1
February.
THE WEST SHORE.
87
HISTORICAL ADVENTURES OX THE
PACIFIC COAST.
BV MRS. F. F. VICTOR.
CAFTA1N GRAY S DISCOVERY OF THK COl.VMHIA.
The results of the collision between
the Spanish and English officers at
Nootka, make an important chapter of
history, though long since forgotten by
any but the educated statesman or the
learned historian. First, there was a
demand on the part of the English
government for redress. This demand
Spain resisted. Then there was the
arming of two large fleets by England,
and the reiterated demand for import
ant concessions on the part of Spain.
As the quarrel proceeded, the King of
France equipped a fleet for the assist
ance of Spain, and thereby got himself
into trouble at home ; for the National
Assembly, taking umbrage at the
King's action, passed an act depriving
the King of the right to make war
without the concurrence of the legisla
tive and executive branches of the gov
ernment. A large marine force was
however raised both by France and by
Holland, allies of the contending par
ties ; and finally, a conference was held
between Great Britain and Spain, the
result of which was a convention called
the Nootka Treaty. This convention
undertook to define the rights of both
nations ; but left affairs in so doubtful
a shape as to cause the abandonment of
Nootka by both parties at that time ;
and ultimately led to the renewal of
hostilities at a period considerably later.
Hanging dreamily over a boat's side,
and enjoying the quiet beauty of Noot
ka harbor to-day, it seems impossible
to believe that less than a century ago
the place had so much of a history.
Nature, serene and silent, pays no heed
to the stormy passions of men the
avarice of nation. They conic and go :
smilingly she crosses every footprint.
Her skies, rocks, mountains nor seas
ever betray the secret to later genera
tions ; while we, ignorant ami nappy
fancy we tread on virgin earth or
on unknown seas.
Hut we are not quite done with the
history of Nootka, because it so hap
pened that the American claim to the
discovery of the Columbia river had to
be sustained by the testimony of the
Spanish officers at that place, when it
became a matter of dispute between
the United States and Great Britain.
We have already spoken of the voyage
made by Capt. Gray through the Strait
of Fuca, and made mention of the fact
that Kendrick and Gray exchanged
' vessels when they met at the mouth of
the Strait, Gray going in the Columbia
to Canton, and' Kendrick remaining to
explore the Gulf of Georgia in the
Sloop Washington.
Capt. Kendrick'l discoveries would
never have been made known, as he
was accidentally killed at the Sandwich
Islands, had it not been that Mr.
Mcares, on returning to London, after
the occurrences, above related, at Noot
ka, was possessed with the ambition
to be thought a discoverer of no small
merit, and a theorist of great acumen.
He started the proposition that this
part of the American continent was
an immense archipelago, ami to sub
stantiate his views gave a highly imag
inative account of the voyage of Ken
drick, made after parting with Gray,
nd before he sailed for China and the
various tribes who inhabit the shores
of the numerous islands that arc situ
ated at the back of Xootka Sound, and
speak, with some little variation, the
language of the Nootka people. The
track of the vessel is marked on the
map (Mcares' chart) and is of great
moment, (as it is now completely ascer.
tamed that Nootka Sound and the parts
adjacent arc islands, and comprehended
within the great northern archipclego.)
The sea also, which is seen to the cast,
is of great extent ; and it is from this
stationary point, and the most westerly
points of Hudson's Hay, that we arc to
orm an estimate ot trie distance nc-
twecn them." He goes on to state that
the Washington sailed "through a sea
extending upwards of eight degrees of
latitude) and came out at the north
ward all of which was written in sup
port of a thought that the whole of
northwest America was a collection of
islands.
That an American vessel had passed ' munition
through the Gulf of Georgia, and came
out at tnc northern end of Vancouvers
Island, would never have been heard of,
had not Mearcs' account of this sea, and
his theory of islands been attacked with
ridicule by other captains who hail been
on the American coast. Compelled
to give his authority, he explained that
he got the story from a gentleman of
irreproachable character wno nan met
with Captain Kendrick in Canton from
whom he got the particulars of the voy
age, with the track ot the vessel. 1 his
:xplanation proves that Gray and Ken-
lrick, two American navigators, were
the first to explore the Strait of Fuca
since the old Greek pilot who gave it
his name, and that they discovered the
Gulf of Georgia.
As Noolka continued to be, up to,
and after the discovery of the Columbia
, r i r i
river, the renaesvuua oi .csscis...
nations, it becomes necessary to bear
this fact in mind, and also to observe
the bearing of the Spanish and Eng
i:..i, ili .. who. hefore the Nootka
l'M Tl.i f,,rmi'd. continued to meet
there.
