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 JAPANESE VESSELS 
 
 uiiivKX ii'oN nil-; 
 
 NOUTH-VVEST COAST OF AMEKICA 
 
 AXD ITS OUTLYING ISLANDS. 
 
 BV lioKAtK DAVIS. 
 
 \V U KC 1". ST K i;. MASS.: 
 
 PUIXTKU BY CHAULKS II A M 1 l/IU N , 
 
 rALI-.MIIUM OKKIl'K. . 
 
 1 S 7 -J . 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 
 
RECORD 
 
 OF 
 
 JAPANESE VESSELS 
 
 DRIVEN UPON THE 
 
 NORTH-WEST COAST OF AMERICA 
 
 AND ITS OUTLYING ISLANDS. 
 
 BY HORACE DAVIS. 
 
 JScaU ttfoit tl)i amnican Sntiquarian £iicirts, at tijcic Sprit ifHetting, tSr2. 
 
 WORCESTER, MASS.: 
 PRINTED BY CHARLES HAMILTON, 
 
 PALLADIUM OFFICE. 
 1872. 
 
53\^ 
 
 ••'•vv:. 
 
-1 
 
 H. 
 
 r-H-Y. PUB- <-'"' 
 
ON THE LIKELIHOOD OF AN ADMIXTURE OF 
 JAPANESE BLOOD ON OUR NORTH- 
 WEST COAST. 
 
 BY HORACE DAVIS. 
 
 Without any speculation upon the origin of the Indian 
 Tribes, I desire to i)rin2: together a few fads regarding the 
 possibility of an admixture of Japanese blood on the north- 
 west coast of America; and shall confine myself to this 
 nari'ow point, leaving it for others to draw wider conclu- 
 sions from these premises, or kindred facts. 
 
 The great North Pacific Ocean current is so well known 
 as to need only the briefest description. Leaving the coast 
 of Lower California between lat. 15° and 25', the great 
 Northern Equatorial Current crosses the Pacific in about 
 that latitude. Towards the Asiatic Coast it is gradually 
 deflected to the northward and sweeps by Japan in a well 
 defined stream, called by the Japanese the "Kuro-Siwo," 
 commonly termed the "Japan Warm Stream." Further 
 north, about lat. 38° North, it divides, one part flowing 
 northeasterly along the Coast of Asia, called the Kamt- 
 cbatka Current, while the other portion, which more nearly 
 concerns us, sweeps away to the eastward and crossing the 
 Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian Islands is deflected by 
 the continent of America to the southward, and following 
 its western shores, finally reaches the point of begiiming. 
 
6 
 
 A vessel clisQiasted ofi" Japan would inevitably be drifted 
 past the shores of Kamtchatka, or following the other 
 branch would reach the neighborhood of the Continent of 
 America. 
 
 This has actually happened in repeated instances. With- 
 in the ninety years which comprise the history of the 
 N. W. Coast, several disabled .lapanese vessels have 
 reiiched our shores. Two have been wrecked upon the 
 main land, four upon the isilands now belonging to the 
 United States, one upon islands immediately adjacent to 
 Lower California, and one at least, if not two, have been 
 boarded at sea but a short distance from our shores, and in 
 every case of which we have record, living men were 
 rescued from the wreck. It is my object simply to collect 
 these incidents aud present them in a connected form, giv- 
 ing in each case the original authorities, and such explana- 
 tion as the case may require. 
 
