CONTENTdm
British Columbia Historical Books Collection
Johansen, Dorothy O.
Small, Dana
Boit, John, 1774-1829
""To bring relief to grades five through nine, Dorothy Johansen is editing a new series called Beaver Books ... ":- Norman Clark in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol.51, no.3, July, 1960, p.141. A blending of John Boit's account with that of John Hoskins designed for classroom use and independent reading. Based on Howay's edition of Hoskin's journal (no.263) and Boit's log as published in the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol.22, 1921, pp[257]-351."-- Strathern, G. M., & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 27.
92 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
application/pdf
VOYAGE HTHE AROUND THE WORLD WITH ImPHN VOITWm-1793 comments on tne Art of Navigation by B6411 DANA SMALL 1960 Voyage of the Columbia Around the World with JobntBoit,1790-1793 Edited by DOROTHY O. JOHANSEN With comments on the Art of Navigation by DANA SMALL Published by BEAVER BOOKS PUBLISHED FOR BEAVER BOOKS REED COLLEGE, PORTLAND 2, OREGON © i960 BY CHAMPOEG PRESS, INC. Acknowledgments We gratefully acknowledge permission to use selections from John Hoskin's narrative of the second voyage of the Columbia, in Voyages of the Columbia to the Northwest Coast, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, and permission to use John Boifs Log of the Columbia, from the Oregon Historical Society's Quarterly. VOYAGE OF THE COLUMBIA Around the World with John Boit, 1790-1793 Introduction "Anchors Aweighl" Every age has had its dream of adventure and every age its adventurers. Two hundred years ago, adventure was exploration and discovery. The interiors of Africa and most of North America west of the Mississippi River were unknown and unmapped. The wide reaches of the Pacific Ocean had been crossed by only a few hardy sailors. For a Boston boy in 1790, the sea promised high adventure. He could smell it in the salt breeze, hear it in the snap of a ship's rigging, see it shadowed on a black hull restlessly nudging the worn timbers of the dock. And then a day came when the dream became reality. It was a day a boy would never forget—that day he boarded ship destined for some far off and strange land. There was no count-down to mark the sailing. The tide and wind dictated the hour of departure. Well in advance, the cargo had been loaded, the hatches battened down. The crew had stowed their duffle in lockers by their rolled hammocks or beside the hard narrow berths. The boy waited on the deck for the signal to cast off as his mates called farewells to wives and sweethearts, mothers and fathers who stood in little groups ship-side. There was suddenly too much to say and too few words with which to say it. So they said the same things over and over again. "Take care of yourself." "Write if you get a chance." Parting was a prelude to adventure. As the hour of separation approached, old hands were sent aloft. Below, the boy almost envied them their task. It was getting harder to say goodbye. He heard the Captain's voice as only a blast of sound, but at its command, the stiff, tarred ropes slipped from the dock posts, slapped the water, cracked up the side of the ship and disappeared over the rail. There seemed to be no motion, as the tide hauled the ship into mid-stream, but the water widened between her and the wharf. "Man the yards!" and a cheer went up from the men at their posts in the rigging and an answering cheer from the crowd on shore. 6 Voyage of the Columbia "Make sail!" A sail snapped out, filled. As if startled, the ship broke forward, then seemed to hesitate. She caught the wind. Cheers from the shore. An answer from the ship. "Huzza! Huzza!" "Goodbye." "God bless you." "Goodbye." "God speed you." "Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye—" The voices grew fainter and at last, for those left at the dock, there was a moment in which they heard only the empty sound of water slapping the pilings. Their eyes were fixed on the ship. She bloomed white in full sail, dipped into the horizon, and was gone. Aboard, the boy strained his eyes for a glimpse of the familiar shore line. It had slipped away, and now about him there was only the moving sea of a new and untried dimension. That boy's name might have been John Boit. A boy of that name set sail from Boston on September 28, 1790, for a three-year voyage around the world in the ship Columbia Rediviva. This is his story. John Boit lacked one month of being seventeen years old when he set out on this voyage. He may have been to sea before. As the son of a Boston merchant who imported goods from the East and West Indies, he may have shipped with some friend of his father on a short voyage that gave him a taste of the seafarer's life. It is believed that John had gone to Boston Latin School, a private school with strict discipline which prepared many students for Harvard College. John, however, was being trained to take his position in the business world and part of this training was the voyage on the Columbia. He was signed on as fifth mate. John was an alert young man, observant, quick to learn, and possessed of an independent mind. He made the most of every opportunity to learn the art of handling a sailing ship and crew. The Ship and Her Crew The Columbia Rediviva (meaning Columbia reborn, brought to life), built in 177 3, was typical of American ships before the clipper. Stocky, broad of beam, double decked, she measured 83 feet from bow to stern. She was full-rigged, carrying three masts with topsails, and her hold held 250 tons of cargo. She was described as a 250-ton brig. She mounted 12 carriage guns for protection in strange waters among strange and often hostile people. The Columbia was a small ship but to the people of Boston she was a famous one. Less than six weeks before John shipped out on Voyage of the Columbia 7 her, she had returned from a voyage to the Northwest coast of America and to China. When she tied up at Hancock's Wharf on the 9th of August, 1790, she was saluted with cheers and 13 guns as the first American vessel to sail around the world. With her sister ship, the Lady Washington, which had remained in the Pacific, the Columbia had pioneered Boston's fur trade with the Indians on the Northwest coast. It was for another voyage of this nature that she was now being refitted and a crew taken on. There was no difficulty in getting a crew, although the voyage was long and hazardous and the wages even for that day were not attractive. Inexperienced sailors probably got $4.50 a month; able seamen, $7.50. John Boit may have received $10.00 a month. But for young men, eager for adventure and experience, the voyage promised more than wages, and the crew of the Columbia, as well as its officers, were young men. Her captain, 35-year-old Robert Gray, had gone to sea as a boy. He had sailed in American ships which harried British shipping during the War for Independence. In taking the Columbia on her first voyage around the world, often through uncharted waters and into unmapped bays and harbors, he had proved himself a skillful and sometimes daring navigator and seaman. His energy drove him and he drove his ship. He was little given to play or dallying. Of quick temper, he could be ruthless in his anger. But his men respected him, and although his officers from time to time criticized him in the privacy of their own journals, he had no serious troubles aboard ship. The Columbia's second in command, Chief Mate Robert Haswell, was 22 years old. He had been with Gray on the previous voyage and on the return trip was promoted to second mate. He came of a sea-faring family, his father having been a lieutenant in the British navy. The ship's clerk, or supercargo, John Hoskins, was also 22 and an experienced sailor. His father had been a shipbuilder and a friend of Joseph Barrell, one of the Columbia's six owners. Barrell had got Hoskins his berth aboard the Columbia as business agent for the owners who remained in Boston. Joshua Caswell, as described by his friend Hoskins, was an l^onest man, and, at the age of 26, a seasoned sailor. He had given up command of his own ship to sail as second mate on the Columbia. Owen Smith, third mate, was probably not much older than John Boit. The Captain, five mates, and ship's clerk composed the officer class. The crew was composed of able-bodied seamen, that is, experienced sailors with special duties, and common seamen. Among the former were the bo'sun, Benjamin Harding, petty officer in charge 8 Voyage of the Columbia of the ship's rigging, anchors, and such stores as kept her ship-shape; a carpenter and helper; a cooper to make packing boxes and to keep casks in repair; a blacksmith; an armorer to repair weapons; a tailor; a sailmaker; a caulker; a ship's cook and a painter. George Davidson, the painter, had as his special work, what the word suggests, keeping the surface of the ship smart and seaworthy. But like many other sign painters, house painters and ship painters in his day, he also tried his hand at portraits and other pictures. His paintings of the Columbia and of some of the incidents in which she was engaged are valuable records of the voyage. Two cabin boys, Samuel Homer and Jack Attoo, who may have been between 9 and 14 years of age, had the hard and thankless duties of waiting on the officers' table and persons. They were servants rather than sailors, but it sometimes happened that a sailor's first experience at sea was as a cabin boy. Accounts of the voyage do not mention Samuel, but Jack was a chief actor in one of the more exciting adventures in which the Columbia was involved. He was a native of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands). Captain Gray had taken him, with the consent of his parents, to serve as his personal servant. When the Columbia arrived home in Boston from that first voyage, the news spread that she brought a Sandwich Islander, and even John Quincy Adams, son of the vice-president of the United States, had gone to the docks to catch a glimpse of so unusual a person. Captain Gray was to return Jack to his home on this voyage. The Columbia carried 11 common seamen, eight of whom were "old hands," and three, "green hands." Of the eight, only one, Andrew Newhill, had been with Gray on the former voyage. With the exception of the captain, two officers and one seaman, the rest of the crew of 31 looked forward to their first voyage to the Northwest coast of America. Cargo and Supplies This voyage of the Columbia, like the first, was for the purpose of opening up a trade for Boston with both the Indians of the Northwest and the Chinese. The China trade was important not only to Boston and the state of Massachusetts but also to the United States. Independence from Great Britain, won in the Revolutionary War, meant that the young nation had to make its own way in the markets of the world. A particularly attractive market in the 18th century was China, but it had been closed to Americans as colonists. Immediately after independence had been won, New York merchants sent the Empress of China to Canton and other ships quickly followed. Voyage of the Columbia 9 The Americans' chief interest in China was tea which they consumed in great quantities. Since they had few manufactures of their own, they also wanted Chinese Nankeen cloths, chinaware, and other manufactured items. However, the Americans produced little, if anything, the Chinese wanted. So since the Americans could not sell commodities in China to get funds to invest in Chinese goods, they had to carry chests of silver money with which to buy. The Chinese also wanted silver, in fact, they preferred it to gold. But the Americans had little silver and less gold to send abroad. It was clear to American merchants that if they were to continue in the China trade and develop it to their advantage they must find some commodity which could be sold profitably in the Canton market. They knew that in 1780 on the Northwest coast Captain Cook's men had bartered with the Indians for sea otter furs which, costing them only a few cents in iron goods and used clothing, were later sold in China for more than $ 100 apiece. They also knew that English merchants at Canton had immediately sent ships to the Indians to get more of the furs. The Columbia had been sent out with the Lady Washington in 1787, with the intention of sharing in this Indian trade, carrying the furs to China, and returning to America with Chinese goods. That voyage had not fulfilled the owners' hopes for high profits. The cargo John Boit saw being loaded into the Columbia's hold in September, 1790, was evidence that they had not surrendered their hopes. The Columbia's Indian trade goods consisted largely of sheets of copper for which the Indians of America had a special liking, bars of iron, chisels, and scarlet and blue cloth. There were also small items such as pewter pots and kettles, beads, buttons, needles, mirrors, and articles of clothing. The hold carried more tonnage than this, however. One item that was expected to be especially useful in carrying on the trade was the frame of a small sloop which was to be put together on the coast. It was necessary to make sure that tools and materials and everything essential for building, caulking, rigging, and equipping the sloop was aboard. Guns, ammunition, casks of water and provisions sufficient for a three-year voyage made up the rest of the stores. Barrels of salt pork, salt beef, and hogsheads of ship's biscuits, caddies of rice, sugar, flour, barley, and casks of rum and cider, containers of cheese, dried fish, dried corn, potatoes, cabbages, onions, turnips, peas, coffee, tea, beans, salt, pepper, butter, suet, and a surprising amount of mustard and vinegar suggested the menu in prospect for the sailors. Barrels of barberries, cranberries and molasses, and 500 io Voyage of the Columbia pounds of chocolate would have to satisfy young appetites for sweets. Three kegs of essence of spruce had an ominous meaning for the whole company of men. One of the hazards of a long sea voyage was the dreaded disease of scurvy. It was a result of a steady diet of salt foods and a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables. For centuries men had believed it to be an inevitable risk of the sailor's life. By the mid-18th century sailing men knew that citrus fruits were antiscorbutic. Since these were extremely expensive in northern climates and not easily to be had in New England, sauerkraut and spruce beer were used as substitutes. The beer was made from the twigs and leaves of the spruce tree boiled with molasses or sugar and fermented with yeast. It was not very palatable, but it was considered a partially successful antiscorbutic. It may have been so simply because of the yeast it contained. On deck or below was a pen for ten dozen fowl, probably chickens, and Captain Gray bought several sheep and some hay before leaving Boston harbor. There was also a goat with a special distinction. Nancy was a veteran sailor and had already made a journey around the world in the Columbia, Probably she was the only four- legged animal to have survived one such voyage to undertake Hazards of the Voyage No doubt John Boit looked on the provisioning of the ship and the loading of the cargo with more than casual interest. Each item must have made him aware of the nature of the adventure upon which he was embarking, the extent of the voyage ahead, the length of time this sturdy ship was to be his home, and the hazards to which he was to be exposed. Disease was not the only hazard of a three-year voyage around the world. There was always the chance of being becalmed and of the water supply giving out; of being driven off course and running out of food before a provisioned island was found or a rescue ship sighted. Storms on the high seas were a danger; but the storms that swept shoal shores, or through and around Cape Horn, were feared by all seamen. Doubling the Cape successfully gave men a sense of temporary relief. Yet still there was a chance of being wrecked on some hidden reef in the Pacific, or of being driven on the shores of an uninhabited island far off the routes of travel. To be wrecked on an inhabited island might be worse. Shipwrecked men had little defense against frightened natives with vengeful spears. Even on islands where ships had been making stops for some years, such as the Sand- Voyage of the Columbia ii wich Islands, there was little security in the early 1790's. The natives there did not easily forget the crimes with which some ships' masters repaid their hospitality and they revenged themselves upon the next to come. On the Pacific coast, friendly natives had been turned to possible enemies by similar abuses. The Indians understood the white man as little as he understood the Indian. On the Columbia's first voyage to the Pacific, Gray's men had been attacked at Murderer's Bay (Tillamook, Oregon) and his cabin boy killed. Everything had been friendly until one of the natives had tried to steal a hatchet and the boy had pursued him. Where there was no mutual understanding or rights and wrongs such incidents bred a chain reaction of suspicion, warfare, and destruction for both natives and whites. These hazards and more were part of the price of adventure. Having lived his 16 years in a seaport town among seagoing people, John Boit was aware of what the future held for him. But no man was an adventurer if he did not have courage to face dangers known The Records of the Voyage In the pages that follow, John's own words will tell his story of the voyage of the Columbia. Chief Mate Haswell and Clerk Hoskins also kept journals, but John's is the only one to cover the complete cruise. His companions' accounts carry more incident and detail and are, at times, rurming narratives. John's, on the other hand, is kept in a form somewhat like that of a ship's log. Each entry gives the date, location by latitude and longitude, and something about winds and weather which affected sailing conditions. These data make it possible for the reader to follow the cruise on map or globe and, in a sense, to share it with John. Since he was at times overly frugal with the details that bring places and people to life, materials from Haswell's and Hoskin's accounts have been added when they throw additional light on an episode or situation. Such additions are paragraphed under John's entries and the source is indicated. There are omissions when the entries merely note location and weather and are not necessary to tracing the route. Occasionally changes have been made in John's wording, or an explanation has been added to make his meaning clear. Where he slipped badly in his spelling, the matter has been remedied. In some cases modern place names have been substituted for those he used. Most of his abbreviations have been written out, but common ones have been retained: lat. (latitude), long, (longitude); directions: N (north), S (south), E (east), W (west). SbE is read "South by East." 12 Voyage of the Columbia In most instances latitudes and longitudes are given in degrees only. Minutes and seconds are given when more detailed work is needed to follow the track of the vessel. It is well to remember, however, that latitude and longitude reckonings were often inaccurate in those days. Those made on the Columbia and reported by Boit are sometimes off several degrees in longitude. This may account for troubles on the coast of South America. It is also well to remember that his dating is by nautical day which began at noon and ended the following noon. The art of navigation in John's day is treated in more detail on pages 83 to 91. JohnBoit'sLog On September 22, 1790, the officers and crew of the Columbia were paid for their work in readying the ship for her voyage. They were also paid two months' wages in advance so they could purchase things they needed before leaving port. On the 26th the Columbia was hauled out from Hancock's wharf into the stream, and the next morning Captain Gray, Hoskins, and the pilot came aboard. At three o'clock that afternoon, by nautical dating the 28th, she was out of Boston Harbor and past Cape Cod. Heavy winds from the East held her close to shore so Captain Gray put back to anchor in the protection of the Cape. For three days the Columbia was storm bound. It may be assumed that in riding it out during those days, John Boit got his sea legs. On October 2 he had a last close look at the Cape's sandy spit. PARTI Boston to the Northwest Coast October 2. Wind at SW. Weighed anchor and came to sail, stood to sea. On the 3rd. passed Cape Cod at 3 leagues distance. Generally blowing hard with squalls of rain. October 8. N.Lat. 400; W.Long. 550. Ship sails dull but is a fine seaboat. Crew appears to be a set of fine fellows. October 22. NLat. 280; W.Long. 240. Pleasant weather. Crew all well. October 27. N.Lat. 220; W.Long. 230. Pleasant weather, winds from the NW. Plenty of dolphin and skip-jacks playing around us. October so. N.Lat. 200; W.Long. 230. This day took the NE trade winds after experiencing one day's calm. November 1. N.Lat. 170; W.Long. 220. In the course of this day, saw the Island of Sal (one of the Cape Verde Isles), 29 % days from Voyage of the Columbia 13 Boston lighthouse—a long passage. Passed it to the eastward and bore away to the southward. Crew are all in health, although the regulation of the ship with regard to cleanliness among them is not strict. [Hoskins says it had been Captain Gray's intention to stop at one of the Cape Verde Islands, but not wanting anything and reluctant to lose the fine breeze, "he could not be induced to waste the time."] November 4. N.Lat. 12 °; WJLong. 23°. This day lost the NE trade winds and immediately took the wind from the south. November p. NLat. 70; WJLong. 220. Squally weather with rain, with sharp lightning and heavy thunder. Many water spouts in different directions. Experiencing very heavy squalls. Winds all around the compass since losing the trade winds. Many vessels in sight. November 19. N. Lat. 20; W. Long. 250. Weather pleasant. This day took the wind at SSE. November 25. WJLong. 26°. In the course of this day we crossed the equator. Wind at SEbS and pleasant, serene, temperate weather. Have fish of different kinds around us most of the time. 54% days from Boston, 25 from the Isle of Sal. These are long passages. We keep all hands employed through the day in good weather. It is best to Keep them moving. They are allowed tea or coffee each morning. In general, the ship's fare is good; but proper attention is not paid to airing their beds and clothing and fumigating their berths. [Hoskins tells that on the 29th they caught the largest albacore any of the men had ever seen, "weighing, when cleaned, one hundred and thirty pounds." He, too, worries about carelessness in enforcing health regulations.] December 5. SJLat. 130; W.Long. 320. This day lost the SE trade winds and immediately took the wind from the NE. Pleasant weather. December 11. S.Lat. 250; WJLong. 380. This day a heavy squall struck the ship, carried away the topgallant masts and yards, topsail yards, and fore and missen topmasts. Lost the topgallant sails and damaged the topsails. [Hoskins says the squall was followed by a calm, but heavy seas caused the ship to labor and carpenters, sailmakers, and others were <r set to work to repair the damages. During the excessively heavy rains, the men caught five casks of water in awnings set up for that purpose.] December 13. S.Lat. 270; WJLong. 390. In the course of this day got the ship repaired. Crew all in health. 14 Voyage of the Columbia December 2j. S.Lat. 360; W.Long. 460. Cool weather. December 29. S.Lat. 410; W.Long. 530. Discolored water; no bottom at 120 fathoms. Lowered a whale boat and struck a black fish but lost him. The iron drew. December 31. S.Lat. 420; W.Long. 530. Fresh gales. Caught 16 albatross with hook and line from the stern. Hooked them in the bill. Ship's crew are all in health. So ends the year 1790. January 6, 1791. S.Lat 480; WLong. 540. Generally fresh gales and winds mostly from the southward. Have caught many albatrosses these past few days and seen plenty of finback and right whales. Experience a current setting to the southward. [Hoskins says that to catch the albatross they used the rind of salt pork as bait. When they threw the line to the wind, the birds darted for the bait and were hooked. Hungry for fresh food, the men found the coarse flesh of albatross a welcome change of diet.] January 10. S.Lat. 460; W.Long. 58°. Winds from the south. Sounded no ground with 120 fathoms of line. Saw seals and whales. Water much discolored. January 13. S.Lat. 45°; W.Long. 61 °. A whale came so near as to strike the ship with his flukes and gave us a considerable blow. Got bottom with 53 fathoms of line—fine black sand with a few white specks. January 14. S.Lat. 46°©'; W.Long. 62 °Or. Wind from NW. Soundings at 50 fathoms, fine black sand. January 1$. S.Lat. 45°3i'; WLong. 63°54'. Soundings show soft mud with sand at 45 fathoms. Winds from southward. January 17. SJLat. 