It has been five years since I discovered and presented the 1888 photo of people in front of the Sōgen-ji Temple in Tomari.
In the meantime we located more items of the 1888 journey and managed to get access. Therefore, I’ll be going on a road trip to Vienna tomorrow to research the photos of the 1888 journey of HMS “Fasana” of the Imperial and Royal War Navy of Austria-Hungary.
Photo depicting people in front of the Sōgen-ji Temple in Tomari. taken in 1888 during the visit of Austrian H. M. S. Fasana.
In that year, under command of captain Emil Edler von Wohlghemuth and with Archduke Leopold on board, the Fasana traveled to East Asia to train the crew and to collect zoological, anthropological, ethnographic, and botanical objects.
The SMS Fasana was a screw frigate built in Trieste (in northeast Italy), Stabilimento Navale Adriatico, Shipyard San Marco. She was commissioned on July 5, 1871. With a water displacement of 1,970 t (2,461 t fully equipped), she was 67.93 m long, 11.70 m wide, with 5.40 m depth and a draught of 6.20 m. She reached a speed of 12 knots at 75 revolutions, and 9 knots at half power. Her coal supply was 304 t.
In 1871 she carried two 21 cm Krupp guns (or 180 pounds) and four 8 pound guns. In 1880 she changed to four 15 cm Krupp guns and three 7 cm Uchatius guns.
The normal crew number was 255 men (1870), 261 men (1875), and 262 men (since 1877).While the Fasana surely has an interesting cv, here only 1888 is of interest. In that year she reached the ports of Suez, Aden, Karachi, Bombay, Colombo, Madras, Calcutta, Rangoon, Penang, Singapore, Batavia, Hong Kong and, later, Japan. On the return trip, the ship made stops in Manila for the Philippines, Saigon and Bangkok. In Bangkok, part of the staff made a courtesy visit to the King of Siam. On the return trip to Pola (Croatia), she provided assistance to the steamer “Euterpe” of the Austrian Lloyd at Corfu, which was damaged.
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