 1 shall quote first from Kotzebue's "Voyage of Discovery 
 into the South Sea and Behriug's Straits," London, 1821, 
 Vol. 1. On page 324 he speaks of meeting at Honorara 
 (Honolulu), Woahoo (Oahu), a brig in the royal Hawaiian 
 service, named after Queen Kahumanna. She was built by 
 the French as a privateer and named "La Grande Guim- 
 barde." Having been taken by the English, she was sold 
 to English merchants, who gave her the name "Forester of 
 London." Capt. Piggott brought her out to the " South 
 Sea" and sold her to Tamaahiuaah (Kamehameha), King of 
 the Hawaiian Islands. Capt. Alexander Adams, Capt. 
 Piggott's second officer, then entered the King's service 
 and became her commander. On page 352 Kotzebue says, 
 "Capt. Alexander Adams dined with us to-day, whose con- 
 
versatiou delighted us very much." And in a note, p. 353, 
 he gives this interesting incident, " Looliing over Adams' 
 journal I found the following notice, 'Brig Forester, the 
 24th of March, 1815, in the sea, near the coast of Califor- 
 nia, lat. 32° 45' N., long 233= 3' East, [57' W.] During 
 a strong wind from W. N. W. and rainy weather, we 
 descried this morning at (5 o'clock, a ship at a small dis- 
 tance, the disorder of whose sails convinced us that it 
 stood in need of assistance. We immediately directed our 
 course to it, and recognized the vessel in distress to be a 
 Japanese, which had lost her mast and rudder. I was sent 
 by the Captain on board, and found in the ship only three 
 (3) dying Japanese, the Captain and two sailors. I 
 instantly had the unfortunate men carried to our brig, 
 where they were perfectly recovered, after four months 
 careful attendance. We learnt from these people that they 
 came from the port of Osaco [Osaca], in Japan, bound to 
 another commercial town, but had been surprised immedi- 
 ately on their departure, by a storm, an.d had lost their 
 mast and rudder. They had been, up to this day, a sport 
 of the waves for seventeen mouths ; and of their crew of 
 thirty-five men only three had survived, who would have 
 died of hunger." 
 
 Prof. Geo. Davidson, in "Coast Pilot of Alaska," Wash- 
 ington, 1869, page 63, quotes this passage and says the 
 position indicated is about 350 miles W. S. W. (compass), 
 from Point Conception. Prof. Davidson adds, "supposing 
 this juuk to have kept on the S. side of the axis of the 
 great current, and to have been carried directly down the 
 American coast on the western part of this current, it must 
 
8 
 
 have traversed 5,300 miles in 516 daj's, or a trifle over ten 
 miles per day fur that whole period." 
 
 The next instance I shall cite is to be found in Alexander 
 Forbes' History of California, written at Tepic, 1838, pub- 
 lished in London, 1839, part 2d, Upper California, chap. 
 VII., pages 299-301. Forbes says, "The British brig 
 Forester, bound from London to the river Columbia, and 
 commanded by Mr. John Jennings, fell in with, in the year 
 1813, a Japanese junk of about 700 tons burdeu, one hun- 
 dred and fifty miles off the northwest coast of America and 
 abreast of Queen Charlotte's Island, about 49° of N. lati- 
 tude. There were only three persons alive on board, one 
 of whom was the captain. By the best accounts Capt. 
 Jennings could get from them, they had been tossing about 
 at sea for nearly eighteen months ; they had been twice in 
 sight of the land of America, and were driven off. Some 
 beans still remained on which they had been sustaiuing 
 themselves, and the}' had caught rain water for their drink. 
 This vessel had left the northern coast of Japan loaded 
 with timber for some of tiie islands to the southward, and 
 had been blown ofi" the coast by gales of wind. She had 
 no masts standing, but in other respects was not much 
 injured. Captain Jennings took the survivors on board of 
 his vessel and delivered tiiem at the Russian settlement of 
 Norfolk Sound, the governor of which, owing to the friend- 
 ship existing between Russia and the Japanese, sent a 
 vessel on purpose with them to their own country." 
 
