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Of course not.

> Couldn't the Dutch traders sell them the time ;-)

Dutch traders were very much concerned about any competition.
Trade with Japan was their monopoly.
And Russians were very much concerned with US competition.
Russians had to abandon this enterprise, because of the Crimean war.
Menawhile Americans penetrated Japan and "opened it".

Alex.

P.S. There is another interesting Cel Nav topic related to Russian
attempts to penetrate Japan. About 20 years earlier, a Russian expedition
was sent to map Japanese shores, and possibly to estabish trade relations.
They were captured by the Japanese, and spent 10 years in captivity.
Their captain, Golovnin, wrote an exciting account of this.
The Japanese were very curious about all scientific matters, especially
astronomy and navigation (and weapons). The captain was teaching them. He
had no books, no tables, no almanac.
But he had plenty of free time.
And he computed for them the tables of logarithms and sines (!)
I wonder how many modern seaman will be able to do this:-)

A.

   

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