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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive
USS Ta Kiang
Screw Steamer:
Built in 1862 as Ta-Kiang, an oak-hulled, screw steamer at New York City by Roosevelt and Joyce Shipbuilding
Active in the China trade, probably under the British flag to avoid being molested by Confederate raiders and cruisers
As an outgrowth of that hostility to aliens in the summer of 1863, a Prince of Nagato, Mori, of the clan of Choshiu, fortified one side of the Strait of Shimonoseki
to close that waterway to western commerce.
In 1864 the western Treaty powers determined to open those waters once and for all. The only American warship
then in that part of the world, however, was the sail-powered sloop-of-war USS Jamestown,
which could not overcome the strong currents in the strait and thus was unable to participate in any allied expedition to open navigation to foreign shipping.
On 28 August 1864, so that the United States could be represented in the joint Anglo-French-Dutch force,
Robert K. Pruyn, the Minister Resident of the United States in Japan, and Capt. Cicero Price, the commanding officer of Jamestown, chartered
Ta-Kiang
Capt. Price placed LT.
Fredrick Pearson, USN of Jamestown, in command of Ta Kiang and also transferred 18 men and a 30-pounder Parrott rifle to Ta Kiang
On 4 September the allied fleet got underway anchoring in sight of the batteries on the shores of Nagato
On 6 September Ta-Kiang towed a landing boat from the French steam sloop Dupleix, steaming close to the first battery. By noon, a mixed force of British, French,
and Dutch troops had taken the batteries
On 7 and 8 September, Ta-Kiang took on board 23 wounded Britons, as well as a surgeon and attendants, and ultimately returning to Yokohama 21 September During the attacks on the Shimonoseki forts, Ta-Kiang had fired 18 shells from her Parrott gun "thus identifying herself in this respect with the expedition."
On 22 September 1864, Ta-Kiang was returned to her owners
Sold to the Japanese government in 1864, renamed Oye Maru
Final Disposition, fate unknown
Specifications:
Displacement 510 t.
Length 154'
Beam 28'
Draft 11'
Depth of Hold 11'5"
Speed unknown
Complement 18
Armament
one 30-pdr Parrott Rifle
Propulsion steam
single propeller
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USS Ta Kiang
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Battle of the Straits of Shimonoséki
Report of Ensign Fredrick Pearson, USN, commanding steamer USS Ta-Kiang regarding actions at Shimonoseki, Japan, September 1864
This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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Last Updated 28 May 2021