46°48'; W.Long. 66°58'. Fresh gales, under double reefed topsails with a high sea. At noon, mud at 35 fathoms. Wind NE. Saw the land to the westward of Cape Blanco on the coast of Patagonia, bearing from SSE to SW. Very squally; hauled our wind to the eastward. Found the ship embayed, with the wind on shore. Stood on within 2 miles of the beach and could not weather the land on our larboard tack. We were under the necessity of wearing ship to the westward. At this time soundings showed gray sand at 12 fathoms. Our situation was very critical as we could not weather the land on either tack. Bent cables, and overhauled a range of each of them. Passed several times over very shoal water but did not sound for fear of further intimidating the crew. Shipped many seas, one of which stove the binnacle and broke the compasses. Wore ship several times as the wind favored. This land appeared level, without much wood and with very high grass. Saw several Voyage of the Columbia 15 smokes but no natives. The shore was lined with white sand banks. Fortunately at midnight the wind moderated and we hauled more off shore. Hauled off into 20 fathoms and stood along shore. We are giving the cape a good wide berth. [Hoskins' description of this dangerous situation is no less technical than is Boit's: At half past twelve on the 16th, saw the land extending from south southeast to southwest. The topsails were double reefed, and the ship hauled on a wind. The weather now grew very thick and hazy, the wind increased into a strong gale, and the sea became mountainous. With this crowd of sail, more than the ship was well able to bear but necessity demanded, we stood along shore in hopes of weathering what we supposed to be the pitch of the cape. But as we advanced, as far as the eye could reach the land continued to appear on our weather bow, trending to the southward and eastward. We stood on this tack as long as possible, then wore ship. This we continued to do as occasion required or the wind offered any advantage. The cables were now bent as the last resort when we could no longer sail. Captain Gray very prudently ordered there be no sounding as it would only increase our fears without a possibility of lessening our danger. Thus was our situation truly alarming, there being to all appearance but a short space between us and eternity. Fortunately for us, at eleven in the evening the gale began to abate . . .] Editor's note: Captain Gray thought he was rounding Cape Blanco, but in the hazy weather and heavy sea found himself "embayed" (in a bay), with land extending as far as the eye could see in east-west directions. The water was growing "shoal" (shallow), and the wind continued to carry them toward the shore until they had no room within which to "tack" (shift the sails to catch the wind from another direction). They resorted to "wearing" the ship offshore. This meant swinging the stern around into the wind, in the hope that just at the right moment, catching the wind in their sails, they would steer off the shore. Notice the wind was coming from the NE. When tacking and wearing failed, they "bent the cables and overhauled a range of each." "To bend" is to tie a knot or to fasten one object to another. They fastened the anchor to the cables, set the anchors and then hauled up the ship to the anchors. This is something like kedging, but in kedging small anchors (kedges) are taken out in boats, set, and then the ship hauled up to them. This is repeated until the ship is off shore or out of danger. Boats could not be put off to kedge in this case because of the heavy seas. I0" Voyage of the Columbia January 19. S.Lat. 480; W.Long. 66°. Winds from the SW. $6 fathoms water. Weather pleasant but cold. Many albatross and large schools of whales. Af ^ Falkknd Umds January 22. S.Lat. 510; W.Long. 640. Wind at NW and squally. Made the Islands of Sebald-de Wert or Jasons Islands which lie off the NW part of the group called Falkland Islands. Vast many birds and seals around. Made sail to the southward for States Bay, in New Island, one of the Falklands. At 6 A.M. saw Cape Percival, SbE, 10 leagues. Fresh gales. At meridian anchored in New Island harbor. Mud and sand in 5 fathoms. Remained in this harbor 11 days during which time we gave the ship a complete overhaul. We had the winds generally from the westward and sometimes they blew so strong we dragged 5 anchors at the bow. A tent was erected on shore for those getting water. Found the watering place very handy and the water excellent. The ship's crew on our arrival was all in health. Still, being permitted to go on shore frequently was of great service to them. The weather generally was very cool. During our stay at these islands, we shot upward of 1000 ducks and geese and 6 hogs, evidently of Spanish breed. The fowl were quite tame when we first arrived, but they were soon taught the doctrine of self-preservation. The swine were very wild. The face of the country does present a very delightful prospect. Extensive heaths, mountains, and ponds of water are to be seen all over the island. There is not a tree upon it, but the grass is three feet high in most places. The turf sticks up in hummocks to the height of 6 feet and between the hummocks, the hogs and penguins have their habitations. The soil appeared to me to be proper for the reception of garden seeds that might contribute to the sustenance of inhabitants. The wild celery, which is an excellent antiscorbutic, grows here in abundance. I think these islands are most proper to touch at when bound around Cape Horn and in preference to those in the Straits La Maire since the water is handy and you may keep your people on geese and ducks while you remain. [Hoskins' account has much more detail. He describes New Island Harbor's entrance and in it "a snug cove into which we beat against wind and tide, safe, and without any difficulty." Then he relates: At four, came to anchor, when I accompanied Captain Gray on shore in the yawl to seek a convenient place for watering. We here found a great plenty of game. We shot several geese and ducks. From appearances at present, I think there will be no difficulty in keeping the ship supplied with fresh provisions while in port. In Voyage of the Columbia 17 the meantime on board, they were employed in mooring ship, which, when completed, lay in nine fathoms of water over a bottom of mud and sand.... It being late in the afternoon, little else was done after mooring ship besides getting out the boats and clearing the decks. The next day we had an exceedingly heavy gale of wind with squalls of rain. We were obliged to strike topgallantmasts and topgallantyards. This retarded us but little, as all the empty water casks were got out of the hold and in readiness to be sent ashore and the hold put in order again for their reception. On the 24th, the weather became fair and pleasant. Sent all the empty casks ashore with the coopers to trim them. A tent was pitched for the accommodation of the watering party. The caulkers were at the same time set to work caulking the ship's sides which were found to be very open. The ship was careened and hogged, sides and bends fresh paid. All the water was on board by the afternoon of the 29th and on the morning of the 30th a party was sent to collect fresh stock for sea, while others were employed in lashing the spare spars and getting in readiness for sea. ... The party which went to procure stock returned, having the good fortune to collect about sixty geese, hundred ducks, and a number of sea pies [the oyster-catcher] and other birds. In the afternoon another party was sent out whose success was nearly equal. ... Captain Gray and I went walking ashore attended by one of the crew. He strayed among the huge tufts of grass, from whence he came running and informed us he had seen a hog. We also entered the tufts and had not walked far before we discovered a fine large one. We now much regretted this discovery had not been made earlier and returned to the ship with the glad tidings of what we had seen. Captain Gray, now determined, should the wind be unfavorable tomorrow, to endeavor to catch some. The winds still continued contrary on the 31st when Captain Gray, Mr. Caswell and I with ten men went on shore to hunt the hog. In about two hours we shot four, and then returned to the ship. At two in the afternoon there came on a most violent storm, the wind rushing down upon us in heavy torrents from the mountains accompanied with rain. The wind caused the ship to drag her anchors; the lower yards were struck and two more anchors let go. The ship rode a heavy strain with five anchors ahead. Her stern was scarce a stone's throw from the rocks. On the morning of the 1st of February, the gale having much abated and the weather become tolerably pleasant, (although the wind was unfavorable for sailing), a party was sent on shore to hunt. They had the good fortune to shoot three hogs and to catch one pig alive.... iS Voyage of the Columbia During our stay in this harbor, we had frequent gales, attended with squalls, heavy gusts from the mountains, hail, sleet, and rain. Once we had a slight frost. The weather was quite cool and wintry. This sort of weather in this latitude is not a little surprising in the height of summer, when in our country it is generally warm and pleasant and all nature teems with its choicest fruits. In one of my excursions on the west side of the harbor, near to a reef of rocks lying not far from the entrance, I saw a large cave which appeared to have been hewn out of the solid rock. About eight or ten feet wide, it ran open about thirty feet, then underground about as much more where it was about fifteen or twenty feet high. From this cavern issued a fine spring of fresh water. The land about the harbor is mountainous, interspersed with pleasant dales in which there are many deep chasms. Some are so overgrown with grass as to make walking dangerous. Some more recent lead me to believe these islands are visited by earthquakes. There is neither tree nor shrub growing on the island. There are several sorts of grass. Along the shore is a large coarse grass that has grown and rotted again and again till it has formed large hillocks. Among these, hogs, seals, sealions, penguins have made their habitations. If cut up and dried, these hillocks would afford good fuel in case of necessity. As we always had a great plenty of fowl, we never tried for fish. I therefore don't know whether the harbor is blessed with that noble part of the creation. The rocks are covered with large beds of muscles, limpets, etc. In all probability some vessel has been lost not long since among these islands. I saw a cabin board and several pieces of timber brought to shore by the sea. On the eastern side of these islands the Spaniards have a settlement which I believe is the only one on them, save now and then temporary ones erected by those who come here to collect seals or try out oil.] Doubling Cape Horn February 3. S.Lat. 510; W.Long. 66°. Took departure from Cape Percival at 6 P.M. last evening. This day spoke the ship Bedford, Laban Coffin, master, from Dunkirk bound to the Pacific on a whaling voyage. [Hoskins tells that when the two vessels "came within hail," Captain Gray sent over to the Bedford to buy a cask of spermaceti oil.] February j. S.Lat. 530; WLong. 690. Moderate breezes and pleasant. Saw Staten Land bearing south 14 leagues distant. A current setting to the eastward. February 7. S.Lat. 550; WLong. 68°. Winds light and from the Voyage of the Columbia 19 westward. A constant current setting to the eastward. Staten Land in sight bearing WNW 20 leagues distant, very high and unequal land with snow on the mountains. February 17. SJLat. 6o°i'; WLong. 82°8'. Winds since the 12th have been much from the westward and have blown excessive fiery with high seas. This day's latitude is the highest south during the passage. February 23. S.Lat. 57°36'; WLong. 84°42'. A seal playing around the ship. Light winds. February 27. S.Lat. 54°44'; WLong. 86° 24'. Cape Horn is doubled. Winds light from the westward with frequent calms. [After sighting Staten Land, Hoskins reports they stood to the southward: Although the season was far advanced, yet we pushed forward with the greatest alacrity to encounter the tempestuous weather which reigns at this season of the year in this inhospitable clime. I believe never before did a deeper laden vessel ever attempt to double this formidable cape. But we had the winds and weather much better than could have been expected and almost equal to what we could have wished. On the 16th at noon, having got a good offing from the cape, being in latitude 6o°3i' south, longitude 770 2' west, we set all steering sails, topgallantsails, and royals, and stood to the west north west with a light breeze from the east south east and pleasant weather. Saw several whales and black fish, many albatross, petrel, and other birds flying about the ship. Shot two of the former and lowered the jolly boat to pick them up. On March 1st, by observation, I was in the latitude of 52°2o/ south, longitude 85° 39' west, having completely doubled Cape Horn in 21 days from leaving Staten Land. Now to the northward of the Cape's northwest boundary which I conceive to be the location of the western entrance of the Straits of Magellan. We now began to proceed to the northward and westward fast. The weather daily grew more settled, much warmer, and pleasant.] March 21. S.Lat. 370; WLong. 88°. Very pleasant weather. Some of the crew have the scurvy in the gums. April 2. S.Lat. 270; WLong. 890. This day took the SE trade winds and experienced a swell from the northward. April 8. S.Lat. 200; WLong. 980. Very pleasant with smooth sea; winds to the north of east. April 11. S.Lat. 180; WLong. ioo°. Small winds at ESE. Many of the ship's crew are complaining. 20 Voyage of the Columbia April 12. SJLat. 170; WLong. 1010. Alittle scurvy among the crew. April 23. SJLat. 40; WLong. 1140. Between the hours of 3 and 4 P.M., departed this life our dear friend Nancy the Goat. Having been the Captain's companion on a former voyage around the globe, her spirited disposition for adventure led her to undertake a second voyage of circumnavigation. But the various changes of climate and sudden transition from the polar colds to the tropical heats of the torrid zone proved too much for a constitution naturally delicate. At 5 P.M. committed her body to the deep. She was lamented by those who got a share of her milk. [Hoskins simply reports the occurrence: On the 23rd, having some rice on deck to air, our best she-goat got at it and ate so much it swelled in her belly and caused her death. This was the more grievous as it deprived us of the greatest delicacy we had in the ship, her milk, which made our tea so much the more palatable.] April 26. S.Lat. i°59'; WLong. ii7°23'. Pleasant weather. Saw a turtle. Many barracuda and dolphin around the ship. April 28. S.Lat. o°5o'; WLong. 118°35'. Caught a shark; porpoises about the ship. Excessive warm. April 29. S.Lat. o°5'; WLong. H9°i3'. Gentle trades at ESE and pleasant. Four seamen laid by with the scurvy. Their mouths and legs very bad. April 30. N.Lat. o°5o'; WLong. ii9°59/. Porpoises and bonitos, tropical birds and boobies around. ["At three in the afternoon of the 29th we crossed the equator in longitude i2o°5' west," says Hoskins.] May 3. N.Lat. 40; W.Long. 12 2 °. Squally weather. Many porpoises around. Many birds on the wing. May zj. N.Lat. 230; W.Long. 1320. Steady trade winds and very pleasant. Scurvy making progress. May 19. N.Lat. 270; WLong. 1340. Seven men off duty with the scurvy. Their gums are quite putrid and their legs as big around as their bodies and quite numb. This is the worst of complaints! May 24. N.Lat. 340; W.Long. 1350. This day lost the NE trades and immediately took the wind from the westward. Arrival on the Northwest Coast June 4. NLat. 49°io'; WJLong. i2o°2i'. This day made the land on the NW coast of the American continent between Nootka (or King George's Sound) and Qayoquot Sound (or Coxes Harbor). Voyage of the Columbia 21 For these several days past we had seen whales, drift wood, feathers, kelp, etc. All signs of land in the vicinity. Breakers Point (Es- tevan Point) bore NEbE 8 leagues. High land back, and snow perceivable on some of the mountains. June $. This day at anchor in Qayoquot Harbor and found it very commodious. This harbor is made remarkable by three round hills abreast its entrance. Qeaskinah (called Hanna, after an English sea- captain) chief of the village Ahousat, came aboard and appeared friendly. Above 300 of the natives were alongside in the course of the day. Their canoes were made from the body of a tree, with stem and stern pieces neatly fixed on. Their models were not unlike our Nantucket whale boats. The dress of these Indians was either the skin of some animal or a blanket of their own manufacture, made of some kind of hair. This garment was slung over the right shoulder. They all appeared very friendly and brought us plenty of fish and greens. We tarried in this harbor till the 16th of June. Immediately on our arrival we landed the sick and pitched a tent for them. Although there were ten of them in the last stage of scurvy, they soon recovered upon smelling the turf and eating greens of various kinds. We buried several of our sick up to their hips in the earth and let them remain for hours in that situation. We found this method of great service in restoring them. The principal village in this harbor is called Opsitsatah and is governed by Wickananish, a warlike chief. He and his family visited us often. The Indians brought several deer and plenty of rock cod, salmon and other fish. Wild parsley and a root called Isau or Isop by the natives and much resembling a small onion were brought in abundance. We purchased many of the sea otter skins in exchange for copper and blue cloth. [Again Hoskins gives details that Boit ignores: As soon as we entered the harbor, we were surrounded with canoes and the ship was thronged with natives, who were permitted to come on board without distinction. All appeared equally happy to see us. Among others was Wickananish, the chief, his father, several of his brothers and two sons. A number of underchiefs were clothed with two or four sea otter skins. This was a most pleasing sight and the best introduction they could have had. Those chiefs were taken to the cabin and shown our various articles of trade, but they appeared quite indifferent about trading, and wished rather to receive our goods as presents. In company with Captain Gray I went ashore in the jolly boat to visit the village of Opitsitah. It is at present uninhabited and only 22 Voyage of the Columbia the framings of the houses are standing. It was our intention to have taken a walk through this village, but it was so overgrown with nettles, hogweed, and other greens that it was impossible to do so with any comfort. The boat crews were ordered to gather a quantity of those greens for the sick and in a few minutes they had filled the boat. These greens are excellent antiscorbutic, were daily gathered and eaten with avidity by all hands. In the meantime the pinnace was sent ashore abreast of the ship to pitch a tent and to prepare accommodations for the sick. The well people were divided into quarter watches by day and by night. First part of the 6th was rainy disagreeable weather, but toward noon it became more pleasant. The sick were then landed and a party to guard them. Seven of the men were in a very advanced state of the scurvy. Indeed there is scarce a person on board the ship but has felt more or less the baneful effects of this dreadful distemper. This must in a great measure be attributed to our scanty supply of antiscorbutics; to an improper use of what we had; and to the small attention paid by the commander to the preservation of the health of his people. On a voyage of this nature this is a matter of the greatest consequence, and it is certainly very imprudent to cross such an immense ocean without stopping at those islands so happily scattered about it and with little deviation from the course. Had we been obliged to continue at sea a few days longer we should have inevitably lost several of our people which would materially have affected the voyage. The chiefs came, according to their promise yesterday, but none of them could be induced to part with their furs. The lower class of people fetch us fish and leeks which we purchased. On the 7th the weather became stormy and disagreeable. Notwithstanding, the chiefs came on board as usual. This afternoon our trade commenced, first with Wickananish's father, then with the other chiefs in succession. Our purchases were not great, only twenty-two fine skins. Having saved about a peck of potatoes, which we had brought from Boston, we gave them together with some onions and seeds of various sorts to Tootiscoosettle, the second brother of Wickananish. Captain Gray sent an officer and party of our people to plant the seeds and show the chief how to cultivate them. He appeared to be delighted with the gift and more so with the honor done him. But how great was our surprise the next morning to see these very articles brought to the ship for sale by the lower class of natives. When Tootiscoosettle came aboard and was questioned, he answered that those people did not know he planted them. This seems Voyage of the Columbia 23 sufficient to show the idle disposition of these people and their present ignorance of cultivation. The rainy disagreeable weather continued until the 10th when the wind came out of the westward bringing fair, settled weather. The carpenters were now sent to cut a jib boom and make it while the people were employed in putting the rigging in order. On the 1 ith began to fill up our water. The natives brough two deer which I purchased. Made into soup, it was given to the sick to whom it was a most excellent refreshment. The sick are surprisingly re- Attoo's Adventure June 16. Attoo, the captain's servant (a native of the Sandwich Islands) ran away among the Indians. When a chief came aboard, the captain placed a guard over him and sent his canoe back to the village with the news. They soon returned with Mr. Attoo and ransomed their chief. [Hoskins' account of Jack Attoo's escapade follows: Attoo, our Sandwich Island boy, found means to leave the ship and go among the natives. Captain Gray therefore determined to take the first chief that came along. In the afternoon he ordered the tents to be struck and brought aboard with the sick who are nearly recovered, so surprising were the good effects of the land, air, fresh provisions, and vegetables. In the morning of the 15th, the wood and water parties were armed and sent on shore, abreast of the ship, to their duties. The natives did not come to the ship as usual, and the Indian women did not entertain me, according to their usual custom at daylight every morning with melodious songs under my window. These songs were peculiarly pleasing, being sung with that good natured simplicity which delights one. However about rime-thirty, Tootiscoosettle, the eldest brother of the chief, passed up the harbor and was called to. He came alongside and was invited aboard, but he excused himself saying he was going to another village to kill a deer for us. At length, after considerable entreaty, he was induced to come up the snip's sides, but his heart misgave him and he returned to his canoe again. Finding we appeared to be offended with his conduct, he called and said, if his servant was permitted to come aboard with him, he would come. This, though contrary to custom, was granted. They came and were immediately conducted to the cabin. Tootiscoosettle was now told that Attoo was gone to his village; but he appeared to be surprised at this and denied having knowledge of the boy. Captain Gray told him he was his prisoner and 24 Voyage of the Columbia unless Attoo was immediately delivered up, he would carry him to sea. At this the chief was much frightened, asked if we meant to kill him, and acknowledged he knew where Attoo was. The chief then dispatched his servant in a canoe to the village. Soon he returned with several others, hallooing as they came. With them was Attoo. It was now necessary, as an example to others, to punish Attoo. Since the boy was a Sandwich Islander, the Captain would willingly have dispensed with punishment but did not. The chief was ordered to be present when Attoo was flogged, and the chief was told that if we found the man who carried Attoo away from the ship, he too would be punished in the same way; and if in the future, any of the ship's people ran away to the village, and the chief did not immediately send them back, the first chief that was caught would also be punished. The chief was then liberated and he and the others left us. Although we had previously been constantly surrounded by canoes, we saw none until the next day. Then Wickananish's father came with two sea otter skins. He was afraid at first to come on board, but after a little entreaty and many professions of friendship, he came, traded, and went off in great haste. Finding the natives had grown shy of us, and judging we had pretty well drained them of their skins and having procured a sufficient stock of both water and wood, we decided a longer tarry in this port unnecessary. We had procured a total of 12 sea otter skins, 25 pieces of sea otter, and 37 tails. This is far short of what I had expected. Our principal articles traded were copper, and clothing. The Indians would scarcely take iron except as a gift. For a sheet of copper we got four skins; clothing in proportion. For small articles such as knives, buttons, fish hooks, gimblet, etc., we got a few sea otter tails, fish and vegetables.] June 77. This day weighed anchor and left the harbor. Fine weather, wind at SW. All hands once again on duty. We make the people use spruce tea boiled from the boughs we took on board for that purpose. Although not very palatable, I believe it is an excellent antiscorbutic. Bound along shore to the north and west. PART II Living Among the Indians The Columbia had arrived at the end of the first leg of her cruise, and John Boit had his first experience with the land and people of the Northwest coast. During the next sixteen months he was to learn much about both. He was also to take part in carrying on the Voyage of the Columbia 25 trade, in building a ship under difficulties, and he was to witness an effort to make a peaceable settlement of a quarrel between nations. Early Exploration and Trade It was indeed a new land to which he had come. Francis Drake may have seen some of its southern coast in 1578 when, in the Golden Hind, he plowed north, looking for a water passage that might take him through the North American continent and into the Atlantic Ocean. Rain and fog curtained the coastline, and Drake returned from his piratical raid against the Spanish settlements by sailing westward and around the world. Two Spanish explorers were off the coast in 1602-3. More than 150 years later, after the Spaniards had occupied California, their ships once again came into northern waters. Bruno Heceta noticed the signs of a great river emptying into the Pacific at about the 46th parallel. Juan Francisco de Bodega y Quadra discovered a sound later named Nootka just north of where the Columbia had anchored. Both Heceta and Quadra landed on the present-day Washington coast, the first white men, so far as is known, to step on those shores. Three years after the Spanish explorers came the great English navigator, Captain James Cook. He carefully explored the