 The position here indicated is somewhat uncertain, as 
 Queen Charlotte's Island lies between about 51° and 54° N. 
 latitude, but in Forbes's time the geography of this coast 
 
9 
 
 was uncertain. The identit}' of the name of the vessel, of 
 the uurnber of rescued men and of tlie length of the junk's 
 voyage, leads to a suspicion that this may be the same as 
 the last instance ; but the differences are greater than the 
 coincidence, viz : the Captain's name, the junk's port of 
 departure, Osaca being at the southern end of Niphon, 
 the wreck's position, over 1200 miles from that of Capt. 
 Adams, and the year. Forbes was in Calfornia himself, 
 and evidently from the minuteness of this account, gathered 
 it from something more than mere rumor ; he may have 
 heard of the rescue by the "Forester" and confused the 
 two events. It is very singular that no writer that I am 
 aware of has ever noticed this remarkable story, and that 
 Prof. Davidson is the onl3' one who has cited the note from 
 Kotzebue. 
 
 Capt. C. M. Scammon, of the U. S. Rev. Marine, who 
 was the discoverer of the wreck I am now about to 
 describe, has kindly furnished me with the following facts, 
 contributed by himself to the Dail}' Alta California, of 
 April 22, 1860. "In 1853 there was found on the south- 
 west and largest of the San Benito Group, the remains of 
 what was supposed to be a Japanese junk ; whether it was 
 some part of those said to have been cast away on the 
 coast of Oregon several years ago, or the relic of some 
 other eastern [Oriental] sailing craft, is a subject of con- 
 jecture. That it was one or the other there can be no 
 doubt. The jilanks were fastened together on the edges 
 with spikes or bolts of a flat shape, with the head all on 
 one side. The seams wei-e not straight, although the work- 
 manship was otherwise good. It appeared to be the bot- 
 tom of a vessel that was seen here and gave evidence of 
 
10 
 
 having been a long time on shore." San Benito Ishmcls 
 are off Lower California, uear Cerros Island, lat. 2H N., 
 Ion. 116 W. 
 
 Cajjt. Scanimon has since furnished me with the follow- 
 ing memorandum, from Chief Engineer Jas. A. Doyle, of 
 U. S. S. "Lincoln:" "In July, 1871, while attached to 
 the U. S. Rev. Str. Lincoln, I visited the island of Attou, 
 which marks the extreme western hmit of our new posses- 
 sions. I went on shore and was kindly received by the 
 natives. I was shown the remains of a Japanese junk that 
 had been wrecked on the island not far from the harbor. 
 The people told me that they saved four of the crew and 
 kept them for nearly a year until they were taken off by 
 one of the Fur Company's vessels on her annual visit to the 
 island. The old chief (he was aljout seventy) told me 
 that during his time three junks had been lost on the sur- 
 rounding islets, and joking!}' remarked that the people 
 would thank the Ahnighty if he would direct the wrecked 
 junks into their harbor, as they were very badly off for 
 wood." 
 
 I presume the tii-st one mentioned by Mr. Doyle is the 
 same vessel as. that aihided to by Prof. Davidson, which 
 stranded on Attou, in 1862. The other three are entirely 
 new instances. 
 
 I will next cite the wreck of a vessel on Point Adams, 
 the southern shore of the mouth of Columbia River, proba- 
 bly somewhex'e from 1810 to 1820. My oldest authority 
 on this vessel is Capt. Sir Edward Belcher, who was at 
 Astoria in 1839. In his "Voyage around the World," 
 Loudon, 1843, Vol. I., page 306, he says : "A wreck like- 
 wise occurred in this bay, [meaning the indentation of the 
 
11 
 
 coast off the Columbia River], many years ago. * * * * 
 It appears that a vessel with many hands on board, and 
 laden with bees-wax, entered the bay and was wrecked ; 
 she went to pieces, and the crew got on shore. Many 
 articles were washed on shore, and particularly the bees- 
 M'ax. This latter is even now [1839] occasionally thrown 
 upon the beach, but in smaller quantities than formerly. 
 I have one specimen now in my possession." 
 
