THE FIRST AMERICAN VOYAGERS TO JAPAN
(1799-1801)
It is commonly assumed that until the memorable visit of Commodore
Perry’s squadron in 1853 shattered the ancient isolation of Japan, no
American ship had ever been permitted to trade or tarry in a port of
that nation. More than half a century, however, before the tenacious
diplomacy of Matthew C. Perry had wrested a treaty “of friendship and
commerce,” at least three Yankee vessels had carried cargoes to and
from Nagasaki.
It was in 1799 that the ship _Franklin_, owned in Boston and commanded
by Captain James Devereux of Salem, won the historical distinction of
being the first American vessel to find a friendly greeting in a harbor
of Japan. In 1800, the Boston ship _Massachusetts_ sailed to Nagasaki
on a like errand, and her captain’s clerk, William Cleveland of
Salem, kept a detailed journal of this unusual voyage, which records,
to a considerable extent, duplicate the following very interesting
narratives of the adventures of the _Franklin_, and of the Salem ship
_Margaret_ which went from Batavia to Nagasaki in 1801. Aboard the
_Margaret_, Captain S. G. Derby, was a crew of Salem men, among them
George Cleveland, captain’s clerk, brother of William Cleveland, who
filled a similar berth in the _Massachusetts_ and also kept a journal.
In the logs and journals of these three voyages, as written by three
seafarers of Salem more than a century ago, has been preserved a wealth
of adventure, incident and description which to-day sound as archaic
as a chapter of the history of the Middle Ages in Europe. Excepting a
handful of Dutch traders, these three ships visited a land as strange
and unknown to the outside world as was the heart of Thibet a dozen
years ago. They sailed to the Orient as pioneers of American commerce,
and while at Batavia seeking cargo were chartered by the Dutch East
India Company for the annual voyage to Japan.
When the ship _Franklin_ set sail from Batavia for Nagasaki, in 1799,
only the Dutch were permitted to hold foreign intercourse with the land
of the Shoguns and the Samurai. They had maintained their singular
commercial monopoly for two centuries at a price which was measured
in the deepest degradation of national and individual dignity and
self-respect. The few Dutch merchants suffered to reside in Japan were
little better off than prisoners, restricted to a small island in
Nagasaki harbor, leaving it only once in four years when the Resident,
or chief agent, journeyed to Yeddo to offer gifts and obeisance to the
Shogun. At this audience, which took place in the “Hall of a Hundred
Mats,” the Dutch Resident “crept forward on his hands and feet, and
falling on his knees bowed his head to the ground and retired again
in absolute silence, crawling exactly like a crab.” To add insult to
injury, the Shogun usually sat hidden behind a curtain.
After this exhibition the envoys were led further into the palace and
ordered to amuse the Court. “Now we had to rise and walk to and fro,
now to exchange compliments with each other,” wrote one of them, “then
to dance, jump, represent a drunken man, speak broken Japanese, paint,
read Dutch, German, sing, put on our cloaks and throw them off again,
etc., I, for my part, singing a German love ditty.”
Of their life on the islet of Dezima, where the little colony of Dutch
traders was guarded and confined, this same chronicler, Kaempfer,
remarks:
“In this service we have to put up with many insulting regulations at
the hands of these proud heathens. We may not keep Sundays or fast
days, or allow our spiritual hymns or prayers to be heard; never
mention the name of Christ, nor carry with us any representation of
the Cross or any external sign of Christianity. Besides these things
we have to submit to many other insulting imputations which are always
painful to a noble heart. The reason which impels the Dutch to bear all
these sufferings so patiently is simply the love of gain.”
In return for these humiliations the Dutch East India Company was
permitted to send one or two ships a year from Batavia to Japan and to
export a cargo of copper, silk, gold, camphor, porcelain and bronze
which returned immense profits.
