Shimonoseki Incident
16 JULY 1863
SHIMONOSEKI INCIDENT
Negotiated by Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1854, the Treaty of Kanagawa opened Japan to commerce with the western world. It also polarized traditionalist Japanese factions who wished a return to economic isolationism. One of the most militant traditionalists was the feudal lord Mori, Daimyo of Nagato, ruler of the Samurai clan of Choshiu, whose ships and forts controlled the heavily traveled Straits of Shimonoseki between the islands of Kyushu and Honshu. Mori stirred up anti-Western sentiment throughout the Spring of 1863, unilaterally declaring June 25th as the date by which all foreigners must vacate Japanese waters. The US Navy screw-sloop WYOMING had been standing off Japan since May to protect American interests, but she proved no deterrent to Mori. At 0100 on 26 June, the American merchantman Pembroke was fired upon and chased from the Straits by two of the daimyo’s ships. Word of the event reached Yedo (Tokyo) in July, where the American ambassador Robert H. Pruyn and WYOMING’s captain, CDR David S. McDougal, demanded a meeting with the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs. Failing an assurance that the central government would curb the renegade daimyo, Pruyn and McDougal planned their own answer for the insult to our Flag.
On this date, WYOMING closed the town of Shimonoseki, taking fire immediately from shore. Three ships at anchor in the harbor began firing as well; a brig, a bark, and a steamer, presumably those that had harried Pembroke. McDougal threaded these with his guns blazing, taking a shell under his starboard forward broadside gun. Four more fortifications ashore joined, filling the air with shot. Unluckily, as her able but outgunned crew worked, “as fast as the guns could be brought to bear,” WYOMING ran her bows upon an uncharted shoal. McDougal worked her free, but the steamer now cut her cable and charged in an attempt to board. American gunners turned their attention to the charging steamer; several well-placed rounds burst her boilers and sent her to the bottom. Now free and ignoring the heated fire from shore, McDougal next methodically worked over the bark and the brig, completely wrecking both. Satisfied he had taught “a lesson that will not soon be forgotten,” he departed.
WYOMING had been the first Western warship to challenge the daimyo’s declaration. McDougal lost five killed and six wounded, and WYOMING was hulled 11 times. Later a 17-ship multi-national force reduced the Shimonoseki forts to rubble, however we did not participate in this latter action. Occupied by the Civil War, the only two Union warships in the Pacific at that moment were busy hunting down the Confederate raider Alabama.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 22 JUL 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Bulic, Ivan. “Gunboat Diplomacy in Shogun Japan: The Kagoshima & Shimonoseki Incidents.” Sea Classics, Vol 27 (5), May 1994, pp. 10-15, 30-31.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 8 “W-Z”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, pp. 492-93.
Love, Robert W. History of the US Navy, Vol 1 1775-1941. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992, p. 384.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, p. 72.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: The Wyoming Territory was not admitted as our 44th State until 10 July 1890. WYOMING above remembers the Wyoming Valley of eastern Pennsylvania through which the Susquehanna River courses.
