Maria Luz Incident

The María Luz Incident (マリア・ルス号事件, Maria-Rusu go Jiken) was a diplomatic incident between the early Meiji government of the Empire of Japan and the Republic of Peru over a merchant ship with Chinese indentured labourers in Yokohama in 1872. It was an early test of the independence of the Japanese judiciary system and a challenge to the extraterritoriality provisions of the unequal treaties then in force between Japan and the western powers.

On July 9, 1872, the María Luz, a Peruvian cargo ship en route from Macao to Callao, Peru with a cargo of Chinese indentured labourers for Peruvian plantations, called on the treaty port of Yokohama, Japan to repair damage suffered during a severe storm. While anchored at Yokohama, one Chinese coolie aboard escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to the nearby British warship HMS Iron Duke. When he was turned over to Japanese authorities at Yokohama port, he complained about severe mistreatment and asked for protection and the rescue of 231 other Chinese aboard who were suffering from the same fate. The captain of the María Luz, Ricardo Herrera, was summoned by Japanese authorities and strongly admonished to treat the escapee with leniency and to take better care of his indentured charges.

However, another Chinese indentured labourer soon escaped, and word reached acting British consul Robert Grant Watson that the first escapee had been brutally treated by the Peruvian captain on his return to the ship. Together with a boarding party of British Marines, Watson personally inspected the vessel, and found that the rumor was true, and that the Chinese passengers were being treated in conditions similar to slavery. Watson formally approached Japanese Foreign Minister Soejima Taneomi to take action.

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