This curious system of commerce was in operation when the ship
_Franklin_ cleared from Boston for Batavia in 1798. His owner’s letter
of instructions ordered Captain Devereux to load Java coffee in bulk
and to return with all possible expedition. As was customary, the
ship’s company was given a share in the profits of the voyage, as
defined in a letter to the captain:
“We allow your first and second officers two and one-half tons
privilege, and one ton to your third mate, your sailors will be allowed
to bring their adventures in their chests and not otherwise. Your own
privilege will be five per cent. of the whole amount which the ship may
bring and ’tis our orders that she be completely filled.”
When Captain Devereux arrived at Batavia in April, 1799, he learned
that the Dutch East India Company was in need of a ship to make one of
the annual voyages to Japan. The Salem shipmaster and his supercargo
perceived that a large extra profit could be gleaned in such a venture
as this, after which the ship might return for her cargo of coffee and
go home to Boston as planned.
[Illustration: Page from the log of the _Margaret_, describing her
arrival at Nagasaki and the prodigious amount of saluting required]
[Illustration: The good ship _Franklin_]
This Batavia charter was an attractive adventure which promised to
fatten both the owner’s returns and the “privileges” of the ship’s
company, and after considerable preliminary skirmishing between the
hard-headed Dutchmen and the keen-witted Yankee seafarers, an agreement
was reached which has been preserved in the log of the _Franklin_.
It is a valuable fragment of history in itself, for it recites the
elaborate formalities and restrictions imposed upon foreign visitors by
the Japanese of a century and more ago. The document is entitled:
“The Ship _Franklin’s_ Charter Party for a Voyage from Batavia to
Japan, June the 16th, 1799.”
It begins as follows:
“We, the undersigned, Johannes Siberg, Commissary General, etc., etc.,
on the one part, and Walter Burling, supercargo of the American ship
_Franklin_ at present at anchor in this Road, of the burthen of 200
tons, commanded by James Devereux, on the other part, do Declare and
Certify to have agreed with respect to the Charter of said ship as
follows.”
It is then stipulated in the articles that the _Franklin_ shall carry
to Japan a cargo of cloves in sacks, cotton yarns, pieces of chintz,
sugar, tin, black pepper, sapan-wood, elephants’ teeth, and mummie,
and supplies for the Company’s agents in Nagasaki. The vessel is to
bring back to Batavia a cargo of copper, camphor, boxes and boards.
Her charter price or freight is to be paid Captain Devereux in coffee,
sugar, black pepper, cloves, indigo, tin, cinnamon and nutmegs.
After no fewer than ten numbered articles of instruction it is provided
that “the Capt., James Devereux, as soon as the cargo shall be on board
and his ship’s company in a proper situation, shall proceed with his
said ship to the port of her destination and there being discharged and
reloaded shall continue his voyage with the utmost diligence toward
this metropolis, and that he shall not under any pretext whatever,
approach or enter into any other port, either on his passage to Japan
or on his return, unless he is forced by urgent necessity which he must
justify on his return in a satisfactory manner.”
It would seem that not even the Dutch were always certain of a
hospitable reception at the hands of the haughty Japanese, for in
“article 13th” it is stated that “if by any unforeseen circumstances
the ship should not be allowed to enter the port of Japan, and by that
reason the Captain should be obliged to return with the cargo he took
from here, then after his arrival here, and having discharged the cargo
he took away, the freighter shall pay the freight agreed upon, of
thirty thousand piasters in produce as mentioned in article 4th.”
The thrifty Dutch inserted an article to read:
“If any of the ship’s company should be sick at Japan they may be
received in the Hospital on condition that they shall be taken on board
the ship at the time of her departure, and the expense incurred will be
for account of the letter (the ship).”
Having endeavored to protect themselves against every chance of
loss or delay in a document well nigh as long as the Declaration of
Independence, the officials in Batavia drew up the following letter:
“Instructions from the Dutch East India Company for Captain James
Devereux on his arrival at Japan:
“When you get to the latitude of 26 or 27, it will be necessary to
have everything in readiness to comply with the ceremonies which the
Japanese are accustomed to see performed by the ships of the Company.
