Far China Station. The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters, 1800–1898

316 Pages·1979·17.26 MB·English

by  Robert Erwin Johnson

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- ROBERT ERWIN JOHNSON
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Far China Station
The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters
1800-1898
NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS
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- ROBERT ERWIN JOHNSON
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Far China Station
The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters
1800-1898
NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS
In memory of
Franz Oscar Johnson
and
Edgar Lawrence Ellis
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
First Naval Institute Press paperback edition published in 2013.
ISBN: 978-1-59114-409-0
© 1979 by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any in
formation storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover as follows:
Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 79-84778
ISBN 0-87021-174-9
8 This paper meets the requirements of ANSIINISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of
Paper).
Printed in the United States of America.
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing
In memory of
Franz Oscar Johnson
and
Edgar Lawrence Ellis
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
First Naval Institute Press paperback edition published in 2013.
ISBN: 978-1-59114-409-0
© 1979 by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any in
formation storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover as follows:
Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 79-84778
ISBN 0-87021-174-9
8 This paper meets the requirements of ANSIINISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of
Paper).
Printed in the United States of America.
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
1. The Peacock and Her Predecessors 1
2. The Opium War 17
3. A Treaty with China and Visits to Japan 31
4. The Most Frustrating Cruise 49
5. The Most Important Cruise 59
6. Piracy and the Affair at the Barrier Forts 76
7. The Treaty of Tieotsin and the Squadron's Termination 95
8. Japanese Rebels and Rebel Raiders 114
9. The Squadron Reestablished and Renamed 124
10. Peace in Japan and Perils of the Sea 140
11. An Effort co Open Korea 154
12. Leaky Boilers and Infirm Admirals 170
13. Worn-out Ships and.a Treaty with Korea 184
14. The Sino-French War 202
15. The Last Years of the Old Navy 219
16. The Sino-Japanese War 232
17. To Manila Bay 252
18. Retrospect 267
vii
Notes 271
Bibliography 282
Index 295
Sources of Illustrations 308
List of Illustrations
Maps
The East India Station 10
The Canton River Estuary 26
ro
~~
The Affair at the Barrier Forts 86
The Yangtze Kiang 111
The Attack on the Korean Forts 162
Figures
Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry landing at Yokohama
in 1854. Frontispiece
The destruction of Mukkee by the Columbia and the
John Adams. 19
Lawrence Kearny, James Biddle, and Matthew Calbraith Perry. 39
The paddle frigate Susquehanna. 50
The Saratoga in heavy seas. 55
The Portsmouth in action against the Barrier Forts. 85
The Cum Fa towing the landing force to the shore while the
Portsmouth and the Levant fire on the Barrier Forts. 89
The screw-sloop Wyoming. 115
The double-ender gunboat Monocacy. 133
The Oneida drying sails and hammocks. 150
viii
ix
Notes 271
Bibliography 282
Index 295
Sources of Illustrations 308
List of Illustrations
Maps
The East India Station 10
The Canton River Estuary 26
ro
~~
The Affair at the Barrier Forts 86
The Yangtze Kiang 111
The Attack on the Korean Forts 162
Figures
Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry landing at Yokohama
in 1854. Frontispiece
The destruction of Mukkee by the Columbia and the
John Adams. 19
Lawrence Kearny, James Biddle, and Matthew Calbraith Perry. 39
The paddle frigate Susquehanna. 50
The Saratoga in heavy seas. 55
The Portsmouth in action against the Barrier Forts. 85
The Cum Fa towing the landing force to the shore while the
Portsmouth and the Levant fire on the Barrier Forts. 89
The screw-sloop Wyoming. 115
The double-ender gunboat Monocacy. 133
The Oneida drying sails and hammocks. 150
viii
ix
Council of War on board the flagship Colorado before the
attack on the Korean Forts. 157
The Palos towing the squadron's boats up the Salee River. 160
The Hartford at Hong Kong, with the Iroquois off her port
quarter. 172
The Ashuelot at Yokosuka. 198
The Trenton making sail. 207
Stephen C. Rowan and Robert W. Shufeldt. 224 Preface
The screw-sloop Marion. 236
The Yorktown rigged for Christmas, Shanghai, 1895. 246
The flagship Baltimore at anchor. 249
The Olympia at Hong Kong. 258
The Boston engaging Spanish warships and batteries in Manila
Bay. 265
The battles with which this book begins and ends, those at Quallah Battoo
and in Manila Bay, are fairly well known, as are a number of other events
involving the U.S. Naval Forces in the East India and China seas, most
notably Commodore Perry's negotiation of the treaty with Japan. While
the accounts of these occurrences often indicate that the U.S. Navy main
tained a squadron of warships in the Far East as a part of its peacetime
organizational structure, it was beyond their authors' purposes to inquire
into this squadron's origins, its importance in the implementation of the
nation's policies, or such routine matters as logistic support, hazards tO
ships and men, and relations with officials, American and foreign, and with
other naval forces in the region. Indeed, the bulk of the squadron's history
has remained concealed in official records and private papers.
