During the last two decades of the eighteenth century—1780-1799—Spanish, British, and American ships explored the Northwest Coast of North America, an area which included the coasts of northern Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska.
Spanish
The Spanish, of course, had a long history of exploring, exploiting, and colonizing the southern Pacific Coast of North America and by the end of the eighteenth century were pushing north.
In 1786, a Spanish expedition, sailing from Hawaii, landed at Lituja Bay, Alaska to make repairs to their ships. The Spanish conducted some trade with the Tlingits. To Spanish eyes, the Tlingits appeared to have never had any contact with Europeans. However, one of the most sought-after trade items was iron. According Aurel Krause, in his 1885 book The Tlingit Indians: Results of a Trip to the Northwest Coast of America and the Bering Straits:
“Moreover, it was already well known to them, and almost everyone carried an iron dagger in a leather sheath around the neck, and only occasionally was the blade copper, a metal used freely in all kinds of decoration.”
In British Columbia, the Spanish arrived in Nootka Sound in 1790 to establish a trading post with the Nuu-chah-nulth. In his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 2: A Continent Defined, geographer James Gibson reports:
“They developed close and harmonious relations with the Indians, avoiding sexual contact and trade in firearms.”
The Spanish built Fort San Miguel Castillo with the help of Nuu-chah-nulth Chief Maquinna’s men.
Spanish explorer Francisco de Liza visited the Makahs in Neah Bay, Washington in 1791 and traded 33 sheets of copper for 20 captive small boys and girls. At this time, slavery was common among the tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast and had been an established practice long before European contact. Slaves were generally captured in warfare.
The Spanish established the colony of Nunez Gaona on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in 1792. However, conflict with the Makahs--described by the Spanish as warlike, thievish, and treacherous-- caused the abandonment of the colony. José Cardero, the Spanish artist with the colony, painted the portrait of Chief Tatoosh and his two wives.
In 1792, a Spanish expedition under the leadership of Jacinto Camano made contact with the Tsimshian in present-day British Columbia. The Spanish traded some beads and small metal ornaments with them. The Spanish observed that the Indians had spears about 14-16 feet in length which were tipped with very broad, sharp, iron heads. Camano observed:
“One of their common ornaments consists of three or four rings, worn around the ankle and wrist, made of copper or iron. These are so extremely heavy as to give the idea of being fetters; especially those that some of the women and most of the men wear around neck. These are formed on a twisted, hawser-laid, pattern; and are so large as to reach from one shoulder to the other, as well as partly over the breast.”
British
In 1787, two English ships belonging to King George’s Sound Company engaged in some trading along the Alaska coast. One of the ships traded with the Tlingits. Aurel Krause reports:
“The frequency of pock-marked faces led him to believe that smallpox decimated the population, and because no marks were discernible on children under twelve years, the conclusion might be drawn that the terrible disease was brought in by the Spaniards who wintered in 1775 in harbors of Guadelupe (Sitka Sound) and Salisbury Sound slightly to the south.”
In 1787, the British Royal Navy sailed into Kikatla in present-day British Columbia and found that the Tsimshians already had European trade goods and were eager to obtain more.
In present-day British Columbia, naturalist Archibald Menzies visited the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1787. He collected samples of the tobacco which was being grown by the Haidas. The green tobacco leaves were pounded together with limestone and the resulting mixture, which he described “as big as a hen’s egg,” was then placed in the mouth and sucked.
In 1787, a British vessel flying Portuguese colors in order to circumvent the monopolies of the East India and South Sea Companies was seized by the British authorities in present-day British Columbia. The Nuu-chah-nulth had been benefiting from trade with this vessel and were annoyed by its seizure. During the seizure, Nuu-chah-nulth Chief Callicum was shot and killed by mistake.
The British schooner Jenny sailed up the Umpqua River in present-day Oregon in 1791. The Kuitsh traded otter skins with the ship’s captain.
In 1792 Captain George Vancouver and the crew of the H.M.S. Discovery arrived at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and took possession of the area for England. He names the area New Georgia after King George III. (Note: this area is now the State of Washington.) Vancouver names Puget Sound for his First Lieutenant, Peter Puget, and Mount Rainier in honor of Admiral Peter Rainier. Vancouver Island, the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the city of Vancouver, Washington are, of course, named after Captain George Vancouver.
