Free Tokyo Bay by Anthony Grey Page B

heave he unbalanced the intruder and sent him somersaulting backwards into the foaming water.
‘Use minimum force!’ commanded Eden, taking a pace back and motioning his men towards the entry port once more. ‘Try to avoid bloodshed!’
Following his example, the other sailors quickly turned their pikes around and dislodged successive climbers by rapping their hands or jabbing the pike shafts at their upper bodies. As one Japanese after another tumbled, yelling, into the water, renewed roars of anger rose from the guard-boats. Those who had been toppled into the water clambered quickly aboard whichever of their own craft closed in to rescue them, but no further attempts were made to board. At another order from Eden, one gunner swarmed nimbly down the ladder and cast off the grappling lines, and his crew cheered raucously as the two guard-boats were carried rapidly away towards the stern on the foaming turbulence churned up by the paddle-wheels.
On seeing how determinedly these boarding parties had been repulsed, the other guard-boats closing around the flagship slackened their pace. Their rowers fell into a steadier rhythm, designed to keep them on station around the Susquehanna, but warriors and oarsmen alike continued to shout ferociously as they kept up their pursuit.
‘Good work!’ boomed Lieutenant Rice from the bridge through his loudhailer. ‘But remain alert. They’ll come at us again when we anchor.’
Glancing aft and to starboard, Eden saw that the bulwarks of the Mississippi and the two sloops-of-war Plymouth and Saratoga were also brist li ng with clusters of pikes. Guard-boats were manoeuvring in hostile fashion around all three vessels, and a single craft had already succeeded in attaching a 1in to the Saratoga. But, as Eden watched, the last of several loin-clothed Japanese invaders was hurled back into the sea, their boat was quickly cut adrift, and the Saratoga surged onward.
As the US squadron continued up the narrowing bay, the crews and marine detachments on all four ships remained at action stations. Soundings were still being taken continually because they had moved to within a mile of the eastern shore. The flagship led the way along an uncharted channel of about twenty- five fathoms and gradually, through the distant haze, the outline of a craggy bluff came into view Along its heights, Eden saw that a string of forts had been built, and cannon emplacements had been set up on strategic headlands. But as the ships rounded the foot of the bluff and came within range of these same guns, to Eden’s relief they remained silent.
Eventually a small township of traditional wood and paper houses became visible beneath the high wooded cliffs. Eden calculated that they must be approaching Uraga, where it was planned to anchor the four ships and bring their sixty powerful cannon to bear on the town and its protective forts. As the Susquehanna lost speed and began edging its black bulk closer to the shore, the late afternoon sun finally dispersed the last of the distant haze to reveal a range of low mountains in the distance. Noticing this, Eden raised his eyes to scan the heights, and in that same instant the spectacular snow - covered cone of Mount Fuji materialized silently in the empty sky directly above them. The sun, already beginning to dip towards the west, illuminated its snowcap suddenly with a flood of golden light, and its stark beauty again riveted Eden’s attention as he stood alone beside a gunport. Then, as the heavens were split by the roar of a gun firing from one of the hilltop forts, he ducked quickly behind the bulwark. A few seconds later another gun exploded, and a fresh cloud of smoke billowed above the heights, suggesting a signal rocket had been launched.
All four American warships had been edging in line towards their anchorages, still taking careful soundings and moving with great caution, but the roar of the guns prompted an immediate order from the Susquehanna’s bridge for