Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-14

men armed with swords and spears. bows
and arrows, escorted by their best bat
tleship. an old one-sail junk. Just think
of IL. and this only f1fty-fve years ago!
Well, as our cutters, moved ahead In their
work of sounding and charting the waters.
the Japs would steer their boats In front
of ours and endeavor to Obstruct our
way. A show of muskets by our men and
determined attitude, however, soon in
duced them to get out of the way, and In
this way the bay of Yeddo was sounded
and charted by us.
Natives Always Polite.
Il wish to say he added. that the Jap
anese were never really offensive. They
were always polite, but they did want to
be let alone.
Commodore Perry took with him on
this expedition. two men. enlisted by him.
William Heine and f. Brown, artists. to
take sketches. pictures etc. of what was
worthy of being perpetuated In that way"
Admiral Robe has hanging on the walls
Of his home four fine colored autographs
prepared by these artists. which he says
are remarkably true to life. some Of the
figures in them having first been taken by
the daguerreOtype process. They por-
tray the arrival of the fleet in Japanese
waters, the landing at Shut. the evolutions
perial Japanese commissioners at Simo-
da. and fine view of the temple grounds.
showing the Japanese temple. the priests
quarters and a belfry. truly Japanese in
it's quaintness. with tiled roof. in which
was suspended great bell. eight feet long
and two feet wide, which was rung by
striking it with suspended beam. drawn
back and forth by rope. Its beautiful
tone" said the admiral. could be heard
two miles away"
Commodore Perry" continued Admiral
ROBBIE. wished to impress the people Of
Japan in way that would carry with 1t
an irresistible force of conviction. and
among other things. he conceived the idea
of showing them their own photographs
taken by the daguerreotype process Our
artist. however, had either forgotten some
of his art. or was not entirely familiar
with the daguerreotype process. and his
work was failure. 1 knew something Of
the daguerreotype business myself and
VOLUNTEERED to the commodore to try to
take picture. He consented. and in a
short while my materials were prepared
and 1 got good picture of him.
Takes First Sun Picture.
1T was the first sun picture ever taken
in Japan. and the success of my efforts
greatly pleased him.
II also erected the first electric tele-
graph line that was put up in Japan.
tached at the temple and the other at
hut in the woods. the wire being sup
ported along the route by trees. Do you
know that within twenty four hours
after we had put up that telegraph line
the Japs had learned enough about 1t
to send a message over It themselves.
The Japanese struck me then, as they
do now, as most remarkable and in
telligent people.
Il also assisted in building the first
90 T.,
circumference of a circle 500 feet in
diameter with gauge
track. the equipment being about
quarter of the full size l was the en-
gineer and ran the train. and 1T was
amusing to see the Japs sit on top of
the one little car of the train and ride
around the circuit. They surprised me
again. for in very short while they
had even mastered the details OF Oper-
ating the road and running the engine.
The track and equipment had been car
ried out by Commodore Perry as one of
the things to impress the people.
1T was. of course. the desire and in
tentiOn of Commodore Perry t. effect a
treaty with the Japanese government.
but that was A difficult thing to accom-
plish. We had evidently Impressed them.
but they were slow to sign treaty.
They promised, however, to give it con-
Sideraton.
I'm the meanwhile we were obliged to
leave the Japanese shores and go to
Shanghai to protect American interests.
AT that time GS53) the great Tai Ping
rebellion against the Chinese govern
ment was in full swing 1t was an i'm
mense instruction. and more lives were
lost In 1T than in our civil war.
Ready to Sign Treaty.
I'VE returned to Japan. however. in
February. when we found the Japanese
commissioners ready to make the de-
sired treaty. Two of the Autograph pic
lures on the wall represent our landing
and experience then.
1T was wonderful accomplishment
to win over these people, and my recol-
lection of them and my experiences
among them will always be among the
pleasant ones of my life
we had with us on that expedition
fifteen vessels in all. There were nearly
200 officers in the fleet, but only five of
them now survive. They are: William
Speiden. who was pursers clerk; Chief
Engineer Fithian. then of the Susque-
hanna; Rear Admirals J. II. Upshur and
o. F. Stanton and myself"
But 1T was not alone in the expedition
to Japan that Admiral Robbie distin-
guished himself. He has other achieve
ments to his credit that so to make up
an interestoing and remarkable record.
While attached to the Susquehanna In
1857 that vessel. with the Niagara. OF
ships of war. the Agamemnon and the
Leopard. made an unsuccessful attempt
to lay the first cable across the Atlantic.
from Valencia. Ireland. to ST. Johns.
Newfoundland. About 400 miles from
the coast of Ireland the cable broke.
and. with the imperfect apparatus Of
those days. they were unable to recover
it, although they spent some time In
graphing for 1t. The four ships were
finally compelled to return to Plymouth.
England.
Admiral Robbie designed the first steam
floating iron derrick used in the United
States Navy. for the New York navy
yard. He also designed the first steer
boiler used in the navy. for the U. 3. ..
Rocket as we'll as the ventliating appa-
ratus for the Presidents yacht. He as
sisted. too. in designing the first floating
iron dry dock. He superintended the con-
struction of the monitor Dictator. and to
large extent designed its interior work.
so far as its equipment and ordnance
were concerned. He designed what are
known as the standing berths, whereby
three tiers of berths were secured In the
space heretofore used for one. and the