 Prof. Davidson, in his "Coast Pilot of California, Oregon 
 and Washington Territory," U. S. Coast Survey, 1869, 
 alludes to her as a "Chinese or Japanese junk." lie says, 
 "there are occasionally, after great storms, pieces of this 
 wax thrown ashore, coated with sand and bleached nearly 
 white. Formerly a great deal was found, but now it is 
 rarely met with. Many people on the Columbia possess 
 specimens, and we [in 1851] have seen several pieces." 
 See also Overland Monthly, Jan'y, 1871, article entitled 
 "Mouth of Columbia River." I do not know on what 
 authority Davidson confidently pronounces the vessel a 
 " Chinese or Japanese junk," nor do I know what became 
 of the crew. This wreck has been very generally con- 
 founded with the one of whicli I am now al)out to relate. 
 
 Early in 1833 a Japanese junk was wrecked somewhere 
 on the coast of Washington Territory, between Point 
 Grenville and Cape Flattery. The authorities in this case 
 are Capt. Wyeth, in a note, in the appendix of Irvihg's 
 "Adventures of Capt. Bonneville," Sir Edward Bfffcher, as 
 above, and Wilkes' Exploring Expedition, ^e had been 
 out a very long time, whence, or whither bbund, does not 
 appear, and many of her crew had perished by starvation 
 or disease before she was wrecked, and Belcher adds that 
 
 / 
 
12 
 
 "several detid bodies were headed up in casks." After 
 straiidiug, the wreck was plundered and the survivors 
 enslaved by the savages. Wilkes says the officers of the 
 Hudson Bay Company, at Astoria, became aware of this 
 disaster in a singular manner. They received a drawing 
 on a piece of China-paper, in which were depicted three 
 shipwrecked persons, with the junk on the rocks aud the 
 Indians engaged in plundering. This was sufficient to 
 induce them to make inquiries, and Capt. McNeal was dis- 
 patched on the H. B. Co.'s vessel 'Lama' to Cape Flattery. 
 He had the satisfaction to find the three Japanese, whom 
 be rescued from slavery. There were two men and a boy, 
 and there was some trouble in purchasing the boy. The 
 H. B. Co. subsequently sent them to England, whence they 
 were sent to Macao, and it is stated in Perry's Japan Expe- 
 dition, that in 1837 they were sent to the bay of Yeddo, in 
 the "Morrison,"' by Mr. C. A. King, an American mer- 
 chant ; the " Morrison " was fired upon aud sailed away to 
 Kagosima, was again fired upon and returned to Macao, 
 with the Japanese on board. As a memorial of this extra- 
 ordinary incident, says Wilkes, porcelain of Japanese 
 manufacture, which was purchased from the Indians who 
 plundered the junk, was seen in possession of Mr. Birnie, 
 the agent of the H. B. Co., at Astoria. Capt. Wyeth saj's 
 he saw two of the men. Davidson alludes to this vessel in 
 "Coast Pilot of Cal. &c." p. 181. See also Schoolcraft's 
 Indian tribes of U. S., p. 217, and Haven's Archaeology of 
 U. S. (Smithsonian Cont. , 1856), p. 8. The refcreuce 
 may be found in Belcher's Voyage, chapter XII., Vol. I., p. 
 303, Wilkes' Exj)loring Expedition, Vol. IV., chap. IX., 
 page 295, Rev. F. L. Hawkes' Account of Com. Perry's 
 
13 
 
 Expedition to Jap<an, Wash. ISSfi, Vol. I., p. 47. Wyeth 
 eiTS iu locating the wreck on Queen Charlotte's Island, and 
 Hawkes errs in placing her at the mouth of the Columbia. 
 
 About 1800-1805 a Japanese junk was wrecked on the 
 coast of Alaska, probably near Sitka. This incident was 
 furnished me by the kindness of Prof. Davidson, and so far 
 as I know has never been published. Davidson has failed 
 to find the account in the Russian Documents, but obtained 
 the information during his survey of the coast of Alaska. 
 The Japanese sailors were landed and assigned by Wrangell 
 to Japonski Island, opposite Sitka, the Island receiving its 
 name from them. They were taken thence to Japan, 
 either in a Russian vessel, or in one built by themselves ; 
 Davidson thinks tliey built one from the wreck. The com- 
 pass of the junk, many stone carvings &c., are iu posses- 
 sion of Dr. Hough, of the U. S. Army, and now stationed 
 on Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco harbor. Prof. David- 
 son also has some of the carvings. 
 
