BRITISH COLUMBIA 131 

or Neah Bay. There is little doubt that Meares did not scruple to
grossly exaggerate the importance of this discovery in order to make
good his claim against the Spaniards for the seizure of his vessels in
1789, under arguments which appear in a later chapter. It should
be borne in mind that he did not publish his work on the North West
Coast of America until 1790, a year or more after the seizure of the
ships by the Spanish officer, Estevan Martinez. 

Making Nootka on July 26th, Meares found that good progress
had been made in the construction of the vessel and in a few weeks
every preparation was completed for launching the first ship ever
built by Europeans on the Northwest Coast. It should be mentioned
that Captain Douglas in the Iphigenia reached the Sound towards
the end of August, and with the arrival of this reinforcement the
different operations were pursued with redoubled vigour. Another
arrival, not so welcome perhaps, was that of Captain Gray in the
American sloop Washington, which dropped anchor in Friendly
Cove on the 17th of September. The Washington, with her consort,
the Columbia, had sailed from Boston in 1787 to engage in the fur-
trade on the Northwest Coast. "The master of the Washington,"^
Meares relates, "was very much surprised at seeing a vessel on the
stocks, as well as on finding any one here before him; for they had
Iittl6 or no notion of any commercial expeditions whatever to this
part of America. He appeared, however, to be very sanguine in the
superior advantages which his countrymen from New England might
reap from this track of trade; and was big with many mighty pro-
jects in which we understood he was protected by the American Con-
gress. With these circumstances, however, as we had no immediate
concern, we did not even intrude an opinion, but treated Mr. Gray
and his ship's company with politeness and attention." Three days
later, on the 20th of September, the North West America was
launched. This event is so picturesque an incident in the annals of
the coast that it may well be described in Meares' own words: "On
the 20th, at noon, an event, to which we had so long looked with
anxious expectation, and had been the fruit of so much care and
labour, was ripe for accomplishment. The vessel was then waiting
to quit the stocks; and to give all due honour to such an important
scene, we adopted, as far as was in our power, the ceremony of other
dock-yards. As soon as the tide was at its proper height the English
ensign was displayed on shore at the house, and on board the new 

132 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

vessel, which, at the proper moment, was named the North West
America, as being the first bottom ever built and launched in this
part of the globe. 

"It was a moment of much expectation. The circumstances of our
situation made us look to it with more than common hope. Maquilla,
Callicum, and a large body of their people, who had received infor-
mation of the launch, were come to behold it. The Chinese carpenters
did not very well conceive the last operation of a business in which
they themselves had been so much and so materially concerned. Nor
shall we forget to mention the chief of the Sandwich Islands, whose
every power was absorbed in the business that approached, and who
had determined to be on board the vessel when she glided into the
water. The presence of the Americans ought also to be considered,
when we are describing the attendant ceremonies of this important
crisis; which, from the labour that produced it,— the scene that fol-
lowed it, — the spectators that beheld it, and the commercial advan-
tages, as well as civilizing ideas, connected with it, will attach some
little consequence to its proceeding, in the mind of the philosopher,
as well as in the view of the politican. 

"But our suspense was not of long duration;— on the firing of a
gun the vessel started from the ways like a shot. — Indeed she went off
with so much velocity, that she had nearly made her way out of the
harbour; for the fact was, that not being very much accustomed to
this business, we had forgotten to place an anchor and cable on
board, to bring her up, which is the usual practice on these occa-
sions; the boats, however, soon towed her to her intended station, and.
in a short time the North West America was' anchored close to the
Iphigenia and the Felice." 

On the 24th September, 1788, Meares sailed for China leaving
Captain Douglas in charge of the establishment at Nootka. Soon
after the departure of the Felice, Douglas, in the Iphigenia, accom-
panied by the North West America sailed for the Sandwich Islands to
speed the winter. The Washington, under Gray, remained at Nootka,
where she was presently joined by Captain Kendrick in the
Columbia. 

And, so the eventful year 1788 drew to a close. All was peace and
tranquillity, but it was the calm before the storm. Little did the chief
actors in those strange scenes irnagine that their operations were 

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BRITISH COLUMBIA 133 

destined to change the complexion of subsequent events, to divert the
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128 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

themselves, fifty were selected as fully sufficient for the purposes of
the voyage; they were, as has been already observed, chiefly handi-
craftmen of various kinds, with a small proportion of sailors who
had been used to the junks which navigated every part of the Chinese
Seas." 

The object of the expedition was to establish a factory or base at
Nootka Sound, where a small vessel was to be built for the coasting
trade. 

On the evening of January izd, 1788, the Felice sailed from
the Typa. After visiting the Sandwich Islands a course was
laid for the Northwest Coast of America and on the 13th day of
May after a stormy voyage, the Felice "happily anchored in Friendly
Cove, in King George's Sound, abreast of the village of Nootka, in
four fathoms of water, and within a hundred yards of the shore; after
a passage of three months and twenty-three days from China." A
large concourse of natives welcomed the vessels and in a short time
the ship was surrounded with a great number of canoes, filled with
men, women, and children. Comekcla, a native of Nootka. who had
been carried to China by an earlier expedition, was restored to his
friends, "dressed in a scarlet regimental coat decorated with brass
buttons, and with a hat set off with a flaunting cocade, decent linens
and other appendages of European dress, which was far more than
sufficient to excite the extreme admiration of his countrymen." The
occasion was celebrated with a magnificent feast of whale blubber and
oil, and the evening was passed in great rejoicing. A day or two later
Maquilla and Callicum, two of the noted chiefs of the Sound, visited
Meares. They were accompanied bv a fleet of war canoes which
moved in procession round the ship, while the crews sang "a pleas-
ing though sonorous melody." It will be recalled that the natives of
this place accorded a similar welcome to Captain Cook in the year
1778. Each canoe contained eighteen men clad in robes of the most
beautiful skins^f the sea-otter, whicTi covered them from their necks
to their ankles, a sight which must have further excited the cupidity
and warmed the hearts of the furtraders. 

