48 THE ' PHAETON.' [1845, 



ships, with orders to * sink, burn, and destroy.' On her 

 being boarded by the Japanese officers, accompanied by 

 two of the Dutch factory, an accidental rencontre took 

 place, and the gentlemen from Desima were detained for 

 a short time as prisoners of war. Notwithstanding this, 

 the governor of Nangasaki obeyed the requisitions, and 

 furnished the ship with all needed supplies. Opposite 

 accounts are given of the effect of these proceedings of 

 Captain Pellew ; one, that everything was yielded at his 

 requisitions, the other, that preparations were in pro- 

 gress, which would have cut off the frigate, had she not 

 hastily put to sea. According to the Dutch version, this 

 unfortunate expedition had no results, but to prejudice 

 the British name, and to compel the governor of Nanga- 

 saki to the last resort of an implicated or unfortunate 

 Japanese officer, viz., to commit suicide. The English 

 statement, on the other hand, relieves Capt. Pellew of all 

 blame, and throws on the malicious disclosures of the 

 Dutch, who had been requested to report the ' Phaeton ' 

 as an Indiaman, the whole responsibility for the conse- 

 quences, whatever they may have been, of their disclosure 

 that the strange vessel was a ship of war.* In 1811, a 

 British armament, from Bengal, took possession of the 

 Java Islands, and in 1813 two ships were despatched by 

 the Lieut. Governor, Sir T. S. Raffles, to renew the com- 

 muncations with Japan. The cargoes of these ships 

 consisted of sugar, tin, spices, woollens, chintzes, &c., 

 amounting to 298,000 dollars. The returns, including 

 debts paid in Japan, and goods left unsold there, 



" * Vide Quart. Rev. no. 112, and U. Service Journ. for Mar. 1836. 



