3-021-263 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opening of the Inland Sea Ports of Japan: the port of Hiogo, with the British and American fleets at anchor, 1868. Engraving of a sketch by Acting Sub-Lieutenant F. J. Palmer, R.N., of H.M.S. Sylvia, showing a view '...taken from an elevation of about 700 ft...about 2½ miles from the town of Corbè. The nearer and inner bay, with houses skirting it, is Corbè Bay, with its town; the further and outer one being Hiogo [Hyogo] Bay, with the town of that name... The British, French, American, and other foreign merchants, who have been restricted...for the most part, to Yokohama...and to Nagasaki, where the old Dutch settlement was formed, will now be allowed to reside at Osaca [Osaka]...The 1st of January, 1868, was fixed by treaty as the day on which this port was to be opened...The British squadron, under Sir Harry Keppel, K.C.B., lay moored in two lines, and comprised the following ships: Rodney (flagship), Ocean, Basilisk, Rinaldo, Rattler, Cormorant, Sylvia, Serpent, Adventure, Salamis, Manilla, and gun-boat Snap ; the American ships, four in number, lay inshore of the Britishers...at noon a Royal salute of 21 guns to the Japanese flag boomed forth from the assembled ships, in commemoration and ratification of the event'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.