150 



EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



It was found that the Mississippi, with the aid of topsails, although she had the Supply in 

 tow, rapidly gained upon the Susquehanna ; accordingly a foretopsail was set upon the latter, 

 the good effect of which was soon shown, by "her leaving her competitor so far astern that it was 

 necessary to wait until the Mississippi could come up again. The Susquehanna's engines were 

 only worked at half speed with the consumption, to which she was restricted, of one ton of coal 

 per hour, hut notwithstanding, with the aid of the regular breeze of the monsoon, she succeeded 

 in making seven and a lialf knots an hour. As the course was southerly, the weather became 

 every moment warmer, and the sea was as smooth as a lake. During the passage the crew were 

 regularly called to quarters and exercised in all the usual manoeuvres necessary for preparation 

 for action, and on the morning of the 25th of May, after quarters, general orders 11 and 12 were 

 read ; the former related to the discipline to be observed on board ship during the visit to the 

 Lew Chew Islands, and the latter enjoined the necessity of keeping uj) the most friendly relations 

 with the Japanese inhabitants wherever found, and also stated that the expedition was ordered 

 to use all possible friendly means, and not to resort to force but from the sternest necessity. In 

 the evening the signal of land in sight was made by the Mississippi, and subsequently was 

 reported by the man at the fore-topmast head of the Susquehanna. During the night the steamers 

 were kept at slow speed, standing off and on ; the Supply had been previously cast off from the 

 Mississippi, and left to make her own way under sail. At half-past seven o'clock in the morning 

 of May 26th the land was again made at a distance of nearly twenty miles, and as the steamers 

 moved on, it was distinctly descried as a long island elevated gradually from the sea to a cliff at 

 its northern extremity, and with a steep headland at the south. Beyond the island, which was 

 passed, and its green foliage distinctly seen, was other land to which the Susquehanna was now 

 headed, followed closely by the Mississippi, while the Supply was quite out of sight. Kapha 

 was reached in the evening, and entered in company with the Saratoga, from Macao, which ship 

 the steamers had fallen in with off the harbor. It is due to Lieutenant Bent, an officer on 

 board the Mississippi, to acknowledge that the Commodore availed himself of that gentleman's 

 former experiences in a visit in the Preble to pilot the ships as they entered Napha. 



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