USS Ta-Kiang (1862) - Chartered By The U.S. Navy

Chartered By The U.S. Navy

On 18 August 1864 -- so that the United States would be represented in the joint Anglo-French-Dutch force -- Robert K. Pruyn, the minister resident of the United States in Japan, and Captain Cicero Price, the commanding officer of Jamestown, chartered Ta-Kiang from the firm Walsh, Hall, and Co., the agents for the steamer Ta-Kiang. Under the terms of the agreement, she was "to carry a landing party, and in every way to assist in the common object, but not to be under fire of the forts."

Before the joint expedition set sail, a mail steamer arrived bringing Japanese diplomats back from France with a treaty that had stipulated, among other provisions, that the Strait of Shimonoseki would be opened within three months. Ta-Kiang's charter was cancelled when word of the treaty first arrived, but the Japanese appeared unwilling to be bound by the agreement. This intransigence left the western powers no alternative to opening hostilities with Choshiu. Accordingly, the United States government rechartered Ta-Kiang and took her over on 28 August 1864.