Most of those onboard the side-wheeled steamship were returning with gold that they had mined during the Californian Gold Rush. Their pockets or money belts were full of the treasure.

But when they grabbed the belts, panicking in the pitch black, they put them on and hastily jumped overboard. The weight of the gold meant that they were dragged down and drowned.

The hard-won treasure, scattered on the ocean floor, was seen as a potential boon for pirates, which is how Wells discovered all about the night.

A footnote in the archives led him down a rabbit hole that revealed information about a piracy protection mission launched by the US Navy to find the buried treasure and gold that was lost near the wreck site.

"The National Archives records were discovered in the actual US Navy logs from the ships stationed in the Asiatic fleet," Wells told China Daily.

The Navy's ships were assigned treasure recovery duties against pirates while the salvage was ongoing from 1875 to 1877.

Wells estimated that the incident was the largest loss of Chinese emigrant life in US history on one of the largest passenger steamships in the world in the 1800s. Over 400 people died. The reason it resonated so much with him was because of his deep love of sailing the high seas.

"My Navy service greatly influenced the topic of my first book, as I've sailed the same waters in the South China Sea around Hong Kong and Shantou during my shipboard deployment — most recently in command of a cruiser," Wells said.

Veteran China Sea trader Captain Edward Warsaw — an American captain — was in command of the SS Japan that night. "I can empathize with the captain," Wells reflected.

As a Navy veteran, he often thinks about how Warsaw would have had to face the wind, as the sails above fluttered and he battled to keep control of the ship as a feeling of dread engulfed him when he realized he had lost control.

With over 30 years of experience as a US Navy officer, Wells has six years of US national policy and interagency experience at the White House, National Security Council and State Department.

He served during Bill Clinton's administration and gained National Security Council experience during George W. Bush's administration serving as a special adviser for National Security Affairs to Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Cheney described Wells' book as, "an important story on how the Chinese emigrants arrived in San Francisco to provide the essential skills needed for the nation", adding that the "story contributes to our understanding of the Chinese contribution".

Wells said he developed an interest in Chinese culture over three decades, as he watched the US-China relationship develop from the 1970s onwards.

He vividly remembered how Henry Kissinger, the then-national security adviser and later US secretary of state, travelled to China in the 1970s to meet Chairman Mao Zedong, and the way in which this helped pave the way for the pivotal meeting in 1972 between US President Richard Nixon, Premier Zhou Enlai and Chairman Mao.

He added: "I was also one of three host ship captains to welcome the historic 1996 People's Liberation Army Navy visit to San Diego in March 1996."

Before it sank, the grand SS Japan made 25 voyages, bringing thousands of Chinese — both men and women — to the US.

Wells realized that although it is a significant part of history, many Chinese and Americans have never heard of the sinking. He hopes his book can present this "historically accurate and authentic US and Chinese history".

Amid today's tense global trade relations, his research showcases how the US and China were actively working together to establish trade links and overcome the influence of the British in the mid-1800s.

The 1840 treaty port relationships following the Opium Wars forced open trade with the West, Wells explains.