 In the latter part of the 18th century, prol)al)ly about 
 1780, a Japanese junk was wrecked on one of the Aleutian 
 Islands, (name unknown). This information may be found 
 in the history of the Russian-American Shelikoff Com- 
 pany, by P. Tichmeneff, parti., p. 100, and iu Hawkes' 
 Account of the Perry Expedition, Vol I., p. 45. Tich- 
 meneff, whose account I have copied from Prof. Davidson's 
 notes, says : "These Japanese were saved by a clerk in the 
 employ of the Shelikoff Company, named Delarolf, who 
 was temporarily in one of the Aleutian Islands. On that 
 Island he found a wrecked Japanese junk. Delaroff took 
 all the Japanese in his vessel to the city of Ockotsk and 
 thence to Irkutsk. They bad little hope, however, of 
 
14 
 
 seeing their uative land, as some of them had already been 
 converted to the Christian religion. The father of Lieut. 
 Lakmann, [the embassador heading the expedition which 
 finally returned them to Japan], a scientific German gentle- 
 man, living at that time in Irkutsk, and engaged in a manu- 
 facturing establishment, advised Shelikotf, (Chief of the 
 Company bearing his name), to confer with the Empress 
 Catherine and suggest that the wrecked Japanese be for- 
 warded to their country, as through this means Japan might 
 become better known and a successful commercial treaty 
 established. The Empress answered that the plan was 
 excellent, and immediately [1702] ordered an expedition to 
 carry the Japanese home. Accompanying the expedition 
 was a letter from the Governoi'-General of Siberia and 
 valuable presents to the Japanese Government. The em- 
 bassador entrusted with the enterprise was Lieut. Adam 
 Lakmann, the Captain-Commanding Larkofi'. The expedi- 
 tion was kindly received by the Japanese Government, and 
 the Emperor gave permission that one Eussian vessel 
 should yearly be allowed to enter Nagasaki for the purpose 
 of commercial intercourse with Japan." 
 
 Hawkes gives a somewhat diflerent account of their 
 i-eturn. He says they were detained ten years in Eussia, 
 and sailed in the fall of 1792, from Ockotsk, in a transport 
 ship, called the "Catherine." They soon made a harbor in 
 the northern part of the Island of Jesso, and there win- 
 tered ; in the succeeding summer they entered the harbor 
 of Hakodadi The Japanese were polite, but refused to 
 take back their country-men, and Lakmann left without 
 landing the Japanese. 
 
 "In September, 18(J2, a Japanese vessel was wrecked on 
 
15 
 
 the Island of Attou. They had beeu driven off the coast 
 of Japan two or three months before, with a crew of twelve 
 men, of which she had lost nine before going ashore ; and 
 she had thus been drifted 1800 miles in the Kamtschatka 
 current, at an average velocity of twenty miles per day." 
 Davidson's Alaska Coast Pilot, p. 64. Prof. Davidson told 
 me he got these particulars from the officei's who rescued 
 them. Attou is in lat. 52° 40 N., Ion. 170° 40' East, and 
 is the westernmost point of the territory of the United 
 States. Still it is not over 700 miles from the main laud, 
 and connected with it by a chain of is-lauds. 
 
