USS Oneida (1861)

The second USS Oneida was a Mohican-class screw sloop-of-war in the United States Navy. During the Civil War, she destroyed the CSS Governor Moore and served in blockade operations. She was attached to the Asiatic Squadron from 1867–1870. She sank in 1870 outside Yokohama, Japan after collision with the British steamer Bombay. A court of inquiry, headed by the local British consul, found the officers of Oneida were responsible for the collision, with Bombay's captain being blamed for not staying at the scene to render assistance – a decision that caused some controversy. A less exhaustive U.S. naval court of inquiry laid the blame entirely on the Bombays actions. Japanese fishing boats saved 61 sailors but 125 men lost their lives. The American government made no attempt to raise the wreck and sold it to a Japanese wrecking company. The company recovered many bones from the wreck and interred them at their own expense. The Japanese erected a memorial tablet on the grounds of Ikegami Temple in Tokyo and held a Buddhist ceremony in the sailors' memory in May 1889.

Construction

Oneida was authorized by Act of Congress, February 1861, and built at the New York Navy Yard; launched 20 November 1861; and commissioned 28 February 1862, Captain Samuel Phillips Lee in command.

Service history

Civil War, 1862–1865

Shortly after commissioning Oneida sailed from New York and joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron commanded by Flag officer David Farragut. On 24 April 1862 she participated in the attacks on Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans, Louisiana, and drove off the Confederate ram which sank the steam gunboat . Oneida destroyed the gunboat CSS Governor Moore in a following engagement on the same date. Early in September 1862, Oneida failed in an attempt to stop the passage of the Confederate States Navy sloop-of-war CSS Florida into Mobile, Alabama.

Asiatic Squadron, 1867–1870

thumb|right|Gravestone to the dead of the U.S.S. Oneida on the grounds of [[Ikegami Honmon-ji|Ikegami Temple in Tokyo. There was once metal lettering on the stone, but they were apparently pried off and melted for the war effort during World War II.]]Recommissioned in May 1867, she was attached to the Asiatic Squadron and continued in that capacity until January 1870.

The wreck of the Oneida was sold at public auction at Yokohama 9 October 1872, to Mr. Tatchobonaiya. Inside the wreckage were found many of the bones of the dead sailors, which were interred, at the expense of the salvagers, on the grounds of Ikegami Temple in Tokyo. In Jinrikisha Days in Japan (1891), Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore tells the story, writing:

:...[the American] government made no effort to raise the wreck or search it, and finally sold it to a Japanese wrecking company for fifteen hundred dollars. The wreckers found many bones of the lost men among the ship's timbers, and when the work was entirely completed, with their voluntary contributions they erected a tablet in the Ikegami grounds to the memory of the dead, and celebrated there the impressive Buddhist segaki (feast of hungry souls), in May 1889. The great temple was in ceremonial array; seventy-five priests in their richest robes assisted at the mass, and among the congregation were the American admiral and his officers, one hundred men from the fleet, and one survivor of the solitary boat's crew that escaped from the Oneida.

:The Scriptures were read, a service was chanted, the Sutra repeated, incense burned, the symbolic lotus-leaves cast before the altar, and after an address in English by Mr. Amenomori explaining the segaki, the procession of priests walked to the tablet in the grounds to chant prayers and burn incense again.

Current status

According to records regarding the Oneida, she was leaving port carrying payment for sales of ammunition and gunpowder to the Japanese government. Around 1955, Takeshita Hisao led an effort to salvage the loaded payment, as well as other artifacts from the Oneida wreck. Artifacts including coins, ammunition shells, rifles, and further bones from deceased sailors and passengers were found. The recovered steam gauge was later donated to the United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka. In 2010, a special aired 9 November on Fuji Television made a further effort at salvage with the help of Takeshita's family and one of the divers from the 1955 effort. The show's salvage team located a shipwreck that matched descriptions of the Oneida, and efforts continue to discover more about the wreckage and remaining contents.