APPENDIX 
DECEMBER 26, 1922. 
Mr. Water M. McFartanpb, PRESIDENT, 
The Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers, 
29 West 39th Street, New York. 
DEAR SIR: 
I beg to submit the following report on the presentation of the greetings to our sister 
society in Japan on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary, occurring’ this autumn. 
I cannot speak too highly of the keen insight on the part of our officers that prompted 
this procedure because, in my judgment, it has more than fulfilled their most sanguine hopes. 
It has turned out to be a means of cementing the friendly relationship not only between 
two very important bodies of active workers, but also between the nations themselves. 
It was certainly a great honor that was conferred upon me in being permitted to be 
the bearer of these greetings, consisting of an engrossed sheepskin under the great seal of 
the Society. The occasion of their twenty-fifth anniversary proved to be unique. 
It was found upon arrival in Japan that the Naval Architects and the Imperial Japanese 
Navy had very close relations, as none other than Vice-Admiral Baron M. Kondo, who is 
President of the Society, is in charge of the official model basin of the Navy, located in 
Tokyo. The naval authorities, as well as the Society itself, were full of appreciation of the 
thoughtfulness of the sister society in America in sending these greetings, and for no other 
purpose than to allow them to be presented by me personally, although I assured them this 
was unnecessary, the meeting was advanced so as to occur prior to the date of my departure 
from Japan. 
The ceremonies were held in the auditorium, which constitutes a diminutive opera house 
included in the labyrinths of the new Imperial Hotel at Tokyo. The occasion was a very 
formal one, inasmuch as the various departments of the government were represented in full 
dress regalia, and each, as called upon, read a document of greetings and congratulations to 
the Society on the successful completion of its first quarter century. 
The activities of the Society appeared to be of an extremely high order of importance 
and the group is one of the most active engineering bodies in Japan, consisting of very 
capable and high class naval architects, constructors, engineers and ship operators. All 
branches of shipbuilding and ship operation are apparently represented by their most 
active men. 
In preparing for my little address I came upon a fact that was rather startling to me, 
which afterward received very full corroboration from the authorities at the Tokyo Imperial 
University as well as some of the old students of ships and shipping in the Navy Depart- 
ment; that is, that the Japanese were probably the first to go down to the sea in ships and 
become masters of this most noble and ancient of all the engineering arts. Records would 
seem to indicate that somewhere between 500 and 1,000 years prior to the activities of the 
Phoenicians, the Japanese were building seaworthy ships and were masters of the dual art 
of shipbuilding and navigation, because at this early date they were familiar with the adja- 
cent coasts of the continent of Asia. And nothing is more logical than that this should be 