Without loss of time Meares proceeded to establish a base for his
future trading operations. A present of copper, iron and other arti-
cles secured the good-will of Maquilla, who, "most readily consented
to grant us a spot of ground in his territory, whereon a house might
be built for the accommodation of the people we intended to leave 

I 

CALUCUM AM) MA(>U I I.I, A
Cliiefs (if X(i(itk:i Sc.iiinl 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 129 

there." Maquilla also promised to protect the men who were to
remain at Nootka. In return for his assistance and protection, Ma-
quilla was given a pair of pistols and Callicum was also rewarded
with suitable presents. This was the genesis of the famous Nootka
afifair of the following year. 

On the ground granted by Maquilla, a house was built, which is
thus described by Meares: "On the ground-floor there was ample
room for the coopers, sail-makers, and other artisans to work in bad
weather; a large room was also set apart for the stores and provisions
and the armourer's shop was attached to one end of the building and
communicated with it. The upper story was divided into an eating
room and chambers for the party. On the whole, our house, though
it was not built to satisfy a lover of architectural beauty, was admir-
ably well calculated for the purpose for which it was destined, and
appeared to be a structure of uncommon magnificence to the natives
of King George's Sound." 

Meares adds: "A strong breastwork was thrown up round the
house, enclosing a considerable area of ground, which, with a cannon
placed so as to command the Cove and the village of Nootka, formed
■ a secure fortification. Within a short distance of the breastwork was
laid the keel of a vessel of Forty or fifty tons. In short every prepara-
tion was made for an extended occupation of the place." 

The men were all now busily engaged in building the house and
the vessel, and in trading with the natives; but this is not the place for
a full and particular account of Meares' enterprise at Nootka. Ref-
erence should be made however, to the fact, that before proceeding
on his voyage Maquilla was again requested to protect the shore party
in the absence of the ship. "As a bribe to secure his attachment," says
Meares, "he was promised, that when we finally left the coast he
should enter into full possession of the house and all the goods and
chattels thereunto belonging." It will be remembered that this state-
ment was used later by the Americans in the Oregon Boundary dis-
pute, to prove that Meares' occupation of Nootka Sound was nothing
more than a temporary expedient. It appears nevertheless that that
officer fully intended to establish a post there, as will be shown later. 

The Felice then sailed for Clayoquot, where two weeks were spent
m trading with the Indians. She then passed down the coast to the
Strait of Juan de Fuca which Meares named without reference to the
journals and chart of Captain Barkley, thus implying that the dis- 

Tol I— ft 

130 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

covery was his own. In view of the fact that Meares had obtained
from John Henry Cox, of Canton, Barkley's chart of the coast as well
as information from Hanna, Lowrie, and Guise, his conduct on this
occasion is at least open to question. 

Dr. C. F. Newcombe, in his monograph entitled "The first
circum-navigation of Vancouver Island," gives Mrs. Barkley's ex-
planation as to how it was that her husband's papers came into the
possession of Meares. It is as follows : "Captain Meares got posses-
sion of my journal and plans from the persons in China to whom he
was bound under a penalty of £5,000 to give them up for a certain
time, for, as these persons stated, mercantile objects, they not wishing
the knowledge of the coast to be published. Captain Meares, how-
ever, published and claimed the merit of my husband's discoveries
therein contained." 

Continuing the voyage the Felice sailed down the coast in search
of the large river said to have been discovered by the Spaniards under
the forty-sixth parallel. Meares found the bay into which the Colum-
bia river debouches, but in attempting to make a landing shallow
water and the breakers on the bar forced him to relinquish the
attempt. His cursory examination of this bay led Meares to remark:
"We can now with safety assert, that there is no such River as that
of Saint Roc as laid down in the charts." To commemorate his fail-
ure to discover the Great River of the West, the explorer named
the bay Deception Bay and the promontory to the northward thereof,
Cape Disappointment. 

Upon returning northward, the Felice anchored in Barkley
Sound on July nth (1788), Meares having determined to explore
the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The mate, Duffin, was accordingly
despatched in the longboat, with instructions to explore the strait
discovered by Barkley in the previous year. According to Meares,
Duffin sailed nearly thirty leagues up the strait, which at that dis-
tance from the sea was, he alleges, about fifteen leagues broad, with a
clear horizon to the east for fifteen leagues more. "Such an
extraordinary circumstance," Meares goes on to say, "filled us with
strange conjectures as to the extremity of this strait, which w^ con-
cluded, at all events, could not be at any great distance from Hudson's
Bay." In this statement Meares' fertile imagination found full play,
for from Duffin's own journal it is sufficiently evident that he did not
reach a point more than ten or twelve leagues from Tatoosh Island 

THE DISLO\ERV OX THE ROCKS IX yUEEX CHARLOTTE'S SOLXD 

THE E.U M II (II- THE XnKIll \\ Ks T A.MEKKA AT MiOTKA S(U Nl) 

124 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

Cloak Bay, Hippa Island, and Cape St. James still survive. Round-
ing the southern extremity of the group on the 25th day of July, 1787,
Dixon continued his voyage northward along the eastern shore, until
he sighted the high mountains which had been seen when crossing
the Sound that separates the Queen Charlotte Islands from the Prince
of Wales archipelago. ''This circumstance," writes the author of
Dixon's voyage, "clearly proved, the land we had been coasting along
for near a month, to be a group of islands," which were accordingly
named The Queen Charlotte's Isles after Dixon's ship the Queen
Charlotte. 

