Pirates and Samurai

Finding a Pirate Ship Thursday 20th April 2017, 8:04 pm, I googled ‘mutiny 1829’ and there she was on the screen. I instantly knew it was her. One of those moments of disbelief at your own utter certainty tinged with annoyance that a hunt started two and a half years before had been solved by a search that any 9-year-old worth their salt would have made. Her name was the Cyprus, a shallow draft brig (two-masted square-rigged ship) and her true story more exciting than any Jonny Depp film.

I had first come across the old ink and watercolour drawings chronicling the 1830 arrival of a foreign ship off Mugi Cove, Tokushima Prefecture while purchasing an old fisherman’s cottage in the area in June 2014. I had always been interested in obscure local histories and tried googling ‘foreign ship Tokushima’ in Japanese. I clicked on the top result and there on the screen were four ink and watercolour drawings: a nameless brig under British ensign; a crew member; a page of curiosities including a pipe, a bucket and some hats; and a map showing she had moored less than 900m from the back garden of my new holiday home.

Some six months later I finally made my way to the Tokushima Prefectural Archive and found that there was a 5th image, the odd one out, that the archivists had not bothered to put up on the website. It was of a red coat and epaulet. Impressed with the detail on the cuffs, I photographed it before hearing a brief description of the illegible hand-written account from Tani-san, one of the volunteer archivists. The manuscript, titled An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship, was written in meticulous detail by a low-ranking samurai artist, Hamaguchi Makita. It was obviously a fascinating window into the Edo period recorded as Hokusai carved the wood blocks for his Great Wave. There was also a second much shorter manuscript entitled A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi Cove. Tani-san, it turned out, was member of the Tokushima Old Manuscript Reading Group and had edited an annotated transcription of legible but still barely comprehensible versions. I took a copy home to translate and two and half years later with a slightly desperate last-ditch two-word Google search, ‘mutiny 1829’, I had solved an almost 200-year-old mystery of the ship’s name and her history, and quickly discovered that there were two books, an academic paper questioning the captain’s claim of having reached Japan, numerous webpages, articles and chapters, as well as a poem and folk ballad all written in English about this amazing escape.

Mutiny and Piracy on the Brig Cyprus The brig Cyprus was purchased by the colonial government of Tasmania, then Van Diemen’s Land, in 1826 to convey convicts and supplies to prisons around the island. Van Diemen’s Land was then a British colony and had been settled as a penal colony for transported convicts since 1803. The brig was 70 feet 6 inches (21.8m) long 20 feet (6.1m) wide and had a yellow streak down each side and

1 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

her hull was sheathed in copper.

Brig Cyprus shown in part of Hobart Harbour, 1825 A. Earle, courtesy of the Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales.

On 14th August, winter, 1829, after departing Hobart, she had met with a storm and taken shelter in the uninhabited Recherche Bay. All the prisoners on board had reoffended in Van Diemen’s Land and were heading for Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, also known as the Hell’s Gates and considered the worst place of punishment in the British Empire. A Victorian historian later described it as a place of ‘inexpressible depravity, degradation and woe’.

Notice on Sturminster Newton Bridge, U.K., 2004 J. Dunckley, courtesy of Creative Commons.

The Horrors of Transportation, c.1849 J. Platt, courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.

In the late afternoon, the lieutenant in charge of the military guard of the West Suffolk 63rd Foot went out in the jolly boat fishing in the calm of the bay. While he was away the prisoners, some in irons,

2 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

were being let up on deck five at a time to exercise. Some of them simply overpowered the three guards on duty, freed the other prisoners, blocked the narrow hatchway to prevent the other soldiers from coming up on deck, grabbed weapons and took control of the ship. Of the 63 prisoners, guards, crew, and accompanying family on board, 45 of them were put ashore on the beach 70km from Hobart with limited supplies.

West Suffolk 63rd Foot

redcoat shown in part of the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1897 by H. Pyle, presumed stolen.

The Making of the Coracle, 1829 by W. B. Gould, courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.

Of the 33 prisoners destined for Macquarie, 18 took the Cyprus, her cargo of supplies for the penal station and the personal effects of all on board. Later, all but one of the prisoners who stayed behind on the beach had their Macquarie Harbour Penal Station sentences revoked for not escaping and assisting the lieutenant and ship’s captain. William Swallow (a nom de guerre, his real name was William Walker) claiming to have played little active role in the mutiny was later to be celebrated in an Australian folk ballad that includes the following verse:

...The Morn broke bright the Wind was fair, we headed for the sea With one more cheer for those on shore and glorious liberty. For Navigating smartly Bill Swallow was the man, Who laid a course out neatly to take us to Japan...

