USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 25
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 25
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* The journal of this voyage is among the manuscripts obtained from the hydro- graphical department of Madrid : annexed to it is a memoir on the manners, customs, and language, of the Indians about Nootka Sound, translated from the English of Joseph Ingraham, the mate of the American ship Columbia, who wrote it, at the request of Martinez, in 1789.
t The journals of Malaspina's expedition have never been published. A sketch of his voyage along the north-west coasts of America is given in the Introduction to the Journal of Galiano and Valdes, in which the highest, and, in some places, the most extravagant, praise is bestowed on the officers engaged in it. Yet-will it be believed ? - the name of Malaspina does not appear there or in any other part of the book. The unfortunate commander, having given some offence to Godoy, better known as the Prince of the Peace, who then ruled Spain without restriction, was, on his return to Europe in 1794, confined in a dungeon at Corunna, and there kept as a prisoner until 1802, when he was liberated, after the peace of Amiens, at the express desire of Napoleon. The name of one who had thus sinned could not be allowed to appear on the pages of a work published officially, by the Spanish government, for the purpose of vindicating the claims of its navigators.
223
VOYAGE OF MARCHAND.
1791.]
points between Mount San Jacinto and Nootka Sound, where they arrived on the 13th of August.
The visit made to the north-west coasts of America, in the summer of 1791, by Captain Etienne Marchand, in the French commercial ship Solide, from Marseilles, is only mentioned on account of the Introduction by Fleurieu to the Journal of her voyage, to which allusion has been often made in the preceding pages. Marchand landed on the shore of the Bay of Guadalupe, or Norfolk Sound, near the 56th degree of latitude, where he remained two weeks, en- gaged in trading with the natives ; after which he sailed along the coasts southward, occasionally landing and making observations, to the entrance of the Strait of Fuca, and thence took his departure for Canton .*
In the mean time, nine vessels from England and seven from the United States were engaged in the trade on the north-west coasts of America. Of the movements of the English traders few accounts have been made public : the most active and enterprising among them appears to have been Captain Brown,t of the ship Butter- worth, from London, to whom Vancouver acknowledges himself indebted for useful information on several occasions. In what man- ner the British navigator treated citizens of the United States, from whom he derived information much more important, will be shown hereafter.
* Respecting the places thus visited, very little exact information is to be derived from the Journal of Marchand, though hundreds of its pages are devoted to philosoph- ical speculations (doubtless by the editor) on the origin and capacity of the north- west American Indians, their languages and political and religious institutions, and political and religious institutions in general. The Journal, indeed, seems to have been published merely in order to afford a frame-work for the comments and disqui- sitions of the editor, Fleurieu, which, with all their faults, are the only parts of the work of any value.
The Introduction to this Journal is a memoir read by Fleurieu before the National Institute at Paris, in 1797, on the subject of the discovery of the north-west coasts of America, in which he presents a history, with reviews of all other accounts, of the several exploring voyages made by people of civilized nations along those coasts, from the period of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards to the year 1790, when Marchand began his voyage. For such a task, Fleurieu was well fitted, by his previous labors, his general science, and his acquaintance with geography and mari- time affairs : his memoir is elegantly written, and his accounts and opinions are, for the most part, clear, fair, and liberal towards individuals and nations. This praise is, however, not to be awarded to every portion of his work. He was extravagant in generalizing, and often careless in the examination of his authorities, in consequence of which he committed numerous errors; and his devotion to his own country, and his contempt for the Spaniards and their government, led him frequently to make assertions and observations at variance with justice and truth.
t Brown was killed by the natives, at Woahoo, one of the Sandwich Islands, in January, 1795.
224
ATTACK ON THE ELEONORA AT MOWEE. [1790.
