(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . History 101: British exploration of the Northwest Coast, 1786-1793 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-09 The British interest in the Pacific Northwest Coast in the late eighteenth century originated from the fur trade. At this time, two rival trading companies—the London-based Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and the Montreal-based North West Company (the Nor’westers)—dominated the Canadian fur trade. As the major trading companies pushed west across Canada, the idea of having access to the Pacific was appealing. Such access could open up a lucrative triangular trade: ships filled with British trade goods, particularly metal goods, would sail to the Pacific Northwest Coast where they would be traded to Native Americans for furs, particularly fur-seal skins. The ships would then sail to China where there was a booming market for sea-otter furs. In China, the ships would obtain goods such as tea, silk, and porcelain which could be sold at high prices in Europe. Once back in Britain, the ships could begin another trading round. Seeking Overland Route to the Pacific Ocean In 1781, North West Company partner Alexander Henry (the elder; 1739-1824) proposed an expedition to the Pacific. In a letter to Joseph Banks, president of the British Royal Society, Henry proposed that this expedition travel northwest in high latitudes. A 1785 letter by North West Company partner Peter Pond (1739-1807) to Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton urged exploration of a route to the Pacific. Peter Pond noted that there was information from Natives: “…who have been to the Coast of the North Pacific Ocean that there is a trading post already established by the Russians.” In the Yukon in 1789, North West Company partner Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820) traveled down the Mackenzie River in an attempt to find a water route to the Pacific. However, the river flowed north into the Arctic rather than into the Pacific. In 1793, a mixed group of Indians, voyageurs, Scots traders, and a large dog (simply called “our dog”) under the leadership of Alexander Mackenzie set off in a light canoe from the North West Company trading post at Fort Chipewyan to find a water route to the Pacific. On a rocky point on King Island, British Columbia, Mackenzie reported: “I mixed up some vermilion in melted grease, and inscribed, in large characters, on the South-East face of the rock on which we had slept last night, this brief memorial—‘Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.” While Alexander Mackenzie had successfully reached the Pacific, the route was not feasible for transporting furs and goods between inland trading posts and the Pacific. Exploring the Northwest Coast by Ship Sailing from Calcutta in the Nootka, John Meares (1756-1809) explored the Alaska coast in 1786 and spent the 1786-1787 winter in Prince William Sound where 23 of his men died from scurvy. The London-based Richard Cadman Etches and Company (commonly known as King George’s Sound Company) had been founded in 1785 to develop the fur trade on the Northwest Coast. In 787, two of the company’s ships—King George commanded by Nathaniel Portlock (1748-1817) and Queen Charlotte commanded by George Dixon (1748-1795)—engaged in some trading along the British Columbia and southeastern Alaska coast. One of the ships traded with the Tlingits. In his 1885 book The Tlingit Indians: Results of a Trip to the Northwest Coast of America and the Bering Straits, Aurel Krause reports: “The frequency of pock-marked faces led him to believe that smallpox decimated the population, and because no marks were discernible on children under twelve years, the conclusion might be drawn that the terrible disease was brought in by the Spaniards who wintered in 1775 in harbors of Guadelupe (Sitka Sound) and Salisbury Sound slightly to the south.” The ships sold their furs in China and returned to England in 1788. George Dixon’s book, A Voyage Round the World, but More Particularly to the North-West Coast of America, was published in 1789. In 1787, the British Royal Navy sailed into Kikatla in present-day British Columbia and found that the Tsimshians already had European trade goods and were eager to obtain more. In what is now British Columbia, naturalist Archibald Menzies (1754-1842) visited the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1787. Menzies was the surgeon on the Prince of Wales which was on a fur-trading venture to the Northwest Coast and China. He collected samples of the tobacco which was being grown by the Haidas. The green tobacco leaves were pounded together with limestone and the resulting mixture, which he described “as big as a hen’s egg,” was then placed in the mouth and sucked. In 1787, the British ship Imperial Eagle under the command of trader Charles Barkley (1759-1832) reached the Hoh River in Washington. To establish trade with the Hohs, two boats were dispatched to travel up the river. The larger boat was unable to continue up the river because of low water, but the smaller boat continued upstream. Native warriors attacked the boat, killing all aboard. Captain Barkley described the Indians as “a Bandity kind.” At Nootka Sound in what is present-day British Columbia, Barkley was surprised to find James Strange (1753-1840), a British officer of the East India Company, living among the Nuu-chah-nulth