“1st. You will have all your colors in order to dress the ship on her
entrance into port.
“2nd. There must be a table prepared on the quarterdeck which must be
covered with a piece of cloth and two cushions for the officers to sit
upon when they come on board.
“3rd. It is indispensably necessary to have a list of all the people on
board, passengers and officers, their stations and age.
“4th. All the books of the people and officers, particularly religious
books must be put into a cask and headed up; the officers from the
shore will put their seals upon the cask and take it on shore, and on
the departure of the ship will bring it on board without having opened
it.
“5th. Before your arrival at Japan you must make the people deliver you
their money and keep it until your departure; this will not be attended
with inconvenience as at Japan nothing is bought for cash, but they may
change their specie for cambang money, and then make their trade, but
this must be done by the Captain.
“6th. When you are in sight of Japan, you must hoist a Dutch pendant
and ensign in their proper places as if you were a Dutch ship.
“7th. When the Cavalles are on your starboard hand and the Island of
Japan on your larboard you must salute the guard on the Cavalles with
nine guns.
“8th. After that you pass on the larboard side of Papenburg and salute
with nine guns.
“9th. You then pass the guards of the Emperor on the starboard and
larboard nearly at the same time, and salute them with 7 or 9 guns, the
first all starboard guns, the second all larboard.
“10th. You then advance into the Road of Nangazacky (Nagasaki), and
after anchoring salute with 13 guns.
“11th. When you enter the Cavalles, the Commissaries of the Chief will
come on board and you must salute them with 9 guns; at the same time,
if it is practicable, hoist some colors to the yards as a compliment
to them; it is immaterial what colors you dress your ship with except
Spanish or Portuguese—it is, however, necessary to recollect that the
Dutch colors must be always in their proper place as if the ship was of
that nation.
“12th. When the Commissaries return on shore, you must salute them with
nine guns.
“13th. You must be very particular in letting the boats which are
around the ship know when you are going to fire as if you were to hurt
any of them the consequences would be very important.
“14th. After you have anchored and saluted the harbor, the officers
examine the list of your people and compare them with the number on
board. After having received them those who wish it can go on shore,
but before the Japanese land, all the arms and ammunition must be
sent on shore, and it will be proper that everything of the kind
should be landed, as they search the ship after she is unloaded. On
your departure they will return it all on board. If there should by
any mistake be any powder or firearms left on board, you must be very
careful that not so much as a pistol be fired until the return of the
ammunition which was landed.
“The agents of the Company will instruct you respecting the other
ceremonies to be observed.”
Captain Devereux’s log records that he burned the prodigious amount of
powder required and successfully steered a course through the other
complex ceremonies, nautical and commercial, without ruffling Japanese
dignity in any way. The _Franklin_ lay in Nagasaki harbor for almost
four months after which she returned to Batavia, to the satisfaction
of the East India Company. Thence she sailed for Boston with so large
a cargo of coffee, sugar and spices that it overflowed the hold and
filled the after cabin. The captain and officers berthed in a makeshift
“coach-house” knocked together on deck, but made no complaint as their
several “adventures” had been richly increased by the voyage and
trading with the Japanese.
In more than one stout old Salem mansion are treasured souvenirs of
the voyage of the _Franklin_. According to a memorandum of “a sale
of sundries received by ship _Franklin_ from Japan,” Captain Devereux
brought home as part of his adventure, “cabinets, tea trays, boxes
of birds, waiters, boxes of fans, nests of pans, camphor wood, mats,
kuspidors, together with inlaid tables and carved screens.”
In 1801, or two years later, the _Margaret_ of Salem lay in Nagasaki
as a chartered trader. George Cleveland, of a famous family of Salem
mariners, who sailed as the captain’s clerk, kept the log and journal
of this voyage, and his narrative contains much of interest concerning
the early relations between the Japanese and the people of other
countries.