Swallow could read and write and had served an apprenticeship on a collier in the North Sea. He had been pressed to serve in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. After being discharged he was unable to find work and had turned to thieving. He also had a history of daring escapes having once stuffed his shirt with cork and jumped overboard from another ship.

3 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

Map data ©2017 Google To keep the Cyprus away from other shipping, Swallow set a course for New Zealand and sailed between the North Island and the South Island where they stocked up with water. Next, probably influenced by the story of the mutiny on the Bounty, they laid a course for Tahiti. But on August 25th, while being driven off course by a storm, a man was lost overboard and they landed on Chatham Island where they stole from a Moriori village and some sealers.

When they finally neared Tahiti, the seasonal winds were against them and the sails in poor repair so they ended up sailing back westward to one of the Friendly Islands (Tonga) that the pirates called ‘Nowey’, probably Niuatoputapu. Here they stayed until mid-November when there was a disagreement and only 10 of the remaining 17 headed for Japan. There, the ship was damaged by a cannonball. After that, they headed past Formosa (Taiwan) where they scuttled the ship and headed for Canton, China: two men in the jolly boat, 4 on a Chinese ship, and 4 in the long boat, the stern lettering of which had been changed to ‘the Edward’. In Canton, Swallow claimed that they were shipwreck victims and that while in Japanese waters ‘being in want of Provisions and water’ were ‘fired at by two batteries and 16 Boats, and one shot struck the vessel between wind and water’. Although viewed with suspicion by the authorities three of the crew of ten managed to board a ship to Mexico and were never heard of again, four of them returned to London and were later arrested, one was sent back to London and the remaining two were caught and eventually transported again.

4 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

In London, the story of the mutiny and the arrest of the five captured the public’s imagination. All but Swallow were sentenced to death. Though he would later be sentenced to death for illegally returning to England, he was found not guilty of piracy. Later, three including Swallow had their sentences commuted to transportation for life. The remaining, two men were the last to be executed for piracy in England. Thanks to the intense public interest, the trial was well reported in The Times of London on the 14th of September 1830 ‘The story told by three of the prisoners, of being fired at by the Japanese, is probably correct...'

Swallow’s account from the trial was reported on 18th of October 1830. ‘Running some distance up the coast of Japan, he anchored in a convenient bay. A boat came from the shore with a Mandarin or person of authority, and desired to know what brought them there, and desired him to give in writing what he wanted, which he did in English, and said they were in want of wood and water, and would give anything in the vessel in exchange. At that time they were in great distress. They had been cruising about nearly five months; all the sails were split, and there was no canvas to mend them. In four hours the letter was returned, with the seal broke, and they were told to be off by sunset, or they would be fired upon, a large ball was shown them as earnest of the intention of the natives. At that time it was a dead calm, and it continued so until after sunset, and they could not get away. The Japanese, to frighten them, then opened a fire from the batteries with musketoons. They made every attempt to get away, but could not, and the Japanese fired upon them from the guns of the batteries. One shot knocked the spyglass out of his hand, and another struck the vessel under the counter [part of the stern] betwixt wind and water. At 10 o’clock a breeze sprung up from oft the land, which enabled them to depart and make sail from the shore, and the Japanese ceased firing.’

The Samurai’s Curious Encounter with a Foreign Ship off Mugi Cove The key events of Swallow’s account appear to match those recorded in detail by the samurai chronicler Hamaguchi Makita in his Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship. He was a low-ranking samurai who worked as an artist under the pseudonym Hamaguchi Gyoboku. Hamaguchi’s account can be divided into his eyewitness accounts and what was reported to him by others.