From the pages of Dixon's journal, published in the form of a
series of letters, one may gather an idea of the manner in which the
furtrade was conducted. Thus it is recorded in the journal, under
the date of July 2, 1787, while the Queen Charlotte was off Cloak
Bay, that: 

"A scene now commenced, which absolutely beggars all descrip-
tion, and with which we were so overjoyed, that we could scarcely
believe the evidence of our senses. There were ten canoes about the
ship, which contained as nearly as I could estimate, 120 people;
many of them brought most beautiful beaver cloaks; others excellent
skins, and, in short, none came empty handed, and the rapidity with
which they fold them was a circumstance additionally pleasing; they
fairly quarelled with each other about which should sell his cloak
first, and some actually threw their furs on board, if nobody was at
hand to receive them; but we took particular care to let none go
from the vessel unpaid. Toes were almost the only article we bar-
tered with on this occasion and indeed they were taken so very
eagerly, that there was not the least occasion to ofifer anything else.
In less than half an hour we purchased near 300 sea otter skins, of
an excellent quality; a circumstance which greatly raised our spirits,
and the more, as both the number of fine furs, and the avidity of the
natives in parting with them were convincing proofs, that no traffic
whatever had recently been carried on near this place, and conse-
quently we might expect a continuation of this plentiful commerce.
That you may form some idea of the cloaks we purchased here, T
shall just observe that they generally contain three good sea otter
skins, one of which is cut in two pieces, afterwards they are neatly
sewed together, so as to form a square and are loosely tied about the
shoulders with small leather strings fastened on each side." 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 125 

Continuing the voyage Dixon noticed and named Hippa Island,
off which he shortened sail in order to allow the natives to come
up with the vessel. Hippa Island is described as having "a very
singular appearance, and on examining it nearer, we plainly per-
ceived that they (the natives) lived on a small island and well
fortified after the manner of a hippah, on which account we distin-
guished this place by the name of Hippah Island." The fortifica-
tion was evidently well placed, for, says the journal, the access
to it from the beach is steep and difficult of access, while the other
sides were barricaded with pines, brushwood and fences of rails and
boards, which rendered the stronghold almost impregnable. 

The journal devotes many pages to a description of the manners
and customs of the Indians met with in this quarter, but these ob-
servations are of more interest to the ethnologist than to the historian.
It may be said in passing, however, that of the peculiar customs of
these people none excited as much curiosity as the labrette, or lip
ornament, of the women of the Queen Charlotte Islands, which is
frequently mentioned in the journals of the traders. Captain Dixon
was anxious to purchase one of these extraordinary ornaments, but
the old woman to whom it belonged refused to part with it. Article
after article was offered, only to be rejected. At last however, one
of the sailors happened to show "the old lady," a few bright buttons,
which caught her fancy, and in the end, she willingly parted with
her cherished possession, which measured three and seven-eighths
inches long by two and five-eighths inches. It was inlaid with a
small pearly shell and decorated with a rim of copper. 

In conversation with an old chief, the author of the journal gath-
ered that the natives were addicted to cannibalism, though he is care-
ful to add that he did not understand the chief clearly enough to
assert "positively" that the warriors slain in battle were eaten by the
victors — "yet there is every reason to fear that this horrid custom
is practiced on this part of the coast." As a matter of fact it is highly
unlikely that cannibalism was practiced by any of the natives of the
Northwest Coast. It is true that it is asserted in more than one diary
that the custom prevailed, but the idea seems to have arisen from a
wrong conception of certain ceremonial rites. 

Each tribe of the Queen Charlotte Islands was governed by its
respective chief, but the family occupied an important place in the
social organization of these primitive peoples. Here as elsewhere 

126 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

on the coast the chief usually traded for the whole tribe, but it does
not appear that he had the right to dispose of articles without the
consent of the owners. Sometimes the women did the bargaining.
The journal concludes an interesting account of the natives with the
following passage: 

"In addition to what I have occasionally said, respecting the sav-
age temper and brutal disposition of the people of these Islands, I
cannot help remarking, that there is a kind of ferocity even in their
manner of singing. It must be allowed, that their songs, are per-
formed with regularity, and in good time, but they are entirely des-
titute of that pleasing modulation and harmony of cadence, which
we had invariably been accustomed to hear in the songs at other parts
of the coast." 

The voyage was commercially successful, no less than one thou-
sand, eight hundred and twenty-one sea-otter skins being obtained
at the Queen Charlotte Islands. It was not always an easy matter to
please the natives, because, "so great a number of traders required
a variety of trade, and we were frequently obliged to produce every
article before we could please our numerous friends." That the
traders were more than pleased with the result of their operations
in this particular quarter is proved by an entry in the journal which
runs: "Thus in one fortunate month has our success been much
greater than that probably of both vessels during the rest of the voy-
age — So uncertain is the fur trade on this inhospitable coast.'' 

Leaving the Queen Charlotte Islands, the Queen Charlotte sailed
for Nootka Sound, and on August 8th she spoke the Prince of
JVales, Captain Colnett. and the Princess Royal, Captain Duncan,
these vessels having sailed from England in September, 1786. Mr.
John Etches (brother of Richard Cadman Etches), who was on
board the Prince of IFales. informed Dixon that they had spent a
month in Nootka but had done very little business, as Captain Bark-
ley in the Imperial Eagle had arrived there before them. This in-
telligence caused Di.xon to change his plans and he accordingly
sailed for China by way of the Sandwich Islands. Dixon arrived in
England in September, 1788, and in the following year published the
account of his voyage written by his supercargo, William Beresford. 

Meanwhile Captain Portlock having cruised along the North-
west Coast, sailed for China. Portlock and Dixon were very suc-
cessful, having been fortunate enough to acquire between them no 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 127 

less than two thousand, five hundred and fifty-two skins, which
realised $54,857 in China. 

The published accounts of this expedition give much valuable
information respecting the furtrade as it was conducted in the early
days, and the charts of the commanders contributed not a little to
geographical knowledge. Portlock also published a narrative which
was dedicated to King George 111. Of the two works, ' Captain
Dixon's is the more valuable, chiefly because of its interesting
description of the Queen Charlotte Islands. 

