Navy archives reveal tale of maritime tragedy

One illustration of the ship eerily shows the lifeboats on the starboard side that could not be reached by those onboard.

Wells' book details how "the Chinese railroad workers at the Sierra Nevada summit tunnel of the Central Pacific railroad breakthrough in August 1867 caused Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford to agree on contracting Chinese laborers to build the railroad across Nevada and Utah".

"This demand for workers coincided with the historical monthly transpacific steamer schedule between China, Hong Kong and Guangdong and San Francisco in 1868 on the world's largest sidewheel steamers of the Pacific Mail line (Great Republic, China, Japan and America) to bring the Chinese workers and Chinese merchants to San Francisco."

Immigration from China had been seen as positive until the completion of the railroad, which coincided with an economic depression. Tough economic times led to a rise in discrimination. By 1869, many would find it difficult to secure reliable jobs.

By 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which restricted immigration into the US. It was not until 1943, when China fought alongside the US in World War II, that Congress repealed the Exclusion Act. Following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the restrictions were finally lifted.

Wells is currently an associate and adjunct professor at the University of Arizona.

He has been honored for his research multiple times for rediscovering the SS Japan and showcasing how Chinese people helped build parts of California.

In 2024, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma bestowed upon him a certificate of recognition for his "organization of the remembrance of the 150th Anniversary of the Tragic Loss of the Pacific Mail Steamship SS Japan On December 17, 1874".

He excitedly revealed that some of the coins lost on the seabed were recently found near the shipwreck.

The National Maritime Archaeological Center in Beijing is studying his book to learn more about this historical event and the country's maritime history. The center is surveying the water area off Fujian province and southward toward Shantou where the wreck site is located.

"It's a people-to-people story," he said.

He takes pride in its retelling as a way to acknowledge those who died. He added that he found the "two separate places in the Tao and Confucian tradition that showed the souls of the people aboard can be returned to heaven because their final resting place is in China".