Note 410 — Chapter XII

In January 1861, I sold to the Prince of Satsuma one of my auxiliary steam-ships, the England, which had been employed in trade between India and China, and had made one or two voyages to Japan, soon after the ports of that country were opened to the vessels of foreign nations. Captain A. D. Dundas, R.N., who commanded her, and was a part owner with me of this ship and of a sister-ship, the Scotland, which afterwards became the property of the same prince, informs me he is under the impression, that the England was “the first foreign vessel purchased in Japan, except by the Government proper.” If so, her sale may be considered the introduction of the thin edge of the wedge which has rapidly led to a very general introduction of foreign bottoms. As an instance of the remarkable skill and ingenuity of the Japanese, they made new boilers of copper for this ship, within twelve months of the time when she came into their possession (I believe they had never before seen a boiler), but I am uncertain whether these boilers were ever fitted into the ship. If they were, I fear the small pieces of copper of which they were made (Japanese mechanical knowledge not having as yet learnt the art of constructing plates of the necessary size) would render them useless. The England was seized and scuttled by the British fleet in August 1863, at the time of the bombardment of Kagosima, and, having been sunk in very deep water, was never raised. The Scotland was still in the service of the Japanese in 1870.