It would be impossible to give an extended account of all the
voyages to the Northwest Coast which by this time had become a
favourite haunt of many adventurers, but no history of the furtrad-
ing era could be complete did it not contain some reference to the
second voyage of John Aleares, who achieved a unique distinction in
the annals of Northwestern America. Undaunted by his first expe-
rience, this worthy had no sooner returned to China than he set about
the organization of that expedition which was destined to alter not
only the whole trend of political events at that period but also the
future of international politics. In January, 1788, JMeares purchased
and fitted out two vessels, named respectively, the Felice and the
Iphif/eniti, the former of two hundred and thirty tons, the latter of
two hundred tons burden. Meares commanded the Felice, while
the command of the Iphiijenia was given to Captain Douglas, who
had already visited the coast of America. The crews consisted of
Europeans and Chinese, the latter being shipped as an experiment.
Meares' remarks upon the characteristics of the Chinese, although
written so long ago, are not without practical interest even in their
latter day application. "They have," he says, "been generally
esteemed an hardy and industrious, as well as an ingenious race of
people; they live on fish and rice, and, requiring but low wages, it
is a matter also of economical consideration to employ them; and
during the whole of the voyage there was every reason to be satisfied
with their services. If hereafter trading posts should be established
on the American coast a colony of this kind would be a very im-
portant acquisition." Meares continues: "A much greater num-
ber of Chinese solicited to enter this service than could be received;
and so far did the spirit of enterprise influence them, that those they
were under the necessity of refusing gave the most unequivocal marks
of mortification and disappointment. From the many who offered 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 121 

•in the Royal Navy, commanded the Sea Otter. The Nootka sailed
on the second of March, and after an unusually tedious voyage arrived
at a Russian settlement in Unalaska, of which an interesting descrip-
tion is given in Meares' journal. Sailing thence on the 20th of
August, the Nootka anchored in Captain Cook's Snug Corner Cove
in Prince William Sound, where the Sea Otter was to meet her con-
sort. Tipping had made this inlet earlier in the season, and he left
the port before Meares' arrival. The Sea Otter was never heard of
again, and it is all too evident that she was lost at sea with all hands.
As the winter had already set in and it being considered inadvisable
to run for the Sandwich Islands, Meares determined to spend "an
inhospitable winter" in Prince William Sound. Accordingly the
Nootka was moved to a good harbour some fifteen miles distant from
Snug Corner Cove, where every preparation was made for the winter.
In the meantime the natives made their appearance, but they had few
skins, so after all nothing was gained by wintering in the North. 

Meares gives a vivid description of the situation of the vessels at
this time. "While" he says, "we were thus locked in, as it were, from
the chearful light of day, and the vivifying warmth of solar rays, —
no other comforts presented themselves to compensate in any degree,
for the scene of desolation which encircled us. — While the tremendous
mountains forbade almost a sight of the sky, and cast their nocturnal
shadows over us in the midst of day, the land was impenetrable from
the depth of snow, so that we were excluded from all hopes of any
recreation, support or comfort, during the winter, but what could
be found in the ship and ourselves." But this was only the begin-
ning of the troubles of the unfortunate men cooped up in the Nootka. 

The vessel was no longer capable of resisting the intense cold,
and frost stood an inch thick below the deck. Then, as if this were
not enough, an acute form of scurvv attacked the crew, and before
long no less than twenty-three men, including the surgeon, were con-
fined to their beds. The disorder became so virulent that before the
weather changed there was scarcelv a healthv man on board. Then
the surgeon died and the survivors were deprived of medical aid.
Meares gives a pathetic account of the expedition at this time.
'Everv advantage," he writes in his journal, "the sick could receive
from the most tender and vigilant attention, they receiveii from my-
self, the first officer and a seaman, who were yet in a state to do tliom
that service. But still we continued to see and lament a gradual 

122 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

diminution of our crew from this terrible disorder. Too often did I
find myself called to assist in performing the dreadful office of drag-
ging the dead bodies across the ice, to a shallow sepulcher which our
own hands had hewn out for them on the shore. The sledge on which
we fetched the wood was their hearse and the chasms in the ice their
grave." 

So the winter wore away to the accompaniment of death and dis-
aster. At last spring returned and with it came relief in the Queen
Charlotte from London, under the command of Captain George
Dixon, who had been informed of Meares' predicament by the natives.
Meares says that Captain Dixon was welcomed "as a guardian angel,
with tears of joy." The Queen Charlotte was joined presently by
her consort the Kiny George, under Captain Portlock. 

Captain Portlock and Captain Dixon did all that they could to
assist the unfortunate crew of the Nootka, the former allowing two
of his men to ship on board the Nootka to help her emaciated crew
in navigating the vessel. 

Strange as it may seem, this meeting, fortunate as it was for the
Nootka, gave rise to a heated controversy between Meares and Dixon,
which found expression in a series of pamphlets and letters which
were later published in England. Among other things, Dixon said
that the scurvy had been aggravated by drunkenness, an assertion
which Meares contradicted with some heat. Mutual recriminations
followed thick and fast, in the course of which Dixon compared
Meares' map of the coast to "an old wife's butter pat." It appears
that in return for the assistance rendered him, Meares was expected
to return at once to China, leaving the coast to Portlock and Dixon.
But Meares carried on a profitable trade on his voyage southward. 

The Nootka set sail from the Sound on the 21st of June to the
"infinite joy of her crew," of whom no less than twenty-three had died
from exposure and scurvy in the course of the winter. After spend-
ing a month in the Sandwich Islands, Meares sailed for China, arriv-
ing at Macao on the 20th of October, 1787. 

The enterprise was disastrous in many respects, but the failure
did not dampen Meares' ardour, for in the following year he organ-
ized another expedition, having Nootka for its objective point. 