Almost a quarter of a century ago, I wrote the story of the U.S. Navy's
Pacific Squadron, a work that made me aware of the importance of the
Navy's distant-station policy in the nineteenth century and also stirred my
interest in the other squadrons. None had a closer relationship to the
Pacific Squadron than its neighbor to the westward, and my subsequent
research toward a biography of Rear Admiral John Rodgers, whose service
included two important commands in Asian waters, whetted my interest
even further; nor has that interest been sated by several years spent study
ing the squadron's records and then writing its history.
I share Justice Holmes's opinion that "a ship is the most living of in
animate things," and the vessels themselves-the majestic Columbus and
the workhorse Vincennes, the famous Olympia and the plodding Palos,
together with all of their sisters-are the real heroines of this narrative.
No one could write a work of this scope without a great deal of help
xi
X
Council of War on board the flagship Colorado before the
attack on the Korean Forts. 157
The Palos towing the squadron's boats up the Salee River. 160
The Hartford at Hong Kong, with the Iroquois off her port
quarter. 172
The Ashuelot at Yokosuka. 198
The Trenton making sail. 207
Stephen C. Rowan and Robert W. Shufeldt. 224 Preface
The screw-sloop Marion. 236
The Yorktown rigged for Christmas, Shanghai, 1895. 246
The flagship Baltimore at anchor. 249
The Olympia at Hong Kong. 258
The Boston engaging Spanish warships and batteries in Manila
Bay. 265
The battles with which this book begins and ends, those at Quallah Battoo
and in Manila Bay, are fairly well known, as are a number of other events
involving the U.S. Naval Forces in the East India and China seas, most
notably Commodore Perry's negotiation of the treaty with Japan. While
the accounts of these occurrences often indicate that the U.S. Navy main
tained a squadron of warships in the Far East as a part of its peacetime
organizational structure, it was beyond their authors' purposes to inquire
into this squadron's origins, its importance in the implementation of the
nation's policies, or such routine matters as logistic support, hazards tO
ships and men, and relations with officials, American and foreign, and with
other naval forces in the region. Indeed, the bulk of the squadron's history
has remained concealed in official records and private papers.
Almost a quarter of a century ago, I wrote the story of the U.S. Navy's
Pacific Squadron, a work that made me aware of the importance of the
Navy's distant-station policy in the nineteenth century and also stirred my
interest in the other squadrons. None had a closer relationship to the
Pacific Squadron than its neighbor to the westward, and my subsequent
research toward a biography of Rear Admiral John Rodgers, whose service
included two important commands in Asian waters, whetted my interest
even further; nor has that interest been sated by several years spent study
ing the squadron's records and then writing its history.
I share Justice Holmes's opinion that "a ship is the most living of in
animate things," and the vessels themselves-the majestic Columbus and
the workhorse Vincennes, the famous Olympia and the plodding Palos,
together with all of their sisters-are the real heroines of this narrative.
