Part 2

In the midst of this a Russian squadron appeared, also demanding a treaty and the opening up of the country, but again no force was used. Seven months after his first visit, Commodore Perry returned for his answer, and the war fever having evaporated to some extent, a treaty was actually signed on March 31, 1854.

This treaty provided for peace and goodwill between the United States and Japan, the opening of Shimoda as a treaty port, and the similar opening of Hakodate after an interval, the Americans agreeing that their ships should visit no other ports except from necessity. The other articles dealt with the care of shipwrecked mariners and the like, and “the most favoured nation” clause. England, Russia, and Holland soon secured similar treaties, Russia having the same ports as America, England and Holland having Nagasaki instead of Shimoda.

All this split Japan into two hostile parties, the _Jo-i_ and the _Kai-koku_. The former, under the leadership of the Daimio of Mito, were bitterly anti-foreign, and also desirous of restoring the Emperor. The _Kai-koku_, on the other hand, supported the Shogun action, and had as their watchword the words spoken by one of them at the debate over Commodore Perry’s demands: “As we are not the equals of the foreigners in the mechanical arts, let us have intercourse with foreign lands, let us learn their drill and tactics. Then, when we shall have made our nation united as one family, we shall be able to go abroad, and give lands in foreign countries to those who have distinguished themselves in battle.”

For a time this party had the upper hand. Commercial treaties were made, and by 1860 Ni-igata, Hyogo, and Yokohama had been opened, with the Consuls of most nations established there. Ii-Kamon-no-kami, head of the _Kai-Koku_ party, imprisoned the Daimio of Mito, and executed several Samaurai who had killed his adherents. Then, in 1860, on March 23, Ii-Kamon-no-kami was assassinated, and his party, no longer with a powerful head, made isolated preparations for civil war. Ships were purchased and manned by the retainers of the local governors of provinces, and troops raised. Meanwhile the foreign Legations were attacked, an American secretary was murdered, and other foreigners injured. Other murders, notably that of an English merchant named Richardson, followed, and an indemnity was refused. This led to the arrival of Admiral Kuper with seven ships at Kagoshima, August 11, 1863. He bombarded the forts and city, and also sank or burned three steamers belonging to the Daimio of Satsuma, whose men had committed the murder. After this the indemnity was forthcoming, but the Daimio promptly ordered more warships, and sent many of his naval officers to Holland to learn European methods.

In this same year the Daimio of Choshu, a member of the Jo-i, who had also secured a small fleet for himself, fired upon an American steamer, and afterwards upon the French gunboat Kienchang, which latter he damaged severely. The Dutch frigate Medusa was also roughly handled by his shore batteries at Shimonoseki, but replying, silenced them.

Both these acts led to reprisals. The United States warship Wyoming at once proceeded to Shimonoseki, where she blew up one Japanese steam warship, and sank a second, a small brig. The French warships Sémiramis and Tancrède followed, and subjected Shimonoseki to a bombardment that did considerable damage.

An indemnity was demanded and paid by the Shogun’s Government for these attacks of foreign shipping, while the suppression of the Daimio of Choshu at Shimonoseki was also promised. This, however, was a task beyond the power of the Government, and finally the Powers interested decided to take action. A combined fleet, consisting of nine British, four Dutch, three French, and one hired United States steamer, went to Shimonoseki to reduce this bar to passage on the Inland Sea.

The attacking vessels were:—

British Tartar (screw corvette), 20 guns. Barrosa (screw corvette), 22 guns. Leopard (paddle frigate), 18 guns. Conqueror (two-decker), 101 guns. Euryalus (screw frigate), 51 guns. Perseus, 4 guns. Bouncer (screw gunboat), 4 guns. Coquette (screw gunboat), 4 guns. Argus (paddle sloop), 6 guns.

French Dupleix (screw corvette), 24 guns. Sémiramis (frigate), 36 guns. Tancrède (gunboat), 4 guns.

Dutch Amsterdam. Djambi. Metal Cruyis. Medusa (frigate), 36 guns.

United States Takiang, no guns.

The United States ship was merely chartered to indicate American interest; all American vessels were then busy sinking each other in the civil war.

This fleet left Yokohama on August 28, 1864, and from September 5th to 9th it bombarded all the new forts that the Daimio had erected. At the end of that time Shimonoseki surrendered unconditionally, and an indemnity of three million dollars was claimed from the Shogun, and eventually paid.

