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Early US Navy Encounters in Nanjing, China the Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue

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Early US Navy Encounters in Nanjing, China the Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue Early US Navy Encounters in Nanjing, China The Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue A Brief perspective by Craig O’Connor March 1989 and January 2020 The “Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue” as photographed in March of 1989. Graffiti noting at least four US Navy ships and the date December 1904 were chiseled onto the monument but cannot easily be discerned from these photos. Note on the above photo apparent bullet holes on the square ‘block’ extending above the edge of the turtle’s carapace. Early US Navy Encounters in Nanjing, China The Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue 神功圣德碑 In March of 1989 Craig O’Connor visited Nanjing China as part of a larger trip of exploration. In the Nanjing area near the Ming Tomb in a then roofless, poorly maintained structure known as the “Square City” he saw a large ‘turtle monument’ that many years later he found was called “The Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue” ( 神功圣德碑 ). Upon closer inspection of this monument, Craig noticed a number of English inscrip- tions scratched or otherwise chiseled onto the stele’s front and left side. These inscriptions named at least four United States Navy ship names and the date, December 1904. The ship names included: the USS Quiros, USS Chattanooga, USS Elcano and USS M?Lobos (name obscure). Realizing that these English graffiti inscriptions recorded the presence of a US Navy vessel(s) in China at least on the date December 1904, after his return to the U.S., Craig sent the two photographs he took of the monument as well as a record of those graffiti inscriptions he could discern to the US Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C. In return, the US Naval Historical Center sent Craig various descriptions of three of those ships and their missions contained in “The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships” as published by the Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Notes obtained from this source as well as some additional information found through Internet searches in January of 2020 follow below. 2 (Upper and lower left) Letter to Naval Historical Center dated October 12, 1989 transmitting a photo of the ‘turtle monument” and accompanying sketch indicating the locations of the inscribed names of the ships and the date ‘December 1904’ as seen in March of 1989. (Upper right). Letter from the Naval Historical Center dated November 11, 1989 acknowledging receipt of the October 12 letter and materials, and citing transmission of background histories on three of the ships whose names were inscribed on the monument. 3 (Left image). Earlier photograph of the “Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue” obtained from an Internet source: https://www.hpcbristol.net/visual/oh03-032. The website provides the following notes: University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: OH03-032. This tortoise stele, also known as the ‘Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue’ (pinyin: Shenggong shengdi ; Ch: 神功圣德碑), was dedicated to the Ming emperor Hongwu and can be found in the Square City Pavilion (pinyin: Sifangcheng; Ch: 四方城）at the Xiaoling Mausoleum (Ch: 明孝陵). Graffitto on stele reads: ‘USS QUIROS’. This American ship was in China waters between 1905 and 1908. She sailed from Shanghai to Chefoo (Yantai), and up the Yangtze as far as Ichang (Yichang). Collection: Hulme, Oliver Photo Copyright: © 2012 Charles Poolton Note also that the graffiti including the name USS Quiros was much more prominent at the earlier date when this photo was taken. US Navy Construction, China Service Ship Commissioning Histories USS Quiros Built in Hong Kong, Operating along the China 1894 for the Spanish coast and on the Yangtze River Navy. Captured by the from 1905 to circa February, US Navy in Manila, 1908. Various Yangtze Patrol/ 1898 Shanghai duties from approx. 1911 to 1923 USS Chat- Built in Elizabeth- Summer cruises to China, 1906 tanooga port, N.J and New to 1910 York Navy Yard. Com- missioned 1904 USS Elcano Built in Spain, 1885. Yangtze River Patrol, 1903 to Captured by the US 1907. China Station/Amoy, 1911 Navy in Manila, 1898 to 1917. Yangtze Patrol, 1920 to 1928 USS N/A N/A M?Lobos Other N/A N/A possible Ship?--Name obscure Sources: Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. (Volume II, 1963 - Reprint with Corrections 1969; Volume V, 1970). Washington, D.C. 4 Statement of the Author Early US Navy Encounters in Nanjing, China The Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue 神功圣德碑 Dating from aroiund the year of the Ming ( 明 ) Emperor Hongwu’s ( 洪武帝 ) death in 1398, a memorial to his life, the “Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue,” has witnessed over 600 years of epochal Chinese history. During this span of time, waves of emperors, rulers, native armies and foreign forces bringing relative peace or violent upheaval, have washed across the lands of the Middle kingdom ( 中國 ). Since the time of the prolonged, bloody and devastating Taiping ( 太平 ) Rebellion (1850-1864) when the roof to the Square City surrounding the monument was destroyed, the timeless elements of wind, rain, dust as well as the residue of modern industrial pollutants have left their marks on the tall stele and its original Chinese character inscriptions. The brutish vandalism by US ( 美國 “Beautiful Country”) sailors/ troops who recorded their presence in China in the early years of the twentieth century further defaced the stele’s surface. But let us consider the tortoise ( 贔屭 and 鰲 and 龜 ). The tortoise, forms the literal and spiritual base of the monument. Symbolically, its shell at once represents the vault of heaven arched over the flat earth, and when united with the living tortoise being with its four limbs reaching to the four directions, it conveys the concept of cosmic immutability and longevity. In ancient times as well, tortoise shells after being subjected to heat and flame, cracked and fractured forming lines and patterns used for divination ( 貞龜 ). Other Sources: Buckley Ebrey, Patricia. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Eberhard, Wolfram. Translated from the German by G.L. Campbell. A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols, Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. London: Routledge, 1983. Paludan, Ann. Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors, The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial China. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1998. Wikipedia: “Hongwu Emperor,” “Ming_Xiaoling,“ “Ming dynasty,””Taiping Rebellion,” “Pedro Fernandes de Queirós,” “Ao (turtle).” Viewed January 2020. 5.
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