Pirates and Samurai

Pirates and Samurai

1 © Nicholas Russell 2017

Pirates

and

Samurai

Pirates and Samurai


Finding a Pirate Ship

Thursday 20th April 2017, 8:04 pm,

I googled ‘mutiny 1829’ and there

she was on the screen. I instantly

knew it was her. One of those

moments of disbelief at your own

utter certainty tinged with

annoyance that a hunt started two

and a half years before had been

solved by a search that any 9-year-

old worth their salt would have

made. Her name was the Cyprus, a

shallow draft brig (two-masted

square-rigged ship) and her true

story more exciting than any Jonny

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Depp film.

I had first come across the old ink

and watercolour drawings

chronicling the 1830 arrival of a

foreign ship off Mugi Cove,

Tokushima Prefecture while

purchasing an old fisherman’s

cottage in the area in June 2014. I

had always been interested in

obscure local histories and tried

googling ‘foreign ship Tokushima’

in Japanese. I clicked on the top

result and there on the screen were

four ink and watercolour drawings:

a nameless brig under British

ensign; a crew member; a page of

curiosities including a pipe, a

bucket and some hats; and a map

showing she had moored less than

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900m from the back garden of my

new holiday home.

Some six months later I finally

made my way to the Tokushima

Prefectural Archive and found that

there was a 5th image, the odd one

out, that the archivists had not

bothered to put up on the website. It

was of a red coat and epaulet.

Impressed with the detail on the

cuffs, I photographed it before

hearing a brief description of the

illegible hand-written account from

Tani-san, one of the volunteer

archivists. The manuscript, titled

An Illustrated Account of the

Arrival of a Foreign Ship, was

written in meticulous detail by a

low-ranking samurai artist,

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Hamaguchi Makita. It was

obviously a fascinating window

into the Edo period recorded as

Hokusai carved the wood blocks for

his Great Wave. There was also a

second much shorter manuscript

entitled A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off

Mugi Cove. Tani-san, it turned out,

was member of the Tokushima Old

Manuscript Reading Group and had

edited an annotated transcription of

legible but still barely

comprehensible versions. I took a

copy home to translate and two and

half years later with a slightly

desperate last-ditch two-word

Google search, ‘mutiny 1829’, I

had solved an almost 200-year-old

mystery of the ship’s name and her

history, and quickly discovered that

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there were two books, an academic

paper questioning the captain’s

claim of having reached Japan,

numerous webpages, articles and

chapters, as well as a poem and folk

ballad all written in English about

this amazing escape.

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Mutiny and Piracy on the Brig

Cyprus

The brig Cyprus was purchased by

the colonial government of

Tasmania, then Van Diemen’s Land,

in 1826 to convey convicts and

supplies to prisons around the

island. Van Diemen’s Land was

then a British colony and had been

settled as a penal colony for

transported convicts since 1803.

The brig was 70 feet 6 inches

(21.8m) long 20 feet (6.1m) wide

and had a yellow streak down each

side and her hull was sheathed in

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copper.

Brig Cyprus shown in part of Hobart Harbour, 1825 A. Earle, courtesy

of the Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales.

On 14th August, winter, 1829, after

departing Hobart, she had met with

a storm and taken shelter in the

uninhabited Recherche Bay. All the

prisoners on board had reoffended

in Van Diemen’s Land and were

heading for Macquarie Harbour

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Penal Station, also known as the

Hell’s Gates and considered the

worst place of punishment in the

British Empire. A Victorian

historian later described it as a place

of ‘inexpressible depravity,

degradation and woe’.

Notice on Sturminster Newton Bridge, U.K., 2004 J. Dunckley,

courtesy of Creative Commons.

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The Horrors of Transportation, c.1849 J. Platt, courtesy of Mitchell

Library, State Library of New South Wales.

In the late afternoon, the lieutenant

in charge of the military guard of

the West Suffolk 63rd Foot went out

in the jolly boat fishing in the calm

of the bay. While he was away the

prisoners, some in irons, were being

let up on deck five at a time to

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exercise. Some of them simply

overpowered the three guards on

duty, freed the other prisoners,

blocked the narrow hatchway to

prevent the other soldiers from

coming up on deck, grabbed

weapons and took control of the

ship. Of the 63 prisoners, guards,

crew, and accompanying family on

board, 45 of them were put ashore

on the beach 70km from Hobart

with limited supplies.

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West Suffolk 63rd Foot redcoat shown in part of the Battle of Bunker

Hill, 1897 by H. Pyle, presumed stolen.

The Making of the Coracle, 1829 by W. B. Gould, courtesy of Mitchell

Library, State Library of New South Wales.

Of the 33 prisoners destined for

Macquarie, 18 took the Cyprus, her

cargo of supplies for the penal

station and the personal effects of

all on board. Later, all but one of the

prisoners who stayed behind on the

beach had their Macquarie Harbour

Penal Station sentences revoked for

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not escaping and assisting the

lieutenant and ship’s captain.