The second trading adventure to the North Pacific made by citi- zens of the United States was that of Captain Metcalf, who sailed from New York in 1788, in the brig Eleonora, for Canton, and there purchased a small schooner, which he named the Fair Amer- ican, and placed under the command of his son, a youth of eighteen. With these vessels he arrived, in November, 1789, at Nootka Sound, where the schooner was seized by the Spanish commandant Marti- nez ; but she was soon liberated, unfortunately, as it proved, for her captain and crew. On their way from the American coast, the vessels were separated. The Eleonora, on the 30th of January, 1790, reached a small bay in Mowee, one of the Sandwich Islands, where she anchored ; and, on the same night, her boat, and a seaman who was sleeping in it, were taken away by the natives. On the fol- lowing day, the islanders began to assemble in the bay in canoes, and on the shores, in great numbers, armed, and showing evidently the intention to take the vessel ; and one of them was seized in the act of endeavoring to strip off a piece of her copper, under the idea, as he confessed, that she would in consequence sink. The natives becoming more daring, Metcalf fired on them with grape, and burnt their village ; and, having thus apparently quieted them, he went farther up the bay, in order to obtain water. Three or four ' days afterwards, a native came on board, who offered to bring back the boat and the sailor for a certain reward ; his offer was accepted, and, on the following day, he reappeared with the rudder of the boat and some of the bones of the man, who had been sacrificed to the gods of the island, and coolly demanded the promised recom- pense. This demand was granted, with a view to conciliation ; but the opposite effect was produced : for the islanders, supposing that they had intimidated the Americans, again surrounded the ship in their canoes in vast numbers. Metcalf thereupon, either from exas- peration, or from his secing no other mode of safety, fired all his guns, charged with grape and nails, among them, and killed, as was said, more than one hundred and fifty ; after which he sailed for Owyhee, and anchored in Karakakooa Bay .*
* The account of these transactions is taken principally from a letter written by a person on board of the Eleonora, which was published in the newspapers of the United States soon after the occurrences ; and from the manuscript journal of Captain Ingraham, which confirms all the statements of the letter writer. Vancouver (vol. ii. p. 136) represents the affair as disadvantageously to the Americans as possible, accord- ing to his constant practice. Jarvis, in his History of the Sandwich Islands, gives the account as handed down by the natives, holding Metcalf up to view as a monster of cruelty, and the capture of the Fair American as " an awful retribution."
225
CAPTURE OF THE FAIR AMERICAN AT OWYHEE.
1790.]
While the Eleonora was lying in this bay, the natives of Owyhee signally avenged the slaughter of their brethren at Mowee.
On the 5th of February, the schooner Fair American, which had been separated from the brig, anchored in the Bay of Toyahyah, (now called Kawaihae,) on the north-west side of Owyhee, about thirty miles north of Karakakooa Bay, where trade was begun with the natives. As these people conducted themselves peaceably, they were allowed to come on board the vessel without restriction ; at length, a chief named Tamaahmoto, or Kamamoko, appeared, with a number of attendants, to present the captain with a feather cap, and while in the act of placing this ornament on young Metcalf's head, he seized him and threw him overboard, where he was im- mediately killed ; the other seamen, with the exception of one, were in like manner despatched, and the schooner was then drawn on shore and rifled. There is no reason to believe that this was done in consequence of the proceedings of the captain of the Eleonora at Mowee, or, indeed, that those proceedings were known at Owyhee when the schooner was taken ; on the contrary, Tamaahmoto, in 1794, assured Vancouver that he was induced to act as he did, by the ill-treatment of Metcalf, who had whipped him severely when at Toyahyah, in 1789.
A plan was, at the same time, formed by Tianna and Tamaha- maha, the principal chiefs of the island, to take the Eleonora. The boatswain of that brig, named John Young, happened, however, to be on shore, and there met with two English seamen, from whom he received information of the plan; and they succeeded in pre- vailing on Tamahamaha to allow them to write a letter to Captain Metcalf, urging his immediate departure, on condition that they should enter the service of the native chief. Metcalf took their advice, and sailed away without learning the news of his son's fate. Young also succeeded in saving the life of Isaac Davis, the mate of the Fair American, who had been severely wounded at the time of the capture of that schooner; and these two men remained in the service of Tamahamaha until their deaths .*
The ship Columbia returned to Boston from Canton, under the command of Gray, on the 10th of August, 1790, as already men- tioned: but the cargo of Chinese articles brought by her was insuf- ficient to cover the expenses of her voyage ; and her owners were
* Davis died in 1808. Young was, for many years, governor of Woahoo, and died in 1836, nearly ninety years old : for an anecdote illustrative of his character, see Commodore Porter's Journal of his Cruise in the Pacific, vol. ii. p. 215.
29
226
VOYAGE OF INGRAHAM IN THE HOPE.