5 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

Map data ©2017 Google ‘The foreign ship first appeared 50km off None, Tosa no Kuni [Kochi Prefecture] on the 11th day of the 12th month of the 12th year of the Emperor Bunsei.’ [The old Japanese calendar was lunar and this was the 5th of January 1830 on the European Gregorian calendar.] The next day, the 6th of January, she was 12~16km off the village of None. After dawn on the 7th, on the land standards were raised, gongs and drums were beaten, conch horns were sounded, and beacons were lit. Around 8 o’clock in the morning the ship was seen to be sailing south toward Muroto Misaki Cape. Around 10 o’clock that morning she dropped anchor 500m off Murotsu Harbour where apparently, six men of a nine-man crew made three attempts to land in a small boat but were each time driven off with musketoon fire. After asking for grain, water and firewood and being repelled for a second time, one man was seen crying and praying in desperation as officials waved them away. They were given water and about 100kg of rice provided by a local merchant. The skipper was reported as looking about 50 and they were described as ‘handsome looking like the “Dutchmen” [Europeans] in the paintings’. On the 8th around 7 o’clock in the morning they sailed away from the port heading north west toward Tano. In the late afternoon, they were sighted further up the coast 8km off Yasuda and Aki. On the 9th in the late afternoon they received water from a fishing boat while heading west toward Ashizuri. On the 10th there were big waves and strong winds and the local coastal overseer could not keep track of them.

At around 9 o’clock on the morning of the 14th, the foreign ship was again sighted off the small town of Hiwasa, Awa Koku [Minami, Tokushima Prefecture]. An official sent word to Tokushima Castle and a local samurai clan chief. Soldiers and local men were deployed at a dozen or so locations up and

6 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

down a 40km stretch of coast. With over 320 musketoons and 60 cannons between them, each group numbered between 10 and 40 men and was made up of clan foot soldiers (musketeers), and ronin samurai, hunters and fishermen from the villages. The barbarian ship drifted down the coast past Oshima Island to Mugi Cove, about 2km off which she dropped anchor at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Gongs and drums were beaten, conch horns were sounded, beacons were lit and blanks were fired. Meanwhile, word had arrived at Tokushima Castle at around 7 o’clock and a gathering of the samurai commanders and clan chiefs was convened. On the 15th before 7 o’clock in the morning a vanguard of vassal clansmen was dispatched and before 9 o’clock the main force including our chronicler, Hamaguchi departed. Part of this force went by road to Nishi Yuki Cove and then on by sea, and at around 7 o’clock that evening arrived in Hiwasa where the ship had been sighted from the day before.

Once there, Commander Yamauchi, Hamaguchi and some other samurai and fishermen continued on in rowing boats to Mugi 24km to the south. On their way to Mugi, they would have passed within a kilometre of the barbarian ship and Hamaguchi writes that he saw her in the murky light of the half- moon. They arrived in Mugi at around 1 o’clock on the morning of 16th. From there a two-pounder (6.5cm cannon) was delivered by rowing boat to Tebajima Island. At the West Mugi Fish Exchange, Commander Yamauchi asks those gathered for any details about the ship. Mima, a local samurai commander said,

‘I’ve been suspicious of that ship since it arrived yesterday afternoon. The colour seems to have changed. Through my spyglass, I can see a floor halfway up the mast where one climbs up to look out. And the men on the ship, they do not look hungry at all. In fact, they seem to be mocking us by diving off the stern and climbing back up. It is strange that since yesterday Sawaro and everyone who gets closer to the barbarian ship returns feeling pity for them. I am certain this is Christians artfulness. [Deleted as in original manuscript.] The ship does not appear to be drifting at all. I think they are pirates. We should crush them!’

In the second shorter manuscript, A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi Cove, the chronicler Hirota reports contact on the water half way between Hiwasa and Mugi the previous afternoon. A local farmer, Harada, had gone out with a companion in rowing boat to confirm that the barbarian ship was the same one as before in Tosa no Kuni [Kochi Prefecture]. Harada stated ‘The foreigner then tossed some things down into our boat: something shaped like this, (see illustration)

7 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

From A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi Cove by Hirota, 1830, copy courtesy of Mugi Board of Education. and what we took to be a small bell of gold and fine workmanship. Also, they held up an 18cm-square icon of woman in a black frame fitted with glass, pointed to it and spoke gibberish but we understood not one word.’ ‘... we returned each item.’

Harada reports encountering another group lead by a samurai called Sawaro out on the water. Sawaro’s contact with the foreign ship was reported by Hamaguchi. He was a lower ranking samurai [the relative rank of a samurai was equivalent to the rice yield attributed to their land which was listed on their family register records]. He had taken his musket and headed out in a fishing boat to see the barbarian ship for himself. ‘The barbarians came to the front of the boat. They beckoned and as we got closer they produced a bucket and asked for water and then showed us some firewood. We gave them what little we had then one of the “Dutchmen” [Europeans]offered a picture of a woman, something in a twist of paper that he indicated to be gunpowder by pointing at my musket, and what appeared to be a gold coated bell. An object so beautiful that I could not contain my desire to hold it .’ ‘We did not accept any of them but as I was returning the bell, it fell into the ocean and the “Dutchman” became most angry so we paddled off quickly.’

