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In the meantime, in response to the recent arrivals of both Perry and a number of other Western ships, the shogunate ordered all bells in the country to be melted down and refashioned into cannon and rifles - with the exception of bells at head temples (''honzan''), those used for timekeeping, and those of great age and fame.
In the meantime, in response to the recent arrivals of both Perry and a number of other Western ships, the shogunate ordered all bells in the country to be melted down and refashioned into cannon and rifles - with the exception of bells at head temples (''honzan''), those used for timekeeping, and those of great age and fame.
Perry sent the ''Vandalia'', ''Southampton'', and ''Macedonian'' to [[Hakodate]] in the 4th month of 1854, where they would spend 15 days surveying the harbor. Perry arrived at Hakodate himself on 4/21 aboard the ''Powhatan'', arriving alongside the ''Mississippi'', to see the site for himself.<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 1 (1937), 584, 589.</ref>
Perry returned to Naha for the final time on 6/7 (July 1), to find that in the intervening time, there had been several incidents between the local residents and American crewmen he had left behind. In the worst of these incidents, a crewman named [[Board Incident|William Board]] either raped a young Okinawan woman, or assaulted an old woman (accounts differ), and was then killed by an angry mob of local residents. He was buried in the Tomari International Cemetery alongside three of his crewmates who also died at various times during that year. A number of members of Perry's crew who died in mainland Japan are buried at [[Gyokusen-ji]], in [[Shimoda]].
Perry returned to Naha for the final time on 6/7 (July 1), to find that in the intervening time, there had been several incidents between the local residents and American crewmen he had left behind. In the worst of these incidents, a crewman named [[Board Incident|William Board]] either raped a young Okinawan woman, or assaulted an old woman (accounts differ), and was then killed by an angry mob of local residents. He was buried in the Tomari International Cemetery alongside three of his crewmates who also died at various times during that year. A number of members of Perry's crew who died in mainland Japan are buried at [[Gyokusen-ji]], in [[Shimoda]].