by Scott Ridley
IN THE COLUMBIA’S WAKE, the rumor mill was rife with talk about her voyage and conditions on the coast. Aside from hearing about Gray’s skirmishing and the killing of Wickaninish’s brother, Kendrick learned that Gray had discovered a river to the south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, thought to be the mythical “Oregon” or “river of the west.” After leaving Vancouver’s ships at the mouth of the strait on April 29, Gray had turned south. Following a few days of skirmishing and trading at present-day Gray’s Harbor, Gray took the Columbia down to the river they had tried to enter a few weeks earlier. According to fifth mate John Boit, on May 12 (according to Gray, May 11) they “saw an appearance of a spacious harbor abrest the Ship” and made a passage between breakers over two sandbars “to a fine river” which “extended to the NE as far as they eye cou’d reach, and water fit to drink as far down as the Bars, at the entrance.” The beach was lined with natives who ran alongside the ship and sold them salmon and furs at very cheap rates: four otter skins for a sheet of copper, beaver skins for two spikes each, and other furs for one spike each.
They stayed until May 15, then went upriver seven or eight miles and landed “to view the Country and take possession.” John Boit described the landscape in glowing terms as clear of brush and fertile for cultivation. “ [T] he river abounds with excellent Salmon, and other River fish, and the Woods with plenty of Moose and Deer, the skins of which was brought us in great plenty … and clear ground in plenty, which with little labor might be made fit to raise such seeds as is necessary for the sustenance of inhabitants, and in short a factory set up here and another at Hancock’s River in the Queen Charlotte Isles, wou’d engross the whole trade of the NW Coast (with the help a few small coasting vessels). Got 150 otter, 300 beaver, and twice the number of other land furs.”
After nearly a week, they returned downriver and, following repeated attempts over a few days, cleared the turbulent surf-wracked bar into open seas on May 20. When they met Vancouver again at Nootka in September, Gray told him of their discovery, and the British commander marked it on his map, calling it “Columbia’s River"—a gesture that would later win Gray a reputation as an explorer.
KENDRICK ALSO HEARD of William Brown’s hostility toward Americans at Friendly Cove. The Butterworth expedition was said to have authorization of the British court to establish settlements, and as commander, Brown wanted to drive the Americans off the coast. It was not surprising. Among the British traders, the Jenny apparently collected no more than three hundred and fifty sea otter skins. And Brown’s three ships were described by Vancouver’s officers as “unsuccessful this, their first season …”
Vancouver and the British merchants were well aware that Kendrick had advance commitments for furs and that this was a significant part of their misfortune. Edward Bell, clerk of the Chatham noted: “Wicananish amongst others frequently receives in advance from the Masters of Vessels (particularly Mr. Kendrick) the value of from 50 to 100 Skins to be paid in a certain time which hitherto he has commonly fulfill’d and when the Butterworth & Jenny were together in that part [August 1792] I have understood they could not purchase a skin as Wickananish was making up a quantity he owed and had likewise made a promise to the person he was in debt to to keep all the skins for him over and above the sum due, that he collected.”
Tied to the aggression of British traders, two warships were onthe coast under the command of George Vancouver. It was said he had been sent by the king to settle the agreement made with Spain. He made claims on Nootka Sound and Clayoquot, and gave an “all or nothing” proposal to Bodega y Quadra on taking over the Spanish compound at Friendly Cove. Quadra refused. As Kendrick understood it, the Spanish commander was attempting to solidify claims too, setting up a second fort just inside the Strait of Juan de Fuca at Neah Bay, and winning a grant of land from Maquinna at Yuquot.
Much of Kendrick’s information came from a new clerk who had joined the Washington‘s crew as they made their repairs at Dirty Butter Bay. John Howell was a former English clergyman who had acted as Quadra’s interpreter in discussions with Vancouver. Eager to be involved in trade, Howell was highly educated and fluent in Spanish, very unusual among the mix of sailors in the East. Howell’s recent past was a string of missteps. After abandoning the clergy, he had emigrated from London to Boston where he became involved with two newspapers. Each one had promptly failed. He then made a hasty departure from town on the Margaret under James Magee, offering to write a history of her voyage. Now he had left Magee without producing the history, and offered his services to Kendrick. Howell’s role with the Lady Washington and Kendrick would grow increasingly dark and curious in the events that were to unfold later.