Meares' first voyage, with all its hardships and privations, is
typical of the furtrading expeditions, although few of them were
so unfortunate as that which sailed in the Nootka. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA m 

The iie\t voyage to deserve attention is that of Captains Portlock.
and Dixon in the King George and Queen Charlotte, the same vessels
that found Meares in such a perilous situation in Prince William
Sound. That expedition was among the first to sail from lingland
for the new field, all of the ships previously mentioned, with the
exception of the Imperial Eagle, having sailed from China or India.
The enterprise was conceived in a broad and liberal spirit, for mone-
tary profit was not the sole aim of the promoters, who hoped to add
to the world's store of scientific knowledge, both in discovery and
the gathering of information respecting the fauna and flora of the
Northwest Coast of North America. 

The novelty of the enterprise attracted the attention of Sir Joseph
Banks, Lord Mulgrave and other prominent men. The Secretary of
the Treasury named the larger vessel, a ship of three hundred and
twenty tons, the King George, and the smaller one, a snow of two
hundred tons, the Queen Charlotte. Richard Cadman Etches seems
to have been the moving spirit in the enterprise. He and other trad-
ers entered into a partnership, under the title of the King George's
Sound Company, the object of which was to promote trade in fur
between the west coast of America and China. A license was
obtained from the South Sea Company, which corporation still levied
tribute upon British merchants under the provisions of its monopo-
listic charter. A similar license was also procured from the P2ast
India Company. It will be recalled that George Dixon had sailed
with Captain Cook as armourer of the Discovery, while Portlock had
also served under that famous officer as master's mate. 

The vessels sailed from London on the 29th of August anil from
the Downs on the 2d of September, ijHc;. They doubled the
Cape of Good Hope and arrived at Cook's River in July of the fol-
lowing year. After wintering at the Sandwich Islands in accordance
with the general practice of the early traders, Portlock and Di.xon
again sailed for the Northwest Coast, where they found the \ootka,
as related. After trading in the vicinity of Prince 'William Sound,
the vessels separated in order to cover as much territory as possible.
Dixon left the Hazy Islands towards the end of June and two or three
days later crossed the entrance to the large opening afterwards named
in his honour bv Sir Joseph Banks. Leaving North Island, the
Queen Charlotte hugged the west coast of the Queen Charlotte
group. Of the names which appear on Dixon's maps, North Island, 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 119 

which he named Quadra and Vancouver to commemorate his con-
ference with Senor Bodega y Quadra at No(Jtka Sound. It is only
fair to add that it is recorded in Dixon's voyage that Etches averred
that no great dependence could be placed on M'Key's story, as he
was "a very ignorant young fellow," but in the light of later events
there seems no reason to distrust M'Key on this point. At any rate,
his story is interesting, because no doubt it helped to inspire John
Meares' "butter pat map," the history of which will be recorded
presently. 

Another expedition -of this early period w-as that of Captain
Peters in the Lark, a snow of two hundred and twenty tons and a
crew of forty men. The expedition sailed from Macao in July, 1786,
with orders to make the Northwest Coast by way of Kamchatka.
Captain Peters' voyage ended disastrously, for the vessel w^as lost on
Copper Island, only two of the crew being saved. 

Of the earliest expeditions, that commanded by Captain Bark-
ley of the British trading ship Imperial Eagle is deserving of more
than passing notice. Captain Walbran, in his valuable work "Brit-
ish Columbia Coast Names," gives a brief but interesting account
of this expedition. The Imperial Eagle, formerly the East India-
man Loudoun, a fine vessel of four hundred tons, ship-rigged and
mounting twenty guns, sailed under Austrian colours to obviate the
necessity of procuring a license from the East India Company, which,
under the provisions of its charter that corporation had the right to
demand from British merchants. Captain Barkley, who was only
twenty-five years of age, had invested three thousand pounds in the
venture. The ship sailed from the Thames in August, 1786, for Ost-
end, where she hoisted the Austrian colours. Here Captain Barkley
met and married Miss Frances Hornby Trevor, then seventeen years
of age. Mrs. Barkley, who accompanied her husband, was the first
white woman to visit the Northwest Coast. Her lively and enter-
taining diary, which has been preserved to this day, is an important
source of historical information. Captain Barkley arrived at Nootka
Sound in June, 1787, where a large number of sea-otter skins were
soon obtained, largely through the aforesaid M'Key's assistance. 

On leaving Nootka Captain Barkley entered and named Bark-
ley Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Frances and
Hornby Peaks were so called after his wife, Cape Beale after the
purser of the Imperial Eagle, and the young commander also named 

120 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

many other places in this great inlet. Of these names, "Cape Beale"
and "Barkley Sound" are the only ones to be found on modern maps. 

Continuing his voyage in a southeasterly direction Captain Bark-
ley made an important discovery, aptly described by Mrs. Barkley
as "A large opening extending to the eastward, the entrance of which
appeared to be about four leagues vvide and remained about that
width as far as the eye could see, with a clear easterly horizon, which
my husband immediately recognized as the Strait of Juan de Fuca,
and to which we gave the name of the original discoverer, my hus-
band placing it on his chart." 

Shortly after the discovery of the entrance to the Strait of Juan
de Fuca a tragic accident befell a boat's crew of the Imperial Eagle,
all of whom were killed by the natives near the spot named Martyr's
Point by the Spaniards to commemorate a similar occurrence of an
earlier day. The island near by was named Destruction Island —
the Isla de Dolores of Bodega y Quadra. Thence the Imperial Eagle
proceeded to China, where her cargo of eight hundred furs was sold
for thirty thousand dollars. 

In 1792 Captain Barkley, again accompanied by his wife, returned
to the coast in the Brig Halcyon. But this time he did not proceed
farther south than Norfolk Sound, now called Sitka. Captain Wal-
bran records, upon the authority of Mrs. Barkley's journal, that sub-
sequently the Halcyon was stolen by a man in whose charge she had
been placed; but, strange to say, Captain Barkley found and recov-
ered his vessel in Boston several years later. 