Hi-fore Martinet was removed from
the post of commandant, in 1709, ne
seized an American vessel, called the
Fair American, commanded by a lad
of eighteen, named Mctcalf. This act
seems, however, to have been a mere
pretence of keeping to general instruc
tions, for the Fair American was im
mediately liberated ; while her consort
Elcnora commanded by Captain Mel-
rM. senior, was not molested. There
seems to have been the best feeling ex
isting between the Spanish and Amer
ican officers all through the Nootkan
trouble ; and in fact, their testimony In
each other's behalf, as against the Eng
lish, was afterwards of the utmost im
nortancc. These two vessels were Irom
New York, via Canton, and after a win
ter trade on this coast they sailed again
vessel. Having collected a cargo of south, on his way to Nootka where
furs, and much interesting information
about the country, which was minutely
detailed in his journal, he left the coast
in time to arrive in Canton Dec. 1st, of
the same year.
On the 2Sth of September, a few
lavs after the Dope, the Columbia,
Capt. Gray, having made a voyage
round the world, left Boston for her
second vovage to this coast by the way
of Cape Horn, and arrived at Clyoquot,
it the entrance to the Strait of uca,
as vet Gray had not been, on this voy
age and with instructions from the
English government to ascertain the
numbat1! situation, and extent of the
settlements already made by civilized
nations; and the nature and direction
of any water passage, which might be
navigated, between the Pacific and the
provinces owned by Great Britain on
the Atlantic side of the continent.
Before the English commissioner and
the American fur-trader meet, let us re-
011 the h of June, making almost the view the position of Spanish afl'aiis
for China, by the way
Islands, where young Mctcalf was kill
ed by the natives, for some indiscretion
in dealing with them ; and his father
barely escaped the same fate.
In 17110 Martinez was superseded by
CapUia Francisco F.lisa, who in a wild
same sailing time as the Hope. From
here Capt. Gray went to Queen Char
lotte's or Washington's Island, as it
was variously called, and according to
his custom, passed a great portion of
the summer in exploring the inlets and
channels along the coast. In one of
these, which he entered in latitude 51
deg. J3 mill., he sailed a hundred miles
without coming to the northern ter-
Vancouver afterwards named
thUftin.lt the Portland Canal. In ex
ploring this passage, Gray had two of
his men murdered by the natives, soon
after this misadventure, he returned to
Clyoquot, where he wintered en shore
in a fortification which he erected, and
called Fort Defiance probably the
first American fort on the west coast.
Here he built the Adventure, and
launched her; and here he came near
being treacherously attacked by the
followers of Wicanish, chief of the sur
rounding country, aided by Tetoocheat-
Hem, another chief, and abetted by a
Sandwich Islander.
Not so, however, was Captain Gray
of the Columbia, from Boston, to end
his adventurous life. He was destined
surely as quietly to put his countrymen
in possession of the key to the north
west coast to discover and to name
the great "River of the est, whose
exact location hail so long evaded the
longing eyes of explorers of all nations.
In the meantime, the Adventurer sailed
for Queen Charlotte's Island, and the
Columbia cruised along the coast south
ward on her destined w ay to an honor
able and imperishable renown.
The effect of Mr. Mcares' publica-
, -e
linna. rono ed Willi ne RCCOUUU ui
- 1
other Englishmen who had visited the
northwest coast of America, stimulated
the English government to fit out an
exploring expedition to make a survey
of the waters that washed these western
shores; and the fact that a commission
was rendered necessary by the recent
treaty with Spain, furnished Hie apology
for such a proceeding. Ihcrcloic,
while Great Britain dispatched the
Discovery, a ship well furnished with
the most improved instruments for a
scientific survey, commanded by Van
couver, a man well qualified for the
work, she was not only looking to
claiming all her rights to whatever
Eivlish propertv might have been left
nt Nootka. but also to establishing new
of the Sandwich ,,..,. , mAiH ho the riirht of dis
covery. There was belonging to this
expedition, besides the Discovery, a
smaller vessel, the Chatham, com-
1...1 1... 1 Ij.nt HrniitT Hon. and a
'.H. Wr. and several I To return to Vancouver
officers whose names were given
Nootka. When Commandante Elba
arrived at that point in the spring of
1790, he brought with him the confis
cated vessel, the Princess Royal, and
two Spanish vessels, the Prineesa and
the San Carlos. The latter he dis
patched, under the command of Saint
Salvador Fidalgo, to inquire into the
progress of the Russian settlements,
and to examine the coast in that direc
tion. But the expedition lasted only
three months, and accomplished very
little.
