To the editor: Victory Day, is celebrated in Rhode Island on the second Wednesday of August. It marks the surrender of Japan, ending World War II. To celebrate termination of humanity’s …
A descendant of Commodore Matthew C. Perry of “Black Ships” fame visited a distant island south of Tokyo carrying a pocket watch that the U.S. naval officer had with him when he dropped anchor there nearly 170 years ago.
Matthew C. Perry, in full Matthew Calbraith Perry, (born April 10, 1794, South Kingston, R.I., U.S. died March 4, 1858, New York City), U.S. naval officer who headed an expedition that forced Japan in 1853–54 to enter into trade and diplomatic relations with the West after more than two centuries of isolation. Through his efforts the United States became an equal power with Britain, France, and Russia in the economic exploitation of East Asia. Earlier, Perry had served as commanding officer (1837–40) of the first U.S. steamship, the “Fulton”; led a naval squadron to Africa to help suppress the slave trade
Three decades after Perry’s famed opening of Japan, Robert W. Shufeldt succeeded in the same far-reaching accomplishment with the “Hermit Kingdom” of Korea.