Bombardment of Kagoshima - Combat

Combat

The deadline expired, and diplomacy gave way to coercion. Deciding to put pressure on Satsuma, the British Navy commander seized three foreign-built steam merchant ships (Sir George Grey, Contest, England, with an aggregate value of about $300,000/₤200,000 sterling or GB£128,000,000 in 2011 pounds) belonging to Satsuma which were at anchor in Kagoshima harbour, to use them as a bargaining tool. Picking their moment, just as a typhoon started, the Satsuma forces on shore vented their anger by firing their round shot cannons at the British ships. Surprised by the hostility, the British fleet responded by first pillaging and then setting on fire the three captured steamships (to the chagrin of the British sailors, who were thereby deprived of prize money). Then, after nearly two hours getting ready (they had not expected or intended to get into any exchange of fire with Satsuma), a line of battle was formed, which sailed along the coast of Kagoshima and fired cannon shells and round shot. One of the British warships, the gunboat Havoc, set five Ryukyuan trading junks on fire.

The naval bombardment claimed just five lives among the people of Satsuma (the city had been evacuated in anticipation of the conflict), and 13 lives among the British (including Captain Josling of the British flagship Euryalus, and his second-in-command Commander Wilmot, both decapitated by the same cannonball). Material losses were considerable, with around 500 wood-and-paper houses burnt in Kagoshima (about 5% of Kagoshima's urban area), and the three Satsuma steamships and five junks destroyed. The encounter was face-saving for Satsuma, and was even claimed as a victory by the Japanese side, considering the relative number of casualties. The British ships did not land troops or seize cannons (which would have signalled the absolute defeat of Satsuma), Kuper having decided that enough was enough.