Re: ship General Sherman?/NK 1860's


Jack Linthicum wrote:
> old hoodoo wrote:
> > I am a bit confused about the General Sherman who was either burned or
> > partially burned (one account says she was iron hulled) and rebuilt and
> > returned to the US by Korea in the 1860's. It sparked
> > an international incident. Everyone seems to agree the crew were
> > massacred to a man. Less than 20 in the crew I think?
> >
> > Supposedly the Pueblo is moored at the same place the Sherman was taken
> > and captured...
> >
> > What puzzles me is that there appears to be conflicting information on
> > just whose behalf the ship entered Korea fo--British or US commercial
> > interests? Was she flying the US Flag? At the time she was a
> > commercial vessel wasn't she, no longer a US Navy warship (captured CSA
> > blockade runner turned into US blockade vessel).
> >
> > The crew was oriental, but the officers on board were American or British?
> >
> > After her "return" the Sherman was owned by US civilian owners?
> >
> > The Sherman finally sank near Cape Fear in the 1870's under tow?
> > Has the wreck/remains ever been documented and dived on?
> >
> > Any photographs of this ship? I have seen only one crude drawing on the
> > net.
> >
> > What is the skinny on the Sherman?
>
> Does this sound plausible?
>
> http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/sherman.htm
>
> "USS General Sherman Incident
>
> Korean leaders were aware that China's position had been transformed by
> the arrival of powerful Western gunboats and traders, but they reacted
> to the Opium War (1839-42) between China and Britain by shutting
> Korea's doors even tighter. In 1853 United States Navy Commodore
> Matthew C. Perry and his "black ships" entered Edo Bay, beginning the
> process of opening Japan to foreign trade.
>
> Korea, however, continued its isolationist policy. Japan's drastic
> reform of its institutions -- the Meiji Restoration of 1868 -- and
> subsequent industrialization was attributed by Korean literati to
> Japan's alleged inferior grasp of Confucian doctrine. Through its
> successful rebuff of French and American attempts to "open" Korea, the
> regime was encouraged to think it could hold out indefinitely against
> external pressure.
>
> In late 1865 the US Navy gunship Princess Royal, an armed American
> merchant-marine schooner and formerly a Confederate blockade runner,
> was dispatched to China to help protect the US interests in China. The
> American merchant W. B. Preston arranged with the Meadows & Co., a
> British firm in Tientsin, to send the ship [renamed the USS General
> Sherman] to Korea. The USS General Sherman steamed up the Taedong River
> almost to P'yongyang. In August 1866 the General Sherman became
> stranded in the river. Shortly thereafter, the Korean governor ordered
> his troops to attack. The Koreans burned the ship by the use of a fire
> raft and when the ship's crew reached shore, they were massacred. Other
> foreigners, including French missionaries, had suffered the same fate
> at different times.
>
> Kim Il Sung claimed that his great-grandfather was involved in this
> incident. Historical fabrications in the North go so far as to portray
> Kim Il Sung's great grandfather Kim Ung-u as a brave fighter against
> the "U.S. imperialists," maintaining that he destroyed the USS General
> Sherman, and that Korean anti-American struggles began as early as the
> 1880s. Kim's father Kim Hyong-jik and his mother Kang Ban-sok are
> depicted as "indefatigable fighters" who led the anti-Japanese civilian
> movement of "March 1, 1919," which are historical fabrications.
>
> In January 1867 the USS Wachusett under Captain Robert W. Schufeldt
> arrived to investigate General Sherman's demise. But foul weather
> turned her back. In the Spring of 1868 the USS Shenandoah under Captain
> John C. Febiger reached the Taedong River's mouth and received an
> official letter acknowledging the death of all crewmen of General
> Sherman.
>
> In an effort to obtain some assurance for the protection of American
> lives and open up the country to trade, Frederick Low, the American
> Minister to China, was sent on a mission to Korea. Mr. Low arrived on
> the west coast of Korea during the latter part of May 1871 on board the
> flagship Colorado, along with four other ships of the Asiatic Fleet
> under the command of Rear Admiral John Rodgers. Having anchored off the
> mouth of the Han River, and desiring to examine approaches to Seoul,
> Rodgers sent out a Navy surveying party on one June. The survey party,
> while working its way up the channel (Salee River), was fired upon by
> one of the five forts which protected the approach to the Han River.
> After waiting 10 days to give the Korean officials time to apologize,
> Rodgers and Low decided to carry out punitive measures in response to
> the hostile action.
>
> On 10 June, Marine Captain McLane Tilton with 3 officers and 105
> Marines, who comprised part of the landing force, led the assault
> against the Korean forts. After taking two of the forts without much
> difficulty, Tilton then led his Marines against the heavily fortified
> "Citadel." During the ensuing battle, which required hand-to-hand
> combat, Marine Corporal Charles Brown and Private Hugh Purvis made
> their way to the flagstaff and tore down the enemy flag. As a result of
> this heroic act, both Marines were subsequently awarded the Medal of
> Honor. With the battle for the "Citadel" ended, over 200 Koreans lay
> dead and a total of 6 Marines were recommended for and ultimately
> received the Medal of Honor for their gallant efforts.
>
> There is no doubt that the Americans felt themselves victorious; they
> had lost three men, the Koreans 350. Although no successful treaty was
> immediately negotiated, hostile activity towards the Americans ceased.
> When the American ships left Korea on 3 July little had been
> accomplished, and the Koreans were able to regard it as a great victory
> because the Americans had sailed away without gaining any particular
> advantage, just as the French had done in 1866.
>
> Japan succeeded in imposing a Western-style unequal treaty in February
> 1876, giving its nationals extraterritorial rights and opening three
> Korean ports to Japanese commerce. China sought to reassert its
> traditional position in Korea by playing the imperial powers off
> against each other, with the result that Korea entered into unequal
> treaties with the United States, Britain, Russia, Italy, and other
> countries. On 22 May 1882 Korea capitulated and signed the Treaty of
> Chemulpo. Commodore Robert W. Schufeldt presided over this surrender.
>
> The USS Pueblo is now moored at the spot where the USS General Sherman
> was sunk in the 19th century."