It was at this time that the notorious John Meares made his first
appearance on the coast. He had been in the Royal Navy, attain-
ing the rank of lieutenant in 1778. Upon the conclusion in 1783 of
the war between Great Britain and Spain and France, he retired from
the service to take command of a merchant ship on a voyage to India.
While at Calcutta Meares conceived the project of forming a com-
pany to engage in the furtrade on the American coast. In com-
mon with many adventurers of that age, he was spurred to activity
by the glittering prophesies, concerning the future of this commerce,
which obtained currency immediately after the publication of Cook's
Voyage. Having purchased the Nootka of two hundred tons and
the Sea Otter of one hundred tons, preparations were forthwith made
to carry the design into execution. Meares himself took command
of the Nootka, and William Tipping, who had also been a lieutenant 

I 

z 

S 

z 

•/3 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 115 

hunting ground of the furtrader, who poked the prow of his little
vessel into every bay and harbour in his search for Indian villages
from which might be obtained the furs he so greatly coveted. Thus
the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Barkley Sound, Clayoquot Sound, Nootka
Sound, Kyuquot Sound, Quatsino Sound, Queen Charlotte's Sound,
Fitzhugh Sound, Millbank Sound, Chatham Sound, and Dixon
Entrance soon became well-known. The long fiords and intricate
channels to which the larger passages gave access, were also explored
to some extent. 

In fine, the Northwest Coast suddenly became the scene of a keen
commercial rivalry, in the course of which the competitors suffered
many hardships and braved many dangers, all for the sake of the rich
fur of the sea-otter, so highlv prized by the mandarins of China.
Adventurers of many nations foregathered here to pit their wits
against the native Indian and against each other. Nor was the trade
conducted without loss of life and property, it is true that tiie
natives were generally more or less amenable, nevertheless, many
tragic incidents occurred before the sea-otter was extirpated in
that (]uarter. The natives seized several vessels and in the literature
of the Coast one mav read the gruesome details of these incidents.
Tlie piratical attempts of the Indians, which it must be confessed
were in some instances provoked by the callous behaviour of tiic fur-
traders themselves, were followed bv reprisals in w hich manv natives
were killed. 

.As the adventurer sailed up and down the coast he found harbours
and anchorages, of which he drew rough charts for his own guidance,
or fgr the information of his employers. His sketches, however, u ere
not always calculated to throw light on the situation, for if the truth
were told, the rival traders generally desired to keep to themselves
the exact position of villages noted for their yield of skins, in tiie
keen compctiti(jn of those exciting days, the furtrader even went
out of his way to mislead his competitors, a fact which is noted in
John Meares' Voyage. "S'et in spite of the petty rivalries of indi-
viduals and the haphazard method of precedurc, the furtrading
period was productive of a large assortment of local charts, which
are interesting today because they reveal the movements of the mer-
chant adventurers and their intimate knowledge of certain parts of
the coast. The careful survey of Captain Vancouver, however, soon
superseded the sporadic efiforts of the individual and the maps of the 

116 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

furtrader have long since been forgotten. But the charts gathered
together and published from time to time by Alexander Dalrymple,
hydrographer to the Admiralty, prove conclusively that the trader
bore his part in the work of exploration. Captain Vancouver him-
self on more than one occasion acknowledged his indebtedness to the
early adventurers. 

While treating of the scene of the furtraders' feuds and activities,
it should be mentioned that of the large islands which form so
conspicuous a feature of the Northwest Coast, with the exception of
Vancouver Island, none attracted so much attention as the Queen
Charlotte Islands, so named at this time. The peculiarly prominent
position of that important group naturally led to its early discovery
and the immediate exploitation of its fur resources. Moresby, Gra-
ham, and Kunghit Islands proved a fruitful source of wealth, as is
attested by the log of more than one vessel. The capes, bays, and
inlets of the Queen Charlotte Islands bear mute testimony to the work
of the furtrader, for many of them were named by him or in his
honour. Likewise, the nomenclature of the continental coast and its
fringe of islands recalls the stirring events of those early days. In-
deed, the names bestowed by the furtrader upon the headlands, bays,
and islands of the Northwest Coast serve to commemorate an extra-
ordinarily active and intensely interesting era in the annals of that
region. As a matter of fact, some scattered names, a few pamphlets
and charts, and a smaller number of bulky volumes of exploration,
are the only monuments to the prowess of the adventurer. Unre-
garded and forgotten as it now is, that prowess is memorable because
it illustrates the indomitable spirit of the Anglo-Saxon race, and be-
cause it shows in a peculiarly instructive manner what the British
Empire owes to private enterprise. 

Owing to the great distance between European ports and the
Northwest Coast, the earliest expedition started from China, and it is
a fact of some interest that that country was brought into touch with
North America by means of the furtrade. China afforded the most
lucrative market for the furs obtained on the American coast and
Chinese sailors and artisans were employed on some of the vessels.
Several expeditions sailed from Canton and Macao. Before long,
however, the shipping houses of the leading British ports, notably
London and Bristol, and some of the merchants of the Atlantic sea-
ports of the United States, particularly those of the Port of Boston, 

oMAJ^ry\^f)A^ 

Eneravcd by llldley, from an original dniwlng by John liicuvn. 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 117 

determined to exploit the new Held. In the last quarter of the eight-
eenth century many ships sailed from Great Britain and from the
New England States for the North Pacific. 

