Napha was the major town and harbor of the Lew Chews (now Ryukyus) which were a quasi-independent province of Japan at the time of Admiral Perry's visit. It is worth retelling the circumstances and story of Perry's visit to the Lew Chews late in 1853. "In November of 1852, lame-duck President Millard Fillmore addressed an amiable letter to his Great and Good Friend the emperor of Japan. He proposed that their two countries should live in friendship and have commercial intercourse with each other. He knew that for two centuries Japanese law had restricted trade with the West to a single Dutch ship each year which could only call at a single port, Nagasaki. The tone of President Fillmore's letter was one of sweet reason, but the method of delivery was something else. The message was to be taken directly to Tokyo (then called Yedo), regardless of any Japanese wishes in the matter, by warships of the U.S. Navy's East India squadron. The designated commander of the fleet was a perfect choice. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry had been in the Navy for forty years. He had fought the British and subdued Mexicans, Caribbean pirates, and African slave traders. He was a caricature old sea dog who nonetheless had modern ideas that made him support steam power, professional education for officers, and use of the Navy in scientific expeditions. His preparations were in complete tune with the times. First, he requisitioned two of the most modern and powerful ships of the fleet. The paddle-wheelers Mississippi and Susquehanna were each armed with devastating eight-inch Paixhan guns [as shown in this print]. .... He determined in advance that he would be most impressive to the nonWestern mind by outdoing the Japanese in the matter of formality. He would make himself visible only to the highest dignitaries, and when he did appear, it would be in the fullest panoply of rank. Finally, he gave the entire mission a rehearsal by calling, on the way to Yedo, at what he called Great Lew Chew Island to arrange for a supply base there. The Lew Chews (now Ryukyus) were a quasi-independent province of Japan at the time. Americans in 1945 would get to know Great Lew Chew as Okinawa. Perry took himself to an interview with the governor of Great Lew Chew in a sedan chair borne by four coolies and preceded by two pieces of artillery, a brass band, and a company of Marines. He got what he asked for, which was just as well, since in case of refusal the commodore had intended simply to grab the island as a hostage for the satisfaction of American demands. It would be, he assured the Navy Department in Washington, "a measure not only justified by the strictest rules of moral law, but also by the laws of stern necessity." See First Encounter by Bernard A. Weisberger, 1991.

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