''Heda'' (ヘダ号) was a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

built by the Russian sailors of

Yevfimy Putyatin Yevfimiy Vasilyevich Putyatin (russian: Евфи́мий Васи́льевич Путя́тин; November 8, 1803 – October 16, 1883), also known as was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy. His diplomatic mission to Japan r ...

and 300 Japanese carpenters of the city of Heda in 1855.''Sutebusuton: a Japanese village on the British Columbia coast'' by Mitsuo Yesaki p.6
/ref> According to

Ivan Goncharov Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (, also ; rus, Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Гончаро́в, r=Iván Aleksándrovich Goncharóv, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡənʲtɕɪˈrof; – ) was a Russian novelist best known for his ...

's book "

Frigate "Pallada" ''Frigate "Pallada"'' (russian: Фрегат "Паллада") is a book by Ivan Goncharov, written in 1854–1856 and based on a diary that he kept as a secretary for Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin during his 1852–1854 around-the world expedition on ...

", the schooner was built only by Russian sailors, but with the assistance of Japanese equipment and materials (see p. 584)..

Heda

The need for the ship arose when Putyatin's fleet was damaged in a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

, following the powerful Ansei-Tōkai earthquake of 23 December 1854. The flagship '' Diana'' sank on its way from Shimoda to Heda as it was sailing there for repairs. Following the signature of the

Treaty of Shimoda The Treaty of Shimoda (下田条約, ''Shimoda Jouyaku'') (formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia 日露和親条約, ''Nichi-Ro Washin Jouyaku'') of February 7, 1855, was the first treaty between the Russian Empire, a ...

with the Russians, the Japanese government decided to help the Russians return to their country by building a western-style ship. Three hundred Japanese carpenters worked with the Russian sailors to build a Western-style ship in two months, with the help of plans salvaged from the ''Diana''. It was a two-masted

, weighing 100 tons, with a length of 24 meters. The ship was named in honour of the Japanese city that helped with its construction.

Kimizawagata

Soon, the Japanese government ordered six more ships to be built on the model of the ''Heda'', thereby contributing to the development of western-style shipbuilding in Japan. The new ship type was named ''Kimisawagata'' (君沢形). Other, were built on the same model: four ships of 500 tons of the ''Toyoshimagata'' type (豊島形), and six ships of 30 tons of the ''Nirayamagata'' type (韮山型). These efforts contributed to the development of Japan's first home-built Imperial Navy steam warship, the ''

Chiyodagata was a gunboat of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Navy, and Japan's first domestically-built steam warship (Japan's first steamship was the built by the fief of Satsuma Domain, Satsuma in 1855). She was a 3rd class wooden gunboat and laid down M ...

'' (千代田形｣).

Other Bakufu arsenals

Shipbuilding would also occur in other locations during the

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government ...

period. For example, Uraga built the '' Hōō Maru'' (鳳凰丸), the

Mito Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.Asahi-maru'' (旭日丸), the

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

built the '' Shohei-Maru'' (昇平丸) and the ''Houzui-Maru'' (鳳瑞丸), as well as Saga Domain.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heda Ships of the Imperial Russian Navy 1855 ships Ships built in Japan

Heda

Kimizawagata

Other Bakufu arsenals

See also

Notes