For the next two years the Shogun’s Government was busy trying conclusions with the Daimio, but as he had raised a large force of the common people, and drilled these in Western fashion, he easily held his own. British and French troops meanwhile were permanently stationed at Yokohama to guard foreign interests. Friction between these and the _Jo-i_ party was common, and more than one assassination took place, but no naval demonstrations followed.

[Illustration: [_By a Japanese artist._

THE FIRST SHIP OF THE JAPANESE NAVY, THE TSUKUBA.]

III EARLY WARSHIPS AND THE CIVIL WAR

As already recounted, the sight of foreign ships had gradually put ideas of sea-power into the minds of the various governors of Japanese provinces. One of the first, if not the first, ships to be acquired was the Tsukuba, which still survives as a hulk. Her first name was the Malacca, and she was launched in the United States in 1851. She was, in her time, a fine-looking screw frigate of 1950 tons, carrying 20 guns, and able to steam at the then satisfactory speed of 8 knots.

The Riaden, a small screw yacht of 370 tons, and the Chiyoda-nata (Chiyoda type), of less than 140 tons, both schooner rigged, were enrolled about the same time, and then followed by the Kasuga, a two-funnelled, three-masted paddler, originally the Kiang-tse. She carried six guns, and for some time served as the Shogun’s yacht.

Following this, the Fuji Yama, a full-rigged ship—a sailing frigate of about 1010 tons and 24 guns—and the 523-ton barque-rigged sailing-ship Ken-he were purchased.

To learn how to work this naval militia, Japan imported instructors of various kinds from the Western world. In response to applications, the present Admiral Tracy was sent out by the British Government, and with him a small host of other Westerners. With their natural aptitude, the Japanese rapidly acquired the rudiments of sea service, while on shore the beginnings of a shipbuilding yard were made at Yokosuka. The British naval uniform was adopted with some slight differences. Officers were sent to Europe—chiefly to Holland—to study the principles of naval warfare, and at once a desire to possess ironclads arose.

Out of this came the purchase of Japan’s first ironclad, the Adsuma.

The dimensions, etc., of the Adsuma were as follows:—

Displacement 1387 tons. Material of hull Iron. Length 157 ft. Beam 30 ft. Draught (maximum) 13¼ ft. Armament One 9-in. 12½ M.L. Armstrong. Four 6½-in. Parrot M.L. rifled. Horse-power (nominal) 700. Screws Two. Speed 9 knots.

[Illustration: FUJI YAMA.]

The armour was 4½ to 4¾ ins. thick, and distributed on a complete water-line belt and over both of the raised batteries. Though a very famous vessel as the Stonewall Jackson, her war services under that name were not extensive. She was built in France, and at the end of 1864, when ready for sea, carried one large 13-in. 300-pounder (smooth bore) in the bow, and the two 70-pounders (rifled) in the main battery. No ship like her had ever been constructed before, and the Confederates, to whom she then belonged, spread alarming reports as to her power. Putting to sea, she reached Corunna in February, 1865, and was there blockaded by the unarmoured Federal ships Niagara and Sacramento. The former was a famous vessel in her way, of 5013 tons, 345 ft. long, 12-knot speed, and armed with twelve 11-in. smooth bores, throwing a 135-lb. shell each. These guns were not able to fire shot apparently, and the Sacramento was a weaker vessel. The Stonewall Jackson challenged these two to a duel _à la_ Kearsarge and Alabama, but Craven, the Federal commodore, declined—wisely enough, for he could not have done anything against the ironclad with his few heavy pieces, while the ironclad would certainly have disabled and then rammed him.[3] Consequently, the Stonewall Jackson did not smell powder on that occasion, and the war ended very soon afterwards.

[3] He was, however, court-martialled and punished for refusing to fight.

In 1866 a mysterious Japanese deputation came to America. Its object was long unknown, but the curiosity it excited was sufficient to cause telegraphic reports of its movements, and surmises as to its intentions, to appear in the London _Times_ every now and again. Finally came the news that “the Japanese deputation have come to buy ironclads”—a statement at first treated as a joke.

The Japanese do not, however, appear to have been large bidders for the forty odd ironclads that America then had to dispose of. Few of these “on sale” craft were fit for a sea voyage—they were merely hastily constructed monitors intended more often than not for river service. The Stonewall Jackson, however, being a sea-going ship, was purchased for the Shogun, and re-named Adsuma.

A gunboat or two changed hands at this period, and altogether the various Japanese governors collected between them a small, heterogeneous fleet, the very existence of which was scarcely known outside their own country. Indeed, twenty years later comparatively few people knew, and still fewer cared, that Japan possessed a navy at all.

