TheManhattan was aUnited States whaling ship under CaptainMercator Cooper that made the first authorized visit of an American ship toTokyo Bay, in 1845.
TheManhattan left the whaling portSag Harbor, New York on November 9, 1843.
On March 14–15, 1845, its crew rescued 22 shipwrecked Japanese sailors in theBonin Islands. The first 11 sailors were found onTori-shima, whereManhattan anchored to hunt for turtles to supplement the ship's provisions, and were survivors from theKoho-maru wrecked en route toEdo.[1] The next day 11 more sailors were found on a foundering Japanese boatSenju-maru (along with a detailed navigation map of Japan).[2][3]
TheManhattan set sail for Edo to repatriate the sailors. Outside Edo Bay four of the survivors took a Japanese boat with a message that Cooper wanted to deliver the remainder to the harbor.[4] The Japanese normally wanted to avoid contact with outsiders due to theTokugawa shogunate's official policy ofnational isolation. However, on April 18, 1845, an emissary from the shogunate gave the ship permission to proceed. "About three hundred Japanese boats with about 15 men in each took the ship in tow", according to Cooper's log. "They took all our arms out to keep till we left. There were several of the nobility came on board to see the ship. They appeared very friendly."
Japanese accounts place the anchorage ofManhattan atUraga, at the mouth of Tokyo Bay. It had been over 220 years since so many foreigners had been so close to the Japanese metropolis, but no one from the vessel was permitted to actually land in Japan.[1]
The Japanese examined his ship and took particular note ofPyrrhus Concer, a crewman fromSouthampton, Long Island, who was the onlyAfrican American on board, and of aShinnecockNative American named Eleazar. The interpreter from the Japanese side wasMoriyama Einosuke, who would later serve during thePerry Expedition.[1]
The Japanese refused payment for provisions and gave the ship water, 20 sacks of rice, two sacks of wheat, a box of flour, 11 sacks of sweet potatoes, 50 fowl, two cords of wood, radishes and 10 pounds of tea, and a set of lacquer bowls for the captain, together with a letter from the Shogun. They thanked theManhattan's crew for returning the shipwrecked sailors and told them to never return, not even to bring back more castaways, on pain of death.[1] On April 21, 500 small boats towed theManhattan 20 miles out to sea.[1]
Cooper took with him the map that charted the islands of Japan that had been found on the disabled Japanese ship. He turned it over to the United States government when the ship returned to Sag Harbor on October 14, 1846. News of Cooper's encounter was extensively publicized in the United States.Matthew Perry was said to have used the map on hisvisit to Japan on July 8, 1853.
Monuments to the event are across from Cooper's home at 81 Windmill Lane in Southampton, inSouthampton Cemetery, and inTokyo.[5]