Sawaro’s account continues, ‘We didn’t see any firearms but they have put up a curtain along one side of the ship and we do not know what is going on behind it.’ Commander Yamauchi and Commander Mima discussed and agreed to the preparations to repulse the barbarian ship. Commander Yamauchi decided, ‘Take a large lead ball out to the ship and tell them that if they don’t leave immediately, we will fire on them and reduce them to matchwood!’ Dawn had broken while they were still discussing what was to be done. On the morning of the 16th, Commander Yamauchi orders Hamaguchi, ‘Disguise yourself as a fisherman, get close to the barbarian ship, and draw me a detailed picture of anything that looks like a weapon.’ Four other samurai volunteered to go with him. ‘We hid our swords under a cover and dressed like the fisherfolk tying hand-towels around our heads. As we approached

8 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

the barbarian ship the dog wagged its tail and whined at us. Its face looks like my illustration. It did not look like food. It looked like a pet. Some barbarians were painting the outside of the ship with tar, one was climbing the mast and another was mending the sail. Each of them was involved in some task. All of them stopped work and looked at us. At first, we kept our distance at about 50m, but they waved to us to come closer and did not seem to be hostile so we rowed over to get a better look.’

From An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship, by Hamaguchi, 1830. Courtesy of Tokushima Prefectural Archive. ‘The ship was about 18m in length, about 7m wide and about 3m high with a 60cm-wide red-tar stripe along her sides. The stern crests and parts that glinted are all sheathed in copper. (The polishing off of the green copper rust probably accounted for the apparent “change” in colour. The appearance of a “curtain” was caused by the tar running down the side of the ship.) The bow, 2.4m x 60cm, is shaped like a fresh bracken sprout.’ ‘Lower down there were European letters, two at a time, made of brass and hammered into the hull. On the stern, there were chrysanthemum crests and 2 windows that could be opened on each side. They seemed to be the only possible firing positions.’ ‘There was nothing suspicious looking along either side. Along the red stripe, there were small holes [scuppers] through which we could peer in. On doing so, we saw a stove and cooking pot under cover of a tarred roof and a locker with preserved meat hanging therein. There was a smaller boat loaded at the front of the ship. It was painted blue with a red stripe. All the decks were made of wood. I know not what was below, but there was not one weapon in sight.’ ‘The rudder 90cm x 30cm was very narrow, all sheathed in cooper and attached with butterfly hinges.

9 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

It looked as if it could only be moved from left to right. As in my illustration, there were poles sticking out over both corners of the stern. (Those who knew of these “Dutch” [European] ships were of the opinion that these strange stern poles were for lowering the small boat.) There was no damage on the outside. She sat lightly in the water. Her draft was extremely shallow, just 90cm, like an empty ship.’ ‘The fore and aft masts were made of 3 sections held together with metal rings. (The “Dutch” ships had three-section masts too and in strong winds their sails come down. This ship’s sails were always the same and could be raised and lowered freely at will.) The masts were painted white but the paint was peeling in places. The foremast was about 18m high and the main mast about 20m. Atop the main mast, there was a magnetic needle about 60cm long [Hamaguchi appears to have thought the wind vane was a compass]. As in my illustration, from the square flange near the top, the edge of the sail was attached with rope to its buntlines and all of the blocks were part of the contrivance. Next there was a floor 90cm x 120cm. There were rope ladders down that looked like a Go board [the ancient Chinese game]. From up there they could look out or go out on the yards, etc.’ ‘On the bow of the ship there was 2.4m bowsprit. The main mast boom stuck out 3m over the stern and could be lowered or raised. There was a banner stitched to a pole off the stern rail. Unlike our ships, it was not spread out by hanging it from a cross piece and when there was no wind, it just hung limp hiding their clan’s crest. When the wind blew, it would flutter and become visible. The sails were of thick cotton with indigo lettering but it was too faded to make out. The yards did not lower, and the sails were furled and tied to them. Both clews of each sail had ropes attached and with the yards and spars were set according to the wind. It appeared that the sideways facing bow sail and the square facing stern sails could be trimmed to catch the wind as desired. There was an unbearable stench in the vicinity of the ship.’

