Portman to Osasawara Iki No Kam, January 11, 1868

Mr. Portman to Osasawara Iki No Kami.

I regret to have to inform your excellency that Mr. George L. Squires, an American citizen, and a pilot for this port, while in his boat off Cape Sagami, on the 6th instant, was suddenly and savagely assaulted by his Japanese crew, consisting of a head boatman and three other sailors.

I transmit herewith inclosure No. 1, the sworn statement of Mr. Squires, from which you will perceive that he succeeded in effecting his escape in the dingy or small boat, and that the crew, with his pilot-boat and all he possessed on board, were last seen by him apparently making for Simoda.

A preliminary notice of this outrage was already given by the United States acting consul to the governor of Kanagawa on the 9th instant; yet, as it has not been committed within the Kanagawa jurisdiction, I intended at once to address your excellency on the subject. Mr. Squires’s wounds, however, were quite severe; he was twice thrown overboard; he was then, during a whole day, (the 6th instant,) drifting in an open boat, and finally obliged to walk from Misaki to Yokohama, where he arrived on the 8th instant, utterly exhausted from loss of blood, painful inflammation, and fatigue. It was not, therefore, until to-day that his sworn statement could be procured.

I also transmit No. 2, a certificate by Surgeon Dalliston, of Yokohama, of the state of his wounds.

It is now my duty respectfully to urge upon your excellency the immediate issue of orders for the apprehension of the four boatmen mentioned, and for the recovery, on behalf of Mr. Squires, of his pilot-boat and her contents, in order that this matter may be promptly and fully investigated and due justice be done.

I trust your excellency will permit me to observe that those boatmen can, no doubt, easily be tracked from the spot where the boat put in; that these men are probably still with her, and that it cannot be difficult to discover her whereabouts from the description submitted in Mr. Squires’s affidavit; and, moreover, a Yokohama house-boat is of an entirely different construction from those used in any other part of Japan.

While reserving such action as may be warranted by the result of the prompt investigation I now beg to solicit, I have, in conclusion, to request that your excellency will be pleased to inform me, at your earliest convenience, that the orders as above applied for have already been issued.

With respect and esteem,