was one of Japan's first modern

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...

s, a

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

as part of the navy of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, and later as part of the navy of the

Republic of Ezo The was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the ''Bakumatsu'' period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt t ...

. She was wrecked on 15 November 1868, off Esashi,

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, Japan.

Construction and design

''Kaiyō Maru'' was ordered in 1863, and built by Cornelis Gips and Sons, at

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, for a sum of 831,200 guilders. Her construction was overseen by a Japanese military mission under Uchida Masao and Akamatsu Noriyoshi. She was launched in October 1866, and anchored before Vlissingen on 23 October. ''Kaiyō Maru'' arrived in Japan in November of the same year. She was the largest wooden warship ever built by a Dutch shipyard at the time. She was long.

Career

In January 1868 ''Kaiyō Maru'' was engaged in the naval battle of Awa off Awaji Island, where she, '' Banryū Maru'' and ''Hazuru Maru'' battled against the

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a ...

Navy's '' Kasuga Maru'', ''Hōō Maru'', and ''Heiun Maru''. During the battle, ''Hōō Maru'' was sunk off the coast of Awa. In late January 1868, ''Kaiyō Maru'', ''

Kanrin Maru was Japan's first sail and screw-driven steam corvette (the first steam-driven Japanese warship, ''Kankō Maru'', was a side-wheeler). She was ordered in 1853 from the Netherlands, the only Western country with which Japan had diplomatic rela ...

'', ''Hōō Maru'', and five other modern ships fled to

, under Admiral

Enomoto Takeaki Viscount was a Japanese samurai and admiral of the Tokugawa navy of Bakumatsu period Japan, who remained faithful to the Tokugawa shogunate and fought against the new Meiji government until the end of the Boshin War. He later served in the ...

. They carried a handful of French military advisors, and their leader

Jules Brunet Jules Brunet (2 January 1838 – 12 August 1911) was a French military officer who served the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War in Japan. Originally sent to Japan as a horse artillery instructor with the French military mission of 1867, ...

. While in Hokkaido, they became a part of the navy of the short-lived

Ezo Republic The was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the ''Bakumatsu'' period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt t ...

, founded by Enomoto Takeaki. ''Kaiyō Maru'' became the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

of the navy of the Ezo Republic, but she soon was wrecked off Esashi,

, Japan, during a storm on 15 November 1868. The steamship ''Shinsoku'' made a rescue attempt, but it too sank.

Salvage

The guns and

ship chandler A ship chandler is a retail dealer who specializes in providing supplies or equipment for ships. Synopsis For traditional sailing ships, items that could be found in a chandlery include sail-cloth, rosin, turpentine, tar, pitch, linseed oil ...

y of ''Kaiyō Maru'' were discovered on the seafloor on 14 August 1968 by the submarine ''Yomiuri-Gō'' (読売号). Further remains were discovered but project financing prevented the salvage at that time however several items were recovered in 1969. Dives were conducted in August 1974 that confirmed a need for

excavation Excavation may refer to: * Archaeological excavation * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Mem ...

of the extensive remains. Full scale excavation of the wreck from a depth of began in June 1975. The salvage of portions of the wreck located in the open sea were completed in seven years. The inland portions of the wreck were slowed by poor

visibility In meteorology, visibility is the measure of the distance at which an object or light can be clearly discerned. It depends on the Transparency and translucency, transparency of the surrounding air and as such, it is unchanging no matter the amb ...

. Costs for the salvage totaled over 3 million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. T ...

by 1985.

Desalinization Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is soil desalination. This is important for agriculture. It is possible ...

of the recovered artifacts began upon recovery. A replica of ''Kaiyō Maru'' was constructed in 1990. She is now on display at the docks in Esashi and has become a tourist attraction showing the salvaged remains of the original ship.

References

Citations

Books

* * * * * * * * * *

Journals

External links

A replica of the ''Kaiyō Maru'' in Esashi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiyo Maru Museum ships in Japan Shipwrecks in the Sea of Japan Shipwrecks of Japan Three-masted ships 1865 ships Japan–Netherlands relations Rangaku Ships of the Tokugawa Navy Ships of the Republic of Ezo Navy Maritime incidents in November 1868 Ships built in the Netherlands Auxiliary steamers Steamships of Japan