coast from Nootka Sound to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. It was his men who later discovered the value of Northwest furs in the China market and started the "fur-rush" to the Pacific's shores. The first British traders arrived in 1785. In 1787 Captain Charles Bark- ley discovered Qayoquot Sound and Juan de Fuca Strait. When the Columbia and her sister ship, the Lady Washington, arrived on the coast on the first voyage in 1788, only half a dozen ships had been on these shores. There were three times as many when John Boit came in the Columbia on her second cruise. All the traders were looking for the sea otter furs, which made trade with the Chinese so profitable. The sea otter was a marine mammal found only on the Pacific coast and only in such places where rocky reefs and kelp beds were protected from storms and heavy seas. They bore and raised their pups in the kelp beds. Sometimes they could be seen on the surface playing with their young in almost human fashion. A large animal, measuring 3 to 6 feet from nose to tail, the sea otter was amiable, playful and trusting in disposition until hunters made them shy. The Indians hunted the otter and made their fine soft fur into chieftains' robes. When the white men came to buy them, the Indians increased their hunt, and as they learned the fur's value they 26 Voyage of the Columbia asked more for goods in exchange. The sea otter was rapidly hunted out—it was almost extinct by the 1830's. As the furs became scarcer and dearer, the traders cruised farther and longer at a time to find Indians who had furs and were willing to sell them at prices the traders offered. This, in turn, made the traders explorers and discoverers. John's journal of the Columbia's cruise along the Northwest coast shows how Captain Gray was continually searching for a new sound or inlet where he might find an Indian village missed by other traders. He literally had to feel his way in the unmapped waters. Today the map of British Columbia shows many islands off the mainland. It was not until the Columbia was ready to leave the coast that it was known for sure that Nootka Sound was on the western shore of a large island. Some of the bays and harbors John Boit described and named are hard to locate today because, for example, he may have identified as islands what turned out to be parts of a mainland, and what he thought to be mainland was later discovered to be a long broken island shore. To sail a ship into strange waters of unknown depth and hidden reefs was extremely dangerous. Yet on the shore there might be an Indian village whose people knew nothing of trading prices and were willing to exchange their sea otter skins for the cheapest goods. To avoid wrecking the Columbia and yet to be able to skirt close to the land and into shallow bays, Gray had brought out in the ship's hold the frame of a small sloop to use for this kind of sailing. He had intended to build this vessel immediately upon arriving, but it was quickly evident that to do so would prevent him from cruising for furs during the summer months, the least stormy and hazardous time of the year. Too, since there were rival traders intent upon the same ends, delay would be costly. So Gray decided to spend the summer and fall cruising in his ship Columbia and to build the sloop during the winter months. From June 17 to October 19 the Columbia ranged from Clayo- quot Sound south to Juan de Fuca Strait and north again around the Queen Charlotte Islands. Winter quarters were then set up in a cove on Clayoquot Sound where the sloop was built. Christened the Adventure, she sailed off to the Queen Charlotte Islands in April, 1792, and the Columbia turned south to coast along the shores of present-day Washington and Oregon. It was on this lap of the voyage that Captain Gray made an important discovery. ^ Only John Boit's account and a fragment of the Columbia's official log survive to describe the first entry of ship and white men into the waters of the great River of the West. Voyage of the Columbia 27 Excitement at Nootka Sound After leaving this river, the Columbia continued her cruise northward from the middle of May through August, In the latter month she anchored in Nootka Sound, and Captain Gray and his officers found themselves spectators of an important international gathering. Since Heceta's and Quadra's voyages in 1775, the Spanish had kept a careful eye on what was happening along the coast claimed by Spain. Learning of English traders at Nootka, the viceroy of Mexico sent Don Estevan Martinez to protect those claims by warning off the British traders. Captain Gray was there on his first voyage in 1788-89 when Martinez, exceeding his orders, seized two British ships and their crews and carried them off to Mexico. This incident almost led to war between Spain and Great Britain. Diplomats settled the most important problem of peace or war in Madrid, but some of the details had to be worked out at Nootka Sound. In 1790 Great Britain sent Captain George Vancouver to meet with Spain's Quadra for this purpose. He arrived on the coast in May, 1792. The first ship he hailed was the Columbia, cruising off Cape Flattery. In the meantime, Quadra had arrived at Nootka with men and materials to build a colony there. Other Spanish ships came to carry on explorations in an effort to prove to the British and to the world that this was Spain's territory and that she was occupying it. When the Columbia went into Nootka Sound for repairs in the late summer, John saw there a fleet of vessels—Spanish and British—and a number of traders' vessels. There was excitement in the air. John shared in this as he did in an impressive banquet the Spaniards gave all the ships' officers. Vancouver was also commissioned by his government to conduct a survey of the Northwest coast and to discover, if it existed, a water-way leading into the heart of the North American continent. After Gray discovered the great river he had named the Columbia, he gave a sketch map of its entrance to Captain Vancouver, who later sent in an exploration party. Gray did not know then that his discovery of this river was to be important in estabHshing the claims of the United States to this vast northwest land. On the coast, John Boit also met Captain John Kendrick, master of the Lady Washington. Kendrick had been in charge of the Columbia's first voyage to the coast and he had chosen to remain in the Pacific rather than to return to Boston. He was a bold man but not as successful a trader as was Gray. Although John does not 28 Voyage of the Columbia mention it, there was no friendship between the two captains. They had become rivals in the trade. The Indians of the Northwest Coast Many of John's entries have to do with the Indians and their customs. Much of what is known about them today is drawn from accounts such as his. We know that the people lived in small villages made up of related families. They were not organized into tribes as were most of the Indians of the North American continent, and were more readily distinguished one from the other by language differences. They did not often mingle with one another on land. Those who lived in the vicinity of Nootka Sound had little to do with those who lived on Clayoquot Sound, but within their own areas they moved annually from summer to winter villages. The Northwest Indians were as much at home on the sea as they were on the land. Their war canoes, hewn from great cedar logs and carrying as many as 30 to 50 men, were seaworthy and in them they traveled great distances to hunt whales or to raid neighboring villages. Their wars were principally to get slaves. When they went to war they dressed in an armor made of layers of hardened elk skin riveted together. These were called clamons and were sometimes purchased by the white traders at one part of the coast and carried to the Indians in another part and exchanged for furs. Their food came from the sea and many of their rituals and customs so strange to the white men were related to their dependence for their living upon salmon and whales. They were skilled workers in wood. Besides their remarkable canoes, they made clothing and cooking utensils from it. Women's skirts, rain capes, and the conical shaped hats they wore in the rainy season were woven from the inner rind of cedar bark. Steamed planks of cedar were bent to form watertight boxes which were used for cooking. Into the box they put water and by adding heated rocks brought it to a simmering temperature. Then they put in the food they wished to cook. Small utensils were made of wood, bone, and stone beautifully carved, Even their darts used in hunting and whaling were gracefully carved with figures of animals. Cedar planks placed upright against timbered frames and roofed over with boards and branches formed their winter dwellings. Three to ten families might live in a house and sometimes one house might be a "village." A number of houses meant a more important village, and in such a case, a ceremonial house that might hold as many as 200 persons was used for festivals, dances, and meetings. The head of a house was a chieftain, and a great chief was the Voyage of the Columbia 29 head of a number of houses. There was an intense rivalry among the chieftains to win prestige and rank in the eyes of their people and neighbors. One or their most interesting customs was the giving of feasts, at which time the host chief made presents to the guest chief. Within the year, the guest had to return the feast and twice the gifts he had received. If he were unable to do this, he lost face; and losing face, he lost his rank among the chieftains. Many of the early traders thought these Indians practiced cannibalism, but modern anthropologists who study their customs believe this was not so. It is probable that the natives had some ceremonies that suggested cannibalism, but no one could ever report having seen evidences of its practice. John reported what he saw and learned about these people and it will be noted that with the exception of times when he found their lack of cleanliness distasteful, he was on the whole friendly and understanding toward them. His journal begins again when the Columbia left Clayoquot Sound in June, 1792, for a brief sail to the north. Cruise to the North June 20. N.Lat. 5o°6'; WLong. i28°i2/. Moderate breezes. At 8 P.M. abreast Cape Cook and lay there through the night. At daylight made sail for Nesparte Inlet. Sent out the pinnace to sound the entrance. At 8 A.M. abreast the entrance and at 10, the pinnace made the signal for a harbor. Bore away, wind at N.W At noon anchored in a small cove which we named Columbia's. In this situation we were completely landlocked. Vast many natives came alongside. They appeared much the same as those at Qayoquot harbor, and talked their language. We lay in this harbor until the 26th, during which time we got many sea otter and land furs from the natives in exchange for copper, iron, cloth. Beads, fish hooks and such small stuff kept the ship supplied with various kinds of fish and greens and a few deer. These natives are generally armed with bows, arrows, and spears. Like those at Clayoquot they would pilfer if an opportunity offered. During our stay here I visited one of the villages and found the natives busily employed building canoes and packing provisions against the winter. They treated me quite friendly. They dry their fish in the sun and then pack it in neat wooden boxes. Necessity is the mother of invention. [On the morning of the 24th, John Hoskins and third mate Owen Smith with an armed crew went in the pinnace to visit the head village. They ran into a violent rainstorm on the way. Hoskins tells: I was received at my landing by the old chief who conducted us 3o Voyage of the Columbia to his house. He seated us by a good fire and offered us the best the house afforded to eat and drink. This was dried fish of various sorts, roasted clams and mussels. Water was our drink, handed to us in a wooden box with a large sea clam shell to drink out of. The chief's son attended me, opened my clams, roasted my fish, and did other kind offices. After this entertainment, we were greeted with two songs in which were frequently repeated the words "Wakush Tiyee awinna," or welcome, travelling chief." These were sung by a great concourse of natives who came from all parts of the village to see us, for it is probable we were the first white people ever at their village and the first many of them had ever seen. Finding the natives quite friendly, I permitted one-half of my crew to come to the house at a time to dry themselves. The last half coming up, one of them straggling to the back of the house, saw the natives armed and sharpening their spears and daggers. He immediately informed me. I then asked Mr. Smith to go to the men in the boat, and to get her afloat and to have the men stand ready to cover the rest of us if necessary, but not to show the least sign of fear. In the meantime I placed myself in a position to observe the movements of the natives. When the boat was ready, I abruptly took leave of the old chief and his sons. They appeared to be much chagrined at my sudden departure and endeavored to get me to stay. On my landing, I had given orders to the boat crew not to offer the least offense to the natives. I verily believe they did not. But it is too often the case that when no officer is with them the sailors, from their ignorance of the language, miscomprehend the natives as the natives misunderstand them. Thus each deems himself insulted and a quarrel ensues. The officers who are ashore then fall a sacrifice. As in civilized, so in savage states, from small causes, great evils spring. If the natives had really intended an attempt on our lives, it certainly could be for no offense offered by my small party. It may have been to revenge some former injuries received from others, or to possess themselves of our clothes and arms. Be that as it may, even if it was a false alarm, it was not prudent to tarry longer. By avoiding one danger, however, we plunged into another. In the shelter where the village was located it blew a gale; outside in the open water, a perfect hurricane with a mountainous sea and thick rainy weather. We dared not show a rag of sail, but were forced to let her drive before the wind and sea. All hands were constantly at work bailing out the water. As if our situation were not sufficiently deplorable, a rock just awash, not three yards ahead, made its appearance. Expecting there were more, we hauled our Voyage of the Columbia 31 wind a little, apparently only to prolong our existence a few moments more. We were expecting every sea to swallow us up, but fortune favored us, and in a few moments we were clear of the rocks. In half an hour we sighted the ship in the cove, and in a short time arrived on board. The only inhabited part of this sound is a small village on the eastern side called Opswis, which I suppose contains about twenty or thirty inhabitants, and the head village where the chief resides and where I visited. This village consists of about thirty houses, which contain between two and three hundred inhabitants. About their houses these people are as filthy as they are about their persons. What adds not a little to it, is the number of dogs which are of the fox breed. These people are rather short of stature, with round full faces. Their noses flatten at the base. They have large mouths and thick lips. Their bodies are, in general, covered with grease and red ochre and their faces variously painted, sometimes of two or three different colors, others again only of one color, such as red, white, or black, according to their different fancies. Their most common dress is a mantle made of a fiber substance. Some wear the skin of some animal thrown over it. Their headdress is a small cap or a withe. Their hair generally hangs loose, though one or two had it divided into small bunches about the size of your little finger which, matted together with grease and red paint, hung like so many tails, to the ground. Their heads and garments constantly swarm with vermin. The septum of the nose and the lobe of the ear are perforated and from them hang leather thongs, pieces of copper, iron, etc.] Trading at the Strait of Juan de Fuca June 26. This day left the cove and stood along shore toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Crew all well. This is an iron bound coast with high land back from the shore. June 28. N.Lat. 48 V; WLong. 124V. Entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca and hove to abreast the village of Nitinat. Found strong tides. Vast many natives came off with sea otter and other furs which we purchased with the same articles as before. They appear to be friendly. It was evident these natives had been visited by that scourge of mankind, smallpox. The natives say the Spaniards brought it among them. We kept beating off the entrance of the Strait until July 3rd. Off a small island called Tatoosh, we collected many otter. These natives gave the preference to copper. Fine halibut and salmon were pro- 32 Voyage of the Columbia duced in abundance. Nails, beads, etc., served for this traffic. The chief at Tatoosh offered to sell us some young children they had taken in war. ["The wind was light and flattering with a heavy swell on the morning of the 28th," writes John Hoskins. He continues: A canoe with ten men came alongside. They were from Nitinat, bound awhaling. They requested us to go to their village, saying, as an inducement, that there were plenty of skins. No sooner were they informed that that was our intention, than they returned to the village with the news of our arrival. It was two in the afternoon before we were enabled to get in with the land. When we were still two or three miles distant, several canoes came off, in one of which was Cassacan, the chief, and his lady. They tarried with us until evening. We purchased several valuable skins. We then made sail, crossing what Captain Cook called the pretended Strait of Juan de Fuca, bound for Tatoosh's Island. On the morning of the 29th we saw many canoes from the island bound afishing. One dispatched to the chieftain told of our arrival. Several canoes came out with skins and we had a brisk trade until evening. In the morning Tatoosh, the chief, came on board and requested us to stay until evening. He said since fish were very plentiful now he must go catch them himself as an example to others, so he would not have time for us. Later he would fetch many skins. But he deceived us in this for few skins were purchased and none from him. At noon, Tootiscoosettle, a chief from Qayoquot Sound, came in a large canoe with four masts. He was bound to Tatoosh's island to trade. I believe that had this man not been there, Tatoosh would have kept his word and sold us skins. The canoes that went fishing this morning caught an incredible number of fish, principally halibut. These people go as much as ten or twelve leagues to sea to fish and it is only in such pleasant weather that they can do this. Fish is their principal provision. No doubt this in some measure accounts for their not being willing to part with more than a small share of their catch. At six in the morning, July 1st, many canoes came off from the village. Among others was Tatoosh. Several good skins were purchased, but none of him. Still more were carried away by those who brought them, for Tatoosh would not let them sell even at their own prices. This being the case it is not necessary for us to stay here any longer. Tatoosh's Island is a small, low green island on the eastern side Voyage of the Columbia 33 of the entrance of the Strait. On it is a large village. Many of the natives wear a garment which appears to be made of wool and hair. Mostly white, these garments seem to be well fabricated, and I suppose, by these natives. Abreast of Nitinat again on the morning of the 2nd, we saw some canoes coming out. A few skins were purchased, but Cassacan showed a churlish disposition, and after tarrying on board for three hours, would not sell his skins. He carried them off, though he was offered a considerable higher price than he had demanded for them. Such behavior in these two chiefs, Tatoosh and Cassacan, was sufficient to tire the patience of any man. But when their ignorance was considered, it appeared better to put up with such small things than by showing the least resentment, cause a quarrel.] Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands July 3. NLat. 49V; WLong. i26°2o'. Left the Straits. At 6 P.M. Cape Flattery (so named by Captain Cook) bore SEbE 8 leagues. Standing along shore to the westward, wind from the eastward. July 8. N.Lat. 52°io'; WLong. i3i°i2'. This day anchored in Houston Stewart Channel on the SE part of the Queen Charlotte Islands. At 20 fathoms, rocky bottom. Sent the pinnace with an officer to seek a better anchorage. This found, got under way and stood up sound, anchoring in 15-fathom muddy bottom. A chief by the name of Coya came along side with many other Indians. The natives here are much stouter than any we have before seen and they appear to be very savage. The men go quite naked, except a skin over the shoulder. The women are entirely covered with garments of their own making from the bark of trees. They have an incision cut through the under lip, which spreads out with a piece of wood about the size and shape of a goose egg. It's considered an ornament, but in my opinion, it looks ghastly. Some of their lips boom out two inches from the chin. The women appear to be very fond of their children and the men of both. We remained in this sound till the 17th, and purchased a good lot of sea otter and other furs chiefly for iron and cloth. Copper was not in demand. Our boats were sent out for wood and water, but always well armed. The natives supplied us with halibut and rock cod for which we paid them in nails. We caught and killed many wild fowl. I landed at one of the villages and found the inhabitants comfortably lodged. They kept large fires although the weather was temperate. When I went into one of their houses, I found them eating roast mussels and singing a warlike song. They appeared to be pleased with our visit and did not molest anything m the boat. 34 Voyage of the Columbia [Hoskins says that Coya, the chieftain, was slow in coming to see them and he gives an explanation for this delay: On inquiring about Coya, we were informed by several of the natives, particularly by a woman who was very intelligible, that Captain Kendrick was here lately; that he took Coya, tied a rope around his neck, whipped him, painted his face, cut off his hair, took away from him a great many skins, and turned him ashore. Coya was now no longer a chief, but an "Ahliko" or one of the lower class. They have now no head chief, but many inferior chiefs. How much credit is to be given to this story is questionable, when it is considered that our knowledge of their language is so very superficial as scarcely to be understood except by signs. Too, Captain Kendrick is well known to have a friendly disposition to these people, whom he has hitherto treated more like children than an ignorant race of savages. It must therefore be supposed Captain Kendrick has been provoked by them to punish their chief. A little after sunset, when most of the canoes were gone, Coya himself came aboard. He appeared glad to see us. He said Captain Kendrick was good, had been here lately, and showing a blue coat and some blue nankeen cloth, said they had been given to him by the captain. He also said that if we would wait a few days the people would bring us furs. His tarry was short; he appeared to be much frightened. He departed with a promise of returning again in the morning but we never saw him afterwards. When Captain Gray first visited these people in the Washington in the summer of 1789, they were large and powerful, and had many skins. But now they are dwindled to a few and we did not see more than fifty different faces while here. I think this must be owing to the disturbance between them and Captain Kendrick. As their chief has lost his power it is possible his people have moved off to other villages. Or it may be the whole group has taken up its abode in some more favorable quarters. The separation may also be attributed to some other cause: internal broils among themselves or conquest by a more powerful people. The natives we saw were of middle stature, though some were large and others small. Coya was a diminutive, savage-looking fellow. For the most part they were affable and appeared to be an inoffensive, good people; but, if I may hazard a guess, it was Captain Kendrick's punishing them that brought them to this humble state. It is almost impossible to discover the color of their bodies for they are covered with dirt and grease. Most of them have their faces painted black and their hair cut short. This, I have since been Voyage of the Columbia 35 informed, is practiced in mourning for the loss of any of their chiefs or relatives or some other calamity. One day we prevailed upon a woman to have her face washed and we discovered a pure glow of red and whiteness, one of the most dehghtful faces my eyes ever beheld. Indeed she was a perfect beauty. From this specimen, we may believe these people to be white. This woman went away in her canoe, but when she returned her face was as black as ever. She had been laughed at by her companions for having it washed. What a pity it is these people delight so much in filth, which to them seems to be an ornament. Their dress is a sort of mantle made of various skins such as the sea otter, sable, raccoon, and some others so mutilated as to be beyond recognition. They also wear European clothing on which they have sewed, as fancy or fashion directs, buttons, thimbles, chain, money, pieces of shells, etc. In this dress they have a truly grotesque appearance. There is another garment which seems peculiar to the women. This is a thin leather frock sometimes edged with a strip of sea otter reaching a little below the knees, with sleeves, and tied under the chin. They also have a fiber garment which they sometimes put on over the leather one. On their heads they wear a shallow, wicker-work cap. This is tied under the chin. They have no covering for their legs and feet. The ornaments most common among them are beads of various sorts, particularly the blue glass beads of which they appear to be fond. Button and shells they wear in large bunches around their necks. If it can be called an ornament, a lip piece is also worn. It is not common for all of them, nor, so far as I could learn, is it any badge of distinction, for both the lower class of women and the chieftain class wore them. Their principal food comes from the sea. I have seen them in their canoes eating large pieces of whale which emitted a stench sufficient to make any of us sick, yet they devoured it with surprising avidity. They also get sharks which are very large here, porpoises, halibut, a kind of cod, clams, limpets, mussels, and other shell fish. They eat the flesh of seals, sea Hons, sea otters and the various animals and birds they get in the woods. They also eat the inner rind of a bark, boiled or stewed, the different fern roots—in fact, nothing appeared to come amiss and all is devoured with equal indifference, cooked or uncooked. The men chew tobacco in its green state mixed with a white substance resembling lime. They put quids of this plant as big as hens' eggs into their mouths. Their drink is fish oil and fresh water. I have seen them take two large draughts of salt water, but whether this was to quench thirst or to act as a medicine, I do not know. 36 Voyage of the Columbia Their domestic life is as yet almost unknown to us. The utensils we have seen in their canoes are wooden boxes and bowls of various shapes neatly made with human and animal figures carved on them. They have some cleverly made wicker-work baskets. In the wooden boxes they cook their provisions. One person with a split stick puts in hot stones and other takes them out as fast as they cool. In this way, they boil their water and make fish and animal food into soups. When done, the food is taken up in bowls and distributed around to the family. Clams, mussels, and other shell fish are roasted and eaten with oil as a sauce. They use large scoops holding about half a pint to dip the soup out of the wooden boxes. A black scoop, about the size of a common table spoon, is used to eat with. They are neatly wrought with human figures carved on the handles and inlaid with copper. These were supposed by some of our gentlemen to be made from whale bone or goat's horn. Cooking is the work of women in which they are very clean. They also make their various garments which are sewed together with needles of sharp bones of different sizes according to the fineness of the work. With one of these she makes a hole, then pushes through it a thread made of the intestines of some animal neatly twisted together. Thus, in this simple manner, is the work performed and with a neatness, I may say elegance, that would not disgrace ladies in a more civilized country. The women also clean all the animal skins. First they scrape the skin with a knife or clam shell, then rub it with the rough side of a star fish, keeping it well wet with fresh water. This operation is continued until the skin is sufficiently stretched when it is left to dry.] Burial at Fort Tempest July 17. Weighed anchor and left Houston Stewart Channel bound to the straits formed by the Charlotte Islands and the mainland. July 23. N.Lat. 52°26'; WLong. i3i°3o'. Spoke the brig Hope, Joseph Ingraham, master, from Boston, on the same business with ourselves. Soon parted. July 28. NLat. 53°i4'; WLong. 