‘All of the men were wearing hats: most of leather, but one of wound red cotton cloth and another like a thatched farmer’s hat. Their clothes had tubular sleeves. They were all wearing 2 to 3 buttoned-layers of tightly-woven wool fabric and long underwear made of leather. They lined the side of the boat and with both hands open indicated that they were 10 in number. Like the face in my illustration, they all had long pointed noses. Their eyes were big and blue and their eyebrows red. Their hair was red, about 9cm long and curly. Their beards were dark red. The pitch of their voices was mid-range.’

‘When signaled one man brought out a bucket like the one in my illustration and saying “Pésu! Pésu!” [Pronounced ‘pace’ and possibly they heard ‘Peace!’]. pointing to his mouth, rubbing his chest. They exchanged words amongst themselves like birds twittering. One of them brought out some firewood and requested we provide it. We refused by waving our hands and gave them a little water.’

10 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

From An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship, by Hamaguchi, 1830. Courtesy of Tokushima Prefectural Archive. ‘The skipper, who looked about 50 (the others all looked more like 25 or 26), was wearing a black fur hat with tightly woven wool fabric hanging down at the back. He appeared to be giving instructions to the crew. When we removed the hand towels from our heads, to the man they, in accordance with what appeared to be some mark of respect, removed their hats. Most of them revealing balding heads. The skipper, he was holding a small knife and a length of rope-like dark red tobacco from which he cut a length kneaded it in the palm of his hand, placed it in a suspicious looking object, sucked and then breathed out smoke.’

Hamaguchi then describes smoking, related paraphernalia (they were using the stems of feathers as pipe stems) and the origin of tobacco. Referring to The Red Haired Discourses [1787, Morishima Chūryō] he writes it was brought to Europe by a gentleman called Johannes Newt from some small island off the North American coast.

‘Then they pulled up a piece of white meat on a string that had been floating off the bow. It looked like food. One of them grabbed a piglet by the scruff, held it against the side of the boat and, while pointing to the land, said “Peké! Peké!” [Pronounced like ‘peck’ and ‘aye’ together, possibly they heard ‘Piggy!’ in a regional British accent]. We wondered if they were asking for more piglets or telling us it was food. He tossed it back into the bilge of the ship from where, from the noise, we judged there to be a number of the animals. Another man stuck a forked metal chopstick into some of this meat that appeared to have been steamed, and put it to his mouth indicating that it was indeed food. Next the skipper brought out a tightly-woven scarlet woolen coat to show us. It was longer than the jackets they were wearing and had 5 coattails. The cuffs were stitched with gold thread and the buttons were silver plated. He held it up to his shoulders to show us. This was a thing of great beauty and most colourful.’

11 © Nicholas Russell 2017 Pirates and Samurai

From An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship, by Hamaguchi, 1830. Courtesy of Tokushima Prefectural Archive. ‘We saw not a single weapon. One of the crew took off his shoes and rolled down his white socks from above the knee revealing his red leg hair. He then showed us a yard square of thick leather and indicated that their shoes were made of it. Then one of them opened his shirt, baring his left breast on which there was the half body of a beautiful woman tattooed. Next, one of them brought out a big glass of what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage and indicated that we should drink. We declined by waving our hands, upon which they passed the glass around themselves, one by one tapping their heads as they drank to indicate the good feeling it brought them, and finished the lot.’ The crew put out a gangplank and invited the disguised samurai ‘fisherfolk’ aboard but they declined, returning to Mugi at about noon to make their report.

Meanwhile at 10 o’clock that morning the Tokushima clan’s feudal overseers had arrived. In 1825, the Tokugawa Shogunate had issued an edict reiterating and strengthening the ‘Sakoku’, isolationist policy. ‘All foreign vessels should be fired upon. Any foreigner who landed should be arrested or killed on sight. Every interaction should be reported in the utmost detail.’ It also included a no-benefit-of-the- doubt clause i.e. shoot first, ask questions later. In line with the edict, coastal batteries had been increased throughout Japan. In 1808, the Nagasaki Harbour Incident involved a British ship and ended with the ‘seppuku’, ceremonial suicide, of the top official sent by the Tokugawa Shogunate to oversee the town because he hadn’t defended the open port properly. The commanders and overseers in Mugi had not yet identified the red ensign as British, they still wrongly thought it was that of another country called Anglia.