I'ho prize ship, the Princess lioyal,
was placed in command of Saint Quim-
per, who was ordered to explore the
Strait of Fuca. This attempt at ex
ploration was as feeble as the other,
Saint Qulmper proceeding only about
one hundred miles, when, seeing that
there were channels branching off in
every direction, and not being fitly
prepared for nil extended or thorough
survey, he returned to Nootka, having
done nothing more Important than to
name some of the passages leading from
the eastern end of the Strait as Canal
de Htre, and Hosario Strait. That
channel now called Admiralty Inlet,
was named by Qulmper Canal te
Camano; Port Discovery Port Qua
dra; the bay next west of it, Port
Quimpcr, and Clallam Bay, Port
Xttnc: Gamo.
The following vear, 1791, another
..... .... 1... .u. u..;i.
expedition was sent 0111 oj in ..j.,
authorities, under an Italian navigator,
who began his survey near Mount San
Jacinto, and proceeded to examine the
shore northward, looking still for the
Strait of Anian! After all, it must
have been 11 relief not to have found it;
for it would have been necessary, with
Spanish views of national affairs, to
have fortified, and guarded it from use
by the rest of the world. For Spain
was practicing siill her Immemorial
policy of exclusive right, struggling 10
keep her place among the nations as a
first-rate power, yet sinking lower all
the lime, cursed with a religion that
I would not let her soar, but compelled
her nt last to crawl. Could Spain have
cast olfthe fellers of Romanism in the
I 171b century, her people had the talent
and the ardor to have risen to any
height; failing to do this, they have
gone through the valley of humiliation ;
and yet arc not so humbled but they
show again some signs of awakening
power, w hich in the course of another
Icenturv may restore them to 111c irom
I runk of nation! once more, w hen the
I name of Spaniard shall be a glory in
stead of a reproach.
Tins tab
...-.1 .,,,,1 iharouffhlv eaiunrjed cx-
of a Spanish Government at Noolka.
In September of this year the Ameri
can brig Hope, Captain Ingrabam, left
Boston for the west coast of America,
by the
way, continued to keep up the hc.ion certain localities mat WU. pro.-. , - P . , Eng.
ta n them while tnc r.ngiisn st " 1 .-, " - .
spoken on this continent. ! Sf
As has already Wen -aid, Capt. Gray, I eredit a, a discoverer. Cape lUanco
i will, the ship Columbia, arrived a sec the westernmost pom. on ,ne u
.1 i-..ll....ft.l .,n ofi.-r i- tie ,.. turn ml Mr ffi.ls III 1 IMJt , I t l 1 1 ' - h'" " " " ...
1 fllll W;0 llll'IIHII nirsJia ftft..v. wj 1 UI.' - - - a IT. . . .1 . . ,. I ... ili.
Islands. TheIollow,ng,sa q.,r.r - r-i d wintered near the entrance to the but the change was no. c .s . v
IM rr .. ' u. i.nl,;i. small ruse of the cane itsell, ami the name o,
ion Cantab) Roberts, a o t notion, am. .-.trail ni r 111.1, - - ,. ,
Z Z"are , Caption Magee.of New ves-el, , Adventure, and having di.-! Orford only attache. ,0
rr Z. ',, , .. ,,. ..u..i MM to mr.. him- bor to the south of it. Cape Arago
ork. 1 he nope amseu v . pais.. ... - . s . , ,,,
r a cruise souinwaro, w 1 ;
. . .... I-.I...J- . c .1... .;.. .If xmm Rmnu.
Captain Ingrabam nam.ng . .cc wha, he eou, - - " , , .
,..e, the coas. ... ..... -- - - ,
thus cnitagcd, Vancouver was amine me apie.u.s
from his " Observations on
bit Existence of a Northwest Pass
age.1 "The Washington entered the Straits
of Tin De Fuca, the knowledge of
which she received from u, and pene
trating up them, entered into an exten
) sea. where she steered to the north
. .1 r I.,. ..tr .... .,.11 for cruise southward, to also sun rei s , ........
7)i,
11 harbor on the southeast
where he anchored, .Magee s aou.m, w- ,... h id said in his narra-
in honor of one of the owner, of hi. slowly coming .0 meet h,m from the although Me.re. had
ward, and had communication with the