132V. Ship over towards main. Send an officer in the pinnace in search of anchorage. Found the land hereabouts low and barren near the shore but it rises back into high mountains. Excessive strong currents in these straits. The natives on the main speak a language different from those on the islands. Boat returned without success. July 31. Stood toward the islands and anchored in 24 fathoms with a kedge. Light wind from NW. A chief, Cumshewa by name, brought us several fine sea otter skins. Voyage of the Columbia 37 August 2. Fresh gales and very thick weather. Narrowly escaped running on a reef of rocks. Quite foggy; we see the land but seldom. Beating to and fro. August 3. NLat. 54°43'; WLong. i32°23'. Heavy gales from SE and thick weather; found our ship embayed. Too near to the shore to make it off. All through the night we were alarmed with all the horrors of a lee shore. A small opening appearing in the land to leeward. We hove out the pinnace and sent an officer to examine it for anchorage. At 6 in the evening she made a signal for a harbor. Bore away and anchored under a point of land in 17 fathoms with sandy bottom. It being a wild road stead, we let go three anchors. We remained in this station, which we called Port Tempest, until the 8th, and only four Indians made their appearance. Made several excursions with boats and procured many salmon and plenty of berries. On one of these excursions I discovered a small rivulet not deep enough to admit the boat, but in it we caught upward of 100 fine salmon, chiefly with the boat hook. Shot a deer upon the banks. August 8. Got under way and left Port Tempest. Stood for the northward. August io. N.Lat. 55°o'; WLong. i33°o'. Light winds and pleasant, standing to the NW. At 6 P.M. came to with the kedge in 28 fathoms. Natives brought us plenty of fine otter furs. Their canoes are the same as those at Charlotte Islands, some of them capable of carrying 30 men. The men go well armed with bows, arrows, and spears and appear to be a savage race. I went in the cutter—well armed—to a small cove not far distant from the ship and soon caught 9 large halibut. The ship was concealed by a point of land, making out from the NE part of the cove. August 12. Still lying at an anchor in same situation as on the 10th, the nearest land not above lA mile distant and the point of the cove where I was fishing about *4 mile. Mr. Caswell this morning took the boatswain's mate and one seaman with him in the jolly boat, by permission of Captain Gray, to fish in the cove. Soon after, a breeze springing up and the captain wishing to leave this place, he ordered a six-pounder fired, the signal for the boat to return. When she did not appear, two more cannon were fired. Got the ship under way and stood off and on. Sent the pinnace under charge of 4th officer Mr. Waters, in search of the small boat. Soon after we saw the pinnace returning with the jolly boat in tow, empty, and the boat's colors hoisted at half mast. With this melancholy token they approached the ship. We soon discovered our worthy friend and brother officer, Mr. Joshua Caswell, dead in the bottom of the boat, 38 Voyage of the Columbia stripped perfectly naked and stabbed in more than twenty places. The men had seen nothing of John Folger, the boatswain's mate, but they found Joseph Barnes, the sailor, dead on the beach. Fearing the natives lay in ambush, they did not land to take off the corpse. It is probable our men were beset by a great superiority of natives prompted by a desire to possess their clothes and arms. As soon as the boats returned, made sail for Port Tempest and anchored at our former station in the evening. In Mr. Caswell I lost a firm and steady friend. He was a man of mild and gentle temper, a complete seaman, and, in short, possessed of every qualification that bespoke the gentleman. Observed that the day previous to this disastrous affair few Indians had visited the ship. August 13. Calm and temperate weather. At eight in the morning the 4th officer was dispatched with a well armed party in the pinnace to dig a grave for our worthy friend. At 9, the pinnace returned. At 10, we left the ship with three boats under charge of Mr. Haswell, 1st officer, with the corpse, while the ship fired minute guns. At 11, Captain Gray landed in a small boat, and after performing divine services, we interred the remains of our departed and much beloved friend with all the solemnity we were capable of. The place was gloomy and nothing was to be heard but the bustling of an aged tree whose lofty branches hung wavering over the grave, the sound of the meandering brook, the cries of the eagle. The weeping of his friends added solemnity to the scene. So it ends. August ij. Weighed and left Port Tempest. At sunset bore off Massacre Cove. Saw none of the natives. No doubt the rascals would have destroyed the jolly boat after they had massacred our unfortunate countrymen had not the ship's guns alarmed them. Standing to the S and E. August 16. This day spoke the brig Hancock of Boston, Samuel Crowell, master. They are on the same business as we are and have been pretty successful. Captain Crowell had, upon some trifling offense, fired upon these Indians, and a number of them fell. Such wanton cruelty throws him upon a level with the savage, and perhaps this same fray was the cause of our losing our worthy 2nd officer. Mayhap they wrecked their vengeance upon us, thinking us all of one tribe. If it was so, bad luck to Crowell. Amen. August 22. N.Lat. 5302';WLong.i3i°3i'. Many of the Indians came this day from Cumsewah's village in the Charlotte Islands. They brought a few skins, but I think they are pretty well drained of them. Came to with the kedge in 20 fathoms of water about 2 miles from shore. Soon after, saw a boat rowing towards us and Voyage of the Columbia 39 heard a cannon fired in the sound. At 3 P.M. Mr. Croft, 1st officer of the American brig Hope (which we had spoken with before) came along side with Captain Ingraham's compliments and offered to be the bearer of letters as he was bound for Canton. We readily embraced the opportunity. At dark Mr. Croft left us. Up kedge and bore away to the southward. Flying Clayoquot Sound August 29. N.Lat. 49°5'; WLong. i26°o'. At noon stood in to Qayoquot harbor and toward evening anchored in our old station. Natives came along side and seemed glad to see us again. Found riding here the brig Lady Washington, of Boston, John Kendrick, master. He had made up his cargo and was bound for Canton. He appeared happy in meeting with his old friends. Captain Kendrick informed us that he had had a skirmish with the natives at Houston Stewart Channel in the Queen Charlotte Islands and was obliged to kill upwards of 50 of them before they would desist from attack. It appeared to me from what I could gather that the Indians were the aggressors. This brig Lady Washington was a sloop when she left Boston, but Captain Kendrick altered her rigging in Canton the year before. I was sorry to find that the captain had made no remittances to the owners since he had parted with the Columbia on the first voyage, although since that period he had made two trips from this coast to Canton. As the vessel still belonged to the same owners, he was under some distrust that Captain Gray was empowered to seize the brig and kept himself always ready against attack. We tarried in this harbor till the 8th of September during which time we collected many sea otter and other furs and fish in abundance. These natives missed Mr. Caswell, and it was thought proper to inform them that he had died a natural death. September 8. Weighed and beat out of the harbor, wind at SW. At noon Clayoquot bore NW 6 leagues. We stand toward Juan de Fuca Strait. September 11. N.Lat. 48°i5'; WLong. i24°3o'. This day abreast Cape Flattery on the SE part of de Fuca entrance. Vast many natives alongside. Purchased many otters. These Indians told us there were five sail of Spaniards up the straits. At midnight saw Tatoosh Island bearing NNE 3 miles. Thought ourselves further off shore. Almost calm, and an excessive strong tide sweeping between some ledges and the island. At daylight, in a thick fog, we suddenly saw the rocks ahead within pistol shot. High breakers. Out all boats and just towed the ship clear. Our situation was truly darming, but we 40 Voyage of the Columbia had no business so near the land in such thick weather. However good luck prevailed and a breeze springing up from offshore, we stretched out clear in boats. Foggy disagreeable weather. Could observe at intervals that the woods were on fire. September 12. Wind NE. Heard the roaring of breakers through the fog. Hauled more off shore. At 3 P.M. saw a rock about a stone's throw distant and narrowly escaped being dashed upon it. Nonsense to keep beating about among the rocks in foggy weather. At midnight heard the surf roar again which I supposed to be on the north side of the strait. Sounded and found ground at 25 fathoms. Rocks. The captain at length was frightened and proceeded with the ship to a good offing. This ought to have been done long before. September 16. N.Lat. 48°i4/; WLong. i24°3o'. Fog cleared off. Saw Cape Flattery bearing NNE 2 leagues. Very strong tides. At noon we were about 2 miles from Tatoosh Island. Came to with the kedge, sandy bottom, the island bearing north. I think it possible there is a passage between Cape Flattery and the island; it appears about 2 miles wide. However, we could see breakers between and the currents must be excessively strong as we could see the water foam in that narrow pass. Many natives came off and we purchased a few skins and plenty of halibut. Weighed, and came to sail towards evening, bound for Clayoquot. September 18. N.Lat. 49°9'; WLong. i25°26'. This day we anchored in our old station in Clayoquot harbor. Found the brig Lady Washington still riding there. Captain Gray had determined to winter at this harbor if he could find a suitable place to build a sloop of 45 tons, which would be used in collecting furs next season. The stem and stern post, with part of the floor timbers, have been brought from Boston for this purpose. September 19. Captain Gray went with two boats up the sound to seek a convenient cove. In the evening the captain returned having. found a place to his mind, about 4 leagues from where the ship lay. September 20. On the 20th weighed with light airs and with the boats ahead, assisted by the brig's crew, we towed and sailed into winter quarters which we call Adventure Cove. Moored ship for winter. Vast many of the natives along side, appearing to be highly pleased with the idea of our tarrying among them through the cold season. The Columbia lay moored in this cove till the 25th of March, 1792.1 shall endeavor to report our proceedings during that period. Adventure Cove Adventure Cove was situated about the latitude of 490 15' N. and Voyage of the Columbia 41 longitude i25°3o' W. of London, about 17 miles from the ocean. This cove was formed by an island and the SE shore of Clayoquot Sound, and is so small that when the ship was moored you might throw a stone upon the beach in any direction. The passage in was only about 100 feet wide so we were in a complete basin. On the 25th Captain Kendrick sailed for Canton. The Adventure, as we named the sloop we were building, was set up at the back of a fine beach, the woods having been previously cleared. A log house was erected nearby. It mounted two cannon with loop holes for musketry. We called it Fort Defiance. Here Mr. Haswell was stationed with a party of seamen and mechanics. Near the fort the blacksmith's and the builder's shops were placed. Two saw-pits were erected and kept constantly at play, sawing planks. We were supplied with logs from the sound by boats constantly on that duty. Adventure Cove soon had the appearance of a young shipyard. We stripped the ship and kept a gang at work upon the rigging under the direction of the boatswain. The natives made us frequent visits and brought a good supply of fish and some sea otter skins. By keeping a small boat down sound with 4 of our seamen, we procured a constant supply of wild geese, duck and teal. The geese and teal resemble those at home, but the ducks were exactly the same species as the tame ones of our country. We see none of any other kind. Now and then we shot a wild turkey or a bird that looked like a turkey. The natives appeared to be highly pleased with the different works going on at the cove. They sometimes brought us venison and supplied us with as many boards as we wanted. The boards were of cedar and appeared to have been split from the log with wedges. October 13. The frame of the sloop was up complete, and this day we brought the garboard strake of plank to her bottom. This is what I call dispatch. Wickananish, high chief, came on board with several of the royal family. He informed us that his winter village was a great way off which was why he visited us so seldom. He went on shore and his countenance showed his astonishment at the work going on there. The natives were much puzzled to know how we would get the sloop off when finished, as she was 75 feet back from high water mark. Wickananish is the most powerful chief we have yet seen on this coast. His people number about 3000 souls. They allow polygamy but the women are not prolific as barrenness is common among them. The Indian girls kept us well supplied with berries for which we were grateful. October 27. The natives brought us some excellent salmon. We experience much rain which hinders our work. When the weather 42 Voyage of the Columbia is too bad for work on the sloop, we keep the carpenters busy under shelter making a boat for her. Heard of three Spanish ships anchored at Nootka. We keep always upon our guard against surprise as we are among a powerful set of natives. When the boat went after game one time, the crew met with some Indians that were troublesome but, by firing a musket over their heads, they soon went off. These Indians are very inquisitive. They want to know the cause of thunder and lightning, but we can not make them understand the real cause. We much surprised them by saying there was a man in our country that made both. They suppose thunder to be occasioned by an eagle carrying a whale into the air; lightning they believed to be the hissing of a snake. Snakes are exceedingly large in this country. One of our seamen on the sound saw one which, by his description, was as big around as his thigh. Being alone and somewhat frightened, he retired without firing. These Indians are very superstitious about this snake. When they go on a whaling cruise, they always rub their faces with a piece of it. We have never been able to gain much information from them about their religion. They certainly pay adoration to the sun and moon, and believe in good and evil spirits. They lash their dead on the trees, first stowing them in boxes 3 or 4 feet long. The head and legs are cut off to make good stowage, and little valuables that belong to the deceased are buried with them. Visits With the Indians Captain Gray went to an Indian village to look at a chief said to be very sick. On his arrival he was received very cordially and conducted to the sick man's house, which was full of people. In one corner was the sick chief, and around him eight strong men who kept pressing his stomach with their hands and making a most hideous bow-wowing in the poor fellow's ears. The captain supposed the chief to be nearly dead and ordered this band of doctors to desist. The captain gave the chief some gruel, and after he recovered a bit, the chief ordered two sea otter to be given to the captain as a present. The captain gave him some wine toast and ordered he be left to sleep. Then the captain visited a number of the chief's houses, where the masters treated him with an attention not common among the natives. I made an excursion to the same village not long afterward. As soon as I landed men, women, and children came down to the beach to receive me. They did not offer to molest the boat. I found the Voyage of the Columbia 43 sick chief much better and I relieved him from his pressing and noisy friends. The house was large and commodious and would hold fifty Indians very comfortably. All around were packages of fish in boxes decorated with pearl shells. The furniture consisted chiefly of mats and wooden boxes which they used for cooking. They neither scale nor draw the fish but, just as it comes from the water, so it goes into the box to boil or on the coals to broil. There were several fires in the house, but since there were no cliimneys the smoke was too mighty for my eyes. They sleep on boards raised about a foot from the ground and covered with mats. They roll themselves up in furs. Over the sick man's head there was a board cut out in the shape of a heart and stuck full of otter's teeth. The chief's young wife did not appear to be affected at the sight of her sick husband, but the father and mother were watching their son with the most parental affection. After boiling him some rice and leaving more with his mother, I left the village and returned to the ship. December 25. This day was kept in mirth and festivity by all the Columbia's crew. The principal chiefs of the sound, by invitation, dined on board ship. The natives took a walk around the workshops on the shore. At one of the houses they were surprised to see three tier of wild fowl roasting on a spit. Indeed we were a little surprised at the novelty of the sight ourselves, for at least 20 geese were roasting at one immense fire. The ship's crew, most of them being on shore, appeared very happy. The Indians could not understand why the ship and the houses were decorated with spruce boughs. At 12 o'clock, we fired a federal salute of thirteen cannon, and ended the day toasting our sweethearts and wives. January 1, 1792. This day, being down the sound with the jolly boat after game, I stopped at the village. Visited Yethlan, the sick chief, and found him much better. The family treated me extremely well. I received many pressing invitations from the rest of the chiefs to visit their houses and complied with most of them. I was particularly pleased at visiting Wickananish's dwelling, who this day had given an entertainment to all the warriors of his villages with many visitors from distant villages. As soon as the king saw me, I was called to come to him and was seated upon his right. This house was about 80 feet long, 40 wide and about 12 feet high with a flat roof. The king was elevated about two feet higher than the rest of the company and over his head a canopy stuck full of animals' teeth. The company consisted of about 100 men, all considerably advanced in years. The women belonging to the house jiff 44 Voyage of the Columbia were in an apartment by themselves busily employed in making their bark garments. The machines for that purpose are not unlike our looms. The women are very neat and dexterous in this business of weaving. The entertainment (which consisted of fish spawn mixed with berries and whale oil) was served in wooden bowls, handed around by the lower orders of males. I was strongly invited to partake, but the smell was enough. I pleaded an indisposition. After the men had finished, the remains were sent to the females. The king informed me they were going to have a dance in the evening and wished me to stay. However, I declined and returned on board. This village is 3 leagues from Adventure Cove. A chief of the village Ahhousett sometimes comes to see his old friends as he calls us. He resides 9 leagues from the Cove, but is under the jurisdiction of Wickananish. January 6. This day one of the chiefs from Juan de Fuca Strait came on board. He was upon a visit to Wickananish who is his brother-in-law. He informed us there is a Spanish ship in the strait and he brought us many furs. An Indian Festival and a Chieftain's Sorrow January 17. Began to caulk the Adventure's bottom, it being completely planked up. I this day made an excursion to the village, having put myself under the care of Tootiscoosettle, one of the king's brothers, who conducted me in his canoe. Upon my arrival I was treated very politely as usual. I took up my residence at Tootiscoosettle's house, who invited a large company to sup with him. After supper, finding I wished to visit some other families, he sent his servants with me with lighted torches to guide me. I returned back about midnight and found there was an excellent watch kept throughout the village. The guards "whoop" at certain intervals through the night. My Indian friend made me as comfortable a berth to sleep on as was in his power, but the house being full of smoke and the young children very fractious, I did very little sleeping all night. In the morning early, I observed most of the men bathing on the beach. On inquiring the cause, I was informed the king this day was going to give his eldest son the name Wickananish and take another name for himself. For this there was to be great rejoicings. About noon, upwards of 100 men assembled upon the beach in front of the village, with the king at their head. Their dress, which was exactly uniform, consisted of a blanket made fast around the loins with a girdle and reaching half-way down their thighs. Their Voyage of the Columbia 45 hair was turned up and tied with a thick bunch in front and decorated with feathers. Their faces were painted different colors and their bodies deep red. Beads and fibres of bark were wound around their ankles and knees. At a distance they made a grand although savage appearance. They collected near the water at one end of the village in rows about four deep. On each wing stood many women with copper boxes in which were small stones, and their rattling served as part of the music. The procession moved slowly along, the front squat- I ting on their hams, the others, standing erect, dancing and running from right to left. Some of the erect dancers carried on their shoulders the king's three brothers. The king kept in front giving the words of command. All their voices kept perfect time with the rattling of the boxes. The rest of the inhabitants were seated along the beach to view the performance. When the dancers arrived opposite the king's house, they entered single file, and I followed to see the transactions inside. About 30 of the principal actors seated themselves in a circle and were presented with pieces of board and small sticks. These they used for drumming. The whole company then began to dance and sing, and the musicians joining, made it very pleasing. But the smell was too strong for my organs. Therefore I soon drew off. These natives are mild and cheerful with little of that savage appearance savages generally have. Their complexion is very light copper, but they darken it with oil and paint. The hair is coarse, long and black. It is a general custom among them to eat their own vermin and since they are so plentiful, they will often make a decent repast. The men are generally thickset with flat noses and broad faces. The women are pretty. Their eyes are rather small and though • they are not very quick and piercing they give the countenance a frank, cheerful, and pleasing cast. We understood from the natives that they sometimes made human sacrifices and, shocking to relate, they eat the flesh of such poor victims. However I do not believe that this custom is very common and only happens on some very particular occasion. A prisoner of war is the person selected for this savage feast. [In January, Hoskins received a request from Wickananish to come and visit his sick brother, Gethlan: I accordingly went in the canoe. On my arrival I found the sick man much emaciated and very low. I took him several things I thought would be serviceable to him, which he seemingly received with the greatest gratitude, and for which I had the thanks of all 0*!