Secretary of the Navy Report">
Special Sale,
America Hurrah postcard sets of ten, $1.00 postage to U. S included. Secretary of the Navy Report, 1867 The Murders onboard the Schooner General
Sherman Background In
the autumn of 1866 intelligence reached the Asiatic Squadron that the American
Schooner General Sherman had been wrecked in the Ping Yang river, one of the
streams of Corea, and that all of her officers, crew, and passengers were
murdered. Rear-Admiral
Bell dispatched the Wachusett, Commander R. W. Shufeldt, to Chifu to investigate
the circumstances attending the loss of the General Sherman, with instructions
to demand of the chief authorities that, if there were any survivors of
the schooner, they should be delivered on the deck of the Wachusett, whatever
might be their nationality, and to make such further investigation as was practicable. USS Wachusett at Shanghai, 1867, The
Wachusett anchored near the mouth of the Ta Tong River, on the west coast of
Corea, on the 23d of January. The pilot secured for these waters did not consider
it safe, at that season, to take the vessel to the Ping Yang, which was some
fifty miles to the northward. Commander
Shufeldt had, therefore, to communicate with the King of Corea by a messenger,
secured through the instrumentality of the chief of a fishing village. The
object of his visit and his demands were thus made known; but no reply to his
communication was received. On the 29th of January, however, an officer, who
claimed to be from the capital, was presented on board the Wachusett, and had an
interview with her commander. The result was most unsatisfactory. Commander
Shufeldt,
was unable to find any peaceable solution of the difficulty, or that there were
any survivors of the ill-fated vessel.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Courtesy of Charles H. Bogart, 1973.