William Swallow (a nom de guerre,

his real name was William Walker)

claiming to have played little active

role in the mutiny was later to be

celebrated in an Australian folk

ballad that includes the following

verse:

...The Morn broke bright the Wind

was fair, we headed for the sea

With one more cheer for those on

shore and glorious liberty.

For Navigating smartly Bill

Swallow was the man,

Who laid a course out neatly to take

us to Japan...

Swallow could read and write and

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had served an apprenticeship on a

collier in the North Sea. He had

been pressed to serve in the Royal

Navy during the Napoleonic wars.

After being discharged he was

unable to find work and had turned

to thieving. He also had a history of

daring escapes having once stuffed

his shirt with cork and jumped

overboard from another ship.

Map data ©2017 Google

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To keep the Cyprus away from

other shipping, Swallow set a

course for New Zealand and sailed

between the North Island and the

South Island where they stocked up

with water. Next, probably

influenced by the story of the

mutiny on the Bounty, they laid a

course for Tahiti. But on August

25th, while being driven off course

by a storm, a man was lost

overboard and they landed on

Chatham Island where they stole

from a Moriori village and some

sealers.

When they finally neared Tahiti, the

seasonal winds were against them

and the sails in poor repair so they

ended up sailing back westward to

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one of the Friendly Islands (Tonga)

that the pirates called ‘Nowey’,

probably Niuatoputapu. Here they

stayed until mid-November when

there was a disagreement and only

10 of the remaining 17 headed for

Japan. There, the ship was damaged

by a cannonball. After that, they

headed past Formosa (Taiwan)

where they scuttled the ship and

headed for Canton, China: two men

in the jolly boat, 4 on a Chinese ship,

and 4 in the long boat, the stern

lettering of which had been

changed to ‘the Edward’. In Canton,

Swallow claimed that they were

shipwreck victims and that while in

Japanese waters ‘being in want of

Provisions and water’ were ‘fired at

by two batteries and 16 Boats, and

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one shot struck the vessel between

wind and water’. Although viewed

with suspicion by the authorities

three of the crew of ten managed to

board a ship to Mexico and were

never heard of again, four of them

returned to London and were later

arrested, one was sent back to

London and the remaining two

were caught and eventually

transported again.

In London, the story of the mutiny

and the arrest of the five captured

the public’s imagination. All but

Swallow were sentenced to death.

Though he would later be sentenced

to death for illegally returning to

England, he was found not guilty of

piracy. Later, three including

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Swallow had their sentences

commuted to transportation for life.

The remaining, two men were the

last to be executed for piracy in

England. Thanks to the intense

public interest, the trial was well

reported in The Times of London on

the 14th of September 1830 ‘The

story told by three of the prisoners,

of being fired at by the Japanese, is

probably correct...'

Swallow’s account from the trial

was reported on 18th of October

1830.

‘Running some distance up the

coast of Japan, he anchored in a

convenient bay. A boat came from

the shore with a Mandarin or person

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of authority, and desired to know

what brought them there, and

desired him to give in writing what

he wanted, which he did in English,

and said they were in want of wood

and water, and would give anything

in the vessel in exchange. At that

time they were in great distress.

They had been cruising about

nearly five months; all the sails

were split, and there was no canvas

to mend them. In four hours the

letter was returned, with the seal

broke, and they were told to be off

by sunset, or they would be fired

upon, a large ball was shown them

as earnest of the intention of the

natives. At that time it was a dead

calm, and it continued so until after

sunset, and they could not get away.

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The Japanese, to frighten them,

then opened a fire from the batteries

with musketoons. They made every

attempt to get away, but could not,

and the Japanese fired upon them

from the guns of the batteries. One

shot knocked the spyglass out of his

hand, and another struck the vessel

under the counter [part of the stern]

betwixt wind and water. At 10

o’clock a breeze sprung up from oft

the land, which enabled them to

depart and make sail from the shore,

and the Japanese ceased firing.’

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The Samurai’s Curious

Encounter with a Foreign Ship

off Mugi Cove

The key events of Swallow’s

account appear to match those

recorded in detail by the samurai

chronicler Hamaguchi Makita in

his Illustrated Account of the

Arrival of a Foreign Ship. He was a

low-ranking samurai who worked

as an artist under the pseudonym

Hamaguchi Gyoboku.

Hamaguchi’s account can be

divided into his eyewitness

accounts and what was reported to

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him by others.


‘The foreign ship first appeared

50km off None, Tosa no Kuni

[Kochi Prefecture] on the 11th day

of the 12th month of the 12th year of

the Emperor Bunsei.’ [The old

Japanese calendar was lunar and

this was the 5th of January 1830 on

the European Gregorian calendar.]