Commander Yamauchi had to act. He ordered a local sword-carrying landed gentleman and his

subordinate, ‘Go aboard the barbarian ship and with gestures tell them to leave immediately. If they do not comply, show them the large ball and tell them that we are ready to fire it at them from Tebajima Island and reduce them to matchwood. If they accept this and we see them raising their anchor and lowering their sails, they will be provided with a little water and firewood. Be sure to tell the men on Shima no Hira, too.’ The two of them paddled out quickly toward the ship and the barbarians came out on deck to meet them as they went on board.

‘The barbarians pointed out that they still had repair work to do mending sails and painting etc. One of them made a fist with one hand and put it under his cocked head indicating sleep. Then he indicated their departure by cupping one hand and blowing into it. Through means of these gestures he conveyed that they needed 5 days to finish the repairs. The two men paddled back to report to Commander Yamauchi who stated again that they had to leave immediately. So, the two of them rowed out again and refused by waving their hands. The skipper then asked for 3 days but again both of them refused by waving their hands. On seeing this, the barbarian repairing a sail became extremely angry and started shouting. The skipper turned to the two men and indicated that they should leave immediately. As they were giving them the firewood and water, he wrote a letter about 24cm square with sideways writing and as they were leaving he handed it to them. They took it and rowed quickly away. Commander Yamauchi was not happy. “What did you accept a letter from them for? Take it back at once!” he ordered. They rowed out once more, tossed it onto the barbarian ship and quickly rowed back.’

From An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship, by Hamaguchi, 1830. Courtesy of Tokushima Prefectural Archive.

‘We watched the barbarian ship but it did not weigh anchor. A smoke signal was lit on Shima no Hira. On Tebajima Island, the gunner Ikenouchi lit the fuse of the two-pounder (6.5cm cannon) and fired in earnest. The report was like a thunder clap followed by an eerie screeching noise as the old deeply pitted ball flew between the two masts of the barbarian ship. Irritatingly, without sign of haste or panic, the crew leisurely spread one sail. In response, the Shima no Hira gun crews opened up with their one- and-a-quarter-pounders (5cm cannon) and three-quarter-pounder (4cm cannon). The barbarian crew spread another sail but the ship still did not move. Infuriated, Commander Yamauchi ordered his gunners and musketeers to set up in the 4 patrol boats: No.1 patrol boat with a three-quarter-pounder and musketoon, No.2 patrol boat with a hand cannon and musketoon, No.3 patrol boat with hand cannon and musketoon, No.4 patrol boat with small hand cannon and musketoon. When everything was on board they departed. [These patrol boats had crews of 7 oarsmen each.] The first shots were fired to the left and the right of the brig and this seemingly endless barrage of tens of shots continued. Then finally the barbarian ship weighed anchor and spread all her sails.’

Map data ©2017 Google ‘There was an onshore breeze from the south and it was difficult for them to sail out to sea. Instead, ignoring the hail of cannon and musketoon balls, they sailed between [the two samurai firing positions] Ni no Saki on Tebajima Island and Shima no Hira Headland to the west of Mugi. At about this time the feudal overseer realized it was a British ship and became extremely angry. They ordered fire to be directed at the waterline in the red copper sheathed area. Two cannonballs hit and shook the ship badly. The barbarians were standing and yelling. There appeared to be about fourteen of them. They headed west toward Asakawa Harbour. Commander Yamauchi from his boat orders his patrol boat gunners to concentrate their fire on the rudder area at the stern on the starboard side of the ship. One of

Nishizawa’s three-quarter-pound cannonballs reduced a two-foot square area of the sturdy hull to splinters and ricocheted off to port. One or two of brig’s crew appeared to have been killed or injured as they were laying on the deck. The others turned towards Commander Yamauchi’s boat, all removed their hats and appeared to be praying. Out on the water the samurai heard random cries of “Roubin! Roubin! Rou!” [Pronounced like ‘rue’ and ‘bin’ and possibly they heard “Row men! Row men! Row!”]. The barbarians all showed themselves blowing into cupped hands. They were gesturing that the wind was no good. Commander Yamauchi asked when the wind might change. His boatmen responded that after sundown a wind would blow up from Asakawa but it would not reach them there. Later, however, just off Mugi Cove there would be an offshore breeze. Commander Yamauchi was good enough to share this knowledge with the barbarians through gestures and they swiftly turned the brig across the wind. Unlike our large ships, the barbarian ship turned tightly and it could not, in fact, sail directly into the wind as we had thought; it could only sail across the wind. The barbarian ship was now surrounded by our small boats, including both of our commanders. Our guns were at the ready to blow them to bits. If they grab the ropes to go over the side or put up a fight, we were ready to shoot. A foul stench was coming from the ship. The Musketeer Nishizawa threatened them by shouldering his big gun. The barbarians looked worried, cried out and trembled with fear. Some of them even pointed to their sides and fell down praying. We took this to mean that one of Nishizawa’s musketoon balls had reached its mark and taken a life.’

