Once Perry and his men came ashore in Shimoda, they had much work to do. The Treaty of Kanagawa that Perry signed with the Japanese on March 31, 1854 opened two ports, Shimoda and Hakodate for "trade and residence." Shimoda was to become the chief port in Japan for Westerners. To prepare the way for the arrival of future Americans, Perry had his squadron carefully survey the port. William Heine, the American artist who helped with the surveying, wrote: "we undertook a scrupulous coastal survey of the harbor, the shoreline and contiguous areas, and especially the isolated rocks and a series of reefs." Heine seems to have made topographical drawings that went with the surveys. He wrote that on these excursions ashore "we brought food and water for three days." To take their measurements, they used the plane table, diopter, compass, and chain. The Japanese artist recorded the American surveying party (perhaps Heine was in the group) and carefully included all their complex equipment.

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