U.S.S. Wachusett
Wachusett Bay
Mouth of Tai-tong river Corea
Jan. 25, 1867

Coreans report abundance of gold in the mountains.
“Chang-Yuen” is 30 miles from the sea.
“Ping Yang” will not be clear of ice for two months
　This ship cannot ascend more than halfway to “Ping-Yang-so” at any time. You carry 5 fathoms at low water over the bar, and about that water 30 miles up. The pilot has been no farther. The town of “Ping-Yang-so” is the only one of importance on the river. Rise of the tide about 18 feet.
　The people here (Ta-tong) all say that the crew of the General Sherman were all murdered by the people on the river, and not by order of the Mandarin.
　The Coreans report that the Chinese descend upon this coast in junks, and rob the inhabitants. Last year six young men were killed by these plunderers, on the island of [“Now-ts”], opposite our present anchorage.
　The head men of two villages have stated that the General Sherman was burned in the “Ping Yang” river, in the month of September last, and the officers and crew consisting of 27 persons were murdered by the people, and not by order of the Mandarins. This fact, they state, is known all through Corea.
　The gold reported is said to be abundant in the mountains South of “Ta-tong,” on the coast, and is found among the rocks; but the Natives have no tools, by which it can be extracted.
　The “Ping Yang” river is reported by the Natives as inaccessible at this season of the year, on account of ice, and cannot be entered till about the 1st of April.
　The city of “Hae-Chow-Poo” is 50 miles up the Tai-tong river. It is the district city of this province, and is said to be quite a large town.
　The Coreans say that ten of the crew of the Sherman were Canton Chinamen, and that these people have been in the habit, for years, of coming to this coast to rob & plunder, [to] the great dread of the whole [seaboard]. This is confirmed by our pilot.
　Mr. Hogarth, an English subject on board of the Sherman, was known throughout China for his reckless character, and his acquaintances suppose that if riot occurred, he would be very likely to be one of the means of causing it.
　The Wachusett is the first foreign vessel of any description that ever anchored on that part of the Corean coast.
　The people of Corea are no doubt primarily responsible for the Sherman affair, but they have an excuse in the fact that that whole West coast is annually the scene of depredations and robbery on the part of the Chinese – particularly Canton men – ten of whom were on board the Sherman. Our pilot says that, failing to purchase his Corean ponies, the Captain of the Sherman had determined – Chinese fashion – to steal them on his return down the river. But the Govt. of Corea will sooner or later have the lesson taught to other Eastern nations that it can no longer maintain that contemptuous exclusiveness, which disdains all explanation or responsibility for its own acts or those of its people.

Signed R.W.S.