‘The crew were bailing water from the hole made by Ikenouchi’s shot. One man reported seeing a cannonball hole where water was going in every time the ship moved and another man reported seeing water coming out as well. Not before long, as the barbarian ship was moving back to Shima no Hira and as dusk fell a strange beguiling pipe and singing could be heard. The sound was like that of a child’s pennywhistle; nothing like a real flute. It was eerie.’ ‘Finally, the offshore breeze arrived from the mountains behind Mugi and carried the barbarian ship off, back out to sea.’

Conclusions Having translated part of An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship and A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi Cove manuscripts and researched the Cyprus mutiny, I believe they are one and the same ship. The time lines, the description of the ship, the order of key events in both accounts, the ‘large ball’, the hole ‘betwixt wind and water’, the swallows stitched on the red coat’s cuffs all seem to point to this. The five coattails and decoration on the cuffs do not appear to be military so the coat is something that was made from scratch or modified from one of the uniforms on board. In his petition for clemency to Robert Peel, Swallow reports that he was employed as a sailmaker so he had the needlework skills to craft and embroider his own ‘red coat’. He also states that there was no loose gunpowder but ‘250 rounds of cartridges’ which was the type that was offered to the samurai who

dropped the bell. From a return of the stores shipped aboard the Cyprus we know that red paint needed to change the colour of the yellow streak along the side of the ship was also on board.

The most notable thing about the boomerang shaped object is that neither its material nor its size are noteworthy to the samurai while the two other objects seen in the same encounter are both described in these terms. To me, this implies a material that was ordinary to the samurai i.e. wood and a size that was not exceptional. Boomerangs are not indigenous to Tasmania however a south east Australian coastal boomerang would fit the limited information we have and could have been brought to Van Diemen’s Land. Of everyone on board Dr. Williams, the ship’s doctor seems the most likely candidate as its owner and while the Williams family archive has no record of such an object, John Williams, the doctor’s great grandson stated in emails to me, ‘my great grandfather would have treasured a boomerang if by some means he had acquired one’ and ‘one could imagine that when he began his medical career in VDL some patients may have paid in goods rather than cash.’ giving us one possible route onto the ship. All or some of the men and officer of the 63rd West Suffolk had almost certainly stopped off in south east coastal Australia, en route for Van Diemen’s Land; giving us another possible way for a boomerang to be on board.

I do not believe anyone was killed or injured by Japanese fire because Swallow did not mention it in his testimony while readily admitting to losing a man in the storm off New Zealand. I think the crew were low on supplies but not in as dire a condition as they claimed; they were nourished and hydrated enough to drink alcohol, go swimming and work repairing the ship. The foul smells were probably due to the tar that was being used to paint the boat. The Japanese gunners did not fire at the crew: if they had, the crew would not have been able to stand up and signal the lack of offshore wind. In my opinion, the discipline of the samurai musketeers and the fact that the crew of the foreign ship did not return fire helped avoid a more unfortunate outcome. I think that Swallows true motive for repeatedly trying to land, trade, communicate and moor off shore despite coming under warning fire a number of times, was to escape to Japan, the one place within the range of the ship, which had limited capacity for storing water, that the British authorities would never catch them. It could be argued that the samurai opened fire on the ship due to a misunderstanding of her capabilities. The samurai thought Western ships could sail directly into the wind, but of course they could not, and he was angered when, despite warning shots, she sailed along the coast rather than out to sea directly into the onshore breeze.