The next day, the 6th of January, she

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was 12~16km off the village of

None. After dawn on the 7th, on the

land standards were raised, gongs

and drums were beaten, conch

horns were sounded, and beacons

were lit. Around 8 o’clock in the

morning the ship was seen to be

sailing south toward Muroto Misaki

Cape. Around 10 o’clock that

morning she dropped anchor 500m

off Murotsu Harbour where

apparently, six men of a nine-man

crew made three attempts to land in

a small boat but were each time

driven off with musketoon fire.

After asking for grain, water and

firewood and being repelled for a

second time, one man was seen

crying and praying in desperation

as officials waved them away. They

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were given water and about 100kg

of rice provided by a local merchant.

The skipper was reported as

looking about 50 and they were

described as ‘handsome looking

like the “Dutchmen” [Europeans]

in the paintings’. On the 8th

around 7 o’clock in the morning

they sailed away from the port

heading north west toward Tano. In

the late afternoon, they were

sighted further up the coast 8km off

Yasuda and Aki. On the 9th in the

late afternoon they received water

from a fishing boat while heading

west toward Ashizuri. On the 10th

there were big waves and strong

winds and the local coastal overseer

could not keep track of them.

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At around 9 o’clock on the morning

of the 14th, the foreign ship was

again sighted off the small town of

Hiwasa, Awa Koku [Minami,

Tokushima Prefecture]. An official

sent word to Tokushima Castle and

a local samurai clan chief. Soldiers

and local men were deployed at a

dozen or so locations up and down

a 40km stretch of coast. With over

320 musketoons and 60 cannons

between them, each group

numbered between 10 and 40 men

and was made up of clan foot

soldiers (musketeers), and ronin

samurai, hunters and fishermen

from the villages.

The barbarian ship drifted down the

coast past Oshima Island to Mugi

Cove, about 2km off which she

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dropped anchor at around 3 o’clock

in the afternoon. Gongs and drums

were beaten, conch horns were

sounded, beacons were lit and

blanks were fired. Meanwhile,

word had arrived at Tokushima

Castle at around 7 o’clock and a

gathering of the samurai

commanders and clan chiefs was

convened.

On the 15th before 7 o’clock in the

morning a vanguard of vassal

clansmen was dispatched and

before 9 o’clock the main force

including our chronicler,

Hamaguchi departed. Part of this

force went by road to Nishi Yuki

Cove and then on by sea, and at

around 7 o’clock that evening

arrived in Hiwasa where the ship

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had been sighted from the day

before.

Once there, Commander Yamauchi,

Hamaguchi and some other samurai

and fishermen continued on in

rowing boats to Mugi 24km to the

south. On their way to Mugi, they

would have passed within a

kilometre of the barbarian ship and

Hamaguchi writes that he saw her

in the murky light of the half-moon.

They arrived in Mugi at around 1

o’clock on the morning of 16th.

From there a two-pounder (6.5cm

cannon) was delivered by rowing

boat to Tebajima Island. At the West

Mugi Fish Exchange, Commander

Yamauchi asks those gathered for

any details about the ship. Mima, a

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local samurai commander said,

‘I’ve been suspicious of that ship

since it arrived yesterday afternoon.

The colour seems to have changed.

Through my spyglass, I can see a

floor halfway up the mast where

one climbs up to look out. And the

men on the ship, they do not look

hungry at all. In fact, they seem to

be mocking us by diving off the

stern and climbing back up. It is

strange that since yesterday Sawaro

and everyone who gets closer to the

barbarian ship returns feeling pity

for them. I am certain this is

Christians artfulness. [Deleted as in

original manuscript.] The ship does

not appear to be drifting at all. I

think they are pirates. We should

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crush them!’

In the second shorter manuscript, A

Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi

Cove, the chronicler Hirota reports

contact on the water half way

between Hiwasa and Mugi the

previous afternoon. A local farmer,

Harada, had gone out with a

companion in rowing boat to

confirm that the barbarian ship was

the same one as before in Tosa no

Kuni [Kochi Prefecture]. Harada

stated ‘The foreigner then tossed

some things down into our boat:

something shaped like this,

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From A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi Cove by Hirota, 1830, copy

courtesy of Mugi Board of Education.

and what we took to be a small bell

of gold and fine workmanship. Also,

they held up an 18cm-square icon

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of woman in a black frame fitted

with glass, pointed to it and spoke

gibberish but we understood not

one word.’ ‘... we returned each

item.’

Harada reports encountering

another group lead by a samurai

called Sawaro out on the water.

Sawaro’s contact with the foreign

ship was reported by Hamaguchi.

He was a lower ranking samurai

[the relative rank of a samurai was

equivalent to the rice yield

attributed to their land which was

listed on their family register

records]. He had taken his musket

and headed out in a fishing boat to

see the barbarian ship for himself.

