Pacific North Current

Winds and currents could carry a damaged Japanese coastal vessel across the North Pacific. In 1813 the Tokujō-maru, commanded by Oguri Jūkichi, was disabled in a storm off Japan and drifted eastward. After a voyage lasting more than a year, an American brig rescued Oguri and two other survivors near the California coast in 1815. Their ordeal revealed the immense distance a helpless ship could travel without reaching land.