The Wreck of the Clipper, Viking - New Bedford, MA - Massachusetts Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

In New Bedford, on the wall of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, is a bronze plaque by a side entrance that is about the wreck of the clipper ship Viking.

The plaque is located along Johnny Cake Hill and is across the street from the Seamen's Bethel. The plaque has text in two languages - English and Japanese. The English (presumably, the Japanese text is a translation) is as follows:

"1863 [Ship Relief] 1966

This toro rests on a caps-tan from the American clippership VIKING which was wrecked on the island on June 4, 1893, being bound for San Francisco, U.S.A. from Hong Kong, China. Through the intervention of the local authorities and the hospitality of the islanders, the lives ofthe 23 crew and 460 Chinese passenters were saved.

In recognition of the many acts of friendship, this plaque was sponsored by the Old Dart-mouth Historical Society and Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Built 1853 VIKING lost 1865
Builder: Trufanta Drummond, Bath, Maine.
Owner: George Hussey, New Bedford, Mass.
Captain Benjamin C. Townsend.
Length. 230'. Width: 41. q' [ ? ]. Depth. 22. q' [ ? ] Tonnage: 144q
Port of Origin: New York City, N.Y., U.S.A.
Erected 1966 by the People of Mikura"

This plaque doesn't make a lot of sense, at first. New Bedford is not an island, and the wreck did not happen here. However, subsequent research on the Internet (trying to avoid references to Viking longships - obviously a whole different sailing vessel), I found a web site about the island of Mikurashima, which had a reference to the event and the twin plaque mounted there (there is a photo on the site showing the mounted plaque). Mikurashima is a small island about 200 km (140 miles) south of Tokyo. It is about 16 km 10 miles) in diameter. At the time, the inhabitants of the island numbered far less than the people on the ship, but gelp was given to save the lives of the people stranded. According to the web site, the ship was enroute from Hong Kong to San Francisco, carrying 500 people, when it ran aground on the rocks of Onegahama beach. The web site continued:

"The offspring of some crew members later built two monuments, one in Mikurashima and the other in New Bedford, to express their appreciation. The monument on Mikurashima was built on the side of the approach to Inane Shrine. The inscription is in both Japanese and English."

Anybody want to waymark the twin?

Agency Responsible for Placement: Other (Place below) Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): People of Mikura [Sponsored by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society and Whaling Museum] Year Placed: 1966 County: Bristol City/Town Name: New Bedford Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/31/2014 Lat34North visited it