‘The barbarians came to the front of

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the boat. They beckoned and as we

got closer they produced a bucket

and asked for water and then

showed us some firewood. We gave

them what little we had then one of

the “Dutchmen”

[Europeans]offered a picture of a

woman, something in a twist of

paper that he indicated to be

gunpowder by pointing at my

musket, and what appeared to be a

gold coated bell. An object so

beautiful that I could not contain

my desire to hold it .’ ‘We did not

accept any of them but as I was

returning the bell, it fell into the

ocean and the “Dutchman” became

most angry so we paddled off

quickly.’

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Sawaro’s account continues, ‘We

didn’t see any firearms but they

have put up a curtain along one side

of the ship and we do not know

what is going on behind it.’

Commander Yamauchi and

Commander Mima discussed and

agreed to the preparations to

repulse the barbarian ship.

Commander Yamauchi decided,

‘Take a large lead ball out to the

ship and tell them that if they don’t

leave immediately, we will fire on

them and reduce them to

matchwood!’ Dawn had broken

while they were still discussing

what was to be done.

On the morning of the 16th,

Commander Yamauchi orders

Hamaguchi,

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‘Disguise yourself as a fisherman,

get close to the barbarian ship, and

draw me a detailed picture of

anything that looks like a weapon.’

Four other samurai volunteered to

go with him. ‘We hid our swords

under a cover and dressed like the

fisherfolk tying hand-towels around

our heads. As we approached the

barbarian ship the dog wagged its

tail and whined at us. Its face looks

like my illustration. It did not look

like food. It looked like a pet. Some

barbarians were painting the

outside of the ship with tar, one was

climbing the mast and another was

mending the sail. Each of them was

involved in some task. All of them

stopped work and looked at us. At

first, we kept our distance at about

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50m, but they waved to us to come

closer and did not seem to be hostile

so we rowed over to get a better

look.’

From An Illustrated Account of the Arrival of a Foreign Ship, by

Hamaguchi, 1830. Courtesy of Tokushima Prefectural Archive.

‘The ship was about 18m in length,

about 7m wide and about 3m high

with a 60cm-wide red-tar stripe

along her sides. The stern crests and

parts that glinted are all sheathed in

copper. (The polishing off of the

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green copper rust probably

accounted for the apparent “change”

in colour. The appearance of a

“curtain” was caused by the tar

running down the side of the ship.)

The bow, 2.4m x 60cm, is shaped

like a fresh bracken sprout.’ ‘Lower

down there were European letters,

two at a time, made of brass and

hammered into the hull. On the

stern, there were chrysanthemum

crests and 2 windows that could be

opened on each side. They seemed

to be the only possible firing

positions.’ ‘There was nothing

suspicious looking along either side.

Along the red stripe, there were

small holes [scuppers] through

which we could peer in. On doing

so, we saw a stove and cooking pot

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under cover of a tarred roof and a

locker with preserved meat hanging

therein. There was a smaller boat

loaded at the front of the ship. It

was painted blue with a red stripe.

All the decks were made of wood. I

know not what was below, but there

was not one weapon in sight.’

‘The rudder 90cm x 30cm was very

narrow, all sheathed in cooper and

attached with butterfly hinges. It

looked as if it could only be moved

from left to right. As in my

illustration, there were poles

sticking out over both corners of the

stern. (Those who knew of these

“Dutch” [European] ships were of

the opinion that these strange stern

poles were for lowering the small

boat.) There was no damage on the

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outside. She sat lightly in the water.

Her draft was extremely shallow,

just 90cm, like an empty ship.’

‘The fore and aft masts were made

of 3 sections held together with

metal rings. (The “Dutch” ships had

three-section masts too and in

strong winds their sails come down.

This ship’s sails were always the

same and could be raised and

lowered freely at will.) The masts

were painted white but the paint

was peeling in places. The foremast

was about 18m high and the main

mast about 20m. Atop the main

mast, there was a magnetic needle

about 60cm long [Hamaguchi

appears to have thought the wind

vane was a compass]. As in my

illustration, from the square flange

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near the top, the edge of the sail was

attached with rope to its buntlines

and all of the blocks were part of the

contrivance. Next there was a floor

90cm x 120cm. There were rope

ladders down that looked like a Go

board [the ancient Chinese game].

From up there they could look out

or go out on the yards, etc.’ ‘On the

bow of the ship there was 2.4m

bowsprit. The main mast boom

stuck out 3m over the stern and

could be lowered or raised. There

was a banner stitched to a pole off

the stern rail. Unlike our ships, it

was not spread out by hanging it

from a cross piece and when there

was no wind, it just hung limp

hiding their clan’s crest. When the

wind blew, it would flutter and

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become visible. The sails were of

thick cotton with indigo lettering

but it was too faded to make out.

The yards did not lower, and the

sails were furled and tied to them.