 On Saturday, 16th December, 1871, the schooner H. M. 
 Hutchinson brought into San Francisco three Japanese 
 castaways, taken from Atka Island, in lat. 52° 30' N., Ion. 
 175° west. The junk Jinko Maru of Mats Saka, province 
 of Ise, of 180 kogus measurement, sailed from Ise with a 
 cargo of rice for Kumauo province. She met with a severe 
 gale on the 28th day of November, 1870, lost her rudder 
 and was obliged to cut away her masts. She drifted till 
 the 15th May, 1871, when her crew sighted the Island of 
 Adakh, aind let go her anchor about a mile from shore. 
 They had eaten up her cargo of rice, and only three of 
 the crew remained alive. The Aleutians came off, and hove 
 up the anchor, and towed her into a little harbor, where she 
 drove ashore in a gale soon after. The Ja[)ancse lived two 
 months on Adakh, being kindly treated l)y the Fur Com- 
 pany's agents. Thence they sailed in their own boat to 
 Atka, arriving July 10 ; whence the Hutchinson took them 
 (Sept !)), to Onnalaska, and thence to Sau Francisco. 
 Adakh is very near Atka, to the W. S. W. It is about 
 520 miles from the nearest point of the continent of 
 
16 
 
 America, but it is connected with the main land by the 
 chain of islands betwsen Alaska and Attou.* 
 
 Before closing this singular catalogue of waifs, I will add 
 three cases of drifting upon islands in our half of the 
 Pacific Ocean, though far removed from us, and two of dis- 
 masted junks, found near the Aleutian Islands. Belcher, 
 Vol. I., p. 304, says: "About the same time [1833], 
 another Japanese junk was wrecked on the Island of Oahu, 
 Sandwich Islands. From the Hawaiian Spectator, Vol. 1., 
 p. 29fi, I have the details. 'A junk, laden with fish, and 
 haviug nine hands on board, left one of the southern 
 islands of the Japanese Group, for Jeddo, but, eucouuter- 
 ing a typhoon, was driven to sea. After wandering about 
 the ocean for ten or eleven months, they anchored on the 
 last Sunday in December, 1832, near the harbor of 
 Waialea, Oahu. Their supply of water had been obtained 
 from casual showers. On being visited, four persons were 
 found on board ; three of these were severeh^ afflicted with 
 scurvy, two being unable to walk and the third nearly so. 
 The fourth was in good health and had the sole management 
 of the vessel. After remaining at Waialea five or six days, 
 an attempt was made to bring the vessel to Honolulu, 
 where she was wrecked ofl" Barber's point, on the evening 
 
 * Since writing tlie above I have met Capt. Anton Earth, who rescued the 
 survivors from the Island of Adakh. in 1871. He has resided in Atka for nrany 
 years, and has married an Aleutian wife. lie informs me that tlie old iieoiile 
 of his wife's family tell him that ahout twenty years ago a Japanese junk was 
 cast away upon Atka, and only three of her crew saved. He also confirms the 
 wreck on Attou, having been there and seen the Japanese, in 1863. They were 
 eventually taken to the Amoor River, by a Russian vessel, and thence in a 
 man-of-war, to Japan. He said he had heard of other wrecks on the Aleutian 
 Islands, but could give no particulars. He spoke of the similarity between the 
 Japanese and Aleuts, both in personal appearance and in the sound of the 
 language. 
 
17 
 
 of Jauuary 1st, 18;53. Everything but the crew was lost 
 with the exception of a few trifling articles. The men 
 remained at llonohilu eighteen months, when they were 
 forwarded to Kamtschatka, from whence they hoped, 
 eventually, to work their way, by stealth, into their own 
 country, approaching by the way of the most northern 
 islands of the Group." 
 
 A condensed account of the same incident may be found 
 in Forbes's California, (quoted above), p. 300. Forbes 
 adds that her burden was only eighty tons. 
 
 In the "Old and New" magazine, of June, 1870, is an 
 article entitled "Our Furthest Outpost," by C. \V. Brooks, 
 Esq., Japanese Consul at San Francisco. Speaking of the 
 cruise of the bark Gambia, in 1859, among the snial 
 islands to the northeast of the Hawaiian Group, he says, 
 "On these and many other islands and rocks visited Avere 
 found wrecks of Japanese junks." Again, speaking of the 
 Midway Islands, the subject of the article, he says, "On 
 the East side are the remains of two Japanese junks, their 
 lower masts stranded high up on the beach. The northeast 
 shore is lined with drift-wood, among which are many red- 
 wood logs of formidable size, evidently from the coast of 
 California." Midway Islands are in lat. 28° 15 N., Ion. 
 177° 22' W. 
 