“In the autumn of 1800,” he wrote soon after his return, “the ship
_Margaret_, built by Mr. Becket of this town, and owned by the late
Col. Benj. Pickman, John Derby, Esq., and Captain Samuel Derby who was
to command her, was launched. On the 25th November we left Salem harbor
bound for the East Indies, and probably a finer, a better-fitted or
better-manned ship never left this port before. We carried 6 guns and
20 men; most of the crew were fine young men in the bloom of youth. I
will enumerate those who lived many years after, namely: S. G. Derby,
captain; Thomas West, second mate; L. Stetson, carpenter; Samuel Ray,
Joseph Preston, Israel Phippen, Anthony D. Caulfield and P. Dwyer,
Thatcher and myself.
“We soon found on leaving port what a fast sailing ship the _Margaret_
was. When we were out eleven days we fell in with the barque _Two
Brothers_, Captain John Holman, who had left Salem some days before
us, bound for Leghorn. We made him ahead in the afternoon steering the
same course we were, and before night we were up alongside and spoke
him. The next day we fell in with a fleet of merchantmen, convoyed by
a frigate which was under very short sail, and kept all snug until she
had got into our wake, when she set sail in chase, but we distanced
her so much that in a very short time she gave it up and took in her
sails and rejoined the fleet.
“On the 4th of February, 1801, we anchored in Table Bay, Cape of Good
Hope. We saluted the Admiral’s flag, which civility was returned. On
the 10th February we left, bound to Sumatra, and found it difficult
to get to the westward as winds and currents were against us. After a
tedious passage we anchored in Bencoolen Roads, 136 days from Salem,
including our stoppage at the Cape. As nothing could be done to
advantage here we proceeded to Batavia and arrived there on the 25th of
April.
“Captain Derby soon made a bargain with the agents of the East India
Company to take the annual freights to and from Japan, and as it was
the custom from time immemorial that the Japan ship should sail on a
certain day, and as that day was some time ahead, it was necessary to
find some employment for the vessel previously, as it was dangerous to
the health of crews to be lying any time in Batavia Roads. The Company
offered Captain Derby a freight of coffee from a port a short distance
to the eastward, which he readily accepted. This wore away twelve or
fourteen days of the time, and added to the profits of the voyage.
“The cargo for Japan consisted of a great variety of articles, such as
the Dutch had been in the habit of shipping for nearly two centuries.
It was composed of sugar, spices, sapan wood, sandal wood, rattans,
glassware, cloths, medicines, and various other articles, and as
everything was to be done according to a prescribed rule, and as we
were not to sail until a certain day in June, we had time enough to do
all things right as regards receiving and stowing the cargo.
“We weighed anchor at 8 A. M., on the 20th June, 1801. We had
as passenger a young Dutchman who was going out as clerk to the
establishment in Japan. On the morning of July 16th, we made the
islands of Casique and St. Clara which are near the harbor of
Nangasacca (Nagasaki), our destined port. On the 18th two fishing boats
came alongside and supplied us with fish. On Sunday, 19th, we were
so near that we hoisted twenty different colors and in the afternoon
entered the harbour of Nangasacca. We had much ceremony to go through
in entering this port, which is considered indispensable, among other
things to fire several salutes.
“The day after our arrival I landed on the Island of Decima,[30] a
little island connected with the city of Nangasacca by a bridge. It is
walled all round and here the Dutch residents are obliged to pass their
lives. Provisions are very dear and everything had to be passed through
the hands of a compradore and he, no doubt, put upon them a large
profit. We had excellent sweet potatoes and mackerel, and sometimes
pork and fowls, and the bread was as good as any country could produce.
“Captain Derby, Mr. West and myself carried several articles of
merchandise on our own account. This has always been allowed to the
Dutch captains, but then the sale of these articles must be made by
the Japanese government. All these articles were landed on the island,
opened and displayed in a warehouse and on certain days the (Japanese)
merchants were allowed to go on the Island to examine them. Nothing
could exceed the minuteness with which they examined everything. Among
other articles we had a quantity of tumblers and wine glasses; these
they measured with the greatest care, running their fingers over every
part to determine what irregularities there were on the surface, and
then holding each piece up to the light to see the colour. They also
made drawings of the different description of pieces.