Both clews of each sail had ropes

attached and with the yards and

spars were set according to the

wind. It appeared that the sideways

facing bow sail and the square

facing stern sails could be trimmed

to catch the wind as desired. There

was an unbearable stench in the

vicinity of the ship.’

‘All of the men were wearing hats:

most of leather, but one of wound

red cotton cloth and another like a

thatched farmer’s hat. Their clothes

had tubular sleeves. They were all

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wearing 2 to 3 buttoned-layers of

tightly-woven wool fabric and long

underwear made of leather. They

lined the side of the boat and with

both hands open indicated that they

were 10 in number. Like the face in

my illustration, they all had long

pointed noses. Their eyes were big

and blue and their eyebrows red.

Their hair was red, about 9cm long

and curly. Their beards were dark

red. The pitch of their voices was

mid-range.’

‘When signaled one man brought

out a bucket like the one in my

illustration and saying “Pésu! Pésu!”

[Pronounced ‘pace’ and possibly

they heard ‘Piss!’ as a crude joke].

pointing to his mouth, rubbing his

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chest. They exchanged words

amongst themselves like birds

twittering. One of them brought out

some firewood and requested we

provide it. We refused by waving

our hands and gave them a little

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water.’



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‘The skipper, who looked about 50

(the others all looked more like 25

or 26), was wearing a black fur hat

with tightly woven wool fabric

hanging down at the back. He

appeared to be giving instructions

to the crew. When we removed the

hand towels from our heads, to the

man they, in accordance with what

appeared to be some mark of

respect, removed their hats. Most of

them revealing balding heads. The

skipper, he was holding a small

knife and a length of rope-like dark

red tobacco from which he cut a

length kneaded it in the palm of his

hand, placed it in a suspicious

looking object, sucked and then

breathed out smoke.’

Hamaguchi then describes smoking,

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related paraphernalia (they were

using the stems of feathers as pipe

stems) and the origin of tobacco.

Referring to The Red Haired

Discourses [1787, Morishima

Chūryō] he writes it was brought to

Europe by a gentleman called

Johannes Newt from some small

island off the North American coast.

‘Then they pulled up a piece of

white meat on a string that had been

floating off the bow. It looked like

food. One of them grabbed a piglet

by the scruff, held it against the side

of the boat and, while pointing to

the land, said “Peké! Peké!”

[Pronounced like ‘peck’ and ‘aye’

together, possibly they heard

‘Piggy!’ in a regional British

accent]. We wondered if they were

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asking for more piglets or telling us

it was food. He tossed it back into

the bilge of the ship from where,

from the noise, we judged there to

be a number of the animals.

Another man stuck a forked metal

chopstick into some of this meat

that appeared to have been steamed,

and put it to his mouth indicating

that it was indeed food. Next the

skipper brought out a tightly-woven

scarlet woolen coat to show us. It

was longer than the jackets they

were wearing and had 5 coattails.

The cuffs were stitched with gold

thread and the buttons were silver

plated. He held it up to his

shoulders to show us. This was a

thing of great beauty and most

colourful.’

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‘We saw not a single weapon. One

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of the crew took off his shoes and

rolled down his white socks from

above the knee revealing his red leg

hair. He then showed us a yard

square of thick leather and

indicated that their shoes were

made of it. Then one of them

opened his shirt, baring his left

breast on which there was the half

body of a beautiful woman tattooed.

Next, one of them brought out a big

glass of what appeared to be an

alcoholic beverage and indicated

that we should drink. We declined

by waving our hands, upon which

they passed the glass around

themselves, one by one tapping

their heads as they drank to indicate

the good feeling it brought them,

and finished the lot.’

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The crew put out a gangplank and

invited the disguised samurai

‘fisherfolk’ aboard but they

declined, returning to Mugi at about

noon to make their report.

Meanwhile at 10 o’clock that

morning the Tokushima clan’s

feudal overseers had arrived. In

1825, the Tokugawa Shogunate had

issued an edict reiterating and

strengthening the ‘Sakoku’,

isolationist policy. ‘All foreign

vessels should be fired upon. Any

foreigner who landed should be

arrested or killed on sight. Every

interaction should be reported in the

utmost detail.’ It also included a no-

benefit-of-the-doubt clause i.e.

shoot first, ask questions later. In

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line with the edict, coastal batteries

had been increased throughout

Japan. In 1808, the Nagasaki

Harbour Incident involved a British

ship and ended with the ‘seppuku’,

ceremonial suicide, of the top

official sent by the Tokugawa

Shogunate to oversee the town

because he hadn’t defended the

open port properly. The

commanders and overseers in Mugi

had not yet identified the red ensign

as British, they still wrongly

thought it was that of another

country called Anglia.

Commander Yamauchi had to act.