 Mr. C. W. Brooks has also informed me that Capt. 
 Brooks of the Gambia, found remains of a junk on "Ocean 
 Island," lat. 28= 24' N., Ion. 178=' 21' W., very near Mid- 
 way Islands. 
 
 There are many Japanese wrecks strewn among the 
 
 islands of the Pacific, but I allude to these on Oahu, Ocean 
 
 and Midway especially, l)ecause they are situated partially 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 ill the return flow of the great current, and, as is shown by 
 the character of the drift-stutt" thrown on their beaches, 
 these Japanese wrecks had very likely once been near the 
 American shores. 
 
 I will here mention two dismasted vessels met at sea, 
 which were furnished me by the kindness of Mr. Brooks, 
 but I have been unable to ascertain the authorities from 
 which he derived them. 
 
 "In 1848, Capt. Cox, of New London, Conn., picked up 
 15 or 20 Japanese, from a disabled junk, in lat. 40^ N., 
 Ion. 170° W. He kept them on board during a cruise in 
 the Okotsk sea and finally landed them at Lahaina." 
 
 "In 1855, Capt. Brooks, of Brig Leverett, picked up an 
 abandoned junk in lat. 42° N., Ion. 170° W." Both these 
 are about in the longitude of Alaska, and south of the 
 Aleutian Islands." 
 
 If I had time and opportunity, I have no doubt I might 
 greatly extend this list. These cases have been gathered 
 in the course of a few weeks, mainly by inquiry among my 
 personal friends and amidst the prosecution of an active 
 business. The further I extended my enquiries the greater 
 results I obtained, and I am convinced that a much lai'ger 
 number of cast-aways will eventually come to our knowl- 
 edge, besides the many which have perished from exjiosure, 
 or died in captivity among the savages. 
 
 Many wrecked junks have also been fouud on the islnads 
 nearer to Japan, but as they are foreign to my jiurposo, I 
 deem them only worthy of general mention, as increasing 
 he sum of probabilities. Perry found them on the Bonin 
 Islands. See Hawkes's account of Perry's Exped., Vol. I., 
 p. 199. Brooks mentions them among the islands between 
 
19 
 
 the Hawaiian Group and Japan. Many others have found 
 such wrecks among the islands further west, nearer Japan. 
 
 I have been told also that there is one near Petropauloski 
 in Kamtschatka, and one on Kauai, the uortheimmost of the 
 Hawaiian Islands, but I am unable to find proper authority 
 foi' them. 
 
 The number of cast-away Japanese who have been picked 
 up at sea, and brought into San Francisco and Honolulu, is 
 also considerable, taken from a score or more of vessels, but 
 I have been luiable to obtain any correct data of their posit 
 tions at the time of rescue, which alone would render them 
 valuable for my purpose. Besides, many of them, perhaps 
 all, were picked up very far to the westward of America. 
 For example, during 1871, two crews were brought into 
 San Francisco. On Feb. 2, lat. 23° 45' N., Ion. 141° 
 31' East, the ship Annie M. Small took four men from a 
 wreck; and on May 23, lat. 34= 54 N., Ion. 143= 32 East, 
 the steamship China rescued five men. 
 
 In this connection it is worth}- of mention that when the 
 Japanese Government adopted the policy of non-inter- 
 course, about 200 years ago, they not only forbade their 
 vessels to trade with foreign ports, but they altered by law 
 the construction of their junks, rendering them unfit for 
 anything but coasting voyages. By piescribing an open 
 stern and a huge rudder like our river steamboat rudders, 
 they made their vessels very liable to a loss of the rudder, 
 which must be speedily followed by cutting away the masts, 
 and then the junk was helpless. A look at the preceding 
 list of disasters will show how often this took place. 01 
 course thus confining them near the shore would very nuich 
 lessen the chances of their falling into the course of the 
 
20 
 
 Great Ocean Currents, which would sweep them away to 
 America. Those hiws have now been abrogated ; au ac- 
 count of them may be found in Perry's Expedition. 
 