*~ 46 Voyage of the Columbia who were present, among them his father, mother, wife, and eldest brother. I also visited Tootiscoosettle who, two days before, had lost an adopted son, a fine lad of about twelve years of age. I found him lying with his face towards the ground and his wives beside him in the same position. Upon my entering the house, he raised his head and held out his hand for me to come to him. He cordially took me by the hand, seated me, and then told me of his misfortune as the tears trickled copiously down his cheeks. The tears of humanity, which I in vain tried to check, now started from my eyes and I was a partaker of his grief. I sincerely condoled with him at his loss and at the same time persuaded him it was best to be resigned to the Almighty's will. He then expressed a wish that Captain Gray and I should not think hard of him if he should not come to the ship for several days since, he said, he should not leave his house until his sorrows had sufficient vent which time alone could accomplish. This was truly a house of mourning and, if among civilized nations the showing of a decent sorrow for the death of a child or friend is praiseworthy, how much more is it so among savages who, from their untutored life, can scarce be thought a degree above brute creation. AT T r . , No Longer Friends [Within a month, Hoskins reports, the Indians suddenly became unfriendly: Yesterday [probably February 18th] we were visited by Wickananish and several other chiefs who gave me an invitation to come to their village today. Being in want of some boards for our houses, at 10 o'clock I went in the jolly boat to bargain for a parcel. On my arrival at the village, I found Wickananish superintending some people who were making canoes which, he said, were for the purpose of whaling. Everybody appeared to be busy. Never in my life did I see all ranks so engaged. I was not permitted to rove at large as I usually did. Young Wickananish attended me wherever I went and prescribed the houses which I could enter. In some of them they were making spears, barbed arrows, preparing guns, and making shot. I demanded the cause of all this preparation and they replied that shortly they were going to destroy a tribe, called Hichahats, who had not of late paid them that homage they thought due them. I returned to old Wickananish and inquired concerning this war and when it was to commence. He said in two months and showed me the canoes in which he would go. They were newly fitted and painted. He said they would carry from twenty to thirty men each. He also asked me if I would go with him and whether I was afraid. 1 Voyage of the Columbia 47 Hearing a confused noise in his house, I expressed a desire to pay his wives a visit. He peremptorily told me I should not. I then asked him what all the noise meant. He said two days ago a canoe with two men and a woman in it struck on a rock, upset, and the woman was drowned. They were mourning her death. This excited my curiosity still the more and twice I attempted to enter the house. The first time I was called back, and Wickananish told me that the people would throw stones at me and kill me, and that he himself was afraid to go in. I told him I was not and set out a second time. I was forcibly stopped by a man who seized me by the coat and brought me back. I was diverted from attempting it again when Wickananish's father invited me to go to his house. I readily accepted, but here I did not meet with that friendly treatment to which I had been accustomed. While there, the natives brought in many barbs and spears for the old man's approbation. One of the latter was laughingly measured to see if it would go through me. I tarried but a little while before I returned again to Wickananish, whom I now found holding a council with some old men. I could plainly perceive the debate ran high, though on my approach they desisted. I told Wickananish I wished to purchase some boards, thinking this would gain me admission to his house. This scheme did not work. He sent me as before with his son to the houses of some of the lower people. I purchased from them what I wanted and returned to Wickananish with the appearance of being much offended. I told him that he had never been denied admission into the ship, the cabin, or the houses, and asked him why he denied me entrance to his house. He then said I might go in but only when a man he sent ahead returned to us. When the man returned, Wickananish took me by the hand and we went into his house. The noise was now discontinued. The house in general appeared as usual, save one square area blocked off by mats hung on poles about eight feet high and reaching to the ground. It was some considerable time before I was permitted to go near or look behind the mats and then only after they had called out. I saw nothing, only a number of people squatting around looking at each other like so many mumchances [actors in a dumb show]. When I withdrew, the noises began again. I circled around the area, but each time I attempted to look in, the man accompanying me would cry out and the noises cease. One of my people coming near this sacred place had several stones thrown at him. Had I not chanced to see him in time, he might have returned them. Some disagreeable consequences would, of course, have ensued. Finding it therefore useless to attempt to gain any further information, at five in the afternoon I took my leave. 48 Voyage of the Columbia During my stay at the village, Wickananish had been very importunate to know whether we had finishing graving the ship; whether, if it was good weather tomorrow, we would grave the other side; if she now lay at the bank, and particularly, if she would lie there all night, and how many days after she came off the ground she would lie in the harbor. To all such questions I gave such answers as would satisfy any person but a credulous savage. On my leaving, a little outside the cove I saw Tootiscoosettle, lying in his canoe close under the island. He said he had just come from the ship, and he insisted on my promising to come tomorrow to the village to visit his wife who was unwell and wished to see me. He asked me questions similar to those Wickananish had asked about the ship, to which I gave similar answers. He then told me Captain Gray had taken some clothing away from him, which, if I would have returned to him, he would come for in the morning. Afterwards I found this to be some clothing belonging to the boatswain and stolen from the ship. It was hardly prudent for Captain Gray to have seized it when I was at the village. A moment's reflection should have made him realize that, had this news reached the village before I took my departure, the natives would have retaliated upon me. I now parted with the chief and soon got aboard the ship where I found all in the greatest consternation.] John Boit Helps Outwit the Indians February 18. This day several chiefs came on board, one of which we found busily employed talking with our Sandwich Island lad. Their conversation was soon stopped and the lad questioned, but he denied the chief had asked him anything improper. These natives, always behaving so friendly, had led us to place too much confidence in them. What a pity it is we could not leave this port with that opinion still held. But alas! We find them to be still a savage people, and only waiting an opportunity to massacre the whole of us in cold blood. The ship had been brought some days previously to a bluff point of rocks, where she lay as to a wharf, not even touching the ground at low water. The cannon and all the stores were landed here as we were about to haul the ship on shore to grave and pay the bottom. The situation of the ship seemed favorable to the Indians' intentions, and must have encouraged them with the hope of destroying all of us without the loss of a man on their side. However, in this they were to be mistaken. We kept a strong watch under an officer and were always guarded against surprise. Voyage of the Columbia 49 But should we have been overpowered by numbers, our friends perhaps would never have known our sad fate. But fortunately, in the evening, the Sandwich Island lad made a confession to his master as follows: he said Tootiscoosettle told him that Wickananish was about to take the ship and massacre all the crew. He promised to make Attoo a great man if he would wet our muskets and steal some bullets. He said they would come that night, or the next, or the next. He told him to come over to them when the fray first began. This news alarmed the ship's company and we immediately got in readiness to receive them. Captain Gray called all his officers together to consult with them what was best to be done. We were unanimously of the opinion that it was best to haul the ship on the ways and grave her. Then we could retreat in safety to the block house should the natives appear. There we had several cannon mounted and good quarters. This plan was immediately put in execution. We left a strong guard on the point to guard the stores and gave them the signals to use should they want help. By midnight one side of the ship was finished, when we heard a most hideous whooping of Indians. At every shout they seemed to come nearer. Every man, both on board ship and at the log house, immediately took his arms and stood ready. The Indians kept whooping for about one hour, when they ceased and it is probable, retreated, lamenting their hard luck that their cruel plan was so completely frustrated. The guard at the point saw many large canoes off the entrance to the cove, but like brave fellows, they scorned to quit their station. On the morning tide we finished the ship and hauled her again to the point. In the course of the day we took aboard all the stores and the cannon and moored off shore in our old berth. Scaled all the guns which made them rattle again. I believe never was more work done in so short a time. But men determined can do almost anything. [Hoskins' short account is more dramatic than Boit's: It was determined that the ship should be hauled on shore and graved tonight since, in our present position, we could neither afford assistance to the Fort nor the Fort to us if the natives should attack in two parties. With the ship on the ways we could afford one another mutual assistance. As soon as the tide changed, the ship was hauled on shore. The crew in the meantime was employed in getting arms and ammunition in complete order and readiness for the attack. It was a most beautiful starlit night. We had got the bottom of the ship scraped and nearly burnt, when the natives gave a most dismal 10r 50 Voyage of the Columbia whoop. This was between one and two o'clock in the morning. The people who belonged to the Fort flew to their arms, and those who belonged to the ship were no means behind them. In less than five minutes every man was at his station with arms and ammunition ready for action. Never did men keep a sharper lookout or appear more determined to be conquered by death alone. We continued to hear the most dreadful shrieks or whoops until day began to dawn. The natives appeared to be in two parties. We could hear one party from the bank where the ship had been berthed; the other from the channel opening between island and main opposite where the Fort was located. We frequently called to the chiefs by name, telling them we were ready for them and to come on, but we were always answered by a dismal shriek. No doubt it has long been their intention to take us, and when they fetched aboard their sick chief, it was a maneuver to see what lookout we kept during the nights. The next day, as soon as the ship floated, we hauled her to the bank where we had scarcely made her fast, when a canoe with three of the lower people entered the cove. They approached us with evident signs of fear, offering us a few fish which we purchased. At noon another canoe with three women brought fish and leeks which they would sell for nothing but powder and shot. Captain Gray ordered them to depart immediately, threatening to give them plenty of both articles when we should come to Opitsitah. The people in both canoes were very particular in inquiring whether we should lie at the bank all night. The ship made fast at the bank, the people were set to work reloading her. Notwithstanding that they were up all the preceding night, they accomplished their task with such industry the ship was hauled off to her mooring in the cove before sunset. The carpenters, smiths, and others with their tools and everything that was thought valuable were brought on board from the Fort. The cannon were discharged and thrown out of their carriages that they might not be used against us, and the Adventure was secured with additional shore lines to the roof of the house and to the trees adjacent. It would at least be a work of time before the natives could throw her down. Finally the Fort was abandoned and all retired to the ship. A quarter watch was set and everyone who slept lay upon his arms. The natives did not think it prudent to disturb us. In the morning of the 20th the carpenters and others with a strong guard were sent ashore to the Fort to get the Adventure in readiness to launch as soon as possible. At noon we were surprised by a visit from Wickananish's father Voyage of the Columbia 51 and Tootiscoosettle. The old gentleman came aboard but Tootiscoosettle would not. The former brought a sea otter skin cootsack and the latter two sea otter skins. These Captain Gray took from them and told them to go for their pay to two other chiefs to whom we had lent a musket and a cloth cootsack. He then ordered them to depart and never to return again on pain of death.] [Haswell's journal also throws some additional light upon the event: The natives of this place and the villages nearby had, by barter, become possessed of more than two hundred stands of arms and a large quantity of ammunition and had become skilled in the use of them. This they supposed was a force so much superior to ours, divided as we were between ship and shore, that they invited the adjacent tribes to partake of the glory of vanquishing us and the profit of sharing the spoils. It is reasonable to suppose they embarked with not less than two thousand fighting men, and had not Tootiscoosettle imparted the secret to Attoo, in all probability they would have been successful.] Launching the Adventure March 4. This day the ship was completely rigged, hold stowed, and in every respect in readiness for sea. She looked like a fiddle! March 21. This day departed this life, after a lingering illness, Benjamin Harding, boatswain. He was a smart, active, and steady man, one that knew and did his duty in every respect. We deposited his remains next morning near the block house after performing divine service. Promoted a seaman to his place. [According to Hoskins, Harding "was a good seaman and well respected in his office. The spirit of this man was surprising. The night we expected the attack, he was not able to be removed from his bed, but he begged that he might have a pair of pistols laid along side of him that should the natives overpower us, he might shoot the savage who came to take his life. Then, he said, 'I should die in peace.'"] March 22. Launched the sloop Adventure. She went off adrnirably. Took a hawser and got her along side the ship and soon had her rigged. March 24. The sloop Adventure is ready for sea. First mate Has- well, now Captain Haswell, went on board and took charge, taking with him Mr. Waters, fourth mate, and a crew of ten seamen and tradesmen. I think she was one of the prettiest vessels I have ever seen, about 45 tons, with a handsome figure head and false badges, and in other ways touched off in high style. There was not a butt in the planks on her decks and sides, and there was no plank in her 52 Voyage of the Columbia that was not above nine inches wide. She was victualled for a four months' cruise and supplied with articles for the Queen Charlotte Isles trade. While she is on this route, the ship proceeds along the southern coast. March 2$. Pleasant weather, wind at SE. In the morning we got the remainder of our goods from the shore and unmoored. Left Adventure Cove and stood down the sound with the sloop in company. We left our log houses all standing. Anchored abreast the village Opitsatah but found it entirely deserted. Observed very few canoes moving. During our long tarry in Adventure Cove, we all enjoyed good health, although the crew was at times very much exposed. The boatswain's sickness commenced before our arrival at the cove. The weather was generally very fine. We seldom had snow, and ice never thicker than a Spanish dollar. But we experienced frequent heavy rains. We picked whortle and blue berries throughout the winter and whortle berry puddings were quite common with us. We kept the crew continually supplied with spruce beer, and with their breakfast and supper they had tea boiled from the green spruce boughs sweetened with molasses. Perhaps this kept off the scurvy. However, they did not each eat much salt provisions as we were generally supplied with poultry, venison, and fish. March 27. I am very sorry to be under the necessity of remarking that this day I was sent, with three boats, all well manned and armed, to destroy the village of Opitsatah. It was a command I was in no way tenacious of, and I am grieved to think Captain Gray should let his passions go so far. This village was about half a mile in diameter and contained upwards of 200 houses, generally well built for Indians. Every door that you entered was made in resemblance to a human or beast head, the passage or doorway being through the mouth. Besides, there was much more rude carved work about the dwellings some of which was by no means inelegant. This fine village, the work of ages, was in a short time totally destroyed. April 2. Weighed in company with the sloop and left Clayoquot Harbor. Stood to the south with the ship while the sloop hauled her wind to the northward. Parted with loud Huzzas, a proper rendezvous having been appointed. In Search of Trade April 3. Passed De Fuca Strait. Blowing weather. April 7. NLat. 44056'; WLong. i22°52'. Very blowing weather and quite cold. Beating off the coast, waiting to find a good harbor. Voyage of the Columbia 53 April 9. N.Lat. 44°24'; WLong. i22°i7'. Pleasant weather. Running along shore to the south and eastward. About 2 miles off, the land trended NbE and NbW, and looked very pleasant. The shore had sandy beaches and the land rose gradually back into high hills. Beautiful fields of grass interspersed among wood lands made it delightful. April 10. N.Lat. 43°45'; WLong. i22°i 1'. Abreast a small inlet in the land which had some of the appearance of a harbor. Hove to for some canoes that were coming off. These natives used a different language from any we have heard before. Their canoes had square stems and the blades of the paddles were oval. We purchased many fine otter skins for copper and iron. They had some raw meat like buffalo in the canoes which they offered us for sale, greedily devouring some of it as a recommendation of its goodness. I'm fearful these fellows are cannibals. Mr. Smith, now second officer, was sent in the cutter to look for a harbor but was unsuccessful. Bore off and made sail. Cape Gregory (so called by Captain Cook) bore SE [Cape Arago]. April 17. N.Lat. 44°54'; WLong. i22°23'. Sent the boat to examine an inlet abreast the ship to see if it was safe anchorage. Unsuccessful. A large canoe came along side full of natives. By their behavior, the Columbia was the first ship they ever saw. April 22. NLat. 46°39'; WLong. i22°5o'. Still beating about in pursuit of anchorage. Sent the boat in shore often but found no safe harbor. The natives frequently came along side and brought otter furs and fish. Their language was unintelligible to us. We have frequently seen many appearances of good harbors, but the currents and squally weather hindered us from strict examination. However, Captain Gray is determined to persevere. April 27. N.Lat. 47°52'; WLong. 123030'. This day stood in shore, the weather having become more settled. Anchored with kedge in 15 fathoms of sand abreast a village called by natives Kenekomitt, situated on a small hill just back of the beach. The Indians brought us a fine lot of skins which we got chiefly for copper. The weather becoming unsettled again, we weighed off toward evening and stood off making short hanks off and on shore. These Indians spoke the same language as those in Juan de Fuca Strait. April 28. This day spoke his Britannic Majesty's ships Discovery and Chatham, commanded by Captain George Vancouver and Lieutenant William Broughton, from England, on a voyage of discovery. They left England April 1, 1791; Otaheite, January, 1792; and the Sandwich Islands, March, 1792. A boat boarded us from 54 Voyage of the Columbia the Discovery and we gave them all the information we had, especially about the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which they were in search of. They bore away for the strait's mouth which was not far distant. We stood in and drained the village where we had been yesterday, and then bore off after the English ships. April 29. Passed Tatoosh Island, close on board, stood into the strait. The English ships came to towards evening on the south entrance of the strait. In the morning they got under way and stood up. We stood in and anchored to the west of Cape Flattery. Trade not very brisk. Toward evening weighed and stood to the S °s Trouble in Gray's Harbor May 7. N.Lat. 46°58'. Saw an inlet in the land which had all the appearance of a harbor. Sent the cutter under the 2nd officer to examine it. The boat returned and the officer reported that he could find nothing but breakers at the entrance; but, farther in, it had the appearance of a good harbor. This appearance being so flattering, Captain Gray was determined not to give it up. Therefore he ordered a boat ahead to sound with necessary signals. The ship stood in, and from our mast head we soon could see a passage in between the breakers. Bore off and ran in NEbE, having from 4 to 9 fathoms, sand, and an excellent strong tide setting out. The boat having made a signal for anchorage and a good harbor, we continued to stretch on until completely within the shoals. We anchored in 5 fathoms in an excellent harbor. Vast many canoes came off. The Indians appeared to be a savage set, and were well armed. Every man had his quiver and bow slung over his shoulder. Without doubt we were the first civilized people that ever visited this port and these poor fellows viewed us and the ship with the greatest astonishment. Their language was different from any we have yet heard. The men were entirely naked and the women, except for a small apron made of rushes, were also in a state of nature. They were all stoutly made and very ugly. Their canoes were made from logs, rudely cut, with upright ends. We purchased many furs and fish. A vast many canoes came off again. They brought furs which we purchased cheap for blankets and iron. We were fearful to send a boat on discovery, but I've no doubt we were at the entrance of some great river as the water was brackish and the tide set out half the time. This evening heard the hooting of Indians. All hands immediately under arms. Several canoes were seen passing near the ship, but dispersed when we fired a few muskets over their heads. At midnight Voyage of the Columbia 55 we heard them again, and soon after, in the bright moonlight, we could see the canoes approaching the ship. We fired several cannon over them, but they still advanced with war whoops. At length a large canoe with at least 20 men in her, got within 34 pistol shot of the quarter. With a nine-pounder loaded with langrage and about 10 muskets loaded with buckshot, we dashed her all to pieces. I've no doubt we killed every soul in her. The rest soon made a retreat. I don't think they had any conception of the power of artillery. But they were too near to us for us to admit any question as to how we ought to proceed. May j>. Very pleasant weather. Many canoes came from down river and brought skins. Some canoes brought the people who first visited us and their countenances plainly showed that those unlucky savages who fell last night by the ball were part of the same tribe. We could plainly understand from their signs and gestures that they were telling the circumstances to their acquaintances from down river, and by pointing to the cannon, endeavoring to explain the noise they made. This more than ever convinced us they had no knowledge of fire arms previous to our coming among them. I am sony we were obliged to kill the poor devils, but it could not with safety be avoided. These natives brought us some fine salmon and plenty of beaver skins and some otter. I believe had we stayed longer we should have done well. May 11. Weighed anchor and came to sail in the evening. Named the harbor we had left after our captain. Standing to the south. Discovering a Noble River May 12. NJLat. 