No one could write a work of this scope without a great deal of help
xi
X
from others. I am especially grateful to the University of Alabama, which
granted me two semesters of sabbatical leave and provided financial sup
port both through its Research Grant Committee ( this book was Research
Project #543) and through its Office of International Studies and Pro
grams. My thanks are also due the following institutions and individuals:
The National Archives staff, especially Aloha South, Elaine Everly, and CHAPTER ONE
Harry Schwartz of the Old Army and Navy Section, and Elmer Parker,
former head of that section; the staff of the Library of Congress Manu The Peacock and Her Predecessors
script Division and the officers of the Naval Historical Foundation; Rear
Admiral Ernest M. Eller and Vice Admiral Edwin B. Hooper, former
directors of naval history, and the staff of the Naval Historical Center,
especially Dr. Dean C. Allard and William C. Heimdahl; the Keeper of
the Records and the staff of the Public Record Office, especially Com•
mander Michael Godfrey and R. F. A. Saggers; the Director of the British
Museum and the staff of the Students' Room; the staff of the Manuscripts
and Archives Division, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden
Foundations; the staff of the New-York Historical Society Manuscript
Section; the United Church Board for World Ministries for permission to
use the records of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions and the staff of Harvard University's Houghton Library, especially In the early morning darkness of 6 February 1832, the small boats of the
Miss Carolyn Jakeman, for assistance in using those records; the staff of USS Potomac embarked 282 officers and men and pulled for the beach
the University of Alabama"s Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, especially Mrs. near the Sumatran village known as Quallah Battoo. Splashing through
Catherine T. Jones, Derek Milsom, and Dean James Wyatt; Dr. Richmond the surf at dawn, the sailors and marines quickly captured three of the
D. Williams and the staff of the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library for village's four forts and set fire to the dwellings from which the inhabitants
making available copies of Captain Du Pone's letters; Cynthia H. Requardt had fled. Commodore John Downes then recalled his landing force and
and other members of the staff of the Maryland Historical Society; Doug took the Potomac inshore where an hour's deliberate fire from her 32-
las L. Stein and others at the G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport, pounders caused the defenders of the remaining fort to surrender. When
Inc.; Dr. William N. Still, who provided copies of letters from the East the frigate retired to an anchorage a few miles distant, a messenger from
Carolina Manuscripts Collection, East Carolina University; and members Quallah Battoo entreated the commodore to grant its people peace.
of the staff of the Peabody Museum. Robert A. Carlisle, head of the Navy Downes was willing but warned that future transgressions would be pun
Department's Photojournalism and Public Inquiries Branch, and Dr. ished with equal severity. So the first U.S. punitive operation in the "East
Philip K. Lundeberg, curator of naval history at the Smithsonian Institu India and China Seas" ended, with an estimated 150 Sumatran fatalities
tion, furnished illustrative material. Mrs. Carolyn C. Sassaman and Mrs. and two Americans dead and eleven wounded.
Ruth M. Kibbey typed the manuscript in exemplary fashion. Jan Snouck The Potomac's mission had been necessitated by the seizure and looting
Hurgronje has guided me with regard to the policies of the Naval Insti of the merchantman Friendship of Salem, which occurred off Quallah
tute Press, and I am grateful for the editorial assistance given me by Battoo a year earlier. Hearing of this incident, master mariners trading to
Beverly Sopp. I appreciate the interest and encouragement of my good the East Indies had petitioned President Andrew Jackson for naval assis~
friends John Haskell Kemble and James M. Merrill. Finally, no words can tance. They pointed out that, although Americans had been engaged in
express my gratitude to Vivian; she served as research assistant and per the pepper trade with Sumatra for more than forty years, no U.S. warship
ceptive critic and contributed to this book in countless other ways. Not had ever shown the Hag in its waters.
least, she and our late cocker Meg created the setting in which I could In response, the Potomac, fitting out for a cruise as flagship of the
work most effectively.
Pacific Squadron, received orders to proceed to her station by way of the
xii I