[1791.
so little satisfied with these results, that some of them sold out their shares to the others, who, determining to persevere in the enter- prise, refitted the Columbia for a new voyage of the same kind. Before her departure, however, the brig Hope, of seventy tons, which had also been equipped for the North Pacific trade, sailed from Boston, under the command of Joseph Ingraham, the former mate of the Columbia; and these vessels were followed by the Hancock, under Captain Crowel, and the Jefferson, under Captain Roberts, likewise from Boston, and the Margaret, under Captain Magee, from New York. A short notice of Ingraham's voyage will be first presented.
The brig Hope quitted Boston on the 16th of September, 1790, and, taking the usual course by the Cape Verd Islands and Brazil, she arrived on the 13th of January, 1791, at the entrance of Berkeley Sound, or Port Soledad, in the Falkland Islands, where she found a Spanish establishment on the shore, and a Spanish vessel of war in the harbor .* Ingraham was anxious to visit the establishment, but the commandant was unwilling to allow him to do so, though he furnished him liberally with provisions. Quitting the Falkland Islands, Ingraham doubled Cape Horn, and, on the 19th of April, he discovered six islands previously unknown, in the centre of the Pacific Ocean, between the 8th and the 10th parallels of latitude,t to which he gave the names severally of Washington, Adams, Franklin, Knox, Federal, and Lincoln ; and after some days
* Manuscript journal of the Hope's voyage, written by Ingraham.
t These islands are situated a little north of the group called the Marquesas de Mendoza, discovered by the Spanish navigator Mendana, in 1568, and about six hundred miles north-east of Otaheite, directly in the course of vessels sailing from Cape Horn to the north-west coast of America, or to China, to which they offer con- venient places for obtaining water and other refreshments. They were not seen by Cook, who visited the Marquesas in 1774; nor does any notice of them appear on any chart or account of earlier date than 1791, when they were discovered by Ingra- ham, as above stated. They were afterwards seen successively, on the 21st of June, 1791, by Marchand, in the French ship Solide, who named them Iles de la Revolu- tion ; on the 30th of June, 1792, by Hergest, in the British brig Dædalus, after whom Vancouver called them Hergest's Islands, though he was well aware of their previous discovery by Ingraham; and on the 6th of March, 1793, by Roberts, in the Jefferson, from Boston, who bestowed on them the name of Washington's Islands. The earliest notice of them was published in the form of an extract from Ingraham's Journal, in the Massachusetts Historical Collection, at Boston, in 1793: the volume of the same work, for 1795, contains Roberts's account of his visit, after which appeared, in suc- cession, the accounts of Hergest in Vancouver's Journal, and of Marchand; and they have since been visited and described by Krusenstern, Lisiansky, Langsdorf, Porter, Belcher, Wilkes, and other navigators. Porter, during his cruise in the Pacific, in the Essex, in 1813, remained some time at Nooahivah, the largest of the islands. The recent occupation of this group by the French is well known.
227
VOYAGE OF INGRAHAM IN THE HOPE.
1791.]
spent in examining them, he took his course for Owyhee, where he arrived on the 20th of May.
At Owyhee, the Hope was visited by Tamahamaha, whose power was then rapidly increasing, as well as by his rival Tianna ; and both these chiefs were earnest in their solicitations that Ingraham should go on shore and visit their towns. The American captain, however, feeling some distrust, did not think it prudent to leave his vessel ; and, after obtaining some provisions and water, he sailed to the adjacent Island of Mowee, where he received from two white men, who escaped to the Hope, the news of the capture of the schooner Fair American, and the murder of her crew at Owyhee, in February of the preceding year. He then had reason to congratulate himself at having resisted the invitations of Tamahamaha and Tianna, as he had no doubt that he and his vessel and crew would otherwise have been sacrificed to their hatred or cupidity. At Mowee, on the 26th, the brig was honored by the presence of Titeree, or Kahikili, the king, and Taio, a principal chief; and Ingraham obtained from them the liberation of an American seaman, who had been, for some time, detained as prisoner in the island. On the following day, at Woahoo, the natives surrounded the vessel in their canoes, to the number of many thousands, evidently with the intention of taking her ; and it became necessary to fire several muskets upon them before she could be freed from the danger.
On the 1st of June, Ingraham left the Sandwich Islands, and on the 29th of the same month he dropped anchor in a harbor on the south-east side of Queen Charlotte's, or Washington's, Island, to which he gave the name of Magee's Sound, in honor of one of the owners of his vessel. On the coasts of this island, and of the other islands, and the continent adjacent on the north and east, he spent the summer in trading, and collecting information as to the geog- raphy and natural history, and the languages, manners, and customs, of the inhabitants, on all which subjects his journal contains minute and interesting details; and at the end of the season he took his departure for China, where he arrived on the 1st of De- cember, 1791.