460'7'; WLong. i22°47'. This day at four a.m. saw an appearance of a spacious harbor abreast the ship. Hauled wind for it. Observed two sand bars with a passage between them to a fine river. Out pinnace and sent her in ahead and followed with the ship under short sail Carried in from %, 3 to 7 fathoms. When over the bar, had 10 fathoms; water quite fresh. The river extended to the NE as far as eye could reach. The water was fit to drink as far down as the bar at the entrance. We directed our course up this noble river in search of a village. The beach was lined with natives who ran along shore following the ship. Soon after, about 20 canoes came off and brought a good lot of furs which we bought cheap for copper and cloth. Salmon they sold two for a board nail. The natives appeared to view the ship with the greatest astonishment. No doubt we were the first civilized people they had seen. We observed that among them were some we had seen before at r<s Voyage of the Columbia Gray's Harbor, and we thought the river there was probably a branch of this one. At length we arrived opposite a large village, on the north side of the river, about 5 leagues from the entrance. Came to in 10 fathoms sand about lA mile from shore. The river at this place was about 4 miles wide. We purchased 4 otter skins for a sheet of copper, beaver skins for 2 spikes each, and other land furs, 1 spike each. We lay in this place till the 20th of May, during which time we put the ship in good order and filled the casks with excellent water. These natives use the same language as those farther south but we could not learn it. We observed that the canoes that came down the river brought no otter skins, so I believe the otter constantly keeps in salt water. The Indian always came well stocked with land furs and capital salmon. The tide was very rapid. Whole trees sometimes come down with the stream. The Indians inform us there are 50 villages on the banks of this river. On the 15th we took up the anchor and stood up river, but soon found the water to be so shoal the ship took the ground after proceeding a short distance from our first station. As we did not expect to procure otter furs at any distance from the sea, we contented ourselves in our present situation which was a very pleasant one. I landed abreast the ship with Captain Gray to view the country, leaving charge to the 2nd officer. Found much clear ground, fit for cultivation and the woods mostly clear of underbrush. None of the natives came near us. On the 18th shifted the ship's berth to the old station abreast the village Chinook, commanded by a chief named Polack. Canoes full of Indians from different parts of the river constantly along side. Captain Gray named this river Columbia's river, and the north entrance Cape Hancock, and the south point, Cape Adams. This river, in my opinion, would be a fine place to set up a factory, or trading post. The Indians are numerous and appear very civil, not even offering to steal. During our short stay we collected 150 otter, 300 beaver, and twice the number of other land furs. The river abounds with excellent salmon and most other river fish, and the woods with moose and deer, the skins of which were brought to us in great plenty. The banks produce a ground nut, which is an excellent substitute for bread and potatoes. We found oak, ash and walnut trees, and clear ground, which with little labor might be made fit to raise such seed crops as are necessary for the sustenance of inhabitants. In short, a factory could be set up here and another at Hancock's River in the Queen Charlotte Islands, and between Voyage of the Columbia 57 them the whole trade of the NW coast could be engrossed with the help of a few small coasting vessels. May 20. This day left Columbia's River and stood clear of the bars. Bore off to the northward. To the Rendezvous With the Adventure May 2$. NLat. 5o°3o'; WLong. i28°3o'. This day the ship was abreast a fine inlet into which we hauled our wind and anchored. Many canoes alongside. The natives were of savage appearance, dressed in war armor and completely armed with bows and arrows. I believe they were fearful we would rob their village. However, we began a brisk trade for otter furs. We landed with the boats and got wood and broom stuff, but the Indians appearing troublesome, we gave over. Indeed I was obliged to knock one of them down with my musket. May 28. N.Lat. 5o°3o'; WLong. i28°3o'. Weighed and came to sail, leaving this harbor we named St. Patrick's. The Indians were much the same as those on Nootka. Standing towards Woody Point. Towards evening anchored in Columbia's Cove. Natives seemed much pleased at our visiting them again. May 29. N.Lat. 5o°6'; WLong. i28°i2'. Found these natives so cheerful and obliging we did not apprehend any danger in sending parties on shore for wood and water. However, they soon discovered our crew was dimimshed in number and were very inquisitive about what had become of the rest of us. We thought it prudent to tell them that they were asleep below. I think that the Indians did not believe us, but supposed our shipmates had been killed. At 10 in the evening, a large number of canoes full of people came to the cove. Soon after a large war canoe paddled off toward the ship. We hailed them, but they still persisted. Seeing other canoes following them, Captain Gray ordered us to fire. We did so effectually as to kill or wound every soul in the canoe. She drifted along side but we pushed her clear and she drove to the north side of the cove under the shade of the trees. 'Twas bright moonlight and the woods echoed with the dying groans of these unfortunate savages. I cannot think they had any intention of boarding our ship but rather that they were after a small anchor which they had seen us place on some rocks above water to steady the ship. Still they were daring fellows to think they could steal the anchor in the moonlight within a pistol shot of the ship. May 30. This day unmoored and left Columbia's Cove, bound to the northward. Left a board nailed to a tree just back of the watering place, with the following inscription: "Ship Columbia, arrived 58 Voyage of the Columbia May 28th. Sailed May 30th. Beware." In case Captain Haswell arrived before us, he might be on his guard. June 4. N.Lat. 51V; WLong. 129V. Some canoes came off and many valuable skins were purchased. These fellows soon grew saucy and threw a number of stones at our people. We did not wish to shoot the poor mistaken savages, so bore off to the northward, keeping 2 miles off shore. June f. In Queen Charlotte Sound. June 7. I went on shore abreast the ship with two boats after wood. Took the carpenter with me to cut a mizzen topmast. We had not been long at work before 200 Indians suddenly rushed out at us. The carpenter was nearly surrounded and obliged to fly, leaving his broad axe behind. I immediately rallied my people together and retreated slowly, firing a few muskets over the natives' heads to keep them in check. At length they advanced so near as to throw their spears. We then discharged our muskets and killed several of them. However, they still persisted, and I believe if we had not got to the beach, clear of the woods, we should have been overpowered. On ship, they heard the noise of the muskets but never dreamed we were attacked as no Indians had been seen. As soon as we made our appearance, the ship covered us with the cannon and grape and round shot, which must have done considerable damage as the shot fell just into the edge of the wood where the Indians were thickest. They soon dispersed and we all got safely on board. June 13. Weighed and came to sail standing down strait. June 14. Fair wind and pleasant. At 9 in the evening got clear out, bound to Columbia's Cove, our place of rendezvous with Captain Haswell. June 17. N.Lat. 5o°6/; WLong. 128° 12'. This day spoke the sloop Adventure, Captain Haswell. Sent our boat and Captain Haswell came on board the ship. 'Tis remarkable that we both meet within 12 leagues of our rendezvous, bound in. The sloop has cruised about the Charlotte Islands and collected about 500 skins all prime. On the 25th of April Captain Haswell fell in with the ship Margaret of Boston, Captain Magee, master. They were on the same business as we are. At 5 p.m. we passed Woody Point, and at 7 anchored in Columbia's Cove in company with the Adventure. A few natives ventured alongside after much coaxing. Found our inscription at the watering place unmolested. Took aboard the skins from the sloop. Sent parties on shore, well armed, after wood and water. June 20. Hauled the sloop on shore and graved her. Captain Haswell says she is an excellent sea boat and sails very well. Voyage of the Columbia 59 June 21. Got the sloop off the ways and fitted her for another cruise. June 24. Weighed and sailed from the come in company with the Adventure, bound for the Queen Charlotte Isles. Trouble at Sea June 28. NLat. 52° 18'; WLong. 129015'. Fresh winds, all sail out, running along shore with smooth sea. Sloop about 2 miles ahead. At 2 P.M. the ship struck a rock which lay about 7 feet under water. Did not break. Hove aback, and she came off clear. Tried the pump and found she leaked 1000 smart strikes per hour. Sounded along the rock and found no ground at 70 fathom. Hoisted a signal for the sloop and she immediately hauled her wind for us. Stood off. Both pumps just keep the leaks under. In the morning bore off to the northward. June 29. NLat. 53°i'; WLong. i3i°4i'. There came on a hard gale of wind and although we kept firing our cannon through the night, the sloop parted from us. Very thick weather in the morning. The leaks increased and our feelings were not the most agreeable. July 2. NLat. 51 °49'; WLong. 1300 30'. Saw the entrance of Houston Stewart Channel, but the wind was directly in our teeth. Employed us turning to windward, with all the elements against us. July 3. Employed beating to windward through the night. Bore to the southward in company with ship Margaret, Captain Magee, master. Bound for Columbia's Cove for the purpose of examining the Columbia's bottom. July $. Came to anchor in Columbia's Cove in company with the Margaret. July 7. Took up anchor and hauled the ship on shore, on a fine beach, at high tide. When the tide ebbed, discovered the ship's keel was split and the lower part of the stem was entirely gone. A great deal of sheathing was off, and three of the planks next to the gar- board strake were stove on the larboard side. The carpenters went to work and put in some new pieces of plank, but it was found impractical to repair the bows without heaving down or some such method. This could not be done in our present situation. Captain Gray thought the most proper place was Nootka Sound, where we knew there was a Spanish settlement. We all concurred in the opinion. July 8. Hauled the ship off and soon got ready to leave the cove. July zy. This day arrived in Clayoquot harbor, having found it impossible to beat into Nootka with a strong breeze ahead. Found the 0?<~ 60 Voyage of the Columbia English brig Venus, Henry Shepard, master, 6 months from Bengal in India. He informed us that at a small harbor in De Fuca Strait, where he was at anchor a few days since, there was a Spanish settlement. There lay a Spanish 64. Her master, while amusing himself shooting into the woods, was killed by the Indians. In retaliation, the Spaniards seized a canoe full of natives and massacred them all in cold blood, not even sparing the children. Shocking to relate! July 17. Weighed with a fair wind bound to Nootka Sound to repair the ship under the protection of the Spaniards. A Spanish Welcome at Nootka July 2i. Weathered away Breakers Point and stood toward Nootka Sound. Observed the Spanish colors flying at the entrance of Friendly Cove, but the tide swept us toward some breakers on the east shore and the wind being light, obliged us to anchor in 16 fathoms, rocky bottom. Hoisted our ensign in a whiff and fired a gun for assistance which was answered by the Spaniards. Soon after we saw several boats rowing toward us. July 23. The boats got alongside. They were sent to our assistance by the Spanish admiral. One boat was sent from the Daedalus, Captain Vancouver's store ship, with Mr. Neal, first officer in charge. Captain Vancouver had not yet arrived at the Sound. July 24. Weighed and came to sail, under conduct of the Spanish pilot, who well knew his business and was perfectly acquainted with the soundings and the tides. Upon passing the Spanish fort at the entrance of the cove, we saluted with 7 guns. Salute returned. Toward evening, came to in Friendly Cove, Nootka Sound. Found riding here the English store ship, a Spanish sloop of war, and the brig Venus. The Spaniards treated us nobly and freely offered every assistance in their power. We lay in this place till the 23rd of August. I shall give the minutes of our transactions during the period. July 2$. Discharged the ship's cargo and stores and stored them in a house on shore which the Spaniards lent us for that purpose. Stripped the ship to a gutline and got the rigging all on shore to repair. The Spanish governor seemed highly pleased with the dispatch that took place. Indeed, every man in the Columbia was anxious to get the ship in readiness to pursue her voyage, well knowing that the time drew near when we should again be sailing towards our friends in America. Our sweet anticipation of the joys that await us there made us use every effort. This Spanish settlement at Nootka contained about 50 houses, indifferently built, except the governor's which was rather grand. There were about 200 inhabitants, consisting of Spaniards and Voyage of the Columbia 6i Peruvian Indians. There were no women. The fort was no great thing. It had mounted six twenty-four and thirty-six pounders. The platforms would not bear the weight of metal. There were two botanists residing with the governor. Captain Gray took up his lodgings at the governor's house at his request. July 29. Don Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, the governor, gave a grand entertainment at his house. All the officers of the fleet were invited. Fifty-four persons sat down to dinner. The plates, which were solid silver, were shifted five times. This meant there were 270 silver plates. The dishes, knives and forks, and indeed every thing else was of silver and always replacements were of silver too. There could be no mistake in this as the servants never carried the dirty plates from the hall where we dined. I thought this was on purpose to let us see the quantity of plate used by the Spaniards in South America. August 1. Hauled alongside a Spanish ship, fixed our purchase lines to her, and soon had the Columbia keel out. Were obliged to right her again as she made too much water, her upper works being quite weak. Captain Gray decided to abandon the idea of heaving her out and accordingly gave orders to prepare to lay her ashore on blocks. August 2. This day hauled the ship upon the beach at high water. Placed a long round log along her keel fore and aft, endeavoring to trip her over it, but the bottom was so flat she would turn keel out. Other logs were laid and moored with cannon on the beach with the intention of laying the ship's forefoot on them. We did this at high water, with the logs lying as far aft as the fore chains. This method answered our most sanguine expectations. At low water, or half-ebb, the ship's bow lay four feet above the beach. In this situation we scuttled her aft, so as to keep her steady in her berth at high water. In three days, with the assistance of the Spanish and English carpenters, a new stem and part of the cutwater were put to the ship. Stopped the scuttle, graved the ship, and hauled off to our moorings. The Spaniards viewed us with astonishment and the governor remarked that he believed we could build a ship in a month. In harbor, between the 9th and 19th of August: brig Hope, Captain Ingraham, from Canton; ship Buttersworth from London, Captain William Brown; ship Margaret, Captain Magee; sloop Prince La Boo, Captain Gordon, from London. These vessels were all in the fur trade. The La Boo was tender to the Buttersworth. August 22. This day the Columbia was ready for sea and in fine order. Have painted her completely. 0fr 62 Voyage of the Columbia August 24. Weighed and came to sail, bound for Queen Charlotte Islands and the appointed rendezvous with the Adventure. It is but justice to the Spaniards at Nootka Sound to observe that during our tarry among them we were treated with the greatest hospitality. In fact, they seemed to exert themselves and to feel interested in our behalf. May such fine fellows never be in want of like assistance should they stand in need of it from the hands of any Ajnerican. The governor would not allow Captain Gray to pay one farthing for their help. Nootka Sound is a remarkable place, easily identified from the sea. At most times Conuma Peak, shaped like a sugar loaf, can be seen. There is no other peak so shaped along the coast that I know of. The Yankees Drive a Bargain August 28. N.Lat. 51 °45'; WLong. 1300 30'. This day made the SE part of the Charlotte Isles. A thick fog came on and we could not reach the sound. August 30. This day the weather cleared and the sloop Adventure hove in sight standing for the sound. This is the second time we have met off the place of rendezvous. Saluted each other with 7 guns. Found Captain Haswell and crew all well. They have made a successful cruise. We stood for a small harbor to the north of Houston Stewart Channel, which the Adventure had visited before and which her captain named Port Montgomery after our famous American general who fell before Quebec gloriously fighting in the defense of our liberties. Graved the sloop in this place, and otherwise put her in fine order to attract the eyes of the Spaniards at Nootka. Captain Gray means to sell her to them if possible. Cut some spare spars, wooded and watered the ship for her passage to Canton. Took the skins from the sloop and stowed them in the ship. September 13. Weighed and stood to sea in company with the Adventure bound for Nootka Sound. September 21. NLat. 49°3o'; W.Long. i26°3o'. Abreast the entrance to the sound. A Spanish brig in sight to leeward, which hove to and fired a gun. We immediately bore off toward her. She was the Acteva of 14 guns bound to Peru with the Spanish governor of Nootka aboard. He told Captain Gray that he would wait 10 days at a small Spanish settlement in Juan de Fuca Strait, where he was then going, and would leave some orders previous to leaving the coast. He appeared anxious to have the ship, and Haswell was not backward in displaying her to the best advantage. We parted, saluting the governor with 13 guns, and toward evening we anchored in Friendly Cove. Found riding there, His Majesty's ships Discovery Voyage of the Columbia 63 and Chatham, and the store ship Daedalus; ship Margaret of Boston, the English brig Fenis, Captain Duffin; English sloop Jackhall, Captain Stewart; and a Spanish line-of-battle ship of 74 guns. The Spanish colors were still flying at the fort, the governor having refused to give up the sound to Captain Vancouver, who was authorized by his government to take possession of it. The Spaniards told Vancouver that he might have that particular place where Captain John Meares had made his small settlement and built a sloop. This was a most inconsiderable piece of land. Captain Vancouver insisted upon having the whole or none. However, they agreed to let the business remain in its present state, to be friends, and write home to their respective courts on the subject of the dispute. September 24. N.Lat. 48°3o'; WLong. i23°45'. Spoke the Spanish brig Acteva with the governor on board. They were much surprised at our being in the Strait almost as soon as they were. At dark the brig hove to under her tops'ls. We kept plying all night for our port and in the morning got safe to anchor in company with our sloop. Found riding here the Spanish ship Princessa of 64 guns and the brig Hope, Captain Ingraham. This was a small harbor situated about 5 leagues from Cape Flattery within the strait. The Spaniards had erected a cross upon the beach and had about 10 houses and several good gardens. I went with the pinnace to the assistance of the Acteva obliged to anchor near Cape Flattery in a dangerous situation. When I came on board, I found that instead of their using every effort to get clear of danger, they were performing mass. However, we soon got under way and stood for Port Neah. September 2$. The Acteva anchored in our company. Saluted the governor with 13 guns which was returned. Employed in filling up with water and getting ready for our passage across the Pacific Ocean. September 26. Spanish officers from both ships, together with Captain Ingraham, dined on board the Columbia. On their corning and on their going away, we fired two federal salutes. September 27. The Princessa sailed for Nootka Sound. Natives constantly visit us. They do not like the Spaniards. September 28. This day sold the sloop Adventure to the Spanish governor for 72 prime sea otter skins worth 55 dollars each in Canton. This is equal to $4960, which at 50 per cent advance at home, is 7440 Spanish piastras, a good price. He wanted her as a present for the viceroy of Mexico. Before delivery we took out all her provisions and stores. 64 Voyage of the Columbia September 29. This day, the brig Acteva and sloop Adventure, under Spanish colors, sailed, bound to Acapulco. We saluted with 9 guns on their departure and they returned the salute. September 30. Weighed and sailed from Port Neah bound across the strait for a cove we called Poverty. Found this harbor much snugger for our business. The Indians brought a few skins and plenty of fish and some train oil. The last article we much wanted. October 1. Weighed, for the last time on the NW coast, and left Poverty Cove, bound for Canton in China, via the Sandwich Islands. Our feelings on this occasion are easier felt than described. Our friends at home and every endearing idea rushed so full upon us and made us so happy that it was impossible for awhile to get the ship in readiness for bad weather. Full allowance of grog being served on the occasion, our worthy tars joined in the general mirth —and so we go. At noon Cape Flattery bore east 7 leagues. Steering SW. Wind NE. Soon lost sight of the mountains of North America. PART III The Hawaiian Islands and the Voyage to China Fair winds and pleasant weather made the Columbia's voyage across the Pacific a speedy one of only twenty days. She was bound for the Sandwich Islands, today known as the Hawaiian Islands. Discovered and named by Captain James Cook on his third voyage of discovery in 1778, the islands had since been visited by a number of traders. The islands were beautiful, well stocked with fruit and meats, and the climate was mild and pleasant. Some sailors deserted ship to make their homes there. On the other hand, the natives were eager to join the crews of foreign vessels and see the world. On his first voyage Captain Gray had stopped at the island of Niihau and it was there he had taken on ship the lad called Attoo. Generally the islanders were hospitable and friendly. They had received Captain Cook as a god; they called him Lono and treated him with great respect. Unfortunately, just before his departure from Kealakekukua Bay the natives stole some tools and a cutter boat. When Cook went ashore with swords and guns to recover them, a hostile crowd gathered. To protect his party, Cook attempted to seize the king as hostage. He failed. A native attacked Cook with a knife, Cook fired his gun, and the battle was on. Cook and four marines were killed. The rest of the party escaped. Before the ships left the bay, his officers and their crew avenged Cook's death, recovered the Captain's body, which had been treated with Voyage of the Columbia 6$ respect by the natives, and made peace with the king. The report of the death of so famous a man as Captain Cook was widely circulated, and it was firmly believed by many who later came to the islands that the islanders were a fierce and savage people. It is probable that such suspicions made alarming situations out of innocent ones and some of the troubles that followed might easily have been avoided. There were incidents of unprovoked attack and of dreadful revenge. In 1790 Captain Simon Metcalf of the Eleanor lost a man at Olowalu. He avenged the murder by inviting the natives to trade and when they came off in their canoes toward the ship, fired among them, killing more than a hundred. A short time later, on another island, Captain Metcalf s son and a crew of B.ve from the tiny schooner Fair American were attacked. All were killed except one man, who was rescued by a chieftain of rising power, Kamehameha. In May, 1792, the Daedalus, the store ship in Captain Vancouver's expedition, anchored off Oahu. The commander foolishly sent an unarmed party ashore for water. Two of the men were killed. Captain Ingraham of the brig Hope must surely have reported to Captain Gray his troubles at the island of Maui, when he had fired warning shots at natives he assumed to be hostile and had killed a number of them. These outbreaks were widely scattered among the islands but they gave the impression that the gay, hospitable people were actually hostile. Perhaps some of the troubles were to be explained by the political situation among the islanders. Each island was ruled by a king, but some of the kings conquered others and, as they extended their power, they came into conflict with ambitious kings with similar designs. When John Boit visited the island of Hawaii (which he spelled Owhyhee), King Kamehameha was the principal power in the northwestern part of the island, and his influence was rapidly spreading, not only over the rest of that island but also over the neighboring ones as well. He had a great advantage over his rivals in possessing a schooner. This was the Fair American, which had been abandoned after the murder of its crew. It is possible other kings wanted ships so their power would be as great as Kamehameha's. He eventually built up a war fleet with which he patrolled the waters and kept the peace. In later years he became a great and famous ruler, and under his rule, the islands became the principal port of call for all ships trading in the Pacific as well as for the whaling fleets of the South Pacific. King Kamehameha did not establish his control over the islands 66 Voyage of the Columbia until after Boit's visit in 1792. John reports the low prices with which the Columbia was able to restock provisions. This was because there were as yet so few visitors. Earlier visitors had presented the rulers with hogs as gifts. Multiplying rapidly, these became a staple of trade which only the king could sell. Fruits and vegetables native to the islands grew in such abundance the islanders put little value upon them in those days. It is apparent from the following entries from John's log that he enjoyed the Columbia's stay in Hawaiian waters. But he was glad to leave because he was anxious to continue the voyage and return home. The Columbia's track from the Strait of Juan de Fuca across the Pacific to the Sandwich Islands can be followed by finding these locations on your map: N.Lat. 440; WLong. 