The first expedition to the region under discussion sailed from
China under Captain James Hanna, who commanded a small brig
of sixty tons, carrying a crew of thirty men. The brig left the Typa
in April, 1785, and reached Nootka in August of the same year. Cap-
tain George Dixon is the authority for the statement that soon after
the arrival of the brig at Nootka the natives attempted to board her
in open day. In the fray that followed many of the natives were
killed. Apparently this lesson was not lost upon the Nootkans, 'for
they afterwards traded quietly and peaceably. It is said that Captain
Hanna procured a valuable cargo of furs, though his profits are not
known. He left Nootka towards the end of September and reached
Macao in December. The furs were sold at Canton in March, 1786,
for a little more than $20,000. So it may be reckoned that the first
trading voyage was successful. The accounts of the venture are so
meagre that it is difficult to say exactly what places were visited by
Captain Hanna. Apparently he did most of his trading at or in the
vicinity of Nootka. 

While Captain Hanna's voyage of 1785 is the first of which there
is any authentic record, it was not the first to be proposed. Captain
Dixon of the Queen Charlotte relates that as early as the year 1781^ —
Cook's expedition returned in 1780 — one William Bolts fitted out the
Cobenzell, an armed ship of seven hundred tons, for the Northwest
Coast of America. According to the arrangements made, she was to
have sailed from Trieste, accompanied by a tender of forty-five tons.
The vessel was fitted out for both trade and discovery. Men of high
scientific attainments were engaged for the expedition and the courts
of Europe were approached with a view of securing a safe pass-port
for these vessels and a good reception at foreign ports. Unfortu-
nately, the venture was "overturned by a set of interested men, then
in power at Vienna." Portlock and Dixon's veiled allusions to this
expedition contain all the published information on the subject. 

In May, 1786, Captain Hanna again sailed from Macao, this time
in the Sea Otter, of one hundred and twenty tons. He reached Nootka
Sound in August, nnlv to find that he had been preceded by Captain
Lowric and Captain Guise, in command of the Captain Cook of three
hundred tons and the snow Experiment of one hundred tons, fitted 

118 ' BRITISH COLUMBIA 

out in Bombay. These vessels reached Nootka towards the end of
June, 1786, proceeding thence to Prince William Sound. After a
short stay there Lowrie and Guise sailed for Macao. Hanna's sec-
ond venture was not by any means so profitable as his hrst, for upon
this occasion he procured but one hundred whole sea-otter skins and
three hundred odd pieces. The furs were sold at Macao on the 8th
of February, 1787, for eight thousand dollars, a poor return upon the
time and money invested in the enterprise. 

Lowrie and Guise were more successful, obtaining six hundred
and four skins and odd pieces of fur, which fetched $24,000 in China,
or an average of forty dollars each. Apparently nearly all of the
skins were obtained at Nootka. John M'Key, the surgeon of the
e.xpedition, was left at that port for the purpose of recruiting his
health and ''to learn the language and to ingratiate himself with the
natives so that if any other vessels should touch there he might pre-
vent them from purchasing any furs." M'Key, as far as is known,
was the first European to live among the Indians of the Northwest
Coast for any length of time. Hanna found him here and offered
him a passage in the Sen Otter, which he refused, on the score that he
had begun to relish dried fish and whale oil, and was so satisfied with
the life that he was perfectly contented to stay until the following
vear. M'Key soon had cause to regret his decision, however, for no
sooner had Captain Hanna left the Sound than the natives stripped
him of his clothes and forced him to adopt "their mode of dress and
filthiness of manners." From the accounts of the episode which have
survived, it appears that he was an apt pupil. Mr. Etches, of whom
more will be heard presently, told Captain Dixon that M'Key "was
equally slovenly and dirty with the filthiest of them all." In the
course of his sojourn at Nootka this eccentric man is said to have
mastered the native language and gained an intimate knowledge of
the temper and disposition of the natives, which presently served him
in good stead. It is worth remembering that M'Key penetrated the
country behind Nootka Sound, and that from the reports of the
natives and the knowledge he had gathered on his several excursions
he came to the conclusion that no part of the Nootka Sound coun-
try "was the continent of America, but a chain of detached islands."
Apparentlv, the Indians were aware of the insular character of their
countrv, a fact which was not established by Europeans until the
year 1792, when Captain Vancouver circumnavigated the large island 

CHAPTER VI
THE MARITIME FURTRADERS 

V 

The latter half of the eighteenth century, like that of the sixteenth,
exhibited great enterprise in the discovery of new lands, and com-
mercial activity in the extension of trade to the distant and then lit-
tle known parts of the world. But unlike the earlier period, when
the eyes of the great merchant adventurers of England were turned
almost entirely to the eastern shores of North America, and the dis-
covery of a passage by the North West through the Frozen Sea to the
supposed Eldorado of the great Southern Ocean, attention had
become centred upon the more recently discovered islands of the
South Pacific and the valuable fur trade carried on between China
'' and the storm and mist bound coasts of North West America. The
merchants of almost every important seaport in the kingdom, in
friendly rivalry to the numerous government expeditions, vied with
each other in fitting out ships under the command of skilled seamen,
of whom there was no lack. Trade was the primary object, of course,
but all or nearly all of these private expeditions were fortified with
instructions that no opportunity was to be lost of making fresh dis-
coveries of new islands or continents, which might bring honour and
wealth to themselves and add lustre to the vast and rapidly extending
Empire. 

It must not be thought, however, that British merchants were the
only ones to seek honour and fortune in the new field. On the con-
trary, from the very beginning they met with vigorous competition
from the adventurers of other nations, the enterprising traders of the
United States of America, who carried the flag of their nation into
all seas, being notably active in their opposition. Tt is just such com-
mercial and exploring expeditions as these that are now to come
under review. They accomplished a great deal, and added not a
little to the complicated international disputes of a later day respect-
Ill 

112 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

ing the territorial jurisdictions, of the several countries concerned in
the division of North West America. 

