air being 59° of Fahrenheit, and that of the water 55°. The water waa
perfectly smooth, with an oily aspect from the surface, being covered with a
substance which was supposed to be the excrement of whales, of which
large numbers of various kinds, as well as of porpoises, were seen. At
daylight, on the 16th, the course was shaped at an angle approaching the
coast, and although the land had been for awhile out of sight, it was now
again made, and traced along until the ships reached the northeastern
extremity of Nippon, called. by the Japanese Sirija Saki. The southern
and eastern coast of Japan from Cape Sirofama, as far as was observed,
is not so high as that on the western side of the G-ulf of Yedo. I t is,
however, of sufficient height to be observed, in tolerably clear weather, at
a distance of forty miles. On getting abreast of Cape Sirija Saki, the
Strait of Sangar, which separates Nippon from Yesso, was full in view, with
the high land of the latter island distinctly visible ahead. The course was now
steered directly for Hakodadi, but on getting into the middle of the strait
a current or tide was encountered, which probably accelerated the eastern
one, until the two reached a combined velocity of six knots. This powerful
current prevented the steamers from reaching port that night, and it
was thought advisable to put the heads of the steamers seaward. This
would not have been necessary if any reliance could have been placed upon
the continuance of clear weather. The engines were so managed as to
expend little coal, and still to retain the position of the vessels; consequently,
on taking the cross-bearings at daylight, it was found, notwithstanding
the current, that the ships had not shifted their places a mile from where
they had been when night set in.
- Scarcely, however, had the steamers stood again for their destined port
when a dense fog came on and obscured every object from sight, so that it
was found necessary to head the steamers towards the east. The sun, however,
on approaching the zenith, cleared away the fog, and fortunately bearings
were distinguished which served as a guide to the port. As the cape, called
by the Japanese Surro-kubo, and which the Commodore named Cape Blunt,
in honor of his friends Edmund and George Blunt, of New York, was
approached, there could be discerned over the neck of land which connects
the promontory of Treaty Point * with the interior, the three ships of the
squadron which had been previously dispatched, safely at anchor in the
harbor of Hakodadi. At the approach of the steamers, in obedience to the
previous instructions of the Commodore, boats came off from the ships with
offioers prepared to pilot in the Powhatan and Mississippi, which finally came
to anchor at nine o’clock on the morning of the 17th of May.
The spacious and beautiful bay of Hakodadi, which for accessibility and
safety is one of the finest in the world, lies on the north side of the Strait
* So called on the American charts.