UNBOWED BY ALL HIS SETBACKS, Kendrick rallied his crew and sailed forty miles east of Macao to Hong Kong Island, a collection of rural fishing villages and small farms. With Spain and Britain each seeking to claim lands on the Northwest Coast, Kendrick thought it best to secure the dream he and his crew were pursuing—a permanent American outpost and port on the Pacific.
At anchor in a small Hong Kong harbor, and undoubtedly with Howell’s assistance, he made one of his bold moves, writing to Thomas Jefferson, the new nation’s first secretary of state. The letter indicated Kendrick’s familiarity with Jefferson’s endeavors to create free and open ports for commerce and his interest in expanding an “empire of liberty” that stretched to the Pacific.
Port Independence, On The Island Of Hong Kong, March 1, 1793
Sir: I have the honor of enclosing to you the copies of several deeds, by which the tracts of land, therein described, situated on islands on the Northwest coast of America, have been conveyed to me and my heirs, forever, by the resident Chiefs of those districts, who, I presume, were the only just proprietors thereof I know not what measures are necessary to be taken, to secure the property of these purchases to me and the Government thereof to the United States; but it cannot be amiss to transmit them to you, to remain in the offices of the Department of State. My claim to those territories has been allowed by the Spanish Crown, for the purchases I made at Nootka, were expressly excepted in a deed of conveyance of the lands adjacent to and surrounding Nootka-sound, executed in September last [September 1792] to El Senor Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, in behalf of his Catholic Majesty, by Maquinnah and the other Chiefs of his tribe, to whom those lands belonged.
When I made these purchases, I did it under an impression that it would receive the sanction of the United States, and that, should an Act of the Legislature be necessary to secure them to me, I should find no difficulty obtaining it. The future commercial advantages which may arise from the fur-trade, besides many other branches which are daily opening to the view of those who visit the Northwest American coast, may, perhaps, render a settlement there worth the attention of some associated company, under the protection of Government. Should this be the case, the possession of lands, previously andso fairly acquired, would much assist in carrying the plan into effect. Many good purposes may be effected by the Union having possessions on that coast, which I shall not presume, Sir, to point out to you; and the benefits which have accrued to individuals, by similar purchases to those I have made, in our own States, are too well known to need a remark.
I have the honor to be, with the utmost respect and esteem, Sir, your very humble servant. John Kendrick.
The letter was received at the State Department with copies of the deeds seven months later on October 24, 1793. While Kendrick had been writing for government recognition, Jefferson was supporting an overland expedition to the West under the leadership of the French botanist André Michaux. This was one of Jefferson’s several attempts since 1783 to encourage overland exploration to the Pacific. The journey was not sponsored by the American government, but by the American Philosophical Society. On behalf of the society, Jefferson advised Michaux to go to the headwaters of the Missouri River and pursue “the largest streams of that river, as shall lead by the shortest way, and the lowest latit
ude to the Pacific Ocean.” The river that was called Oregon “by the latest maps … interlocked with the Missouri for a considerable distance, & entered the Pacific ocean, not far Southward of Nootka sound.” Jefferson considered the information to be gathered of great import for science and “the inhabitants of the United States in particular, to whom your Report will open new Faiths & subject of Commerce, Intercourse, & Observation.”
Interest in the region kept steadily mounting. Jefferson was aware that the Spanish were planning to explore westward from Saint Louis to the Pacific. In 1789, Diego de Gardoqui had written to Floridablanca from New York to urge such a mission. The British had also launched efforts using the Princess Royal‘s former captain Charles Duncan, who had been at Nootka in 1786 to search for a river running westward from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific. And on behalf of a syndicate offur traders known as the North West Company, the British fur trader Alexander Mackenzie was already on his way overland with an expedition. The time of discovery for this region seemed to be at hand.
