Otokichi Castaways Reach Cape Flattery

In 1832, three Japanese sailors, including a man named Otokichi, sailed on the cargo ship Hojunmaru when a storm crippled their vessel and left them adrift in the Pacific. For about 14 months they survived at sea in the damaged ship with no way to return to Japan as winds and currents carried them eastward. The Hojunmaru finally wrecked near present-day Cape Flattery on the northwest coast of North America. Historical accounts identify these castaways as the first recorded Japanese people in the Pacific Northwest.

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