egar, d ried apples and pickles. At one bell (half past twelve) they go on deck, and the other watch get dinner. In the afternoon the men- if the weath er be fine- dispose of their time as best suits them selves, except the unfo rtunate "black listers" who fo r trivial offences are sentenced to do all manner of odd jobs while the oth ers do nothing. At five o'clock comes supper in the sam e m anner as dinner and it consists of the same as breakfas t witli th e exception that sometimes tea is served out in lieu of coffee. At six or seven hamm ocks are piped down, to o ne watch, and by eight o'clock everyth ing is quiet for the night. Life at sea, especially in fair weather, was one of ro utine. M ost days, his journal entry reads, "no thing of interest occurring on board," fo llowed by a brief descrip tion of the weather. Other than references to deserters co urt-m artialed for "insolence," Falkinburg gives us few insights into relations between crew and offi cers. It is obvious fro m his writing, however, that not all was well aboard the Iroquois. O n 5 N ovember in H o ng Ko ng: The captain had all hands called aft and gave us a severe lecture upon things which have happened of lace on board. It seem s that las t nigh t while taking on coal, some person threw a piece of it and struck the midshipman of the watch . Beside chis, a good deal of the rigging has been fo und cue of late. The captain wo und up by informing us that until he fo und out the perpetrator of the first offense, he wo uld stop all m oney, liberry, and other privileges, and chat no t one of the crew should set foot on shore until he did so, if was not until two years from now, and then disrated one of the quarterm asters fo r using profane language. In the evening he ordered that the crew should stand sea watches while lying in the harbor. The weather all day was exceedingly pleasant. That sam e week, he noted that "the American mail steamer of the line fro m San Francisco to Chi na recently established is expected in here daily, being now overdue." This wo uld have been the Pacific M ail Steam ship Company (PMSS), whose Colorado had inaugura ted steamship service connecting San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Japan that sam e year. O n 14 November the newest PMSS sh ip wo uld arrive on her initial sailing to the Far East: "In the afternoon , the U nited States m ail steamer 'China' cam e in from San Fran cisco h aving o ur American mail on board. I was not fortu nate enough to get anything fro m home, nor have I since we left Bombay. The weather is most delight ful at presen t." The year 1867 ended with the Iroquois lying off Hiogo (now part of Kobe) in Osaka Bay alongside fo ur ocher American warships: H artford, Wachusset, Aroostook, and Oneida. There were also ten English men-of-war in the harbor, plus one French warship, with a constant coming and going as the two m ain fleets were relieved or reinfo rced . As they headed in to the new year, the year of the M eiji Restoration , one feels the tension building, preparato ry to opening the port of Osaka. From all acco unts there seems to be a probabiliry of a serious fight at the opening of the port of Osaca [sic] , which will take place abo ut the first of next month. The Tycoon SEA HISTORY 124, AU TUMl'N 2008
or Emperor has been all along favo rable to the opening of the ports and in this he has been supported by a few of the seaboard Daimos, or princes, who perceive the benefi ts of fo reign intercourse, but m ost stro ng opposed by the mass of the princes who reside in the interior. We have the news now that the Tycoon has been deposed and afrerwards assassinated and a new emperor ch osen, who, backed by the hostile Daimos, has determined to hold the ports. There w ill most probably be a civil war over it and we will probably be drawn into it, as according to the rreary made by the Tycoon with the American , English, French and D urch ministers, the port was to be opened, and the naval commanders of the respective countries have determined that it shall be opened, peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. To this end there will be presen t at the opening of the port all the m en of war that can be gathered in these waters, over every squadron and nation. The las t entry in the journal begins the year 1868: January 1: In the m orning after quarters all hands were called to muster and chis being the first Wednesday in the month, the Articles of War were read, after which the captain made us a little speech in which he co mplimented us on the m anner in which everything was carried on when the Admiral was on board, and informed us that the affair at H ong Kong was fo rgotten, chat he should give us m oney every month and liberry as often as he could. He then read som e of the squad ron orders of the Admiral, and the proceedings of a General court m artial held o n the " Wachusset" some time since in th e case of a couple of deserters, as a warning. H e then perfo rmed an act of clem ency which we did not expect, viz. released two prisoners who deserted at Nangasaki [sic], and were recaptured. They were both down fo r a general court martial, and would almost certainly have been sentenced to two years in the Penitentiary and loss of pay. H e finished up by rating a number of the crew, and when he piped down all considered that we had received a very good New Years presen t. So ended what must have been the most eventful year in John Falkinburg's life. The next year he was transferred to the Piscataque (soon renamed the Delaware) and continued to see du ry off Japan, China, and the Philippines. Station du ry was tiresome-the only shots fired were touched off as salutes to dignitaries. The journals of those years well convey the tedium. The Delaware returned to New York in 1870, and Falkinburg returned to O hio. H e became a school teacher and principal, a pillar of his communiry, and never left- but he left us a journal of that marvelous first year at sea. -! Special thanks go to j ohn 0. Falkinburg's great-grandson, Wayne Myers, and his cousin, Jeffrey Sawtelle, keeper of the diaries, for making them available to the author and assisting in the preparation of this article. Robert Barde is Deputy D irector and Academic Coordinator ofthe Institute ofBusiness and Economic Research, University of California, Berkeley. H e is the author of numerous articles on immigration history, and his new book, Immigration at the Golden Gate, is reviewed in this issue of Sea History, page 50.
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