maE6eT J J Boyle the stOTeship South
| ampt0n. Lieutenant Commander J. J.
! Glasson had the Lexington Lieutenant
/ Commander Alfred Taylor. the steamer
! Queen. Lieutenant Commander w. L.
| Maury, who became the great authority
| or the ocean currents. was IN command
] Of the store bark Caprice Commander 5.
| s Lee. who was the brother Of Robert Z.
| Lee, the Confederate general. had com
/ n1and of the Mississippi, q nd there was in
addition the storeship Supply
| I'VE had quite difficult piece Of bust
I ness before rs and We knew il, because
| another expedition had been sent out by
! the United States some time previous, on
/ the same mission, and had accomplished
! nothing The Japanese were succeeding
! in keeping themselves very much seclud-
! ed No foreigners had visited their shores
/ but the Dutch. who had a monopoly Of
! the trade. The monopoly did not amount
! 10 much, for the Dutch were allowed to
/ send 10 YeddO Bay two ships year, and
/ none 7s,=TJsz officers We're allow
! ed TO go ashore. The Japanese UnlOdded
! the vessels and loaded them. and that
! ended the transaction It was the pur-
/ pose Of the United States to obtain free
/ exchange Of trade and the privilege OF
/ landing people to take up their residence
in the country
] We sailed from Shanghai with the Sus-
Quehanna- the Mississippi. and the Pow
! hatan. each having a SlOOp of war in tow.
After uueVentfUl trip We reached
traGa7 July {, 1852, and dropped anchor
I I "a IS on the Bay Of YeddO. and we
{ were soon greeted by a whole swarm Of
] guard boats filled with armed men. ! can
: see them very distinctly now as they
I came with their queer clothes and their
I polished metal hat pieces They motioned
Z Us 70 go away and when they found we
] did not intend to bulge. made some al
/ tempt to Chamber up the anchor chains
/ tlnal!y man came up rapidly in a row
/ boat. and from the paper he held in his
! hand and the BEAUTIFUL garments he yyora
4 II was plain TO be seen that he was an
official of some kind