The Foss Waterway Seaport Maritime Museum in Tacoma, Washington has an exhibit on the H.M.S. Discovery. The Discovery, a sloop-of-war, was built in 1789 for survey purposes. The 100-foot, 10-gun, full-rigged ship had a crew of 100 men. It sailed from England in April 1791 and returned home in October 1795. According to the Museum:
“The primary goals of the British Royal Navy expedition were to chart the West Coast (from California to Alaska), settle claims with rival Spain, and look for the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.”
The ship spent winters in Hawaii restocking supplies and making repairs.
Captain Vancouver noted that many of the Indians in the area have pock-marked faces, that many villages appeared to have been recently abandoned, and that there were many recent graves. This was probably in indication of smallpox acquired from contact with Europeans. Aurel Krause reports:
“The relations which Vancouver had with the natives were not always of a friendly nature.”
The English found that the Indians had firearms and knew how to use them.
In 1793, George Vancouver passed through Heiltsuk territory in present-day British Columbia. While the Heiltsuks were interested in obtaining the European goods through trade, they did not want the ship to land.
Americans
American fur traders—called “Bostons” by Native people because many sailed out of Boston—also explored the coast and attempted to trade with the First Nations.
In 1787, Boston fur trader George Dixon arrived in the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia and obtained 1,821 furs from the Haidas.
In 1788, Robert Gray (1755-1806) sailed the Lady Washington into Tillamook Bay, Oregon. The Tillamooks were reluctant to approach the ship, but the ship’s crew was eager to obtain berries from them as an antidote to scurvy. A small party went ashore where one of the Tillamook men took a cutlass left in the sand by a black sailor named Marcus Lopez. Lopez gave chase and was killed. There followed a running fight between the ship’s shore party and the Tillamooks. The ship opened fire with its canons to chase off the Tillamook canoes.
In his second trading expedition to the Northwest Coast, Captain Gray had sailed from Boston in the fall of 1790 and reached the Pacific Northwest by sailing around South America via Cape Horn and arriving at Vancouver Island in the spring of 1791.
In 1791, John Kendrick sailed the Lady Washington into Barrell’s Sound, British Columbia where the ship was attacked by unidentified natives. According to the American account of the battle, at least 50 natives were killed.
In 1791, the captain of the American ship Hope tried to trade iron rods to the Haidas in exchange for sea otter pelts. The Haidas refused. The captain then had his blacksmith fashion the iron rods into twisted iron collars imitating native neck rings. These new collars quickly became status symbols for the Haidas.
In 1792, the Captain Robert Gray of the American ship Columbia Rediva ordered the destruction of the Nuu-chah-nulth village of Opitsatah, British Columbia in retaliation for insults he felt he had endured during winter and because he feared that they might attack. Over 200 homes were totally destroyed. The village, however, was deserted at the time.
Also in 1792, Captain Robert Gray, searching for more furs, sailed into the large harbor. Ignoring any possibility that the indigenous people who lived in the area might have had a name for it, he named it Bullfinch Harbor in honor of Charles Bullfinch of Boston, one of the owners of the Columbia Rediviva. Later, Captain George Vancouver named it Grays Harbor in honor of Captain Robert Gray, and this is the name that it carries today.
When the ship sailed into the harbor, the Chehalis came out in canoes to greet it. John Boit, the ship’s fifth officer reported:
“Vast many canoes came off, full of Indians. They appeared to be a savage set, and was well arm’d, every man having his Quiver and Bow slung over his shoulder.”
The Americans traded with the Chehalis for some fish and furs. Boit also noted:
“The men were entirely naked, and the women, except a small apron made of rushes, was also in a state of nature. They were stout made, and very ugly.”
When the natives approached again the following day, the ship opened fire on the canoes with their cannons, destroying one canoe with 20 men in it and driving the others off. Boit wrote:
“I am sorry we was obliged to kill the poor Devils, but it could not with safety be avoided.”
In 1792, the American fur trader Captain Robert Gray managed to cross the Columbia River Bar and sailed into the Columbia River. He named the river for his ship, the Columbia Rediviva. The ship’s young fifth mate, John Boit kept a journal in which he recorded:
“The Indians are very numerous, and appear’d very civil (not even offering to steal).”
He described the Indians this way:
“The Men, at Columbia’s River, are strait limb’d, fine looking fellows, and the Women are very pretty. They are all in a state of Nature, except the females, who wear a leaf Apron.”
Russian
The Russian exploration and exploitation of this region has been reported here: Indians 101: Russians and Native Americans in the eighteenth century.
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