It is worth noting the parallels between our pirate and samurai chroniclers: both were in a situation where a possible outcome was a death sentence for themselves or those around them, and were literate and savvy enough to realize they needed to exaggerate the end of their accounts to appease those who would be judging them. Georgian England and Edo Japan were harsh and both Captain Swallow and

Commander Yamauchi did what they had to in difficult situations and thanks to the account by Hamaguchi we get a fly-on-the-wall view of the samurai’s discussions, and an amazing description of the ship, her crew, their interaction and the engagement that followed.

The British lead in naval power was at its peak a few years before during the Napoleonic Wars and the Cypress was almost certainly much more technologically advanced than anything Hamaguchi had ever seen. Japan was said to be ‘closed’ to the outsiders to prevent destabilizing foreign influences like Christianity. For the same reasons, the Shogunate had equally strict penalties for Japanese people who travelled abroad and hence technology innovation for long distance sea travel was discouraged.

In Japan, the Cyprus has become known as ‘the Kipurosu’ from the Japanese pronunciation of the name of the island of Cyprus which comes from the local pronunciation. How strong an association the name had with the island in the minds of those who sailed on her is debatable, and undoubtedly, they used the same standard English pronunciation that we use today. However, the etymologies of both names have a strong association with the word copper in which the Cyprus’s lower hull was sheathed and perhaps this was the reasoning behind her name. From only one ship registered in 1777, by 1816 some 18% of the British merchant fleet were copper bottomed. Due to the speed and quality of these vessels they received favourable insurance terms from Lloyds and the expression ‘copper bottomed’ is still used in English today to describe a venture, plan or investment that is considered safe. Primary Sources An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship: 1830 Hamaguchi Gyoboku A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi Cove: 1830 Hirota Kanzaemon The Times, 14 September 1830 The Times, 18 October 1830 HO17:59 (Kp18) Criminal Petitions, includes that of William Swallow to Robert Peel (filed under 1831) Principle Sources The Man Who Stole the Cyprus: 2008 Hirst Contrary Winds: 2012 John Williams Other Sources The Voyage of the Cyprus Mutineers: 2008 Sissons, The Journal of Pacific History Closing the Hell’s Gates: 2008 Maxwell-Stewart Japanese and Western Calendar Month and Date Tables: 1978 Noshima Acknowledgements Thank you to Hamaguchi Gyoboku and Hirota Kanzaemon; the Tokushima Prefectural Archive

especially the Chief Curator Tokuno Takashi and Assistant Curator Kinbara Hiroki; the Tokushima Old Manuscript Reading Group especially Tani Keiko; the Mugi Board of Education especially Deputy Section Manager Kawabe Yoji and Chief Sato Shunsuke; Warwick Hirst of the State Library of New South Wales; Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart of the University of Tasmania; Dr. Stephen Gapps of the Australian National Maritime Museum; Professor Fujikawa Takao of Osaka University’s School of Letters; Dr. Machida Tetsu of the Naruto University of Education; John Williams the great grandson of the Cyprus’s doctor; Mugi Old Manuscript Reading Group especially Tomida Takeshi; the volunteer translators of Prevail School of English especially Shimoda Shigeyuki, Tobe Fumiko and Wendy Tsune; and Luke Hunter, Steven Breyak and Professor Chis Maxwell for all their help, encouragement and cooperation in the preparation of this article. As Hokusai once said, “If heaven had granted me five more years, I could have become a real painter.” While we do not compare ourselves to such a master, we understand his dilemma: If heaven had granted us five more years, we could have given you a real translation. However, our desire to share Hamaguchi’s incredible work with you as soon as possible weighed against perfectionism and this is our imperfect result. If you delve further and notice any mistakes please feel free to contact me and contribute to what will be process of periodic polishing as we strive for less-imperfect imperfection. This translation of the Mugi Manuscripts is not complete: some sections have been cherrypicked, others summarized and others cut. However, unlike most translations, to achieve maximum fidelity it has undergone a double check process in which the translation into English was then translated back into Japanese and compared to the original manuscripts by archivists and experts. To access the latest version of Pirates and Samurai and other resources for study, http://piratesandsamurai.com/

To access just translations of the Mugi manuscripts and other reference material for research, http://mugimanuscripts.com/

While all the historical facts have been reviewed by the relevant experts, the conclusions drawn here are my personal views and not necessarily those shared by contributors. This work is copyrighted not for profit but to maintain its integrity when reproduced. Any nonprofit request for unadulterated complete or partial use will be granted. Any income from for-profit use will used to help maintain the legacy of the foreign ship that once moored off Mugi Cove. All images are subject to their original owner’s copyright.