“After this investigation they marked on their memorandums the number
of the lot and the results of their investigations. Everything we had
to sell went through a similar ordeal so that to us, who were lookers
on and owners of the property, nothing could be more tedious. After
the goods had been sufficiently examined, a day was appointed for a
sale, in the city of Nangasacca, and was conducted with the greatest
fairness. Captain Derby and myself went into the city attended by the
requisite number of officers, and proceeded to what the Dutch call
the Geltchamber where we found one or more of the upper Banyoses[31]
seated in their usual state, and a general attendance of merchants.
We were placed where we could see all that was going on and received
such explanations as were requisite to an understanding of the whole
business. The goods being all disposed of, we were escorted back to the
Island with much formality, not however, until a day had been appointed
by the great men for the delivery of the goods.
“Delivering these adventures was a great affair, and it was a number of
days before the whole was taken away. No person in this country (who
has not traded with people who have so little intercourse with the
world) can have an idea of the trouble we had in delivering this little
invoice which would not have been an hour’s work in Salem. We finally,
after a great trial of our patience, finished delivering goods, and
articles that did not come up to the pattern were taken at diminished
prices.
“On the 20th September, 1801, we went into the city of Nangasacca. The
first place we went to was Facquia’s, an eminent stuff merchant. Here
we were received with great politeness and entertained in such a manner
as we little expected. We had set before us for a repast, pork, fowls,
eggs, boiled fish, sweetmeats, cakes, various kinds of fruit, sakey and
tea. The lady of the house was introduced, who drank tea with each of
us as is the custom of Japan. She appeared to be a modest woman.
[Illustration: View of Nagasaki before Japan was opened to commerce,
showing the island of Deshima and the Dutch trading post]
“The place we next visited was a temple to which we ascended by at
least two hundred stone steps. We saw nothing very remarkable in
this building excepting its size, which was very large, though in
fact we were only admitted to an outer apartment as there appeared
to be religious ceremonies going on within. Adjoining this was the
burying-ground. In this ground was the tomb of one of their Governors,
which was made of stone and very beautifully wrought. We next visited
another temple also on the side of a hill and built of stone. The
inside presented a great degree of neatness. It consisted of a great
many apartments, in some of which were images; in one, a kind of altar,
was a lamp which was continually burning. In another were several long
pieces of boards, painted black with an inscription to the memory of
some deceased Emperor or Governor. Before each of these was a cup of
tea which they informed us was renewed every day. There were other
apartments which the priests probably occupied, as there were many of
them passing in and out. They are dressed like the other Japanese,
excepting that their outside garments were all black and their heads
shaved all over.
“From this we went to the glass house which was on a small scale,
thence to a lacquer merchants where we were entertained with great
hospitality. Thence we went to a tea-house or hotel where we dined.
After dinner we were entertained with various feats of dancing and
tumbling. Toward dark we returned to the Island and so much was the
crowd in the streets to see us pass that it was with difficulty that we
could get along. The number of children we saw was truly astonishing.
The streets of the city are narrow and inconvenient to walk in as they
are covered with loose stones as large as paving stones. At short
distances you have to go up or down flights of stone steps. At the end
of every street is a gate which is locked at night. They have no kinds
of carriages, for it would be impossible to use them in such streets.
“The houses are one or two stories, built of wood; the exterior
appearance is mean, but within they are very clean and neat. The floors
are covered with mats, and it is considered a piece of ill manners to
tread on them without first taking off the shoes. The Japanese dress
much alike. That of the man consists first of a loose gown which comes
down as low as the ankles; over this is worn a kind of petticoat which
comes as low as the other; these are made of silk or cotton. The
petticoat does not go higher than the hips. Over the shoulders they
wear a shawl, generally of black crape, and around the waist a band
of silk or cotton. Through this band the officers of the government
put their swords, and they are the only persons allowed to carry these
instruments.
