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Secretary of the Navy Report, 1867 The Murders onboard the Schooner General Sherman Report by Commander Shufeldt to United States Steamer
Wachusett Sir: I have the honor to report that this ship anchored on the west coast of Corea, latitude 38O 04' north, longitude 124O 50' west, near the mouth of the Ta-tong river on the 23d instant. The Ping-Yang river is the one up which the schooner General Sherman went and was destroyed. The river enters the sea fifty miles to northward of the above position, a fact which I could not positively ascertain until our arrival somewhere on the Corean coast; but as we found, on survey, the Ta-tong river to be frozen... our Chinese pilot, a man of unusual intelligence expressed decided reluctance to take the ship to the mouth of the Ping-Yang at this season of the year. There are no official cities on the seaboard of the west coast; we found, however, quite a number of fishing villages, and after some unsuccessful efforts, the chief of one of these on Nien-Fo, or Cow Island, was induced to send a letter to the official of Chang-Yuen. In the meantime we endeavored to cultivate friendly feelings with the natives. They seem to be kindly disposed, but in great dread of their government, and came as little in contact with us as possible. Apparently they are a rude and barbarous people, unarmed, and the seaboard entirely defenseless. We saw no iron in use; the boats are fastened with wooden pegs, or lashed with coarse seaweed cordage. They spoke with great reserve when questioned in reference to the General Sherman, but every one of them told the same story, which they said was known all over the country, that the vessel was burned last September up the Ping-Yang river, and all of her people, amounting to twenty seven persons, were killed in a melee on shore by the natives, and not by order of the mandarins. There remains no reasonable doubt of these facts, and no doubt whatever of the locality of the disaster. On the morning of the 29th an officer who said he came from Hae-Chow Poo, the capital city of the province, was brought on board. The interview with him carried on in writing in Chinese resulted in an unsatisfactory manner. I have no doubt the man lied systematically from the beginning to the end. |