The Adsuma has long been removed from the effective list and relegated to hulk duty. On account of her enormous ram, she was somewhat of a curio to naval visitors for many years, and the most vivid memory retained by some of our people of the harbour in which the Adsuma lay was the fashion in which the Japanese sailors used her ram. They walked down over it into the water when bathing.

Of the smaller vessels previously referred to the following may be mentioned:—

No. 1 Tébo was a swan-bow, three-masted, schooner-rigged screw steamer of 250 tons only. Two or three other ships like her existed.

[Illustration: [_By a Japanese artist._

THE ADSUMA (_ex_ STONEWALL JACKSON).]

The Unyo, built at Amsterdam, was little larger—295 tons only. She was a brig-rigged and ram-bowed screw steamer, carrying three pivot guns (Krupp’s), disposed in the centre line, as were the three big guns in the French Baudin and Formidable till these ships were reconstructed. The Unyo was wrecked many years ago.

The Moisshin, screw gunboat of 357 tons, is worthy of more attention, as she was the first ship ever built in Japan since the days of Adams. She was an enlarged edition of No. 1 Tébo, and exactly like her in appearance. Between the funnel and foremast a single Long Tom was carried. She was launched somewhere about the year 1865. Her construction was not, of course, purely Japanese—she was a craft upon which the Islanders practised and learnt construction with important material.

The Setsu, 935 tons, 8 guns, a sailing frigate, and the Chio-bin, a barque of 650 tons, originally used for trading purposes, also belong to this early period.

So also does a ship with more history, the Asama, a composite sailing-ship of 1445 tons and 14 guns. Her exact early history is shrouded in some mystery, but just previous to her entry into the Japanese fleet she was the property of a too-confiding pirate, who went into a Japanese harbour to refit, and had his ship taken possession of by the Japanese in consequence. The ship still exists as a gunnery hulk, and carries, or did till recently, eight 7-in. breech-loaders and four 4½-in. muzzle-loaders.

With these ships, built and building, Japan found herself engaged in that civil war of which the Mikasa, Asama, and other ships of to-day are the direct outcome. The officers had had some years of Western training, chiefly in Holland and Denmark. The accompanying illustration, from a Japanese photograph, indicates the uniform of the period. There were in the Navy in those days two schools—the party of progress and those opposed to change—by no means necessarily identical with the same political parties. Indeed, of the two, the _Jo-i_ seem to have chiefly availed themselves of the war-training to be secured from the foreigners whose expulsion was one of their political tenets. This, perhaps, was due in part or in great measure to the other factor in the dispute—the question as to whether the Emperor or the Shogun and his representatives should be ruler of the country. This became eventually the sole question.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE MOISSHIN.]

[Illustration: [_By a Japanese artist._

THE EX-PIRATE SHIP ASAMA.]

In 1867 the Emperor Kōmei died, and was succeeded by his son, the present Emperor, Mutsohito, then a boy. His advisers had by now concluded that the anti-foreign agitation was a mistake, and thence forward it was only carried on by a few isolated Daimios. The real problem was one of ruling, and this culminated in 1867 by the Shogun resigning his power, and becoming a species of minister.

The adherents of neither party were favourably disposed towards this middle course; and ultimately civil war, in which the ex-Shogun’s party were continually defeated, resulted.

The ironclad Adsuma was in the hands of the Imperialists, as also were most of the other warships; but the ex-Shogun had owned seven ships, mounting between them 83 guns, and these Yenomoto, his admiral (one of the Dutch-trained officers) absolutely refused to surrender. Chased by Nahamoto, the Imperial admiral, he took refuge in Hakodate, where the remnants of the rebels had collected. A naval action resulted disastrously for Yenomoto. In July, 1869, the rebels finally surrendered, and Japan entered upon a new era, in which much of the power hitherto wielded by the Daimios passed into the hands of the Samaurai, whose descendants now supply the bulk of naval and military officers, retaining all the courage of their fierce ancestors, and more of their exclusiveness than is generally supposed. But further particulars under this head will be found in a later chapter.[4]

[4] See Personal Characteristics.

IV THE IMPERIAL NAVY

With the sea fight off Hakodate the civil war ended. The feudal fleets were abolished, and all ships were enrolled in an Imperial Navy—a proceeding that, of course, increased its strength. Some reorganisation of _personnel_ was also effected, bringing the Navy more into line with the Western model.

Naval advisers came and went. They included, during the period 1865-1885, the present British admirals Tracy and Hopkins, the eminent French naval architect M. Bertin, and finally Captain Ingles, R.N., of whom more will be found in the Appendix.