“The middle part of the head is all shaved, the remaining hair which
is left on each side and behind, is then combed together and made very
stiff with gum mixed with oil, and then turned up on top of the head in
a little club almost as large as a man’s thumb. This is the universal
fashion with rich and poor, excepting the priests.
“The poorer classes do not wear the silk petticoat and the coolies and
other laborers at the time we were there, threw all their clothing off
excepting a cloth around their middle when at work. The dress of the
woman is the long gown with large sleeves, and is very like that of the
men. They suffer the hair to grow long, which is made stiff with gum
and oil and then is turned up on top of the head where it is secured
with various turtle-shell ornaments.
“The Japanese observed one fast when we were there. It was in
remembrance of the dead. The ceremonies were principally in the night.
The first of which was devoted to feasting, at which they fancy their
departed friends to be present; the second and third nights the graves
which are lighted with paper lamps and situated on the side of a hill
make a brilliant appearance. On the fourth night at 3 o’clock the lamps
are all brought down to the water and put into small straw barques with
paper sails, made for the occasion, and after putting in rice, fruit,
etc., they are set afloat. This exhibition is very fine. On the death
of their parents they abstain from flesh and fish forty-nine days and
on the anniversary they keep the same fast, but do not do it for any
other relations.
“As the time was approaching for our departure we began to receive our
returns from the interior brought many hundred miles. These consisted
of the most beautiful lacquered ware, such as waiters, writing desks,
tea-caddies, knife boxes, tables, etc. These were packed in boxes so
neat that in any other country they would be considered cabinet work.
We also received a great variety of porcelain, and house brooms of
superior quality. The East India Company’s cargo had been loading some
time previous.
“The Company’s ships have been obliged to take their departure from the
anchorage opposite Nangasacca on a certain day to the lower roads, no
matter whether it blew high or low, fair or foul, even if a gale, and
a thousand boats should be required to tow them down. We of course had
to do as our predecessors had done. Early in November we went to this
anchorage and remained a few days when we sailed for Batavia where we
arrived safely after a passage of one month.”
Thus did one of the first Americans that ever invaded Japan with a
note-book record his random impressions. He and his shipmates saw the
old Japan of a feudal age, generations before the jinrickshaw and the
Cook’s tourist swarmed in the streets of Nagasaki. Japanese customs
have been overturned since then. The men no longer wear their hair
“turned up on top of the head in a little club,” but have succumbed
to the scissors and the cropped thatch of the European. In the modern
Japan, however, which builds her own battleships and railroads,
there still survives the imaginative sentiment that sets afloat the
“little straw barques with paper sails,” illumined with “paper lamps”
freighting offerings to the memories and spirits of the dead. The
twentieth century tourist on the deck of a Pacific liner in the Inland
Sea may sight these fragile argosies drifting like butterflies to
unknown ports, just as young George Cleveland watched them in Nagasaki
harbor.
The Yankee seamen were more cordially received than other and later
visitors. Six years after the voyage of the _Margaret_ the English
sloop-of-war _Phaeton_ appeared off the coast of Nagasaki. It happened
that the inhabitants of that city had been expecting the arrival of
one of the Dutch vessels from Batavia, and were delighted when a ship
was signaled from the harbor entrance. When the mistake was discovered
the city and surrounding country were thrown into great excitement.
Troops were called out to repel the enemy, who disappeared after taking
fresh water aboard. As a tragic result of the incident the Governor of
Nagasaki and five military commanders who had quite upset the province
during this false alarm, committed suicide in the most dignified manner
as the only way of recovering their self-respect.
Again in 1811, the Russian sloop-of-war _Diana_ lay off the Bay of
Kunashiri to fill her water casks. Cannon shot from a neighboring fort
and the hasty arrival of troops were followed by a series of protracted
explanations between ship and shore, after which the commander and five
of his crew were invited to a conference. First they were entertained
with tea and saki and later made prisoners and led in chains to
Hakodate. After some delay they were released and put on board the
_Diana_ to continue the cruise without apology of any kind from the
Japanese.
