Solving the Oneida Question: Anglo-American relations during a public outcry

AbstractOn 24 January 1870 USS Oneida sank when, sailing out of Tokyo Bay, it collided with the British ship Bombay, which failed to stop and render aid, leading to the deaths of 115 American sailors. This article compares the public reaction of the Anglo-American press with the internal conversations in both nations’ governments. It will demonstrate how, despite intense public condemnation of the British captain, both countries were keen to put the issue to rest in as quiet and amicable a manner as possible. The goal of presenting a united front to the new Meiji government was essential during a new era of imperial co-operation.Key words: Anglo-American relationsMeiji JapanUSS OneidaBombayCharles DeLongLord Harry ParkesshipwreckUnited States Navy Notes1 The author is grateful for the input of the anonymous referees whose comments helped to improve this article.2 The Times, 7 April 1870.3 United States Navy Department, Loss of the United States Oneida, 84.4 Ibid., 79; New York Herald, 10 March 1870.5 Jenkins, Britain and the war for the Union, 1–2.6 Ibid., 305; 385–8.7 Foreman, A World on Fire, 191–6.8 Darwin, The Empire Project, 68–9.9 Jensen, The Making of Modern Japan, 270, 274.10 Ibid., 369.11 Ibid., 315.12 Darwin, The Empire Project, 27-8.13 Ibid., 35-6.14 Cain and Hopkins, British Imperialism, 362-6.15 Gordon, A Modern History of Japan, 73.16 Ibid., 74.17 United States Navy Department, Loss of the United States Oneida, 21.18 Ibid., 18.19 Ibid., 12.20 Ibid., 56.21 Ibid., 45.22 Ibid. 26.23 Ibid., 22.24 Ibid., 48.25 Ibid., 62.26 Ibid., 11.27 Ibid., 84.28 Boston Daily Advertiser, 10 March, 1870.29 United States Navy Department, Loss of the United States Oneida, 11.30 Ibid., 43, 69.31 Ibid., 46.32 Ibid., 69.33 Columbian Register, 19 Mar. 1870.34 United States Navy Department, Loss of the United States Oneida, 16, 74.35 Philadelphia Enquirer, 11 Mar. 1870; Columbian Register, 2 Apr. 1870.36 United States Navy Department, Loss of the United States Oneida, 79.37 Ibid., 18, 23.38 Ibid., 40-1.39 Ibid. 25.40 Ibid., 67-8.41 Ibid., 25.42 The report was widely circulated in the London and provincial press, e.g., Gore’s Liverpool General Advertiser, 10 Mar. 1870; and The Graphic, 12 Mar. 1870. Newspapers accessed via www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.43 The Star, 12 Mar. 187044 For example, Fifeshire Journal, 10 Mar. 1870.45 The Times, 8 Mar. 1870.46 Flakes Weekly Galveston Bulletin, 12 Mar. 1870.47 Boston Daily Advertiser, 14 Mar. 1870.48 The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA): MT 9/51/M4114/70, Report on the collision between the ‘Oneida’ and ‘Bombay’, 1870.49 United States Navy Department, Loss of the United States Oneida.50 TNA: MT 9/51/M4114/70, Report on the collision between the ‘Oneida’ and ‘Bombay’, 1870.51 Hansard, 5 Jul. 1870.52 United States Navy Department, Loss of the United States Oneida, 2, 6.53 The official notes and evidence in the proceedings of the naval court of inquiry as to the collision between the U.S. Corvette Oneida and the P.&O. Str. Bombay (Yokohama, 1870)54 Black, Young Japan; Scidmore, Jinrikisha days in Japan.55 Johnson, Far China station; McCreery, ‘Neighbourly Relations’.56 Nakada, ‘Maizō bunkazai’.57 McCreery, ‘Neighbourly Relations’, 200.58 Gordon, A Modern History of Japan.59 Darwin, The Empire Project, 35-6.Additional informationNotes on contributorsMatthew McLinMatthew McLin is an assistant professor of history at Trine University in Indiana in the United States. After receiving his PhD from Florida State University in 2021, he taught in various locations in the United States before moving to the Midwest. His research interests include technology in history, the interaction of business and government, and questions of class and gender as they relate to the British military. His current project examines the relationship between Britain and Japan in the Meiji Period, especially regarding how matters of gender and race in Japan were presented to the wider world by the local anglophone press.