He ordered a local sword-carrying

landed gentleman and his

subordinate, ‘Go aboard the

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barbarian ship and with gestures tell

them to leave immediately. If they

do not comply, show them the large

ball and tell them that we are ready

to fire it at them from Tebajima

Island and reduce them to

matchwood. If they accept this and

we see them raising their anchor

and lowering their sails, they will

be provided with a little water and

firewood. Be sure to tell the men on

Shima no Hira, too.’

The two of them paddled out

quickly toward the ship and the

barbarians came out on deck to

meet them as they went on board.

‘The barbarians pointed out that

they still had repair work to do

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mending sails and painting etc. One

of them made a fist with one hand

and put it under his cocked head

indicating sleep. Then he indicated

their departure by cupping one hand

and blowing into it. Through means

of these gestures he conveyed that

they needed 5 days to finish the

repairs. The two men paddled back

to report to Commander Yamauchi

who stated again that they had to

leave immediately.

So, the two of them rowed out again

and refused by waving their hands.

The skipper then asked for 3 days

but again both of them refused by

waving their hands. On seeing this,

the barbarian repairing a sail

became extremely angry and

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started shouting. The skipper turned

to the two men and indicated that

they should leave immediately. As

they were giving them the firewood

and water, he wrote a letter about

24cm square with sideways writing

and as they were leaving he handed

it to them. They took it and rowed

quickly away. Commander

Yamauchi was not happy. “What

did you accept a letter from them

for? Take it back at once!” he

ordered.

They rowed out once more, tossed

it onto the barbarian ship and

quickly rowed back.’

Pirates and Samurai




‘We watched the barbarian ship but

it did not weigh anchor. A smoke

signal was lit on Shima no Hira. On

Tebajima Island, the gunner

Ikenouchi lit the fuse of the two-

pounder (6.5cm cannon) and fired

in earnest. The report was like a

thunder clap followed by an eerie

screeching noise as the old deeply

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pitted ball flew between the two

masts of the barbarian ship.

Irritatingly, without sign of haste or

panic, the crew leisurely spread one

sail. In response, the Shima no Hira

gun crews opened up with their

one-and-a-quarter-pounders (5cm

cannon) and three-quarter-pounder

(4cm cannon). The barbarian crew

spread another sail but the ship still

did not move. Infuriated,

Commander Yamauchi ordered his

gunners and musketeers to set up in

the 4 patrol boats: No.1 patrol

boat with a three-quarter-pounder

and musketoon, No.2 patrol boat

with a hand cannon and musketoon,

No.3 patrol boat with hand cannon

and musketoon, No.4 patrol boat

with small hand cannon and

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musketoon. When everything was

on board they departed. [These

patrol boats had crews of 7 oarsmen

each.] The first shots were fired

to the left and the right of the brig

and this seemingly endless barrage

of tens of shots continued. Then

finally the barbarian ship weighed

anchor and spread all her sails.’


‘There was an onshore breeze from

the south and it was difficult for

them to sail out to sea. Instead,

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ignoring the hail of cannon and

musketoon balls, they sailed

between [the two samurai firing

positions] Ni no Saki on Tebajima

Island and Shima no Hira Headland

to the west of Mugi. At about this

time the feudal overseer realized it

was a British ship and became

extremely angry. They ordered fire

to be directed at the waterline in the

red copper sheathed area. Two

cannonballs hit and shook the ship

badly. The barbarians were

standing and yelling. There

appeared to be about fourteen of

them. They headed west toward

Asakawa Harbour. Commander

Yamauchi from his boat orders his

patrol boat gunners to concentrate

their fire on the rudder area at the

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stern on the starboard side of the

ship. One of Nishizawa’s three-

quarter-pound cannonballs reduced

a two-foot square area of the sturdy

hull to splinters and ricocheted off

to port. One or two of brig’s crew

appeared to have been killed or

injured as they were laying on the

deck. The others turned towards

Commander Yamauchi’s boat, all

removed their hats and appeared to

be praying. Out on the water the

samurai heard random cries of

“Roubin! Roubin! Rou!”

[Pronounced like ‘rue’ and ‘bin’ and

possibly they heard “Row men!

Row men! Row!”]. The barbarians

all showed themselves blowing into

cupped hands. They were gesturing

that the wind was no good.

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Commander Yamauchi asked when

the wind might change. His

boatmen responded that after

sundown a wind would blow up

from Asakawa but it would not

reach them there. Later, however,

just off Mugi Cove there would be

an offshore breeze. Commander

Yamauchi was good enough to

share this knowledge with the

barbarians through gestures and

they swiftly turned the brig across

the wind. Unlike our large ships, the

barbarian ship turned tightly and it

could not, in fact, sail directly into

the wind as we had thought; it could

only sail across the wind. The

barbarian ship was now surrounded

by our small boats, including both

of our commanders. Our guns were

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at the ready to blow them to bits. If

they grab the ropes to go over the

side or put up a fight, we were ready

to shoot. A foul stench was coming

from the ship. The Musketeer

Nishizawa threatened them by

shouldering his big gun. The

barbarians looked worried, cried

out and trembled with fear. Some of

them even pointed to their sides and

fell down praying. We took this to

mean that one of Nishizawa’s

musketoon balls had reached its

mark and taken a life.’

