Wells Williams to His Imperial Highness Prince Kung, Chief, March 3, 1868

Mr. Williams to Prince Kung

Sir: Referring to my note to the Foreign Office of October 28, 1866, respecting an American merchant vessel, the schooner General Sherman, which had been stranded in Corea in August of that year at which time I was favored by a reply assuring me that the military and civil authorities of Manchuria should attend to the wants of such of the crew as might be handed over to them, I have now the honor to bring the subject again before your imperial highness, with the request that you would communicate upon it with the Corean government.

It appears, from reports received after the date of my note of October, 1866, that when the General Sherman got ashore in Corea the natives of the country flocked about her, and that a quarrel arose between them and the crew, resulting in injury and wounds to both parties, and a fight, in which all the latter were ultimately destroyed. In consequence of this report, the admiral commanding the United States squadron in these seas last summer dispatched one of his vessels to Corea to make inquiries into the matter, and ascertain the real circumstances of the affair on the spot; but this he was not able at the time to do in a satisfactory manner.

A day or two since I received from the United States consul at Chifu the report of a pilot, named Yu Wautai, who last year returned from Corea, and related to him “that he had gone up a stream called Piyang river, and about 10 miles from the sea had seen a foreign vessel lying on the southern bank, without masts or sails, and her hull full of water. He had also met a Corean, named Kin Tsz’ping, a native of an island called Tsioh Tau, or Sparrow island, who told him that in March last he had himself seen two foreigners and two Chinese at the magistrate’s office at the chief city of the district of Piyang. The rest of the foreigners and Chinese had all been killed by the farmers and people of the country, and not by the Corean authorities or soldiers. He saw these two foreigners walking in the streets without any instruments of torture upon them, followed by policemen to see that they did not get away; but he could not ascertain why the Corean magistrates detained them in this manner.”

This report of the pilot Yu Wautai seems to me to possess a degree of truth, and not to be a made-up story, and I therefore lose no time in making it known to your imperial highness, to see whether some plan cannot be carried into effect to secure the liberation of these four men. I have myself also received directions from the government of the United States, in consequence of the report having reached Washington of the destruction of the General Sherman by the Coreans two years ago, to ascertain the true facts of the case and report upon them. This order, in connection with the unsuccessful visit for that purpose of the United States man-of-war last year, leads me now to make known these particulars to your imperial highness, and respectfully request that a communication be sent by his Majesty’s government to the Corean government for them to deliver over the two foreigners and two Chinese to the Chinese authorities.

The government of the United States has no direct relations with that of Corea, but there is something quite inexplicable in the fact that when this American vessel went there her crew should be treated so barbarously, and there must have been some causes for it, which the American government cannot permit to pass by silently, and without full investigation being made into all the circumstances.

The governments of China and the United States have long been on the most friendly terms, and I therefore entertain the strongest expectation that his Imperial Majesty will so represent this affair to the Corean government that they will see the propriety of transmitting a correct account of all the facts connected with the destruction of this American schooner within their territory, in order that I may report the same to the President. This act of courtesy will likewise add another evidence of the friendly relations existing between our respective governments, and will be duly appreciated.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your imperial highness’s obedient servant,