The global security site was my first hit also; but if you then go a
step further you see why there was the original post on this subject.
What GS states isn't matched by the Navy records; especially about
Priness Royal remaining in commission and being sent to the Pacific --
renamed or not.

There's more info on the subject; use both names in doing the
searching.

<end>
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p11/princess_royal.htm

Princess Royal

Princess Royal, a British blockade runner captured at Charleston, S.C.,
29 January 1863, was purchased by the Navy Department from the
Philadelphia Prize Court 18 March 1863; fitted out as a cruiser; and
commissioned 29 May 1863, Comdr. M. B. Woolsey in command.

Assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Princess Royal
participated in the engagement with Confederate forces at
Donaldsonville, La., 28 June 1863. Then ordered to the Texas coast, she
captured the British schooner Flying Scud near Matamoros 12 August, and
assisted in seizing the schooner Wave 22 August. Continuing her patrols
into 1864 she took Neptune off Brazoa de Santiago, 19 November 1864;
ran down the schooner Flash six days later; seized the schooner
Alabama, 7 December; and captured Cora off Galveston, 19 December.

On 7 February 1865, she assisted in the capture of her last prize, the
schooner Anna Sophia in Galveston Bay. Five months later Princess Royal
was ordered north, arriving at Philadelphia 21 July. She was sold at
public auction 17 August 1865.

http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g3/general_sherman.htm

General Sherman was one of four light wooden gunboats built at
Chattanooga, Tenn., for the War Department in 1864. She commissioned at
Bridgeport, Ala., 27 July 1864, Acting Master Joseph W. Morehead in
command.

General Sherman was assigned to the llth District, Mississippi
Squadron, and became part of Lt. Moreau Forrest's gunboat fleet on the
upper Tennessee River. Leaving Bridgeport 22 August, she patrolled with
other gunboats between Decatur, Ala., and Mussel Shoals, controlling
guerrilla attacks and working to prevent major elements of Confederate
General Hood's army from crossing the river into Tennessee. General
Sherman continued to patrol until she returned to Bridgeport for
repairs 17 December.

Returning to the upper Tennessee River, General Sherman lent vital
artillery support to the forces of General Steedman at Decatur, 27
December, shelling Confederate emplacements as Union troops crossed the
river. She again patrolled the river, attempting to cut off the
withdrawal of Hood's army
from Tennessee and convoying Union supply ships, until the war ended.
She was returned to the Army Quartermaster Department at Chattanooga,
Tenn., 3 June 1865.
<end>

MW

.