 The evidences of any local influences resulting from a 
 contact with the Asiatic nations are very slight, and all 
 that has come under my knowledge in this search can be 
 stated in few words. Of the Aleuts, Davidson says, in 
 Alaska Coast Pilot, p. f>2, "The Aleuts are very distinct 
 in their looks, manners, language and customs, from all the 
 other Indians of the northwest, and many of them Ijear a 
 close resemblance to the less marked of the Japanese, so 
 much so that the question at once arises whether this people 
 has not been derived from cast-away or shipwrecked inhab- 
 itants of Japan, carried thither by the Kamtschatka branch 
 of the great Japanese stream ; but it is not our province 
 to investigate the problem in this place." 
 
 An agent of the Alaska Commercial Company, -who 
 brought down the three Japanese from Atka on the 
 "Hutchinson," said they had no diificulty in making their 
 wants known to the Aleuts, for they had many words in 
 common. This gentleman had resided long at the north- 
 west, and spoke the Aleutian langunge. 
 
 Wilkes also noticed among some of the tribes of Indians 
 he visited on the Straits of Fuca, the presence of some 
 simple acts resembling the Chinese, such as a style of 
 weaving rush mats, the conical hats, &c., and he speaks of 
 the presence of tiie "oblique" eye among the coast tribes 
 only, and a variety of complexions in certain localities, as 
 suggesting a kinship to the Asiatic nations. I may add, 
 however, that in San Francisco, where house-servants, both 
 of Chinese and Indian extraction, are common, it is often 
 
21 
 
 very puzzling to detect their nationality, when dressed in 
 European style. I have often been deceived myself. But 
 these questions, as well as that of a similarity in language, 
 are out of the range of my knowledge and foi'eign to my 
 purpose. 
 
 To sum up then the sure results obtained, we have in the 
 ninety years, from 1781 to 1871, nine junks, either stranded 
 on our shores or drifted to their immediate neighborhood, 
 and one at Oahu — and in every case where we have a 
 record of the wreck a part of the crew saved alive, and 
 this too at a period when the Japanese commercial regida- 
 tions were most unfavorable to such voyages as brought 
 their vessels within the influence of the Great Stream which 
 could bear them to our shores. Recapitulating the list 
 with approximate dates, we have, in 
 
 ISi:-, Junk boai-ded at Sea, lat. 32= 45 N., Ion. 106° 57' W. 
 1813, " " about 49° " 131°. 
 
 1820, " stranded on Point Adams. 
 1833, " " CajjB Flattery. 
 
 1805, '' " near Sitka. 
 
 1782, " " on an Aleutian Island. 
 
 1862, " " " Attou 
 
 1871, " " " Adakh " 
 
 1832, " " " Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. 
 
 Date unknown, wreck on San Benito Island. 
 Date unknown, several wi-ecks of junks on Midway and Ocean 
 Islands, and Group between tliere and Oaliu. 
 
 So much has come to our knowledge unquestionably, 
 without counting the other cases which rest upon rumor. 
 There is still remaining a possibility of more, whose crews 
 have perished among the savages, or been absorbed. It is 
 au interesting inquiry whether before the daj's of Japanese 
 
22 
 
 exclusiveuess there may not, with fi-eer navigation and 
 stronger vessels, have been many more. And as Japanese 
 History is opened to our study, it will be a curious question 
 whether some crew may not have returned home with the 
 tidings of a new world far across the Ocean. However 
 this may be, these facts are very interesting to illustrate 
 the possil)le course of migration, and any anomalies 
 observed among the northwest coast Indians may possibly 
 receive some light from the likelihood of an infusion of 
 Japanese blood. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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