‘The crew were bailing water from

the hole made by Ikenouchi’s shot.

One man reported seeing a

cannonball hole where water was

going in every time the ship moved

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and another man reported seeing

water coming out as well. Not

before long, as the barbarian ship

was moving back to Shima no Hira

and as dusk fell a strange beguiling

pipe and singing could be heard.

The sound was like that of a child’s

pennywhistle; nothing like a real

flute. It was eerie.’ ‘Finally, the

offshore breeze arrived from the

mountains behind Mugi and carried

the barbarian ship off, back out to

sea.’

Pirates and Samurai


Conclusions

Having translated part of An

Illustrated Account of the Arrival of

a Foreign Ship and A Foreign Ship

Drifts in Off Mugi Cove

manuscripts and researched the

Cyprus mutiny, I believe they are

one and the same ship. The time

lines, the description of the ship, the

order of key events in both accounts,

the ‘large ball’, the hole ‘betwixt

wind and water’, the swallows

stitched on the red coat’s cuffs all

seem to point to this. The five

coattails and decoration on the cuffs

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do not appear to be military so the

coat is something that was made

from scratch or modified from one

of the uniforms on board. In his

petition for clemency to Robert

Peel, Swallow reports that he was

employed as a sailmaker so he had

the needlework skills to craft and

embroider his own ‘red coat’. He

also states that there was no loose

gunpowder but ‘250 rounds of

cartridges’ which was the type that

was offered to the samurai who

dropped the bell. From a return of

the stores shipped aboard the

Cyprus we know that red paint

needed to change the colour of the

yellow streak along the side of the

ship was also on board.

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The most notable thing about the

boomerang shaped object is that

neither its material nor its size are

noteworthy to the samurai while the

two other objects seen in the same

encounter are both described in

these terms. To me, this implies a

material that was ordinary to the

samurai i.e. wood and a size that

was not exceptional. Boomerangs

are not indigenous to Tasmania

however a south east Australian

coastal boomerang would fit the

limited information we have and

could have been brought to Van

Diemen’s Land. Of everyone on

board Dr. Williams, the ship’s

doctor seems the most likely

candidate as its owner and while the

Williams family archive has no

Pirates and Samurai


record of such an object, John

Williams, the doctor’s great

grandson stated in emails to me,

‘my great grandfather would have

treasured a boomerang if by some

means he had acquired one’ and

‘one could imagine that when he

began his medical career in VDL

some patients may have paid in

goods rather than cash.’ giving us

one possible route onto the ship. All

or some of the men and officer of

the 63rd West Suffolk had almost

certainly stopped off in south east

coastal Australia, en route for Van

Diemen’s Land; giving us another

possible way for a boomerang to be

on board.

I do not believe anyone was killed

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or injured by Japanese fire because

Swallow did not mention it in his

testimony while readily admitting

to losing a man in the storm off

New Zealand. I think the crew were

low on supplies but not in as dire a

condition as they claimed; they

were nourished and hydrated

enough to drink alcohol, go

swimming and work repairing the

ship. The foul smells were probably

due to the tar that was being used to

paint the boat. The Japanese

gunners did not fire at the crew: if

they had, the crew would not have

been able to stand up and signal the

lack of offshore wind. In my

opinion, the discipline of the

samurai musketeers and the fact

that the crew of the foreign ship did

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not return fire helped avoid a more

unfortunate outcome. I think that

Swallows true motive for

repeatedly trying to land, trade,

communicate and moor off shore

despite coming under warning fire

a number of times, was to escape to

Japan, the one place within the

range of the ship, which had limited

capacity for storing water, that the

British authorities would never

catch them. It could be argued that

the samurai opened fire on the ship

due to a misunderstanding of her

capabilities. The samurai thought

Western ships could sail directly

into the wind, but of course they

could not, and he was angered when,

despite warning shots, she sailed

along the coast rather than out to

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sea directly into the onshore breeze.

It is worth noting the parallels

between our pirate and samurai

chroniclers: both were in a situation

where a possible outcome was a

death sentence for themselves or

those around them, and were

literate and savvy enough to realize

they needed to exaggerate the end

of their accounts to appease those

who would be judging them.

Georgian England and Edo Japan

were harsh and both Captain

Swallow and Commander

Yamauchi did what they had to in

difficult situations and thanks to the

account by Hamaguchi we get a fly-

on-the-wall view of the samurai’s

discussions, and an amazing

Pirates and Samurai


description of the ship, her crew,

their interaction and the

engagement that followed.