Although Jefferson was most likely intrigued by Kendrick’s efforts, Congress had taken steps to prevent individuals from making private deals for native lands that would then be acknowledged by the United States. The federal government wanted to retain its prerogative for acquiring land by negotiating treaties for concessions of large tracts. However, this land was far outside the nation’s current boundaries. A new claim on the Pacific presented a whole other scale of problems. France had declared war on Britain on February 1, 1793, and a month later, on the same day Kendrick was writing to Jefferson, France had declared war on Spain. Jefferson was wrestling to keep America neutral in the war that was drawing in all of Europe and threatening American ships. Tensions were also running high with Spain along the “middle land” borders in Georgia, Kentucky, and the Ohio Valley. The frontiersman George Rogers Clark had taken a French commission. Also, the French minister to the United States, Edmund Charles Genet, was encouraging insurrection in Spanish Louisiana and the Floridas and was enlisting other Americans in the cause. Genet disclosed to Jefferson that he planned to establish an independent state in the South, connected by commerce to France and the United States.
Against this background, Kendrick’s claims raised the prospect of provoking both Britain and Spain. Kendrick had been told by Joseph Barrell that the purchase of lands could be authorized by Congress after the fact. This was true, but the time for Congress to become involved and extend its territory was not ripe: annexing lands on the Pacific at this point posed too great a risk.
Unaware of the larger pressures faced by Jefferson and the Congress, Kendrick hoped for federal action on his deeds, but must have known that at best there would be a long delay. He sailed for the Northwest undoubtedly carrying cases of muskets and barrels of powder and shot with his trading cargo. Although he had little to work with, Kendrickwas fully cognizant of the meager forces the two superpowers had in place at Nootka, and that he might pose a strong countervailing threat in his alliance with the native people.
DURING THE PAST FEW MONTHS, Vancouver had sailed southward to reconnoiter Spanish defenses along the California coast. He noted weak armaments and troops at San Francisco and Monterey as he partook of Spanish hospitality. In January, he sailed for Hawaii. After his failed negotiations and embarrassment at Nootka, Vancouver felt a greater sense of urgency to assert Britain’s claim to the islands. He had neither the authority nor the force to take them, so the trick was to gain the approval of the chiefs and make it appear that they were asking to become one of the British Empire’s possessions.
If nothing else, Vancouver had learned a valuable lesson from the seductive generosity of Quadra. Now he was about to make full use of it. On February 21, 1793, he anchored three leagues outside of Kealakekua. Kamehameha came out to the Discovery and, in Vancouver’s eyes, welcomed him as James Cook’s successor. There had been a dramatic change in Kamehameha since Vancouver had last seen the young warrior in 1779. His savage look and stern ferocity had softened. A subtle cleverness shone from his dark eyes, and he walked with a sense of grace and dignity.
Kamehameha brought Kaahumanu, his favorite queen, with him. She was about sixteen, very plump, and considered the ideal beauty. They were accompanied by her father, Keeaumoku, who had once been a chief of Maui, and an entourage of visitors of high rank who were soon crowding the ships. Kamehameha’s translator and chief aide was John Young, who had been captured onshore when the Fair American’s crew was massacred. Vancouver offered to take him away, but Young told him that here he was a chief, at home he would be just another sailor. Through Young, Vancouver laid out his welcome and distributed an array of presents. For Kamehameha, he unfolded a special long redrobe made by the ship’s tailor. According to a design the captain sketched out, it was “tasseled with ribbons and bordered round with lace and particolored tape.” Vancouver threw it over Kamehameha’s shoulders. The king was described by Menzies as so “delighted with his present that he danced and capered about the cabin.” The seduction was on.
Vancouver was somewhat reassured by Kamehameha’s demonstrations of friendship, and on the morning of February 22, he brought the Discovery and Chatham into Kealakekua Bay. To ensure that no treachery would take place, Vancouver had loaded fieldpieces brought on deck and readied stands of loaded muskets on the quarterdeck. Kamehameha proceeded to the ship in a ceremonial visit, a show of state in a double canoe flanked by others in columns of five on either side. An estimated three thousand people lined the shore and paddled around the ships. In the midst of them, Kamehameha was wearing a brilliant yellow feather cloak over a printed gown, with a feathered helmet on his head. As he came on board the Discovery, he took Vancouver’s hand and asked if he were sincerely a friend, and if the king of Great Britain favored him. Vancouver told him this was so, and Kamehameha presented four feathered helmets and ten canoes loaded with ninety hogs and a huge quantity of fruit and vegetables. Kamehameha said he would also give his treasured yellow-feathered war cloak, unlike any other in the islands, but it was only for King George III to wear.