The same year in which the Adsuma was launched the Riu Jo[5] was set afloat at Aberdeen. She, too, was possibly originally destined to fly the Confederate flag, but about this details are hard to procure. Particulars are:—

Displacement 2530 tons. Material Composite. Length 213 ft. Beam 41 ft. Draught (extreme) 19 ft. Armament One 6½-in. Krupp. Six 70-pdrs.

[5] Pronounced “Dēēn-Jho,” but the exact sound cannot be rendered.

[Illustration: Fleet of Nahamoto, Adsuma leading.

[_By a Japanese artist._

BATTLE OF HAKODATE.]

The horse-power was 975 nominal, the speed 9 knots. She was single-screwed, and carried 350 tons of coal. Like all the early sea-going ironclads, she had a 4½-in. iron armour belt, and 4 inches over the amidship battery. The heaviest gun was carried in the bow on a pivot. The ship still exists as a hulk. She did not reach Japan till the Civil War was over.

The he-sho, launched in England in 1867, is also retained as a gunnery tender at the present day. She is a small gunboat of 320 tons, carrying one 7-in. Armstrong M.L. and one 5½-in. Krupp B.L.

Some other early Japanese ships may now be referred to.

The Nisshin was built at Amsterdam, and ordered, probably, previously to the Civil War.

Tonnage 1470. Material of hull Wood. Armament One 7-in. M.L. Six smaller M.L. Speed on trial 11 knots. Single screw, swan-bow, barque-rigged corvette.

The Amagi of the same period was built in Japan. Particulars of her are:—

Tonnage 526. Material of hull Wood. Armament One 6-in. 2½-ton Krupp. Four 4¾-in. Krupp. Horse-power (nominal) 720. Speed 11 knots. Screws One.

In appearance she more or less resembles the foregoing.

She was followed by the Seiki, also built in Japan, and famous in her way, because she was the first Japanese ship to make a voyage to England. Particulars:—

Tonnage 857. Material of hull Wood. Length 200 ft. Beam 30 ft. Draught 13 ft. Armament One 6-in. 2½-ton Krupp. Four 4¾-in. Krupp. Horse-power 1270. Speed 11 knots.

Save that her stern was sharper, she was, to look at, much like the Amagi. She is now removed from the Japanese Navy list.

A sailing training brig of 153 tons, the Ishikawa, and a larger brig, the Tateyama, of 543 tons, were built or acquired prior to 1877.

The Banjo was built by the Japanese on the same model as the Amagi. Particulars are:—

Displacement 667 tons. Material of hull Wood. Length 154 ft. Beam 25 ft. Draught (mean) 12 ft. Armament One 6-in. 2½-ton Krupp. Two 4¾-in. Krupp. I.H.P. 590. Speed 10.5 knots. Screws One. Coal supply 107 tons. She is swan-bow, barque-rigged, and has one funnel.

This ended this particular period of Japanese shipbuilding.

[Illustration:[_By a Japanese artist._ THE SEIKI.

(_The first Japanese warship to visit England._)]

In the year 1875, or thereabouts, the Japanese finally decided to embark upon a war navy, and laid the foundations of that fleet which some twenty years later was to vindicate its existence at Yalu and Wei-hei-wei. In that year a then modern ironclad, up-to-date ironclad, and two armoured cruisers, on what was then the best accepted model, were ordered.

Of these the Fu-So,[6] designed by Sir E. J. Reed, and launched at Samuda’s Yard, Poplar, England, in 1877, was then a powerful second-class battleship. In design she resembles the French Rédoutable, though of only half her size. Particulars are:—

Material of hull Iron. Displacement 3718. Length 220 ft. Beam 48 ft. Draught 18⅓ ft. Original armament Four 9.4-in. Krupps in the main deck, central-armoured battery. Two 6.6-in. Krupps in unarmoured barbettes above the armoured battery. Horse-power 3500. Nominal speed 13 knots. Screws Two. Coal 360 tons. Nominal radius 3500 miles at 10 knots.

[6] Pronounced Fōō-Só.

The armour is distributed in a complete belt of iron from 9 to 4 ins. in thickness. The battery armour is 8 ins., with 7-in. bulkheads forming a redoubt. The engines, by Penn, are horizontal compound trunk. She was then barque-rigged, with a single funnel. She carried no torpedo tubes, but these were added later. Just previous to the war with China the Japanese reconstructed and re-armed her, removing the mainmast, and fitting military tops to the fore and mizzen; 6-in. Q.F. were mounted in the barbettes in place of the old 6.6-in. Either immediately before or directly after the war, two additional 6-in. Q.F. (as shown in the photograph of her at sea) were mounted, one on the forecastle and one on the poop behind shields; and subsequently four further 6-in. Q.F. replaced the old guns in the battery, these having been found well-nigh useless for modern warfare. This by no means exhausts the history of the Fu-So, but her subsequent adventures will be found on a later page.[7]

[7] See Chino-Japanese War.

