Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-12
Mistellansulls Readins.
WHEN JAPs BROKE TREATY.
Firing on American Vessel In 1863
Led to Encounter Disastrous to
Orientais

II was IN the summer OI 1000 lHd'
according to the decree of the Shotgun
or Tycoon, the hairy barbarian" was
to be expelled from Japan and the
Mori, the powerful daimio of Cho-shin
attempted to bar the passage of for
eign vessels through the Straits OF
ShimonOseki by firing on them. June
25 was the date set for the carrying
out of that decree, and on that day
Mori was provided with exactly what
he wanted to enable him to carry out
his part in the programme, for, during
the afternoon, the American merchant
vessel Pembroke entered the straits on
her way to Nagasaki and China, hav-
ing on board a pilot that had been
supplied by the Yeddo government, she
was fired on by the land batteries, also
by the guns of the armed brig Kosei,
but escaped unhurt.
Thus the peace of two centuries and
a half was broken. In April of that
same year Commander McDougal, of
the United States navy, in command
of the Wyoming. was in Hongkong
looking for trouble, in the shape of a
Confederate privateer; he received or
ders from Mr. Pruyn, the United States
minister in Yokohama, to bring his
ship to that port. and to have her
guns ready for service, as the Japan
ese were beginning to give trouble to
l.
nation on the part Of the "ronin" were
on the increase, and, as a matter of
fact, the United States legation was
burned very shortly after the arrival
in port of the Wyoming, but whether
by accident or design could never be
found out. On July IL, Commander
McDougal heard from his minister the
news of the firing on the Pembroke on
the 25th of the previous month, the
news having come up from Shanghai,
and he was glad enough that Mori had
provided an immediate substitute for
an Alabama. Nothing daunted by the
fact that he was not acquainted
with the passage of the straits, and
could not obtain any chart of the place,
he ordered coal on board and procured
two pilots from the government; then
he lost no time in sailing out to Shim-
onoseki
The Wyoming was a slOop of war of
700 tons equipped with four thirty
two-pounder side guns and two
eleven inch Dahlgren pivot guns. She
carried a crew of 100 officers and men,
all of whom seemed "fit," and they
composed a really good crew. The
writer was the very first to board the
wyoming on her arrival in Yokohama,
carrying a message from Admiral Ku-
per, and he had many opportunities of
revisiting the ship during her stay in
port, becoming very intimate with
most of the officers and forming a
great liking for and mutual friendship
with that kindly old gentleman and
thorough sailor, Commander McDou-
gal.
1t was this friendship and the inti-
macy with the other officers that ena-
bled him to get a true account of the
episode" at first hand and ungarnish-
ed, and from having visited the scene
of the action, he felt almost that he
had seen the whole thing. The straits
of Shimonoseki from the western gate
way of the Inland Sea, the actual
straits being about three miles long
and from one and a half to two miles
wide, but the navigable channel Is
only from 300 to 700 feet wide. The
town consists principally Of one long
street running along the foot of some
bold bluffs, and there is a ravine in
which the houses cluster pretty thick
ly; the population was, at that pc
riod, about $4,000 or $4,000 persons. The
batteries, or, more correctly speaking,
the redoubts or platforms where the
"a guns were mounted, extended from
q point at the extreme east of the
straits right up to the town itself; the
village of Chofu, where the heaviest
guns were mounted, being nearly in
the middle of that line. There was
also a ten-gun fort, named BuZen, on
the opposite shore, but in such a po-
sition that it could not come into ac-
ton against any ship that was at
tacking the town of Shimonoseki.
Among other guns on shore there were
several eight inch Dahlgrens, which
had been given to the government at
Yeddo, but in some way had got into
Morris hands. In addition to the shore
batteries the japanese had three arm
ed vessels.
The Wyoming entered the narrow
straits at o'clock on the morning of
July 16. Signal guns were fired from
the first redOubt and the warning was
passed along as far as the town. Be-
fore the ship was within sight of the
town the first shot struck her above
the engine room. No reply was made,
however, till the Wyoming rounded the
Monshi promontory on the southern
shore, when the three ships and the
whole town burst into view. Stakes
had been driven into the mud on the
edge of the navigable channel and it
was evident-even from the first shot
fired-that the japanese knew the eX-
act distance and expected to blow the
ship to smithereens. The steamer
Koshin was lying close in under the
forts, and McDougal ordered the man
at the wheel to steer direct for her,
as he intended to rake her. The pilots
got frightened and told him he would
run his ship on shore, as there was
not enough water, and they were doing
all they could To keep the NeSSel on
the southern shore: it was evident
they were not accustomed to fighting.
AS soon as the Wyoming was seen to
be steering for the northern shore the
steamer and another battery, up the
side of the hill, began to fire; this was
one of the batteries that had an eight
inch Dahlgren. About then another
battery also opened and then was
shown McDougars wisdom in steam
ing out of the staked channel, as the
shot began to pass above the hull and
up in the rigging. The three Japan
ese men of war carried eighteen guns
between them. Even by this time the
Wyoming had several wounded and
three killed. AS she neared the ia
panese vessels her flag was run up
with cheers by the crew and it was
at once saluted by the fresh shore bat
terry of four guns. BY 1890 a. m. the
American vessel was in front of the
town. She dashed in between the
steamer and the two brigs and was
soon abreast of the Ko-see, which fired
a broadside from her four brass twen-
y-four-pOunders. The KOshin was
not able to do much damage, her guns
being pointed up the channel; but the
brig was so close that the faces of
her crew were plainly disCernible, and