1280; N.Lat. 43°7'; WLong. 129Y; N.Lat. 34V; WLong. i38°6'; N.Lat. 32°54'; WLong. 138V; N.Lat. 28°io'; WLong. i42°24'; N.Lat. 2o°i5'; WLong. i5o°39'; N.Lat. 2o°5'; WLong. i54°52'. A Short Stay at Hawaii October 29. N.Lat. 2o°i4'; WLong. i54°2o'. Made the Isle of Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Isles, where the famous circumnavigator, Captain James Cook, was killed by the natives. Standing toward the isles first seen at 15 leagues distance. October 30. Hove to for some canoes and from the natives purchased 11 hogs and plenty of vegetables such as sweet potatoes, yams, tarro, etc. These canoes were very neatly made, but quite narrow. The outrigger keeps them steady or else, I think, they would too easily upset in the sea. The men are fine stately looking fellows and the women handsome. We sailed very near the islands and hove to off Karakakoa Bay. Some double canoes came alongside. Two canoes are held together by large rafters, well supported. The masts, rigged with mat sails, were set between the canoes. They made very fast time. The shore was lined with people. October 31. N.Lat. 2o°i4'; WLong. i54°5o'. Stood around the island, hauled into Kawaihae Bay and hove to. Many canoes sailing in company with us. The shore made a delightful appearance and appeared in the highest state of cultivation. Canoes bring us hogs, fowl, and most of the tropical fruits; musk melons, sugar cane, breadfruit. Salt was also brought out for sale. The price of a large hog was from 5 to 10 spikes; in proportion for smaller hogs. Six dunghill fowl bought for an iron chisel and fruit cheaper still. November 1. This day, having taken on board 93 hogs and great Voyage of the Columbia 67 quantities of fruits and vegetables, we bore away from this enchanting island. We are bound to Niihau after more yams and to put our lad ashore. Passed the Isles of Kahoolawe, Lanai, Maui, and Oahu. Left them to the northward of us. November 2. NLat. 2i°59'; WLong. i6o°o'. Passed Atooi Island and steered for Yam Bay in Niihau. In the morning we were well into the bay. Vast many canoes came off. In one was the father and other relations of our Sandwich Island lad. They came on board and the meeting was very affectionate, but still our lad refused to go on ashore, Captain Gray did not think proper to force him. We gave his friends many presents. Purchased some hogs here and a great quantity of cocoa nuts. November 3. Bore off and made all sail for the coast of China. Soon lost sight of these beautiful isles, the inhabitants of which appear to me to be the happiest people in the world. Indeed, there was something in them so frank and cheerful that one could not help feeling prepossessed in their favor. November 4. NLat. i9°56';WLong. i63°58'. Pleasant NE trade winds with smooth sea. Crew all in health. Killed and salted 17 large hogs. We followed Captain Cook's plan, taking out the bones and laying the meat, after salting, between two hatches with a heavy weight on them. The next morning after a close examination, we packed it away in barrels with a strong pickle. This method answered every purpose. November 13. N.Lat. i5°49'; WLong. i85°25'; EJLong. i74°35'. Keep the people employed cleaning furs. November 24. N.Lat. 15050'; WLong. 212°29'; E.Long. i47°3i'. This is pleasant sailing. We have not experienced a squall since leaving the islands. The sea is quite smooth, although we have a fresh NE trade wind. Crew all well. November 29. NLat. 18°24'; WLong. 226°i5'; E.Long. i33°45'. Sea grows more rough and the weather a little squally. December 3. NLat. 2o°3o'; WLong. 232°28'; EJLong. i27°32'. This day, contrary to our expectations, we made the Bashee Isles 10 leagues distance to the westward. Have experienced strong currents in our favor since leaving the Sandwich Islands. As we could not weather with the wind at NE, it was thought best to run between Grafton and Monmouth Isles. Bore off accordingly. December 4. Fresh breeze. At 6 P.M. we were between the islands, doubled pretty near Grafton, and luffed close under the leeward of Orange Isle. Saw a number of fires on shore, but it was too dark to 68 Voyage of the Columbia make any observations. When clear of the group of islands, hauled close on a wind for the coast of China. PART IV China and the Voyage Home The next stop was at Macao Roads, one of the principal seaports off the China coast. China was, indeed, a new experience to John and most of his mates. It was a land as yet little known to most Americans, and what they had heard about it, part legend, part truth, made them even more curious about it. The first American vessel to sail into Chinese waters was the Empress of China, sent out by New York merchants in 1784. In 1786, two American ships entered Whampoa harbor; in 1787, two; in 1788, four. In 1789 there were 15 American vessels, among them the Columbia, on her first historic cruise from the Northwest coast. The first thing the American, as newcomer, learned about the Chinese was that their government was not interested in trading with the outside world. The emperor had great contempt for what he called the "barbarian merchants of Europe." In 1793 the English attempted to break through the Chinese wall of exclusion by sending the Earl Macartney to ask the Emperor for greater trading privileges than had been granted. John Boit notes the earl's mission when the Columbia meets the Lion carrying the diplomat to Canton. The mission was not successful, however. The emperor would not allow the Englishman to present himself at the court at Pekin, and all negotiations were carried on by messenger. In reply to the British request for enlarged trading privileges, the emperor made it quite clear that his "Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its own borders." However, because the Celestial Empire had things the barbarians wanted so much, the emperor graciously permitted them to carry on a trade at specified places and under strict control. He permitted the Portuguese to live on the island of Macao where they handled the trade that came there. He set apart a site near the city of Canton where foreigners might lodge and deal with authorized Chinese merchants. They might not enter the city of Canton, land at any other port, nor step on any other Chinese soil than that set aside for them. The Chinese merchants with whom the foreigners were permitted to trade were called Hong merchants. The Chinese word Hong meant a place of business and all the services carried on with relation to that business. The Hong merchants lived in the foreign settle- Voyage of the Columbia 69 ment and were responsible for conducting all affairs involving foreigners. In 1792 there were thirteen of these merchants. They were sometimes called "security" merchants because in exchange for their licenses from the Government they were required to bear all the risks, financial and personal, for the safety of the foreigners with whom they dealt. Furthermore, they had to assume responsibility for the conduct of the foreigner., and try to keep him from breaking the laws or offending the emperor. According to one American, the Hong merchants "formed a body of intelligent, influential, and well-bred men, always most friendly and courteous in their relations with foreign residents." Without their help, neither Americans nor Europeans could have traded in China. Foreign ships were allowed to anchor at Whampoa, a harbor on an island in the Canton River. From here their goods were lightered to the Hongs. Ships' officers were allowed to live in secluded and guarded residences, rented from the Hong merchants. The Europeans called them "factories." The word "factory" was in common use among English-speaking people, and meant at that time a warehouse with living quarters. There were as many such factories as there were Hong merchants and each was named for the nation whose traders lived in it. For example, there was an American, a Danish, a Spanish, a French, and a Swedish factory. The English one was called East India Company Factory. All servants within the factories were hired by the Hong merchant's stewards called compradores and were directly under his control. Cooks, cooties, or personal servants were the compradorei*s own people; they were loyal to him and looked to him for all directions. In turn, he "secured" them; that is, he guaranteed their good behavior and honesty. This system was convenient for the foreigners since they did not have to worry about unloading their ships, conveying their cargo to the warehouses, selling it, or purchasing Chinese goods for their return cargo. All this was done for them by their Hong merchant and his compradore. But on the other hand, there were inconveniences. The laws forbade the foreigners to step outside the area given over to the factories; they could not even hire a boat to ride upon the river that flowed by their doorway. They could not put foot in the street that led to the gates of Canton; they could only use those adjoining the factories and there they must be eternally on their guard not to offend the notoriously vague and whimsical law of China. The Columbia lay at Whampoa from the 12th of December, 1792, 0^ 70 Voyage of the Columbia until the 2nd of February, 1793. Her voyage home took her through the East Indies, through the Straits of Sunda, within sight of Mauritius Island in the Southern Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Atlantic, home again to Boston. Boit's log resumes off the coast of Formosa. December j. N.Lat. 2i°48'; Correct W.Long, i^ig'-, Correct E.Long. 1200 31'. Saw the Formosa Island bearing EbN at meridian 12 leagues. Fair. NE monsoon. December 6. N.Lat. 22°2o'; WLong. 243°38'; E.Long. 116°22'. Saw the mainland of China bearing NW 8 leagues at noon. Above 100 sail of fishing boats in sight. Soundings: 23 fathom, sand and ooze. December 7. N.Lat. 22°7'; WLong. 244^7'; E.Long. ii5°3'. Passed the Island or, rather, Rock of Pedra Branca, at daylight. It was conical shaped and appeared perfectly white. At noon, Grand Lema Island bore WSW, 5 leagues. Hundreds of fishing boats in sight. At 3 P.M. passed the Lema, leaving it on our larboard hand. At 6, got a pilot on board who agreed to carry us to Macao Roads for 25 dollars. Stood between the Lema Islands all night with a light breeze. December 8. This morning early anchored in Macao Roads. 14 fathoms, muddy bottom. Not liking our situation, weighed, and shifted our berth nearer to Macao. Anchored in 4% fathom, mud, the fort at Macao, bearing S. 8°8'; W 4 miles, and the outermost of the Nine Islands N. 8° E. Captain Gray went to Macao in the pinnace. A fellow came on board and informed us that Captain Kendrick in the Lady Washington lay in Lark's Bay; that the brig had been dismasted in the China Sea about two months before in a typhoon. Kendrick was refitting his vessel again. December 8. Captain Gray returned on board and informed us that Captain Kendrick sailed for the NW in September last in company with a small tender he had fitted out in Macao. He was out four days when the typhoon overtook him. The brig lay on her beam ends for some time before they cut away the masts. She then righted. The gale abating, they steered back to Macao. The whole surface of the sea was covered with the wrecks of Chinese boats, and many of the poor fishermen were still hanging to the pieces. Captain Kendrick picked up above thirty of the poor fellows but was obliged to pass a great many he could not assist. He arrived in Lark's Bay the seventh day after the gale. A Macao boat came alongside our ship with two European gentlemen, who purchased from us 21 piculs (a picul equals 133VS Voyage of the Columbia 71 pounds) of iron at seven dollars per picul. A river pilot will take charge of the ship to Whampoa for forty dollars. December 10. Weighed with the wind at NE early in the morning. Making slow progress. In the evening anchored below Lin Tin bar in 5 fathoms. Next morning, weighed, and beat up to the Boca Tigris, estuary of the Canton River. Anchored in 17 fathoms. On China's Doorstep December 22. This day arrived at our moorings at Whampoa, having been obliged to beat the whole way from Macao Roads. Found riding here 47 sail of European ships and 6 American. Captain Gray went to Canton in the pinnace. We lay at this place until the 2nd of February, during which time we gave the ship a complete overhaul from her keel to the truck. We hauled her on shore, on Dutch Island beach, and graved. This business cost $150, paid to the proprietors of the beach. The whole expense accruing to the Columbia at Canton amounted to the enormous sum of 7000 Spanish dollars paid for in furs. The rest of the furs were landed at Canton and delivered to the Hong merchants for 90,000 dollars, averaging 45 dollars each. The land furs sold quite low in proportion. The ship was laden then with a full cargo of teas, nankeen, and a small proportion of sugar and china porcelain. It is the custom in this place to engage with a contractor to supply the ship with provisions and other stores. He is called a compradore. You must give him a certain sum, generally 150 dollars, before he will undertake the work. The first of these fellows we engaged ran away, 250 dollars in our debt. This money was advanced to him previous to our having a security or Hong merchant, otherwise it would have been recovered. Every ship must have one of these security merchants before business can be transacted. The Chinese government looks to them for the amount of duties. Captain Gray generally stayed at Canton and the officers by turns. Every man on board had two days' liberty allowed him. We had a building made of bamboo and covered with mats, nearly abreast of the ship, on the banks of the river. This was found by the compradore and answered very well for housing the ship's stores while careening and loading. An officer and gang of hands were stationed at this place as a guard. There were two large boats with customs house officers aboard stationed alongside the ship the whole time we lay in the river. January 1,1793. Received a letter from Captain Kendrick informing us of the death of Messrs. Wood and Stoddard, two young men of Boston with him. I believe they lived too fast for the climate. 4&$~ 72 Voyage of the Columbia When we arrived at Whampoa, we had more than a dozen fine hogs on deck which we were keeping for the passage home. The Chinese rascals found means to throw them some poisonous stuff which killed the lot of them. But we took notice that as soon as they were thrown overboard, they were eagerly seized and no doubt eaten by the poor who live on the river. Indeed, nothing escapes their clutches. The entrails of poultry or dead rats serve equally alike to appease these half starved wretches that constantly surround the shipping. However, I noticed that they were very nice in their cookery. Rice was always a part of every mess. No Indians we had ever visited during the voyage were more complete in the art of thieving than the Chinese of the lower order on this river. In fact, they appeared to me to be the greatest villains in the universe; but these remarks apply only to the common people. The Chinese gentleman is of a very different character. I was highly pleased with the polite attention shown to strangers at Canton by the mandarins and merchants of the place. They stand upon the nicest etiquette. The Chinese merchant is very particular in his business and very precise in his calculations. No part of his affairs appears to be unnoticed by him. In making a bargain, the merchants are very shrewd; when the bargain is closed, they are faithful in performance as to quantity. For quality, you must be constantly on your guard, or else 'tis certain the goods will not turn out as expected. The only satisfaction you will get from them is that you ought to have looked sharper; but at the same time they will try to console you by saying that on another voyage you will be better acquainted with the mode of doing business at Canton. Upon the whole, the Chinese merchants' candor makes some amends for the general complaint against them. They will cheat you if they can. Therefore your business is to see that they do not. It is surprising to observe the business that is going on in the suburbs of Canton. The streets are generally thronged with people, all busily engaged in their several avocations. The shops are well stocked with goods. Few women are to be seen on the streets. If Chinese, they have small crippled feet which make the ankles look like horses' hooves. If they are Tartars, the feet are of natural growth. So much has been said about Canton and the manners and customs of the Chinese, it is needless for me to make any further remarks on the subject. From China to the Straits of Banca February 2. This day the pilot came on board and took charge. Voyage of the Columbia 73 Unmoored, and stood down the river. Left but 7 ships behind, all English and Swedish. February 6. Anchored just above the Boca Tigris. In the night, although we kept a good watch, the Chinese rascals cut the cable. We let go another anchor. In the morning, we found even the buoy taken away, so we could not recover the anchor. Left with it 9 fathoms of attached cable. February 7. Passed the Boca Tigris and stood for Macao Roads. February 8. Ran through the Macao Roads and stood to sea. The pilot left us. Took our departure from Macao Fort lying in Lat. 22013' N. and Long. ii3°52/ I£ast of London (Greenwich). Some Chinese junks in our company. Find the ship requires one pump working pretty steadily to keep her free. However, as it has been a steady leak for some time, it is not looked upon as a serious affair. The wind prevails from the east and is very squally. The ship's crew are all well and hearty and looking forward with anxious solicitude to a happy meeting with sweethearts and wives. How can we be otherwise than happy, anticipating the joys that await us! February 14. N.Lat. i5°2/; WLong. 246°i4'; E. Long. ii3°25'. Took the wind at NE, which, I suppose, is the monsoon. February 18. N.Lat. 9°44'; WLong. 25o°48'; EJLong. io9°i2'. At midnight saw a small island bearing SWbS, 1 league, and soon after saw Pulo Sapata, bearing SbE, 2 leagues to the northward. At 6 AuM. bore off and made sail. With wind ENE, could not weather Pulo Sapata. Passed two miles to the westward of it. When the isle bore East, a large white rock or isle bore NNW, 6 or 7 leagues distant. At 9 we were clear of Sapata and could see no dangers in the track we pursued, although I believe it was an unfrequented one. This Sapata Isle is very properly named as it had every appearance of a shoe, which is what it is called in the Malay language. Bore off to the westward with the intention of striking soundings off Pulo Condore. February 22. NLat. 3°o'; WLong. 255°5'; E.Long. io4°55'. The islands of Pulo Tioman, Aor, and Tingy in sight to the southward. February 25. S.Lat. i°43'; WLong. 255°9'; E.Long. 104051'.Passed between Saya and the Seven Isles. More islands hove in sight to the SIL At sunset saw land which we took for Monopin Hill. Laid off and on through the night under short sail. Soundings from 8 to 16 fathoms. At daylight Monopin Hill bore SbE, 7 leagues. Bore off. At noon, Monopin Hill bore E^N and the Sumatra shore WSW. Strong currents to the southward. Soundings 18 fathoms. 74 Voyage of the Columbia From Banca to Sunda Straits February 26. S.Lat. 2°43'. Entered the Straits of Banca and stood to the SE. We shoaled the water very suddenly from 10 to 3 fathoms, with rocks. Bore off to the south and west and it soon deepened again. This must have been the Fredrik Hendrick Shoal. In the evening came to on the Sumatra shore, 9 fathoms. Mud. Strong tides. At daylight got under way and stood down straits. At 10 abreast the Nanka Islands. A number of Malay proas in sight. At 11 A.M. a dangerous shoal bore west 1 league. High breakers. At noon took observations as above. February 27. S.Lat. 4°2i'; WLong. 2530'43'; EJLong. io6°i7'. Winds from NW and pleasant. At 2 P.M. passed a Moorish sloop at anchor. She was strongly manned and armed. I believe she was a pirate. Many proas about. At sunset the Isle of Lucepara bore SEbE, 3 leagues. Passed nearest the Sumatra shore, the shoal water 454 fathoms. Strong tide in our favor. At noon took observations as above. February 28. Bound toward the Straits of Sunda. March 1. S.Lat. 5°9'. At sunset saw the Two Brothers Islands to the southward. Soundings from 12 to 14 fathoms. At dark came to off the Sumatra shore, 9% fathoms, mud. March 2. S.Lat. 5°25'. Wind at west. Soundings throughout the 24 hours from 12 to 15 fathoms. The Isles of the Brothers surrounded with dangerous reefs. In the evening came to in 12 fathoms. Muddy bottom. In the morning we weighed and stood towards North Island. March 3. Winds moderate and cloudy. We are working toward North Island Roads. At sunset came to in the Roads, 15 fathoms. Passed several turtle and water snakes between the Brothers and our anchorage. Observed two ships showing English colors. In the morning early we shifted our berth nearer the watering place and at 7 A.M. anchored in 15 fathoms. Hoisted out all boats and dispatched them for water. The ships that lay in the Roads were an English 64, the Lion, Captain Gower, and the Indostan, an East India Company ship under Captain Mackintosh. The Lion had on board Mr. Macartney, a minister from the British government to the court of Pekin. We took dispatches from them, which we are to leave at St. Helena. Toward evening these ships sailed for Batavia. Two Dutch coast guard anchored in company with us. By night we had filled up all our water casks and purchased a quantity of poultry and fruit from the Malays on the beach. I landed, in charge of the boats, and found Voyage of the Columbia 75 above 200 Malays around the watering place. They were completely armed with daggers but were quite friendly. However, I did not allow the boats to touch the beach and allowed only 6 men to land with me. We swam the filled water casks off to the boats. This method I thought very prudent as the Malays had killed one of the Lion's crew while washing clothes at the brook. I cannot say that I experienced the most agreeable sensations while on this duty. March 4. Employed in various ways. Got a good quantity of wood from North Isle; saw no natives there. The watering place is on Sumatra. March $. Weighed and sailed, bound through Sunda Straits. March 6. SJLat. 6°2'. Wind from SW to NW, and very squally weather with heavy rain. In the night, turning to windward between Prince's Island and Crockatore, we came very near depositing the ship on the Qu Klip rocks. However, good luck prevailed. March 8. SJLat. 7°i3'; WLong. 255°36'; E.Long. io4°24'. Steady NW monsoon and pleasant. March 30. S.Lat. i6°32'; WLong. 286°5'; EJLong. 73°55'. Pleasant SE trade winds. April 4. S.Lat. i9°37'; WLong. (corrected) 297°io'; E. Long. 62°5o'. This day made the Isle of Roderique bearing SW. The ship has experienced a current to the westward since leaving the Straits of Sunda. Found this island surrounded with dangerous reefs. The one on the NW extends many miles into the sea. Men in a Hurry April 7. S.Lat. 2o°36'; WLong. 302°i9'; EJLong. 57°4i'. Saw the Isle of France at daylight; at noon the south point of Mauritius bore WNW, 8 leagues. Very high uneven land. April 17. SJLat. 3o°4i'; WLong. 323°44';E.Long. 36016'. This day the SE trades left us and we immediately took the wind from theNW. April28. SJLat. 33°58'; WJLong. 336°i3'; EJLong. 23°i7'. Have had much blowing weather for some time. This day saw the land about Mossel Bay at 11 leagues distance. At noon Cape Talhado bore NW. The current has changed and now sets strong to the SW. Wind from the westward. April 29. SJLat. 34°i2'; WLong. 337°6'; EJLong. 22°54'. Soundings 45 fathoms; black sand, 2 y2 leagues from land. Smoke seen on shore. At noon the land in sight bore from N to ENE, a strong current in our favor. 0ff 76 Voyage of the Columbia April30. SJLat. 34°22'; W.Long. 338°3'; E.Long. |||P Many gannets and some seal around. Saw the Seven Hills and a number of fires on the shore through the night. Generally, we keep about 5 leagues from the coast. Wind ahead. So ends April. May 2. S.Lat. 34°29'; WLong. 34o°27'; E.Long. i9°33'. Wind steady from westward not even allowing us a tolerable slant. Sounding 54 fathoms, gray sand with shells. Keep off generally about 6 or 7 leagues. The land very mountainous from our present situation. May 4. S.Lat. 35°i'; WLong. 340°©'; E.Long. 2o°o'. At length, thank God, the wind changed to the eastward. We made all sail. Hauled more to the southward to clear Cape Agulhas. May $. S.Lat. 34°4o'; WLong. 34o°3o'; E. Long. i9°3o'. Saw the Table Land and Gunner's Quoin to the east of False Bay. At noon, Cape Point bore NWestward 10 leagues. Wind SE. Bore off to the northward and westward. May 16. S.Lat. 24°27'; WLong. 353V; EJLong. 6°59'. Winds steady from west. May 17. SJLat. 24°27'; WLong. 353°i6'; E.Long. 6°44'. Tight winds for men in a hurry. May 20. S.Lat. 2o°9'; WLong. 357^'; E.Long. 2°57'. This day took the SE trade winds; boxed ship away for St. Helena. May 21. Today passed the meridian of London [Greenwich]. News at St. Helena May 2$. S.Lat. i5°54'; WLong. $°^ Saw the Island of St. Helena at sunset. Hove to for the night. Early in the morning we sent a boat in to ask permission of the governor to anchor in the bay. At 9 the boat returned and the officer reported favorably. Bore off and at 10 anchored in Chapel Valley Bay in 14 fathoms, mud and sand, the Church bearing SE. Found riding here several English India and whale ships waiting for convoy. At this place we first heard of the war and troubles in Europe and that France's poor Louis was a head shorter. Captain Gray landed to visit the governor while we were employed in watering. The lieutenant governor, Robinson by name, paid us a visit. He appeared to be an excellent man and was anxious to obtain curiosities to put in his museum. He appeared gratified with the collection we presented to him. I must confess that I was agreeably surprised on landing at Jamestown for from its appearance from the ship, I felt prepossessed against it. But when on shore, I found it a pleasant place, and the Voyage of the Columbia 77 sight of an English lady made my heart feel all in an uproar. So it is, and we cannot help it. May 26. SJLat* 15*54'; WLong. 