[Illustration: Chin Yen. Chiyoda. [_Official photograph._

THE JAPANESE FLEET IN LINE ABREAST. NAVAL MANŒUVRES.]

Russia with the General Admiral would appear to have inspired the idea of the Hi-Yei[8] and Kon-go. The former of these was launched early in 1878 at Milford Haven, the latter at Hull towards the end of 1877. The ships are sisters. Details are:—

Material of hull Composite. Displacement 2250 tons. Length 231 ft. Beam 40¾ ft. Draught 17½ ft. Armament Three 6.6-in. Krupp. Six 6-in. 2½-ton Krupp. Four Nordenfelts. Two torpedo tubes. Horse-power Hi-Yei, 2270. Kon-go, 2035. Screws One. Speed (nominal) Hi-Yei, 13 knots. Kon-go, 13.7 knots. Engines (by Earle) Horizontal compound.

[8] Pronounced “Hēē-Yey.”

The armour is a mere iron strip on the water-line, varying from 4½ to 3 ins. in thickness.

In 1876 a new Imperial yacht, the Jin-Jei, was launched. She is a paddler, with swan-bow, two funnels, and two high pole masts—a pretty-looking vessel.

Displacement 1464 tons. Material of hull Wood. Length 249 ft. Beam 32 ft. Draught 14½ ft. Armament Two 4¾-in. Krupp. Horse-power 1430. Speed 12 knots.

In 1879 began what later events constituted the supplementary Japanese shipbuilding programme. In 1879 Elswick built for China those once famous “alphabetical gunboats,” a series of “flat-irons” of the Rendel type, to carry one gun. Like a good many other Chinese vessels, they were destined to fly the Japanese flag at a later period of their existence. Altogether there were eleven of these craft, named after letters of the Greek alphabet, but re-named by the Chinese. They were named Lung-shang (Alpha), he-wei (Beta), Fei-ting (Gamma), Tche-tien (Delta), the first two of 340 tons, the other two of 420 tons, and which the Chinese still own. The remainder are a little larger, four, Cheng-tung (Epsilon), Chen-Sei (Zeta), Chen-nan (Eta), Chen-pei (Theta), of 490 tons, and Chin-pen (Kappa), Hai-chang-ching (Lambda), and Chen-chung (Iota) of 500 tons. Japan now owns all of this last batch, except the Hai-chang-ching.

Gamma and Delta carry a 38-ton Armstrong M.L.; all the others are armed with the 11-in. 25-ton gun. Horse-power varies from 235 in the smaller craft to 472 in the larger. There are slight differences in dimensions, but the largest only runs to 125 ft. long by 29 ft. broad. Two other rather smaller gunboats once existed, but these the French sunk at Foochow in the early eighties. The development of small guns has long since rendered this type of gunboat useless; but, apart from that, the bad care taken of them by the Chinese would have made them of no service.

China in 1881 was making some considerable efforts towards being a naval power, efforts that continued till 1889, when they suddenly died out, or resolved themselves into the building of small craft by Chinamen. A Chino-Japanese war was a possibility in 1881 as much as in 1890. Neither side was, however, ready for the conflict, and in the early eighties Japan’s energies were concentrated on training _personnel_, China’s on acquiring _materiel_. In 1881 the latter had launched for her the big ironclad Ting Yuen at Stettin, followed a little later by the Chin Yuen, now in the Japanese service. From the time China first had them, Japan coveted these ironclads; by the irony of fate, she did not secure them (or rather the one that was left) till far superior ships of her own were on the stocks.

The Tung Yuen sank at Wei-hai-wei during the war; the Chen Yuen, her sister, was taken at the same time. Her details are:—

Displacement 7350 tons. Material of hull Steel. Length 308 ft. Beam 59 ft. Draught 23 ft. Armament (originally) Four 12-in. 20 cals. Krupp. Two 6-in. Krupp. Eight machine guns. One torpedo tube in the stern; one on each beam forward of barbettes. Horse-power 6200. Screws Two. Speed (on first trials) 14.5 knots. Engines Two sets, three-cylinder horizontal compound. Coal 1000 tons.