Shortly before Senator Levi Woodbury of New Hampshire became secretary of the Navy in 1831, Edmund Roberts had sent him a letter detailing the neglected state of Far Eastern commerce and whaling.

Near the end of that year, American pepper trader Friendship returned to her home port of Salem, to report that Sumatran pirates had killed the first officer and two crewmen, and plundered the cargo.

The sloop-of-war Peacock was also dispatched, and, on the recommendation of Woodbury, carried Roberts as envoy to Cochin-China, Siam and Muscat, to negotiate treaties to place American commerce on a surer basis, and on an equality with that of the most favored nations.

In an effort to turn the myth into reality, the US sent envoy Roberts to Cochin-China in 1835 aboard the Peacock, escorted by the schooner Enterprise under the command of Commodore Edmund P. Kennedy.

Aboard a black-hulled steam frigate, he ported Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and USS Susquehanna at Uraga Harbor near Edo (modern Tokyo) on July 8, 1853.

His actions at this crucial juncture were informed by a careful study of Japan's previous contacts with Western ships and what could be known about the Japanese hierarchical culture.

He was met by representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate who told him to proceed to Nagasaki, where there was limited trade with the Netherlands and which was the only Japanese port open to foreigners at that time (see Sakoku).

In response, on 4 August 1855, armed boats from the East India Squadron frigate USS Powhatan and the Royal Navy sloop-of-war HMS Rattler confronted the pirates at the Battle of Ty-ho Bay.

It became the only battle of the Cochinchina Campaign involving the United States which deployed the East India Squadron to protect American interests in the region.

USS Powhatan, under Commander William J. McCluney, was assigned to the East India Squadron and arrived on station via Cape of Good Hope 15 June 1853.

Her arrival in Chinese waters coincided with an important phase of Commodore Matthew C. Perry's negotiations for commercial relations with the Japanese and the opening of two ports.

USS Levant sailed 13 November for Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, and Hong Kong, where she arrived to join the East India Squadron 12 May 1856.

Departing Norfolk 4 August, the USS Germantown sailed via the Cape of Good Hope to Ceylon, where on 22 December she joined Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall's East India Squadron off Point de Gala.

For 2 years she cruised Far Eastern waters and visited the principal ports of China and Japan, where she found "uniform friendly reception" as the squadron guarded American interests in the Orient.

The new side-wheel steamer USS Saginaw sailed from San Francisco Bay on 8 March 1860, headed for the western Pacific, and reached Shanghai, China, on 12 May.

On 30 June 1861, she silenced a battery at the entrance to Qui Nhon Bay, Cochin China, which had fired upon her while she was searching for the missing boat and crew of American bark, Myrtle.