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First edition of the earliest American hydrographic chart of Naha (modern Okinawa), produced during Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s expedition to Japan and China. This 1853 chart represents the first scientific maritime mapping of the principal port of the Ryukyu Kingdom by the United States Navy, and one of the earliest detailed Western renderings of its harbor and shoreline infrastructure.
The survey was conducted by Lieutenant Silas Bent and a team of midshipmen under Perry’s command, including F. S. Conover, J. W. Bennet, D. Ochiltree, J. H. March, E. H. Grey, O. F. Stanton, and W. F. Boardman. Over a three-week period in the summer of 1853, Bent’s team conducted triangulations, measured soundings (noted in fathoms), and observed tidal patterns at the harbor, which served as the squadron’s base of operations en route to Edo Bay. The results were engraved by Selmar Siebert, a leading hydrographic engraver in Washington, D.C., known for his precise and elegant nautical work for the U.S. Navy.
The chart presents Junk Harbor (now Naha Port) in detail, with approach channels marked, insets of coastal elevations, and a lengthy block of Sailing Directions signed in type by Bent. These directions include local pilotage information and reference fixed landscape features such as “False Capstan Head” (marked at 26°13′ N, 127°42′30″ E), Mount Hill, and the town grid of “Napha.” The variation is noted at 1° West, and the tidal range is recorded at 6½ feet. Hachuring illustrates both terrain elevation and reef structures, and the engraving includes both profile views and bathymetric data, reflecting the U.S. Navy’s increasing emphasis on detailed Pacific navigation in the mid-19th century.
![[lkokusen no zu]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/55557.jpg)