The student of history will be familiar with the manner in which
one era is succeeded by another. A movement, fraught with far-
reaching consequences, and bringing in its train a whole assortment
of political and economic changes, may at first attract but little atten-
tion. Then by degrees it grows and gathers momentum until a new
power is born that with irresistible force sweeps aside old ideas and
pre-conceived notions. Again a sudden acquisition of knowledge
from one source or another may cause a revolutionary change of atti-
tude towards a theory or a country. Even so it was with the vast and
hitherto unknown region of North West America. Captain Cook
had set out to solve the great geographical problem of the age, but,
strange to say, it was not so much his contribution to the solution of
that problem as his discovery of a country rich in fur that invited
public attention to his third and last voyage. It is an ironical com-
ment upon the ambition of man that it often happens that chance dis-
coveries — the by-product of scientific investigation — exercise a more
potent influence in the affairs of the world than the results of years
of laborious research. 

In the course of their protracted visit to Nootka Sound and
Alaska, the officers and men of the Resolution and Discovery fre-
quently bartered with the natives for the furs in which these coasts
then abounded, giving in exchange therefor pieces of metal and
trinkets of small value. The men had no idea at all of the worth of
the skins and used them as bed clothes, or for other odd purposes.
Sometimes they even patched their jackets and breeches or kilts with
the costly fur of the sea-otter. Naturally enough, after such hard
usage, many of the skins were in poor condition when the ships
reached Macao on their homeward voyage. Nevertheless, the Chi-
nese merchants of that port, to the great astonishment of the sailors,
eagerly bargained for the remnants. One of the seamen sold his
stock for no less than eight hundred dollars (Chinese) ; and a few
prime skins which had been carefully preserved were sold for one
hundred and twentv dollars apiece. "The whole amount of the
value," says Lieutenant King, "in specie and goods, that was got for
the furs, in both ships, I am confident, did not fall far short of two
thousand pounds sterling; and it was generally supposed, that at
least two-thirds of the quantity we have originally got from the 

BRITISH COLUMBIA 113 

Americans, were spoiled and worn out, or iiad been given away, and
otherwise disposed of, in Kamtschatka." Lieutenant King concludes
his remarks with the significant observation that "the advantages that
might be derived from a voyage to that part of the American coast,
undertaken with commercial views, appear to me of a degree of im-
portance sufficient to call for the attention of the Public." 

In spite of their long and arduous voyage, the crews of the
Ri'solution and Discovery wished to return at once to Cook's Inlet
to purchase more skins. In fact Lieutenant King goes so far as to
say that "The rage with which our seamen were possessed to return
to Cook's River . . . was not far short of mutiny." The com-
mander himself was scarcely less excited than his men over the dis-
covery of the high esteem in which the beautiful fur of the sea-otter
was held by the wealthy merchants of Canton. He devotes two or
three pages of his journal to a plan for establishing a fur-trade in
the North Pacific, between the American coast and China, by means
of the East-India Company, which still enjoyed its monopoly. 

Before Captain Cook's expedition returned to England war had
been declared between Great Britain and France and Spain. It was
not considered, therefore, an opportune time for the publication of
the results of the voyage. In 1783, however, the war was brought
to an end by the treaty of Versailles and the monumental work on
the great circumnavigator's scientific investigations appeared in the
following year. It is not too much to say, perhaps, that with the
appearance of these quarto volumes and their accompanying folio
of charts and sketches, a new era dawned for the territories border-
ing on the North Pacific. It is true that an account of the voyage by
the assistant surgeon, W. Ellis, had been printed in England in 1782,
and a shorter one by John Ledyard in the United States in 1783, but
neither of these books can be compared to the official edition, which
is one of the great classics of the literature of British seamanship.
The work was translated into many languages and reprinted in all
of the leading countries of Europe. 

Although the officers and men of the Resolution and Discovery
were, by order of the Admiralty, enjoined to secrecy with regard
to their discoveries on the Northwest Coast, and their diaries were
taken from them as a further precaution in that direction, yet it seems
that they did not keep the news to themselves. It would be too much
to expect, perhaps, that the men should refrain from recounting their 

114 BRITISH COLUMBIA 

adventures, in which the eagerness of the Chinese merchants to pur-
chase the fur of the sea-otter played so important a part. They
would have been more than human, if not even a whisper had escaped
theiji upon such a fascinating subject. At any rate it is likely that
before the famous volumes entitled "Voyage to the Pacific Ocean,
undertaken by command of His Majesty, for making Discoveries in
the Northern Hemisphere,"' were given to the world, the exploitation
of the northwest coast had already become a topic of discussion
amongst adventurers. It was not, however, until the official account
of Cook's third and last voyage appeared in 1784 that the new field
for commercial enterprise attracted world-wide attention. Then
private enterprise conceived and carried into efifect the commercial
voyages which in the course of a few years gave a new direction to
the ififairs of the North Pacific. The operations of the furtraders
not only added largely to the world's store of geographical knowl-
edge by bringing an unknown region into prominence, but thev also
gave bone and sinew to the various contentions of Great Britain,
Russia, Spain and the United States in the boundary disputes of a
later period. 

It may be as well at this point to define the region in which the
furtraders carried on their operations and levied their tribute. The
field extended from the coast of California in the south to the Alaskan
posts of the Russians in the north, along a continuous coast line two
thousand miles or more in length, of which the historian of British
Columbia is more particularly concerned with that part which
stretches from the mouth of the Columbia River to the Portland
Canal. The southern part of this particular section of the seaboard
is singularly devoid of headlands, harbours, and inlets, while the
northern part of it is marked with peculiar and distinctive geographi-
cal features. From the mouth of the Columbia River to the entrance
to the Straits of Juan de Fuca the coast extends in an almost unbroken
line; but from that point to Cross Strait in Alaska the coast is deeply
indented by a continuous succession of spacious inlets communicating
with narrow fiords which run far into the continent. 

There is another remarkable feature of the coast between the
forty-eighth and fifty-ninth parallels of north latitude. The con-
tinental shore is effectually masked by groups of large and small
islands which are threaded by a network of intricate channels and
passages. These innumerable islands and inlets became the favourite