This cabinet card portrait features a uniformed sailor from the navy ship, the U.S.S. Boston. The photograph was taken by Kiosheikwan of Nagasaki, Japan. The sailor probably had the photograph taken in order to send it to family or a girlfriend back home in the United States. A web site dedicated to the U.S.S. Boston and the men who served on her, was very helpful in providing details about the ship and the dates it served in the Pacific. The site reveals that there has been seven ships named ”Boston” that served America since 1776. The ship that the sailor in the photograph served on was a Protected Cruiser that sailed between 1887 and 1940. She was the U.S. Navy’s second steel ship and was propelled by sails and/or steam engine. The ship’s crew consisted of about 284 men. Initially. the ship patrolled the waters of Latin America and Haiti, but in 1892, she began to serve in the Pacific. In 1896, she was attached to the Asiatic Station at Yokohama, Japan. When the Spanish American War occurred in 1898,the U.S.S. Boston took part in the Battle of Manila Bay as well as, the capture of Manila. Reviewing the history of the ship, it seems probable that this photograph was taken in 1896 or 1897.