The Salem shipmasters, under the Dutch flag, were fortunate enough
to be welcomed when the French, Russian and English were driven from
the coasts of Japan as foemen and barbarians. They were the first and
last Americans to trade with the Japanese nation until after Perry had
emphasized his friendly messages with the silent yet eloquent guns of
the _Susquehanna_, _Mississippi_, _Saratoga_ and _Plymouth_.
The _Margaret_, “than which a finer, better fitted or better manned
ship never left the port of Salem,” deserved to win from the seas whose
distant reaches she furrowed, a kindlier fate than that which overtook
her only eight years after her famous voyage to Japan. Her end was so
rarely tragic that it looms large, even now, in the moving annals of
notable shipwrecks. There exists a rare pamphlet, the title page of
which, framed in a heavy border of black, reads as follows:
“Some Particulars of the Melancholy Shipwreck of the
_Margaret_, William Fairfield, Master, on her
Passage from Naples to Salem.
Having on board Forty-six Souls.
To which is Added a Short Occasional Sermon
and a Hymn
Printed for the Author 1810.”
The little pamphlet, frayed and yellow, makes no pretence of literary
treatment. It relates events with the bald brevity of a ship’s log, as
if the writer had perceived the futility of trying to picture scenes
that were wholly beyond the power of words. The _Margaret_ left Naples
on the 10th of April, 1810, with a crew of fifteen, and thirty-one
passengers. These latter were the captains, mates or seamen of American
vessels which had been confiscated by Napoleon’s orders in the harbors
of the Mediterranean.
Aboard the _Margaret_ were masters and men from Salem and Beverly,
Boston and Baltimore, all of them prime American sailors of the old
breed, shorn of all they possessed except their lives, which most of
them were doomed to lose while homeward bound as passengers. “They
passed the Gut of Gibraltar the 22nd of April,” says the pamphleteer,
“—nothing of importance occurred until Sunday the 20th of May, when
about meridian, in distress of weather, the ship was hove on her beam
ends and totally disabled. Every person on board being on deck reached
either the bottom or side of the ship and held on, the sea making a
continual breach over her. During this time their boats were suffering
much damage, being amongst the wreck of spars; they were with great
difficulty enabled to obtain the long-boat, which by driving too the
butts, and filling the largest holes with canvas, rendered it possible
for them to keep her above water by continual bailing, still keeping
her under the lee of the ship. It was now about 7 o’clock in the
evening, the boat being hauled near the ship for the purpose of getting
canvass, oakum, etc., to stop the leak, as many men as could reach the
long boat jumped into her, and when finding the boat would again be
sunk if they remained near the ship they were obliged to veer her to
the leeward of the ship about 15 or 20 fathoms. They had not lain there
long before one man from the ship jumped into the sea and swam for the
boat, which he reached and was taken in. But finding at the same time
that all were determined to pursue the same course they were obliged to
veer the boat still further from the ship.
“They remained in this situation all night. The morning following was
moderate and the sea tolerable smooth, at which time the people on the
wreck were about half of them on the taff rail and the remainder on the
bowsprit and windlass, every other part being under water. And they
kept continually entreating to be let come into the boat. At this time
casks of brandy and other articles of the cargo were drifting among
the spars, etc., from amongst which they picked up a mizzen top gallant
sail, 2 spars, 5 oars, 1 cask of Oil, 1 (drowned) pig, 1 goat, 1 bag of
bread, and they hove from the wreck a gallon keg of brandy. They then
fixed a sail for the boat from the mizzen top gallant sail.
“It was now about eleven o’clock when the people on the wreck had
secured 2 quadrants, 2 compasses, 1 hhd. of water, bread, flour and
plenty of provisions, as they frequently informed those in the boat,
but would not spare any to them unless they consented to come alongside
the ship, which they refused to do fearing their anxiety for life would
induce them to crowd in and again sink the boat. One of them jumped
into the sea and made for the small boat which he reached, but finding
they would not take him in, he returned to the wreck.
