Bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima , also known as the , took place on 15 – 17 August 1863 during the Late Tokugawa shogunate . The Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and in retaliation bombarded the town . The British were trying to exact a payment from the daimyo of Satsuma following the Namamugi Incident of 1862 , in which British nationals were attacked ( one killed , two wounded ) by Satsuma samurai for not showing the proper respect for a daimyo ' s regent ( Shimazu Hisamitsu ) . Background . Following the Namamugi Incident on September 14 , 1862 , Lieutenant - Colonel Neale , the British Chargé d ' Affaires , demanded from the bakufu an apology and a huge indemnity for the Namamugi outrage of £100 , 000 ( $ 440 , 000 in Mexican silver dollars ) , representing roughly 1 / 3 of the total revenues of the Bakufu for one year . Neale kept threatening a naval bombardment of Edo if the payment was not made . Britain also demanded of the Satsuma domain the arrest and trial of the perpetrators of the outrage , and £25 , 000 compensation for the surviving victims and the relatives of Charles Lennox Richardson . The Bakufu ( Japanese central government ) , led by Ogasawara Nagamichi in the absence of the Shogun who was in Kyoto , eager to avoid trouble with European powers , negotiated with France and Great Britain on July 2 , 1863 , on board the French warship " Sémiramis " , apologized and paid the indemnity to the British authorities . Participating in the settlement were the main French and British political and navy representatives of the time : Duchesne de Bellecourt the French Minister in Japan , Lieutenant - Colonel Neale the Chargé d ' affaires of Great Britain , Admiral Jaurès and Admiral Kuper . Satsuma Province however refused to apologize , to pay the compensation of £25 , 000 demanded by the British , or to convict and execute the two Japanese samurai responsible for the murder , arguing that disrespect to the Daimyō was normally sanctioned by the immediate death of those showing disrespect . Legally , their claim was invalid , as foreigners in Japan benefited from extraterritoriality due to Japan ' s reluctant acceptance of what the Japanese called the Unequal treaties with Europe . Japanese customary law did not apply to foreigners . However , politically , Satsuma felt it could not be seen as submitting to European demands in the very anti - foreign context at that time in Japan . Great Britain , however , wished to make a point against anti - foreign outrages in Japan . Other anti - foreign troubles were occurring throughout the country at the same time , reinforced by Emperor Kōmei ' s 1863 " Order to expel barbarians " . The European powers chose to react militarily to such exactions : the straits of Shimonoseki had already seen attacks on American , Dutch and French ships passing through , each of which had brought retaliation from those countries , with the U . S . frigate USS " Wyoming " under Captain McDougal , the Dutch warship " Medusa " under Kapitein de Casembroot , and the two French warships " Tancrède " and the " Dupleix " under Captain Benjamin Jaurès attacking the mainland . Eventually , on 14 August 1863 , a multinational fleet under Admiral Kuper and the Royal Navy commenced the Bombardment of Shimonoseki to prevent further attacks on western shipping there . They succeeded . Protestations of the Bakufu . Following protracted and fruitless negotiations with Satsuma that had taken over a year , the British Chargé d ' affaires eventually had had enough . Under British Government instructions , he required the Royal Naval Commander - in - Chief of the Far East and China Station to coerce Satsuma into complying with the British Government ' s demands . Informed of the plans , the Bakufu asked for a delay in its implementation : On the 5th , a Vice - Minister from Edo visited Colonel Neale , but far from further opposing the expedition actually transmitted that the Shogunate intended to send one of its steamers with the squadron . The steamer in question however did not join the expedition . Departure . The British squadron left Yokohama on August 6 . It was composed of the flagship HMS " Euryalus " ( with Colonel Neale onboard ) , HMS " Pearl " , HMS " Perseus " , HMS " Argus " , HMS " Coquette " , HMS " Racehorse " and the gunboat HMS " Havoc " . They sailed for Kagoshima and anchored in the deep waters of Kinko Bay on August 11 , 1863 . Satsuma envoys came aboard Euryalus and letters were exchanged , with the British commander pressing for a resolution satisfactory to his demands within 24 hours . The Satsuma clan prevaricated , refusing to comply for various reasons . Combat . The deadline expired , and diplomacy gave way to coercion . Deciding to put pressure on Satsuma , the Royal Navy commander seized three foreign - built steam merchant ships ( " Sir George Grey " , " Contest " , " England " , with an aggregate value of about $ 300 , 000 / ₤200 , 000 sterling or GB£128 , 000 , 000 in 2011 pounds ) belonging to Satsuma which were at anchor in Kagoshima harbour , to use them as a bargaining tool . Picking their moment , just as a typhoon started , the Satsuma forces on shore vented their anger by firing their round shot cannons at the British ships . Surprised by the hostility , the British fleet responded by first pillaging and then setting on fire the three captured steamships ( to the chagrin of the British sailors , who were thereby deprived of prize money ) . Then , after nearly two hours getting ready ( they had not expected or intended to get into any exchange of fire with Satsuma ) , a line of battle was formed , which sailed along the coast of Kagoshima and fired cannon shells and round shot . One of the British warships , the gunboat " Havoc " , set five Ryukyu an trading junks on fire . The naval bombardment claimed just five lives among the people of Satsuma ( the city had been evacuated in anticipation of the conflict ) , and 13 lives among the British ( including Captain Josling of the British flagship " Euryalus " , and his second - in - command Commander Wilmot , both decapitated by the same cannonball ) . Material losses were considerable , with around 500 wood - and - paper houses burnt in Kagoshima ( about 5 % of Kagoshima ' s urban area ) , and the three Satsuma steamships and five junks destroyed . The encounter was face - saving for Satsuma , and was even claimed as a victory by the Japanese side , considering the relative number of casualties . The British ships did not land troops or seize cannons ( which would have signalled the absolute defeat of Satsuma ) , Kuper having decided that enough was enough . Final negotiations and convergence . Satsuma however later negotiated and paid ₤25 , 000 ( which they borrowed from the bakufu and never repaid , due to the fall of the bakufu in 1869 and its replacement by the Meiji administration ) . They never produced or identified Richardson ' s killers , but despite this , the reparation received was enough to obtain an agreement by Britain to supply steam warships to Satsuma . The conflict actually became the starting point of a close relationship between Satsuma and Britain , which became major allies in the ensuing Boshin War . From the start , the Satsuma Province had generally been in favour of the opening and modernization of Japan . Although the Namamugi Incident was unfortunate , it was not characteristic of Satsuma ' s policy , and was rather abusively branded as an example of anti - foreign sonnō jōi sentiment , as a justification to a strong European show of force . An interesting historical footnote to this incident was that a young Heihachiro Togo was manning one of the cannons used to defend the port , and is reported to have attributed his future career as head and ' father ' of the Imperial Japanese Navy to this moment .