where he had learned the language, adopted Native ways, and married a Native woman. In 1787, a British vessel flying Portuguese colors in order to circumvent the monopolies of the East India and South Sea Companies was seized by the British authorities. The Nuu-chah-nulth had been benefiting from trade with this vessel and were annoyed by its seizure. During the seizure, Nuu-chah-nulth Chief Callicum was shot and killed by mistake. In 1788, two British ships sailing under the Portuguese flag—the Felice Advenurero (Felice Adventurer; also spelled Feliz Aventureira) captained by John Meares--- and Iphigenia Nubiana (also spelled Efigenia Nubiana) captained by William Douglas (died 1791)—sailed from China to Nootka Sound. The ships spent the summer trading for furs along the British Columbia and Washington coast. At Nootka Sound, Meares’ men, and some of the Chinese workers they had brought with them built the sloop North West America. John Meares made contact with the Makahs at Tatoosh Island off the coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The barren Tatoosh Island is a traditional summer Makah fishing location. In their book Indians of the Pacific Northwest: A History, Robert Ruby and John Brown report: “A contingent of twenty to thirty of them approach the visitors in large oceangoing canoes. Dressed in otter skins, their faces daubed with oil, they were armed with knives, ragged bone-barbed arrows, and mussel-shell-pointed spears. The captain was apprehensive, unable to reconcile in his mind the large population of the island with its barrenness.” Chief Tatooche met with the British and received some small gifts from them but refused to allow his people to trade with them. In 1789, the Spanish Commander at Nootka Sound seized the Iphigenia Nubiana and arrested William Douglas. After a few days, Douglas and his ship were released with a warning not to return. In 1790, John Meares published Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, from China to the North West Coast of America which puts forth a grand vision of a Pacific trade route connecting the Northwest Coast with China, Japan, Hawaii, and England. The British schooner Jenny, under the command of Captain James Baker out of Bristol, sailed up the Umpqua River in present-day Oregon in 1791. The Kuitsh traded otter skins with the ship’s captain. In 1792 Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798) and the crew of the H.M.S. Discovery arrived at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and took possession of the area for England. He names the area New Georgia after King George III. (Note: this area is now the State of Washington.) Vancouver names Puget Sound for his First Lieutenant, Peter Puget, and Mount Rainier in honor of Admiral Peter Rainier. Vancouver Island, the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the city of Vancouver, Washington are, of course, named after Captain George Vancouver. The Foss Waterway Seaport Maritime Museum in Tacoma, Washington has an exhibit on the H.M.S. Discovery. The Discovery, a sloop-of-war, was built in 1789 for survey purposes. The 100-foot, 10-gun, full-rigged ship had a crew of 100 men. It sailed from England in April 1791 and returned home in October 1795. According to the Museum: “The primary goals of the British Royal Navy expedition were to chart the West Coast (from California to Alaska), settle claims with rival Spain, and look for the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.” The ship spent winters in Hawaii restocking supplies and making repairs. The model of the H.M.S. Discovery was made by the Discovery Modelers Education Center. The model is 14 feet long and made to a scale of 1inch = 1foot. Shown above are models of Native canoes Notice that this is a sailing canoe. Captain Vancouver noted that many of the Indians in the area have pock-marked faces, that many villages appeared to have been recently abandoned, and that there were many recent graves. This was probably an indication of smallpox acquired from contact with Europeans. Aurel Krause reports: “The relations which Vancouver had with the natives were not always of a friendly nature.” The English found that the Indians had firearms and knew how to use them. In 1793, George Vancouver passed through Heiltsuk territory in present-day British Columbia. While the Heiltsuks were interested in obtaining European goods through trade, they did not want the ship to land. In 1794, Spain and England reached an agreement about Nootka Sound: Spain compensated the British for their losses; both countries recognized each other’s right to trade at Nootka Sound; and both nations agreed not to erect trading posts or military garrisons at Nootka Sound. In The Canadian Encyclopedia, Berry Gough writes: “The controversy ended in symbolic victory for British mercantile and political interests.” More History 101 History 101: Spanish exploration of the Northwest Coast, 1774-1792 History 101: The Overland Party to Fort Astoria History 101: Fort Astoria, Oregon History 101: Establishing Fort Astoria by Sea History 101: The Milwaukee Road History 101: A Very Short History of the Oregon Trail History 101: Charles Darwin and Evolution History 101: Women Shipyard Workers in World War II [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/9/2245129/-History-101-British-exploration-of-the-Northwest-Coast-1786-1793?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/