“At about meridian, finding they were determined to come from the wreck
to the long boat, they cut the rope which held them to the wreck. The
wind being to the southward and westward and moderate, they made their
course as near as possible for the islands of Corvo or Flores, having
two men continually employed in bailing the boat. In this situation
they proceeded by the best of their judgment (having neither compass
nor quadrant) for five days until they fell in with the brig _Poacher_
of Boston, Captain Dunn from Alicante, who took them on board, treated
them with every attention, and landed them in their native land on the
19th of June.
“When the long boat left the wreck there remained on board 31 souls.
They immediately made preparations for their remaining days by securing
on a stage they had erected for that purpose, all the necessaries of
life they could obtain from the wreck. For the first week, they had a
plenty of salt meat, pork, hams, flour, water, etc. They also caught
a turtle and having found a tinder box in a chest they kindled a fire
in the ship’s bell and cooked it, making a soup which afforded them a
warm dinner, and the only one they were able to cook.
“They remained under the direction of Captain Larcom, whom they had
appointed to act as their head, until Sunday, the 27th of May (seven
days), when the upper deck came off by the violence of the sea. At
this time they lost both the provisions and the water they had secured
on the stage. In this distressing situation, Captain Larcom and four
others took the yawl, shattered as she was. The other twenty-six went
forward on the bowsprit with two gallons of wine and a little salt
meat, where another stage was erected on the bows. At this time the
water being only knee-deep on the lower deck they were enabled to
obtain hams, etc., from below but which for want of water were of
little service. And the wine before mentioned was their only drink for
seven days.
“They procured a cask of brandy from the lower hold, of which they
drank so freely (being parched with thirst) that fourteen of them died
the succeeding night. They made one attempt to intercept a sail (four
having passed) from which the boat returned unsuccessful. Captain
Larcom with four others took the boat, there being only three others
in a situation to leave the wreck, and the others preferring to remain
on it rather than venture in the boat. They (Captain L. and 4 others)
left the wreck, by observation 39°, 12′, and steering N. W. when after
twenty-three days had elapsed, and two of them having died, the boat
was picked up by Captain S. L. Davis from Lisbon for Gloucester, where
they arrived on the 18th of July.”
In this abrupt manner the story ends, and perhaps it is just as well.
Those left alive and clinging to the submerged wreck numbered ten,
and there they perished without voice or sign to tell how long they
struggled and hoped against the inevitable end. The three survivors
who escaped in the yawl lived for twenty-three days almost without
food or water. When they landed they told how “previous to their
departure from the _Margaret_ they went under the bowsprit and joined
in prayer for deliverance with Captain Janvin of Newburyport. This
gentleman who remained behind had conducted a similar service daily for
his companions since their shipwreck, and many of them united in his
petitions quite seriously. Then the five men in the yawl took a solemn
leave of the ten survivors, of whom no farther tidings has ever reached
us. With two and a half gallons of brandy and a little port, the
adventurers in so small a boat for sixteen days pursued their anxious
and afflictive course. Then they caught rain in their handkershifs and
by wringing them out succeeded in partially allaying their thirst.
Later they caught some rudder fish and eat them.”
There are old men living in Salem who can recall John Very, second mate
of the brig _Romp_, who was one of the three that lived to be picked
up in the yawl. When the boys used to ask him to spin the yarn of the
wreck of the _Margaret_ he would shake his head and become morose and
sad. These were memories that he wished to forget, and it is pleasanter
even to a later generation to recall the _Margaret_, the fine ship
newly launched, with her crew of stalwart young men “in the bloom of
youth,” bravely setting sail on her maiden voyage to find the way to
mysterious Japan in the faraway year of Eighteen Hundred and One.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] The name of this island is spelled Decima, Disma, Deshima, by the
sailor diarists. In the official records of Commodore Perry’s voyage it
is spelled Dezima.
[31] Magistrates or police officers.