At Macao, Ingraham found the French ship Solide, under Captain Marchand, whose visit to the north-west coast of Amer- ica, in the preceding summer, has been already mentioned ; and he received much kindness, which he acknowledges by grateful expres- sions in his journal, from Roblet, the surgeon, and Chanal, the first
228
KENDRICK'S SPECULATIONS IN THE PACIFIC.
[1791.
officer of that vessel. To these gentlemen he also communicated the particulars of his voyage ; and thus they learned, to their great regret, that they had been anticipated, by the American captain, in a discovery which was expected by them to cast considerable, éclat on their expedition. Marchand had, in the month of June previous, seen a group of islands in the centre of the Pacific Ocean, of which he believed himself to be the discoverer, as they were not described in any narrative or chart then published; and, under this impres- sion, he named them Iles de la Révolution, and had just sent an account of them to France, to be submitted formally to the National Assembly : on examining the journal of the Hope, however, he could have no doubt that this was the same group which had been found by Ingraham in April; and the fact is admitted, though with evident reluctance, in the narrative of his voyage .*
Captain Kendrick, in the Washington, which had been altered into a brig, also arrived at Macao while the Hope was lying there. He had been engaged, since 1789, in various speculations, one of which was the collection and transportation to China of the odo- riferous wood called sandal, which grows in many of the tropical islands of the Pacific, and is in great demand throughout the Celestial Empire. Vancouver pronounced this scheme chimerical ; but experience has proved that it was founded on just calculations, and the business has been ever since prosecuted with advantage, especially by the Americans.
Another of Kendrick's speculations has not hitherto produced any fruit. In the summer of 1791, he purchased from Maquinna, Wicanish, and other chiefs, several large tracts of land near Nootka Sound, for which he obtained deeds duly marked by those person- ages, and witnessed by the officers and men of the Washington. Attempts were made, by the owners of that vessel, to sell these lands at London, in 1793, but no purchasers were found; and applications have since been addressed, by the legal representatives of the owners and of Kendrick, to the government of the United
* Ingraham's name is not mentioned in the narrative of Marchand, though many particulars of his voyage are there given. The editor, Fleurieu, thus ingeniously concludes the discussion as to the first discovery of the islands : " Captain Marchand undoubtedly cannot aspire to the honor of priority ; but, like the American captain who preceded him, he has not, on that account, the less pretension to the honor of the discovery ; for he could not know, in the month of June, 1791, while he was navigating the great ocean, that, a month before, another navigator, standing in the same course with himself, had made the same discovery." This is not the only instance in which Fleurieu has displayed his powers as a sophist.
229
SECOND VOYAGE OF THE COLUMBIA.
1791.]
States, for a confirmation of the title .* That the lands were thus sold by the savage chiefs, there is no reason to doubt ; and Maquinna or Wicanish would as readily have conveyed the whole of America to any one for the consideration of a copper kettle : but the validity of the acquisition will scarcely be recognized by the civilized nation which may hereafter hold the sovereignty of the country about Nootka Sound. Neither Kendrick nor his vessel ever returned to America : he was killed, in 1793, at Karakakooa Bay, in Owyhee, by a ball accidentally fired from a British vessel, while saluting him.
At Canton, Ingraham disposed of his furs advantageously, and vested the proceeds in teas, which he sent to Boston by a vessel chartered for the purpose. He then sailed, on the 3d of April, for the north-west coasts of America, and spent the summer in trading in and about Queen Charlotte's Island, which was then the principal resort of the Americans.
