President John Tyler Appoints a Midshipman Who Would Be the First of Commodore Perry’s Officers to Set Foot on Japanese Soil
Perry’s expedition opened the doors of trade between the U.S. and Japan.
Document signed as President, on vellum, Washington, October 8, 1842, appointing William D. Whiting “a Midshipman in the Navy of the United States, from the 1st March 1841”. The document is countersigned by Secretary of the Navy Abel P. Upshur, who was killed in the famous explosion aboard the USS Princeton in...
Document signed as President, on vellum, Washington, October 8, 1842, appointing William D. Whiting “a Midshipman in the Navy of the United States, from the 1st March 1841”. The document is countersigned by Secretary of the Navy Abel P. Upshur, who was killed in the famous explosion aboard the USS Princeton in 1844.
Whiting made several voyages around the world, and was one of Commodore Perry’s officers in the famous 1853 expedition that opened up Japan to American trade. In fact, Whiting was the first of Perry’s officers, and quite likely the first U.S. uniformed officer ever, to set foot on Japanese soil. He took part in the laying of the first Atlantic cable, and served throughout the Civil War. Whiting retired with the rank of Commodore.

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