that the United States was not participating in the invasion. At each stop during his continuing ascent—Kiukiang, Wuchang, Hankow, Fow-Kow, and Kweichowfu—the ship's captain exchanged courtesies with the local officials. After Ashuelot crossed Tungting Lake, she found that rapid current, sharp bends, and the narrowing of the stream significantly slowed her progress and greatly increased the difficulty and danger of her movement. As a result, soon after the ship reached Yichang, Matthews and a small party of officers and guests disembarked and made an eight-day march on up the Yangtze Valley to determine whether or not it would be prudent for him to attempt to take the ship still higher. The overland journey brought the party to Kweifu. After a two-day visit, the Americans boarded a junk which took them back downriver to Ashuelot at Ichang. Matthews' observation of the gorges and rapids during the return passage convinced him that only an especially designed and highly powerful paddle-wheel steamer—whose wheels were powered independently by separate engines—could safely negotiate that part of the upper Yangtze. Thus, instead of continuing the voyage inland after returning to his ship, Matthews turned the vessel seaward and reached Shanghai on 21 July. Nevertheless, Ashuelot's exploratory voyage from Shanghai to Yichang had blazed a watery trail almost a thousand miles into China—one to be followed until the eve of World War II by the long list of American riverine men-of-war known as the Yangtze Patrol. 1874–1875 The gunboat sailed for Japan on 3 August 1874 and reached Nagasaki on the 5th to await a party of scientists - headed by the noted American astronomer, Professor James Craig Watson—which had been sent to the Orient to observe the transit of Venus that would take place on 8 December. After welcoming on board these renowned leaders of astrophysical research, she got underway on 3 September and, five days later, entered the Pei-Ho River. On the 9th, the astronomers went ashore at Tianjin and proceeded overland to Peking, their observation point for the transit. After disembarking her passengers, Ashuelot operated in Chinese waters until 10 December 1874 when she set course for Nagasaki. She arrived on the 13th and resumed operations in Japanese waters where she operated until sailing for Shanghai on 19 June 1875. In mid-August, the schooner-rigged steamer set course for Fisherman's Island—near Swatow where she guarded a party of rescue workers who were attempting to recover