The Columbia, under her former captain, Gray, left Boston on the 28th of September, 1790, ten days after the departure of the Hope ; t and, without the occurrence of any thing worthy of note on her way, she arrived at Clyoquot, near the entrance of the Strait of Fuca, on the 5th of June, 1791. Thence she proceeded, in a few days, to the eastern side of Queen Charlotte's Island, on which, and on the coasts of the continent and islands in its vicinity, she remained until September, engaged in trading and exploring. During this time, Gray examined many of the inlets and passages between the 54th and the 56th parallels, in one of which - most probably the same afterwards called by Vancouver the Portland
* The circular addressed by the owners of the Washington, on this occasion, is a curious document. It is written in four languages, and is couched in terms the most unspecific which could have been selected. The "inhabitants of Europe " are informed that, " in 1787, Captain J. Kendrick, while prosecuting an advantageous voyage with the natives for furs, purchased of them, for the owners, a tract of de- lightful country, comprehending four degrees of latitude, or two hundred and forty miles square ; " and that " such as may be inclined to associate, for settling a com- monwealth on their own code of laws, on a spot of the globe nowhere surpassed in delightful and healthy climate, and fertile soil, claimed by no civilized nation, and purchased, under a sacred treaty of peace and commerce, and for a valuable considera- tion, of the friendly natives, may have the best opportunity of trying the result of such an enterprise." Of the situation of this tract of delightful country we learn nothing from the circular, except that it lies in America. The deeds for the lands are de- clared to have been registered in the office of the American consul at Macao; and these deeds, or some of them, have been lately published, referring only to the terri- tories about Nootka Sound, which, though including all the dominions of the chiefs conveying them, do not amount to one twenty-fourth part of two hundred and forty miles square.
t Log-book of the Columbia, from September 28th, 1790, to February 20th, 1792.
230
THE COLUMBIA WINTERS AT CLYOQUOT.
[1792.
Canal - he penetrated from its entrance, in the latitude of 54 degrees 33 minutes, to the distance of a hundred miles north- eastward, without reaching its termination. This inlet he supposed to be the Rio de Reyes of Admiral Fonte ; a part of it was named by him Massacre Cove, in commemoration of the murder of Cas- well, the second mate, and two seamen of his vessel, by the natives, on its shore, on the 22d of August. Shortly after this melancholy occurrence, the Columbia fell in with the Hope, and the two captains communicated to each other, though apparently with some reserve, the results of their observations. They then separated, Ingraham going to China, as above related, while Gray returned to Clyoquot.
At Clyoquot, the crew of the Columbia passed the winter in a fortified habitation, which they erected on the shore of the bay, and called Fort Defiance ; and they were employed in building a small vessel, which was launched, and named the Adventure. Whilst preparing for sea, they were visited by Tatoochseatticus and Wicanish, the principal chiefs of the surrounding country, with a number of followers, between whom and a Sandwich Islander on board the Columbia it soon became evident that some understanding had been established. Gray's suspicions being ex- cited, he questioned the Sandwich Islander, who at length confessed that the Indians had formed a plan for the seizure of the vessels, and the murder of their crews, and had promised to spare his life, and make him a chief, if he would aid them by wetting the priming of all the guns at a particular time. Thus forewarned, the Ameri- cans were on their guard; and the savages, who surrounded the vessel on the following day, were kept at a distance.
In the spring of 1792, the Adventure sailed for Queen Char- lotte's Island, under the command of Haswell, the first mate of the Columbia ; and Gray took his departure in the ship, on a cruise southward along the coasts of the continent, the particulars of which will appear in the next chapter.
231
CHAPTER XI.
1792 TO 1796.
Vancouver and Broughton arrive on the American Coasts in 1792, and meet with Gray, who informs them of his Discovery of the Columbia River - The Strait of Fuca surveyed by Vancouver, Galiano, and Valdes - Negotiations between Van- couver and Quadra at Nootka - Vancouver's Injustice to the Americans - Broughton's Examination of the lower Part of the Columbia River - Vancou- ver's Proceedings at the Sandwich Islands - He completes the Survey of the North-West Coasts of America, and returns to England - The Spaniards abandon Nootka - Conclusions with Regard to the Dispute between Great Britain and Spain, and the Convention of 1790.
THE viceroy of Mexico, count de Revillagigedo, on learning the results of the voyages of Fidalgo, Quimper, and Malaspina, along the north-west coasts of America, ordered three other vessels to be prepared, for continuing the exploration of those coasts. In one of them, the corvette Aransasu, Lieutenant Jacinto Caamano was directed to seek, particularly near the 53d degree of latitude, for the mouth of the Rio de Reyes, through which Admiral Fonte was said to have sailed, in 1640, north-eastward, into a lake com- municating with the Atlantic; while Lieutenants Dionisio Alcala Galiano and Cayetano Valdes were to survey the Strait of Fuca, in the small schooners Sutil and Mexicana. These vessels sailed from San Blas in the spring of 1792, and arrived in May at Nootka Sound, whence they soon after departed on their respective expeditions .*
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