Earliest Recorded Cover from Japan to the United States. Sender's ship-name and route directive "Pr. Caroline E. Foote via San Francisco, Call. } Hakodada Japan, June 1855" on cover addressed in the same hand to Samuel Wetherill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, bold "San Francisco Cal. 20 Sep." (1855) circular datestamp with "SHIP" and "12" due handstamps (10c plus 2c ship fee), pencil "R. Oct. 17" receipt docketing, lightly soiled and worn around edges

VERY FINE. THIS COVER--CARRIED BY THE CAROLINE E. FOOTE FROM HAKODATE IN JUNE 1855--IS THE EARLIEST RECORDED COVER FROM JAPAN TO THE UNITED STATES.

The 1854 Convention of Kanagawa opened two ports to American vessels, Shimoda and Hakodate. A detailed account of the Americans who arrived in Japan on the Caroline E. Foote is found in a children's history book, Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun, by Rhoda Blumberg:

"Soon after news of the Treaty of Kanagawa was published in Hawaiian newspapers, a group of American merchants chartered a schooner, the Caroline E. Foote. They wanted to set up a supply depot and import-export offices in Japan. Using sailing directions that were published by Commodore Perry, they arrived at Shimoda in March 1855... The town had been hit by an earthquake and tidal waves in December 1854. All but sixteen Shimoda buildings had been destroyed, and hundreds of people had drowned... Six Yankee merchants, three wives, and two children from the Foote were housed in a temple... The passengers of the Foote became known as 'American Pioneers.' Although they stayed in Shimoda almost three months, they were unable to establish a trading post there. They left for Hakodate in June 1855, where they also failed."

The schooner Caroline E. Foote set sail from Hakodate on June 23, 1855, with the families on board. The vessel also carried the captain, nine officers and 150 men of the crew of the Russian frigate Diana, which was destroyed during the earthquake at Shimoda in December 1854. They brought the Russians to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which they discovered had been abandoned, and from there the Russians boarded the American brig William Penn (Daily Alta California 9/18/1855). This cover was carried to San Francisco on the Caroline E. Foote, which arrived September 17. It was postmarked with the September 20 departure date for the next Panama sailing.

Ex Kramer.

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