Vancouver accepted the gifts and intensified his courtship of Kamehameha. “Convinced of the advantage, as well as the necessity, of preserving peace with these people, not only on the score of humanity, but as it respected our own present and future welfare; it became indispensably requisite that I should leave no object unattended to …” Vancouver gave Kamehameha more gifts, including four cows, two ewes, and a ram, which he had brought from Monterey.
Kamehameha allowed Vancouver to erect a shore camp, and on February 24, Vancouver went with an armed guard to Kamehameha’s house at Kaawaloa village. The guards stationed themselves outside the courtyard of the large pili grass structure. Inside, Kamehameha’sentourage sat on mats that covered the entire floor. Stacked in one corner of the house were two dozen muskets. Kamehameha told Vancouver he had gotten the guns from William Brown, master of the Butterworth, and that his men were afraid to use them because one had blown up when fired. Vancouver made no comment on Brown’s weapons trading. Some historians believe that Vancouver and Brown may have shared a secret connection and were acting under joint orders. Brown had, after all, brought Vancouver a dispatch to turn over lands at Nootka to him. Furthermore, both Brown’s and Vancouver’s later operations show some degree of coordination. The Chatham had arrived at Kealakekua in company with the Jackall, and the Butterworth ships were “the only English vessels who had an exclusive grant from Government for trading on this coast,” according to Menzies.
But common goals rather than government orders seemed to drive what would evolve into a clever joint strategy. Brown had gone ahead of Vancouver and sailed from Hawaii to the Leeward Islands in search of opportunities with Kahekili. He wrote disappointedly from Waikiki in December that he had found no whales in the vicinity that would support a whaling station there.
Menzies, meanwhile, went inland to scout opportunities for British enterprises on the big island. On a lengthy journey fro
m Kealakekua he wrote: “It might be well worth the attention of the Government to make the experiment and settle these islands by planters from the West Indies, men of humanity, industry, and experienced abilities in the exercise of their art would here in a short time be enabled to manufacture sugar and rum from luxuriant fields of cane equal if not superior to the produce of our West Indies plantations.” In addition to sugar cane, he mentioned that the climate and soil of the uplands would also be conducive to growing fruits Europeans were familiar with such as apples and peaches. What Menzies, Vancouver, and other officers believed in was a guiltless imperial dream in which native people would peacefully labor in the fields, purchase European goods, and adopt the “manners and dress” of Englishmen.
Shortly after Menzies returned from his journey, Vancouver set off a display of fireworks from shore tents. Similar to the response at Kauai a year earlier, the natives beheld the display “with utmost astonishment and admiration.” Exclamations of joy, Menzies wrote, echoed around every part of the bay. With many of the chiefs gathered, Vancouver believed this was his chance to entice Kamehameha to cede Hawaii to Great Britain. Menzies noted: “Captain Vancouver was very urgent with Kamehameha to take this opportunity of declaring himself and his subjects, together with the whole island, under the dominion of Great Britain.” Several chiefs brushed off the effort to give up their sovereignty. Kamehameha “positively declined unless Captain Vancouver would promise to leave one of the vessels behind at the island to assist in defending him and his people from the inroads of their enemies.”
Vancouver tried to reason with Kamehameha but found the robed chief adamant. It seemed impossible to get around Kamehameha’s demand for a ship, but Vancouver was not about to give up. On March 8, the British ships left Kealakekua for the Leeward Islands. Vancouver wanted to survey their harbors and fields, and perhaps hoped to incite Kamehameha’s jealousy. He also sought to track down the warriors who had killed three men from the Daedalus when the storeship arrived late for her rendezvous with the Discovery the previous winter. The commander, Lieutenant Richard Hergest, her astronomer, William Gooch, and a Portuguese sailor had been attacked and murdered while they were ashore.
