The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Summer 1978, Volume 24, Number 3
Thomas L. Scharf, Managing Editor
Page iv. Baja California and the West Coast of Mexico 1915.
Page 271. The Japanese cruiser Asama, participant in the 1905 defeat of the Russian Navy in the Straits of Tsushima, and in 1915 the center of an international incident involving the United States, Japan and Mexico.
Page 274. The Japanese heavy cruiser Idzumo was the flagship of the combined Japanese-British squadron searching for German raiders operating off the West Coast in 1915.
Page 280. Rear Admiral Thomas B. Howard, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, was so concerned over the volume of information on the Asama’s tactical condition reaching the American press that he imposed a news blackout on the Pacific Fleet.
Page 282. The heavy cruiser San Diego, flagship of the Pacific Fleet, was ordered by the Secretary of the Navy to steam to Baja California and offer all possible neutral assistance to the grounded Japanese — who politely, but firmly, refused all offers of help.
Page 283. The first American naval vessel to reach the stranded Asama was the cruiser USS Raleigh which had sailed from San Diego on February 3, 1915. Subsequently, the Raleigh was ordered to put into Puerto San Bartolome from time to time to keep track of Japanese naval activity there.
Page 284. Puerto San Bartolome (Turtle Bay) as seen from the temporary naval camp constructed by the Japanese navy in 1915. In the background is the schooner Chichibu Maru which brought supplies and gifts from the local Japanese community in San Diego. Further out in the bay the British naval collier Lena can be seen.
Page 285. One reason for the shift of the Japanese naval forces north-ward in early 1915 was to protect the Emperor’s representative, Admiral Baron Dewa Shigoto, at the opening of the Panama Canal. The admiral poses here (center) at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego with Col. Joseph Pendleton (left) and the exposition’s president, G. A. Davidson.
Page 285.
Bathymetric chart indicating position of the grounded Japanese cruiser Asama at Puerto San Bartolome, B.C. / January-May 1915.
Page 286. Reef penetration in relation to hull position. I.J.N.S. Asama, Puerto San Bartolome, Baja Calif. Jan. 31, 1915
Page 287. Area flooded as a result of grounding of I.J.N.S. Asama / January-May 1915.
SOURCE: GUNKAN ASAMA SHUSSECHU NO KEIKA HOKOKU
Page 289. Bottom of the cruiser impact damage to the Asama’s hull caused by the grounding at Puerto San Bartolome, B.C. January 31, 1915.
