NAVY, UNITED STATICS. 



527 



from that Mari'l, i<> the shores of Greece, the 

 women and children rendered hoiiM-lcs-i and 

 iti- by the results of the insurrection 

 again-! the Turkish authorities, K'-ar-Admiral 

 lioroiinh, in conformity with instructions 

 from the Navy I )cpartmcni, declined t > act in 

 the matter without the consent of the Turkish 

 iiiiiciit. Captain Strong, however, in 

 command of the Canandaigtia, was di>|)atclicd 

 .-. ith in-tructioiis from Rear-Admiral 

 (ioliNboroiigh to ask permission from the chief 

 authority of the island to receive on board and 

 00 as many (Jreck women and 

 children as his vessel could accommodate ; hut 

 in an interview with Omer Pacha, to whom 

 Captain Strong communicated his instructions, 

 tin- permission was refused. Subsequently, on 

 the 'JiJth of July, Admiral Farragut dispatched 

 the Swatara, Commander Jeffers, to Crete, on 

 the same errand. His report confirms the 

 representations of Captain Strong, of the 

 Canandaigua, urging that whatever may have, 

 Iven American sympathies, they could take no 

 active measures with the insurrectionists with- 

 out injustice to the Turkish Government, which 

 had respected the national integrity and refused 

 recognition of the Confederates when other 

 nations gave them countenance. 



The Asiatic squadron is still under the com- 

 mand of Roar-Admiral II. II. Bell, and consists 

 at present of the following vessels : 



Gun*. 



Hartford (flag-ship) 21 



Shi-iiiimloah 7 



Oneida 8 



it 9 



Wyoming 6 



Iroquols 6 



Oun>. 



A shin-lot 10 



Momwacy 10 



Aroostook 5 



I'liaililla 5 



Oiiw.inl 8 



Supply 



The Piscataqua, a new steam-frigate, has 

 been sent to relieve the Hartford, and carry out 

 Kear-Admiral S. C. Rowan as the successor of 

 Rear-Admiral Boll. The Oneida, Iroquois, 

 Aroostook, Unadilla, and Onward have been 

 added to the squadron during the year, and 

 recently the Maumee and Idaho ; the latter to 

 be stationed at Naugasaki, and used principally 

 a< a hospital and store-^hip. The Wachnsett, 

 Wyoming, Onward, and Supply have been 

 ordered to return to the United States. 



The Japanese Government having requested 

 an interview with the foreign ministers resi- 

 dent at Yokohama, with reference to opening 

 an additional port to foreign trade, on the 

 we-tcrn coast, of Japan, Mr. Van Valken- 

 burgh, the United States minister, determined 

 to attend the conference. Rear- Admiral Bell, 

 desirous of making a suitable naval display on 

 an occasion so unusual in the history of that 

 tr people, and of promoting commerce in 

 the Ivist, which had sutl'crcd materially in con- 

 uce of the late civil war, assembled at 

 Yokohama, in April, the Hartford, Shenandoah, 

 and Wyoming, to eon\oy the minister to Osaka, 

 the country residence of the Tycoon, where 

 the two latter vessels arrived May 1st. and were 

 shortly after joined by the Hartford, which 

 ha 1 been temporarily disabled. Mr. Van Val- 



keilburgh was landed and received with the 

 usual honors. After tin- cont.-renc,-. |,, 5 Hailed 

 from Yokohama in the Shcnandoah, .Inn. 

 to select ii port most suitable for commercial 

 purposes. II.- vi-itcd several ports w heru no for- 

 eign mi ni-tcr or war- vessel had ever been known 

 to .-lit.-r, and i-\p--ri-ni-ed marked honors and 

 politem-s In.in the governors and officials ; hu 

 arrived, -Itily 20th, at Miyad>u, tip- most beau- 

 tiful of all the bays visited. Commodore 

 (ioldsborough and his officers made surveys of 

 most of these harbors, and prepared sailing 

 directions to enter them. 



The Wachusett, Commander R. W. Shufeldf. 

 was dispatched by Rear- Admiral Bell, in Janu- 

 ary, to investigate the case of the American 

 schooner, General Sherman, wre< ked in the 

 Ping Yang River, in Corea, in I860, and all of 

 her officers, crew, and passengers murdered ; 

 but no satisfaction could be obtained from the 

 king. The authorities and people of Corea 

 aim to exclude strangers and render navigation 

 dangerous in these and adjacent waters. Pira- 

 cies in this neighborhood have, however, been 

 less frequent than usual during the current 

 year. 



Early in the year information was received 

 by the squadron of the wreck of the American 

 bark Rover, on the southeast end of the island 

 of Formosa, and the probable murder of all on 

 board. Commander Febiger, of the Ashuelot, 

 was sent to Tai-wau-Foo in April, to demand 

 an investigation of the crime, the punishment 

 of the offenders, and the recovery of any of the 

 crew who might have survived. The princi- 

 pal authorities of the island expressed a willing- 

 ness to comply with these requirements, but 

 claimed that the perpetrators were a horde of 

 savages not under their control, who could not 

 be brought to justice by them. Upon the re- 

 turn of the Ashuelot, Rear-Admiral Bell went 

 out with the Hartford and Wyoming, and on 

 June 13th landed one hundred and eighty-one 

 officers, sailors, and marines, under Command- 

 er George C. Belknap, of the Hartford. This 

 force pursued the savages a short distance into 

 the interior, but nothing effectual was accom- 

 plished, beyond the burning of a number of the 

 native huts. Lieutenant-Commander Alexan- 

 der S. Mackenzie, the second officer in com- 

 mand, was killed while daringly leading a 

 charge into one of the numerous ambuscades 

 encountered on the march. 



The Shenaudoah stopped at Calcutta on her 

 way to join the squadron. Her appearance 

 created some sensation, as no American man- 

 of-war had visited that port in twenty-five 

 years. She left Calcutta December 18th, and, 

 touching at Penang, arrived at Singapore on 

 the 31st. Thence she proceeded to Bankok, in 

 Siani, and the French settlement Saigon, in 

 Cochin China. At Bankok she was well re- 

 ceived by the king and his ministers. 



The Monocacy, Commander Carter, was sent 

 to investigate the circumstances attending the 

 destruction of the residence of the American 