The British lead in naval power was

at its peak a few years before during

the Napoleonic Wars and the

Cypress was almost certainly much

more technologically advanced

than anything Hamaguchi had ever

seen. Japan was said to be ‘closed’

to the outsiders to prevent

destabilizing foreign influences like

Christianity. For the same reasons,

the Shogunate had equally strict

penalties for Japanese people who

travelled abroad and hence

technology innovation for long

distance sea travel was discouraged.

Pirates and Samurai


In Japan, the Cyprus has become

known as ‘the Kipurosu’ from the

Japanese pronunciation of the name

of the island of Cyprus which

comes from the local pronunciation.

How strong an association the name

had with the island in the minds of

those who sailed on her is debatable,

and undoubtedly, they used the

same standard English

pronunciation that we use today.

However, the etymologies of both

names have a strong association

with the word copper in which the

Cyprus’s lower hull was sheathed

and perhaps this was the reasoning

behind her name. From only one

ship registered in 1777, by 1816

some 18% of the British merchant

fleet were copper bottomed. Due to

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the speed and quality of these

vessels they received favourable

insurance terms from Lloyds and

the expression ‘copper bottomed’ is

still used in English today to

describe a venture, plan or

investment that is considered safe.

Pirates and Samurai


Primary Sources

An Illustrated Account of the

Arrival of a Foreign Ship: 1830

Hamaguchi Gyoboku

A Foreign Ship Drifts in Off Mugi

Cove: 1830 Hirota Kanzaemon

The Times, 14 September 1830

The Times, 18 October 1830

HO17:59 (Kp18) Criminal

Petitions, includes that of William

Swallow to Robert Peel (filed under

1831)

Principle Sources

The Man Who Stole the Cyprus:

2008 Hirst

Contrary Winds: 2012 John

Williams

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Other Sources

The Voyage of the Cyprus

Mutineers: 2008 Sissons, The

Journal of Pacific History

Closing the Hell’s Gates: 2008

Maxwell-Stewart

Japanese and Western Calendar

Month and Date Tables: 1978

Noshima

Pirates and Samurai


Acknowledgements

Thank you to Hamaguchi Gyoboku

and Hirota Kanzaemon; the

Tokushima Prefectural Archive

especially the Chief Curator

Tokuno Takashi and Assistant

Curator Kinbara Hiroki; the

Tokushima Old Manuscript

Reading Group especially Tani

Keiko; the Mugi Board of

Education especially Deputy

Section Manager Kawabe Yoji and

Chief Sato Shunsuke; Warwick

Hirst of the State Library of New

South Wales; Professor Hamish

Pirates and Samurai


Maxwell-Stewart of the University

of Tasmania; Dr. Stephen Gapps of

the Australian National Maritime

Museum; Professor Fujikawa

Takao of Osaka University’s

School of Letters; Dr. Machida

Tetsu of the Naruto University of

Education; John Williams the great

grandson of the Cyprus’s doctor;

Mugi Old Manuscript Reading

Group especially Tomida Takeshi;

the volunteer translators of Prevail

School of English especially

Shimoda Shigeyuki, Tobe Fumiko

and Wendy Tsune; and Luke Hunter,

Steven Breyak and Professor Chis

Maxwell for all their help,

encouragement and cooperation in

the preparation of this article.

As Hokusai once said, “If heaven

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had granted me five more years, I

could have become a real painter.”

While we do not compare ourselves

to such a master, we understand his

dilemma: If heaven had granted us

five more years, we could have

given you a real translation.

However, our desire to share

Hamaguchi’s incredible work with

you as soon as possible weighed

against perfectionism and this is our

imperfect result. If you delve

further and notice any mistakes

please feel free to contact me and

contribute to what will be process

of periodic polishing as we strive

for less-imperfect imperfection.

This translation of the Mugi

Manuscripts is not complete: some

sections have been cherrypicked,

Pirates and Samurai


others summarized and others cut.

However, unlike most translations,

to achieve maximum fidelity it has

undergone a double check process

in which the translation into

English was then translated back

into Japanese and compared to the

original manuscripts by archivists

and experts.

To access the latest version of

Pirates and Samurai and other

resources for study,

http://piratesandsamurai.com/

To access just translations of the

Mugi manuscripts and other

reference material for research,

http://mugimanuscripts.com/

Pirates and Samurai


While all the historical facts have

been reviewed by the relevant

experts, the conclusions drawn here

are my personal views and not

necessarily those shared by

contributors. This work is

copyrighted not for profit but to

maintain its integrity when

reproduced. Any nonprofit request

for unadulterated complete or

partial use will be granted. Any

income from for-profit use will

used to help maintain the legacy of

the foreign ship that once moored

off Mugi Cove. All images are

subject to their original owner’s

copyright.

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Pirates and Samurai