The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-06-27
THE FOUNDING OF
JAPANESE FLEET
ANGLO SAXON LAID FOUNDATION
OF MODERN FLEET NOW OWNED
BY LAND OF NIPPON.

One hundred and fifty years before
the United States of America sprung
into splendid existence a forefather of
John Adams, the second president of
the Republic, had sailed around the
globe to the little known Japanese
islands, then the limit of the world,
and founded the modern Japanese navy
The story of how the Kentish sailor
was made a god by the grateful ISL
anders, of how they erected a great
temple to his honor in which prayers
are said to this day, and of how every
thing heart could wish was pressed
upon him, with the one eXception-the
thing he desired-liberty to return to
his home, his wife and his children,
reads as one of the unequalled ro-
mances of medieval days.
The figure of Adams Is one of the
most pathetic in history for not even
the widest guess of that day would
forsee the brilliant result that sprang
from his work. For forty years the
sailor lived on the great hill where the
temple of Hemimura erected in his
honor. now stands, above the great
docks of Yokosuka, gazing day by
day over the Pacific for the sail that
never came. without one, in the
whole nation that spoke his language,
without family, country or friend, ne
lived out his life, sctriving to teach the
savage islanders the rudiments of ship
building and navigation as it was then
understood And when he died at last
the Japanese continued the study he
started them in, and over three CEN
turtles later. when their day of trial
came and the battleships of Russia
stood arrayed against them in the sea
of Japan, the little islanders proved
that they had well remembered the
lessons that Will Adams had spent
his life in demonstrating three hun
bred dead years before.
To Ronald Mcdonald Of Oregon, VINO
crossed to the then closed land of Nip
pom six years before Commodore Perry
opened that country to the world, he
longs the pioneer credit of the first
crossing of the Pacific and the linking
of the newer races Of the west with
that people who remain in the cradle
of the human race
Eva Emery Dye, the Oregon author
has told the story of McDonald's ad'
ventures and properly preserved the
life story of this splendid crusader
And the proposal that at the coming
Alaska Yukon-Pac Exposition which
will be held at Seattle in 1909 to ex
plot the Northwest and, the countries
of the Pacific, the memory of Mcdonald
shall be honored with a statue, has
met with acclaim everywhere.
Because of this American interest
and Americas commercial connection
with Japan, those who viii have the
directing of this portion of the Alaska
Yukon-Pacific Exposition will take
good care that the stories of the earl
lest connections between the Anglo
Saxon and the Oriental people are
properly exploited and preserved.
Mcdonald is usually spoken of as
being the first white trader who reach
ed Japan. The story of Adams who
really deserves the credit turning, tnt
tale of the rough sailor who becam,
a god, whose descendant gave TIVE
lrulers to the greatest Republic TIL
world has ever known, has not tn
general circulation it deserves.
To the people of the United State
the story of William Adams ought t
be of intense interest for anachronis
tic as it may seem to speak of tn
United States in the year of grace 100
William Adams was, if not by an
cestry, at least by posterity; as goo
. an American as ever sailed the seal
2 For from his immediate family wer
g descended John Adams, second pres
} dent OF the United States and job
[ Quincy Adams, sixth president of tn
: United States, and others of tina
= distinguished Massachusetts line. TIL
a story of William Adams the first, is a
follows:
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