5°4j6'. Finished watering and got ready for sea. I made an excursion in company with a brother officer to view the East India Company's garden and was amply rewarded for my trouble. It was kept in fine order. St. Helena had been visited by a famine not long since, which carried off the greatest part of their stock and greatly stressed the inhabitants. Consequently we could not procure much refreshment for our ship. The island to the westward makes a most rugged appearance and indeed, in the bay it is not much needed. But to leeward 'tis quite pleasant and the roads, though chiefly the work of art, are far from being bad. The inhabitants are very polite to strangers, and no man after a long voyage ought to pass this pleasant and agreeable place without stopping. You get the water with great ease as it is conveyed to the port by underground pipes. You fill with a hose and are not obliged to take the casks from the boat. In case you do, there is a crane on the pier to load them again. We should have sailed this evening but it is against the rules of the port to sail after sunset. Homeward Bound May 27. S.Lat. 15°34'; WLong. 6° 15*. Sailed at daylight and stood to the NW with pleasant enough sensations at what awaits us in that direction. June 3. SJLat. 8°32'; WLong. i5°9/. Passed Ascension Island about midnight. June p. N.Lat. i°io'; WLong. 22°33'. This is the fourth time we have crossed the equator during this voyage. June 16. NJLat. 6°o'; WLong. 30°38'. Dull times. Winds very light and baffling. June 20. NJLat. 7°28/; WJLong. 33°26'. This day took the NE trade winds having lost the SE trades in Lat. 4°3o' North. Winds between have been generally from the westward but very light. June 24. NJLat. 12°38'; WLong. 41 °o'. Pleasant trade winds. Employed in painting the ship. July 2. NJLat. 24°29'; WLong. 53°n'. Spoke an English brig under American colors from New London bound to Grenada loaded with stock. We were obliged to fire several shot across the bow before she stopped. Purchased out of her many sheep, hogs, and two tierces of bread. This was a seasonable supply as we had been eating maggotty bread for some time. 78 Voyage of the Columbia July 18. NLat. 4o°i7'; WLong. 65°i5'. Spoke the brig Betsey from New York, William Williams, master, bound to Amsterdam. Have experienced much blowing weather from north and west since leaving the trades. Squalls of rain. The ship's crew are all in health but anxious to get home as the ship's provisions have grown quite bad and but little left. July 21. N.Lat. 4o°29'; WLong. 68°35'. Dull times for men in a hurry. The Columbia is in fine order. We have given the rigging a complete overhaul since leaving St. Helena. Rounded to and got soundings. 67 fathoms, fine black and white sand. July 22. NLat. 42°n'; WLong. 68°45'. At sunset, sounded in 38 fathoms, gray sand. Spoke a sloop from Newbury port bound to the West Indies. Her master told us Cape Cod bore NW 30 leagues. At midnight, shoaled our water suddenly from 20 to 15, 12, 10, and 8 fathoms. Fine white sand on George's Shoal. Hauled to east and soon deepened it again to 30 fathoms. At noon, lat. as above, soundings in 40 fathoms. Wind from the WSW. Hard luck. July 24. Sighted a fishing schooner to the west. It being nearly calm, lowered the yawl and sent her on board. At sunset the officer returned and reported that the skipper of the schooner could not spare any salt provisions but sold us 3 barrels of salt mackerel and about 300 ship biscuits. The biscuits very much appreciated. Divided them fore and aft among the crew. A breeze sprang up from the eastward; point all sail, and at daylight we saw Cape Cod bearing SW at 6 leagues and the land abreast us on the south shore, 4 leagues distance. Several sail in sight. Employed turning to windward, the wind having shifted to the NW. July 2jf. Light breezes and pleasant weather. At 1 P.M. nearly abreast of Cohasset Rocks. Almost calm. At sunset we got too near Cohassett Ledges by reason of the tide. However a small breeze sprang up and we got off. At daylight, Boston Light bore WbN, 3 leagues. At 8 A.M. a pilot came on board and took charge of ship to BOSTON. At noon we passed the lighthouse with a light air from the eastward. At 6 we passed Castle William and gave a federal salute which was returned. A fine breeze at SE. At 7 anchored off the Long wharf in the stream and saluted the town with 11 guns, which was returned from the wharves with three welcome HUZZAS. On making Boston Light, from which place we took our departure, we have just made 360 degrees of longitude west, which is the circumference of our globe. Of course we have lost one complete day. It was Friday at Boston; it was Thursday with us. Voyage of the Columbia 79 Tis impossible to express our feelings at again meeting with our friends. The loss of an affectionate and much loved sister during my absence was a great obstacle to the happiness I should otherwise have enjoyed. So end my remarks on Columbia's voyage. John Boit. John Boit's three years' experience on the Columbia fitted him for a more responsible position. Within two months after his return he shipped out again. This time he was in command of an 89-ton sloop, the Union. In another voyage of three years he retraced the track of the Columbia and in spite of attacks from Indians and Chinese pirates, successfully completed his venture. In maritime history, his voyage in the Union earned him fame. He was the first to navigate a sloop-rigged vessel around the world. According to one adniiring historian, this was the "most remarkable youthful exploit in the bright dawn of Pacific adventure." For John Boit, the voyage in the Columbia was not only an adventure but also an education. ART OF NAVIGATION Remarks on the Art of Navigation by Dana Small Mathematics Department, Franklin High School, Portland, Oregon The art of navigation demonstratetb bow by the shortest good way, by the aptest direction, and in the shortest time, a sufficient ship ...be conducted. Dr. John Dee (1570)1 The beginnings of navigation antedate all record. The Phoenicians were skilled seamen, and it is said that their greatest feat was the circumnavigation of Africa in the seventh century B.C. Probably these early navigator-explorers followed the coastlines in sight of land and had little need for navigating instruments other than their eyes and a weight and line for finding the depth of water. Should their ships be blown out to sea or should they want to explore out of sight of land then surely there was need for some kind of navigating instrument, especially one which would tell direction. Norwegians of the time of Eric the Red carried "shore-finding birds.*' If the bird did not spot land then it returned to the ship. Columbus was influenced to change the course of his ship after observing a flight of birds. We do not know who invented the magnetic compass, an instrument for determining direction, nor when it first came into use at sea. We do read that it was in use among the Mediterranean seamen in the twelfth century. This is offered as evidence that there was a very long period when there was little or no advance in the art of conducting a ship across the ocean. For purposes of navigation the earth is considered to be a perfect sphere. The earth rotates on an axis, or diameter, whose ends are the poles. A great circle is a circle on the earth's surface formed by the intersection with a plane passed through the earth's center. The intersection with a plane not passing through the center is a small circle. The equator is that great circle which is the intersection of the earth's surface with a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation at its midpoint. Meridians are great circles which pass through the poles. If we choose any two points on the earth's surface, as Boston and one of the Cape Verde Islands, there is but one great circle that joins them. The distance between those two points is the smaller of the two arcs into which the two points divide this great circle. 84 Art of Navigation The measure of the smaller arc is the shortest distance between the two points. The unit of measure of an arc of a circle is the degree, one three hundred sixtieth of the circle. Any circle, no matter how large or small, can be divided into 360 equal parts. Each of these parts is one degree of arc for that circle or for any other equal circle. This degree of arc is not to be used as a unit of measure in any smaller or larger circle. The degree is divided into sixty minutes, and the minute into sixty seconds. Our use of the word "minute" comes from the Latin, pars minuta, little part; "second" comes from pars minuta secunda, or second little part. Degrees of arc on a great circle can readily be translated into nautical miles since one degree of arc on this circle is equal to sixty nautical miles. If we think of the earth as having been cut by a series of planes, all parallel to the plane of the equator, then the intersection of each of these planes with the earth's surface is a small circle. Each of these small circles is a parallel of latitude. On any small circle, as for instance on a parallel of latitude, one degree of arc is something less than sixty nautical miles. The location of any point on the earth can be described in terms of the number of degrees that it lies north or south of the equator, its latitude, and the number of degrees east or west of some chosen meridian, its longitude. The meridian from which distances are measured east or west is referred to as the prime meridian. At different times in the history of navigation the meridian through each of the following has been used as the prime meridian: St. Michael, Toledo, Paris, and in the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz, Las Palmas, and Ferro Island. English geographers chose to refer to the meridian through Greenwich as the prime meridian. The observatory at Greenwich was erected in 1675 and since about 1700 that meridian has been commonly used. Suppose that it is desired to describe the location of Cook Inlet near Cape Horn. First pass a meridian through this point and note the intersection of that meridian with the equator. The longitude of Cook Inlet is the number of degrees, measured along the equator, from the prime meridian to the meridian through the inlet. That is read to be West 700. Usually the measure is taken in such manner as not to exceed 1800. However, some of the records give, for example, East 2000 rather than West 1600. Vancouver states: "The longitude throughout the voyage and until our arrival at St. Helena on our return to Europe, will be reckoned eastward."2 The latitude of Cook Inlet at the tip of South America is the number of degrees south, measured along the meridian through the inlet from the equator to the point. It has measure South 55°. If we Art of Navigation 85 should locate several other points whose latitude is South 550, we would find that they all lie on a small circle called the fifty-fifth parallel. Fig. I A navigator needs a map. A map is a representation of the earth. It is used to show relative sizes of areas and the location of one place with respect to that of another and distances between them. In short it represents spatial relations on the surface of the earth. On a sphere or globe one could make an almost perfect representation but a globe is clumsy to carry about and its size would have to be very great in order to put much detail on it. Most persons want a flat map that can be laid out on a table and easily studied. But to make a flat representation of a spherical surface which is faithful to what is represented in every regard is impossible to do. To show large portions of the globe on a flat surface, a map can only be drawn in such a way as to sacrifice some accuracies in order to preserve others. f* 86 Art of Navigation The various methods of preparing a flat map of the earth's surface are known as projections. A Flemish geographer of the sixteenth century, Mercator, devised a projection which bears his name. Consider a cylinder of paper wrapped around the globe at the equator and at the center of the globe imagine a pinpoint of light. Imagine, too, that rays of that fight pass through points on the globe and are projected onto the cylinder. When the cylinder is unrolled and laid out flat there is found traced on it a Mercator projection of the earth. The length of the equator is correct. Parallels of latitude appear as parallel lines; meridians appear as parallel lines, all perpendicular to the equator. Near the equator distortion is slight but in the polar regions this map does not even pretend to show correctly the relative size of areas. For instance, Greenland appears larger than South America but the globe shows that this is not the case. But while this map does not represent correctly masses or sizes of areas, it does represent directions faithfully. It is therefore a valuable map for the navigator. How is direction measured? Consider a part of the earth's surface of such size that the earth's curvature need not be taken into account. Look at a map, for example, which includes St. Louis and Chicago. In what direction is Chicago from St. Louis? Pass a north- south line through St. Louis. Face north. Turn until you are looking along the line joining St. Louis and Chicago. The measure of the angle formed by this north-south line and the joining line, North 300 East, is the bearing of Chicago from St. Louis. If you are at Chicago and want the direction to St. Louis, again pass a north-south line through Chicago. Face south. Turn until your line of sight is along the line to St. Louis. The bearing of St. Louis from Chicago is South 300 West. Some persons always measure the bearing from the northerly direction and for them this bearing is 2 io°. Now choose some two widely separated points on the globe, for example Tokyo and San Francisco. Stretch a string tautly between these points. That string lies along the great circle path between these points and therefore indicates the shortest path. In what direction is San Francisco from Tokyo? Observe the angle which gives the bearing. At Tokyo that angle is about 550 and as one travels along the string toward San Francisco the angle increases in size. About midway in the trip the angle is a right angle and thereafter continues to increase. This means that the navigator who wants to follow this path—that is the great circle between these points— must continually change the direction of his course. Now look at a Mercator projection of this part of the world, the familiar flat map in your atlas. Join Tokyo and San Francisco by a Art of Navigation 87 straight line. The angle made by this line with the meridian running through Tokyo is equal to the angle this line makes with every meridian so that if the navigator sails his ship in such a manner as always to maintain this angle with a north-south line he will get to San Francisco. His route will not be the shortest route and will take him nearer the equator than does the great circle route. Assume now that a ship is out of sight of all land. The navigator desires to know his location, that is, the longitude, the latitude. The position of the sun with respect to the observer helps him determine his location. The simplest time to make the necessary observation of the sun is at noon for this location. Noon is determined by the position of the sun which is then at its zenith. In its apparent motion the sun has ceased to rise, shadows are shortest, and shadows are cast straight north. The earth rotates eastward through 3600 every twenty-four hours or at the rate of fifteen degrees per hour. The navigator now uses a time measuring device, a chronometer, which tells him the time on the Greenwich meridian. If the chronometer gives the Greenwich time to be 4:30 p.m. then the navigator at his location at his noon is four and one-half hours and therefore four and one-half times fifteen degrees or sixty-seven and one-half degrees west of the meridian through Greenwich. His longitude is West 67K °. If the chronometer gives Greenwich time as 8 am. then the navigator is four hours and therefore four times fifteen degrees or sixty degrees east of the meridian through Greenwich and his longitude is East 6o°. Chronometers, watches which keep time with great precision, were made as early as the sixteenth century. In 1736 John Harrison produced a balance-wheel watch which was compensated for temperature changes. On his voyage to the Pacific Northwest, Captain George Vancouver had two chronometers.3 Having determined his longitude the navigator now wants to know bis latitude. The latitude is closely associated with the height of the Pole Star at the observer's location. If this altitude is to be determined by observation of the star itself, then this measurement must be taken at night. The Pole Star is the point in which the axis of the earth if extended would intersect the sky. In the diagram below, which is a cross section of the earth, the navigator is at A, at some unknown latitude. What the navigator wants to know is how many degrees his position is north (or south) of the equator and this is to be measured along the meridian of longitude which he has determined. That is, he wants to know the measure of the arc EA. If we denote that measure by L°, then the measure of angle EOA is also L°. Through A passes a parallel of latitude and angle CAO 88 Art of Navigation also has measure L°. The radius AO gives the direction a plumb line would take and the horizontal plane, HH', is the plane that makes an angle of 900 with the radius of AO. One of the improvements in the sextant was a device that enabled the navigator to tell very easily the direction of the horizontal plane, HH'. The observer at A sights the Pole Star at P and his line of sight is perpendicular to CA, that is, angle CAP is an angle of 900. Therefore angle PAH, the elevation of the Pole Star, is also equal to L°. This means that near the equator the observer does not lift his eyes very much to see the Pole Star and that as he travels farther north he lifts his eyes more and more until at the North Pole he should have to look straight up in order to see the Pole Star. (See Fig. II.) To measure the angle of elevation the navigator uses some angle measuring device. This instrument could be the cross-staff, the astrolabe, or the quadrant. At the time of the voyage of the Columbia, the sextant was in use. Our navigator has determined his longitude at noon and he wants to know his latitude at that same time. Obviously he cannot see the Pole Star at midday. But, he can determine the altitude of the Pole Star by finding the angle of elevation of the sun. He takes a sextant reading of the angle of elevation of the sun, he refers to the Nautical Almanac to learn the sun's declination at this time of year, he corrects for the height of his eye, he makes some simple computations and arrives at the same information as he could have obtained by observing the Pole Star.4 The taking of the reading and the computation are very simple. The explanation is more involved than that of the Pole Star reading and therefore is omitted here. Now the navigator has located his position on his map. He knows where he is. He knows the latitude and longitude, or at least approximately, of the place where he wants to go. Now he must set the course of his ship in the proper direction. He has a magnetic compass by means of which he can determine north. Using the method described earlier for finding the bearing of San Francisco from Tokyo, he can plot his course. Early mariners did not attempt to sail on the great circle course because, as has been explained, the course angle is continually changing on that route. Rather, they used square sailing. This means they sailed due north or south from their point of departure until they reached the known latitude of their destination and then sailed east or west along this parallel of latitude. This method was used well into the nineteenth century by New Fjtigland whaling captains and was considered the safest method of reaching their destination. English captains on their way to New England usually first went Art of Navigation 89 * 90 Art of Navigation south to the Canary Islands, then westward to the neighborhood of the Bahamas, then northward to their destination. At the time of John Boit, when ships depended on wind power, navigators could not always follow the course laid out by their computations. They had to lay out their courses to catch winds which would take them in the general direction of their plotted course. However, it was still important to know where they were and the direction in which they had to sail to get where they wanted to go. In 1798, Captain Vancouver wrote: By the introduction of nautical astronomy into marine education, we were taught to sail on the hypotenuse, instead of traversing two sides of a triangle, which was the usage in earlier times; by this means, the circuitous course of all voyages from place to place is considerably shortened; and it is now become evident, that sea officers of the most common rate abilities, who will take the trouble of making themselves acquainted with the principles of this science, will on all suitable occasions, with proper and correct instruments, be enabled to acquire knowledge of their situation in the atlantic, indian, or pacific oceans [sic] with a degree of accuracy sufficient to steer on a meridional or diagonal line, to any known spot; provided it be sufficiently conspicuous to be visible at any distance from five to ten leagues.5 When the weather was such as to make it impossible to make observations of the sun, moon, or stars, then the early navigator used dead reckoning. He knew the description of some point on his course; he knew the direction in which he had been sailing; he had measured the rate of his ship by means of a log and therefore he could compute a later location on his course.6 But dead reckoning is subject to many errors: imperfect steering, compass error, effects of winds, effects of unknown currents, and difficulty in measuring the rate. This short account neglects to tell of the many corrections the navigator must make in his readings. The magnetic compass does not point to the true north pole of the sphere but to the north magnetic pole. The earth is not magnetized symmetrically and the deviations vary with the locality. Corrections must be made in the reading of the chronometer for the time of year. The effects of water currents as well as winds are difficult to estimate. Early navigators did not make accurate readings of their latitudes and longitudes. Captain Gray's readings were often inaccurate by several degrees of longitude. For example, their trouble in the Gulf Art of Navigation 9* of San Jorge, attempting to round the cape Boit called Blanco, was probably due to such inaccurate reading. The readings for points along the Northwest Coast differed on early maps. Those reported by John Boit are found to be in error by minutes if not by degrees. However, maps were more accurate as skills and instruments of navigation improved. For example, Captain Vancouver reported that while his ships were in King George III Sound in southwestern Australia, 510 observations were taken by different observers using different instruments at different times. By 1800 navigators had maps of the Pacific Northwest Coast on which the locations of most of the important places were described accurately enough for all practical purposes of the day.7 The modern navigator, secure in the use of electronic equipment, radar and loran, must have high regard for his predecessors who sailed out into uncharted oceans with what now seem crude instruments, compensated by a large measure of luck and great courage. NOTES 1. Quoted in The Art of Navigation in England in Elizabethan and Early Stuart Times, by D. W. Waters (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1958), 3. 2. For a brief account of Captain George Vancouver and the purposes of his expedition see Dorothy O. Johansen and Charles M. Gates, Empire of the Columbia (Harper and Brothers, New York, *957>> 5*"5S- 3. George Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean... (3 vols., G. G. and J. Robinson, London, 1798), 1:3. 4. The Nautical Almanac has been in continuous publication since 1766. 5. Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific, 1:11. 6. For a description of a ship's log see dictionary or encyclopedia articles. 7. Henry R. Wagner, The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800 (2 vols., University of California Press, Berkeley, 1937), 253. 92 Art of Navigation RECOMMENDED READINGS Bowditch, Nathaniel. The American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1939. Brown, Lloyd A. The Story of Maps. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1950. Calaban, Harold Augustin. The Sky and the Sailor. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1952. Harding, Louis Allen. A Brief History of the Art of Navigation. The William-Frederica Press, New York, 1952. Wagner, Henry R. The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800. 2 volumes. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1937. See volume I. Waters, D. W. The Art of Navigation in England in Elizabethan and Early Stuart Times. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1958.
Includes bibliographic references Other copies: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6215281
Books
English
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Portland : Beaver Books
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. FC3821.1 .B6411 1960
Columbia (Ship : 1787-1801)
Voyages around the world
Voyages around the world--Early works to 1800
Voyage of the Columbia around the world with John Boit, 1790-1793
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