following the humiliations at the hands of foreign navies in the bombardment of kagoshima in 1863, and the battle of shimonoseki in 1864, the shogunate stepped up efforts to modernize, relying more and more on french and british assistance. in 1865, the french naval engineer léonce verny was hired to build japan's first modern naval arsenals, at yokosuka and nagasaki. more ships were imported, such as the "jho sho maru", the "ho sho maru" and the "kagoshima", all commissioned by thomas blake glover and built in aberdeen.