Morning of Fire

by Scott Ridley

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  217 Prussia and Holland were ready: Henry R. Wagner, Spanish Explorations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 193.

  218 A new Portuguese governor: http://www.friesian.com/newspain.htm.

  They had stopped at the Sandwich Islands: Joseph Ingraham, Joseph Ingraham‘s Journal of the Brigantine Hope on a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America, 1790–1792, 83–84.

  They found the Washington remade: Mary Malloy, Hisayasu Hatanaka, and Mitsanori Hammano, “The Lady Washington at Oshima Island, Japan in 1791, " 10.

  219 Douglas loaned Kendrick $2,320: John Howell to Joseph Barrell, May 11, 1795. apparently transacted a “sham sale”: John Kendrick to Joseph Barrell, March 28, 1792.

  “As a seaman and a navigator”: Amasa Delano, A Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, 400.

  220 Douglas found himself in town: John Blankett to Admiralty First Lord Chatham, April 9, 1791.

  strategies that might “cut off”: John Blankett, “Sea of Japan Report,” December 1774, Sandwich Papers, Montagu F.5/38 quoted in Margaret Stevens, Trade, Tactics and Tenacity, 25.

  220 “An Adventurer by the name”: Blankett to Chatham, April 9, 1791.

  official policy on the Pacific: David MacKay, In the Wake of Cook: Science, Exploration and Empire 1780–1801, 192. Also Howard Terrell Fry, Alexander Dalrymple (1737–1808) and the Expansion of British Trade.

  221 Blankett and the British merchant fleet: Wagner, Extract of “Navigation by Pantoja,” in Spanish Explorations, 193. Also Delano, A Narrative, 42.

  Eleven days later, the Washington: John Hoskins, The Narrative of a Voyage, 103. Pantoja notes Kendrick’s departure from Macao as April 1. Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 193.

  two Chinese, two Hawaiians: Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 192. Also signatures on Kendrick’s deed of July 21, 1791.

  who later claimed to be Americans: Vancouver conversation with James Coleman. George Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World…, vol. 1, 383–84.

  The Washington’s new chief officer: Identification of officers was made by John Cruft. See Affadavit of John Cruft, November 18, 1839, in John Gilmary Shea and Henry Reed Stiles, “Explorations of the Northwest Coast of the United States. Report of the Claims of the Heirs of Captains Kendrick and Gray,” 172, and deed of July 20, 1791, showing those men as witnesses.

  The embargo (which would last): Ingraham, Journal, 175; James Colnett, A Voyage to the North West Side of America: The Journals of James Colnett, 1786– 1789, 297, fn 26.

  on May 6 Kendrick and Douglas: Howard F. Van Zandt, Pioneer American Merchants in Japan, 1.

  Portuguese vessels had first: Donald F. Lach and Edwin J. Van Kley, Asia in the Making of Europe, Vol. III, Book 4, 1848.

  a group of twenty-three: Zelia Nuttall, “The Earliest Historical Relations between Mexico and Japan.”

  222 a Christian peasant revolt: Nutall, “Earliest Historical Relations,” 8–11.

  They were permitted two ships: Foster Rhea Dulles, Yankees and Samurai: America‘s Role in the Emergence of a Modern Japan: 1791–1900, 2.

  223 Seeking shelter from what gathered: Information about this visit is drawn from several sources, including Jim Mockford, “The Lady Washington at Kushimoto, Japan, in 1794,” 83–89, and Malloy, Hatanaka, and Hammano, “Lady Washington.” The original source is the report of a contemporary samurai, Sakamoto Tenzan, who published an account of the visit, Kinan Younou, in 1799, which was translated by Malloy and her coauthors.

  223 Kichigo sent a message: Mockford, “Lady Washington,” 87–88; Van Zandt, Pioneer American Merchants, 5.

  Although a long red-and-white-striped: The official U.S. flag with placement of stars and stripes was not formalized until 1818.

  They found men they described: Malloy, Hatanaka, and Hammano, “Lady Washington,” 10.

  “This ship belongs to the Red Hairs”: The note in Chinese still exists in Japanese archives. Dulles, Yankees and Samurai, 1.

  225 the men shot gulls or ducks: Malloy, Hatanaka, and Hammano, “Lady Washington,” 10.

  one that would further goad: General concern is evident in the letter of Captain John Blankett to the British Admiralty. Two months after Kendrick’s departure, James Colnett would be seized, and a later British mission to Japan would fail. The Admiralty dispatched William Robert Broughton to survey the Japanese coast in the HMS Providence in 1794. Not until 1853 would U.S. Admiral Matthew Perry sign the first modern port agreement with the shogun, officially opening Japan to trade.

  Colnett had been released: For Colnett’s release, see James Colnett to Viceroy Revillagigedo, July 8, 1790, in Warren L. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire: Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543–1819, 291.

  226 After a disastrous two years: Colnett, Voyage, 4.

  Kendrick and Douglas came upon a group: Hoskins, Narrative, 104. the Washington ripped across: If the dates cited by the sources are correct, the Washington departed from the Water Islands about May 20 and arrived on the coast at 52°58’ on June 13. See Hoskins, Narrative, 104. In contrast, Haswell says the passage took eight weeks, which places the departure from Japan in mid-April: Robert Haswell, A Voyage on Discoveries on the Ship Columbia Rediviva (1791–1792), 7–8.

  Kendrick arrived on the mainland: Wagner, Extract of “Navigation by Pantoja,” in Spanish Explorations, 193. Also Hoskins, Narrative, 104.

  227 In the midst of the festive mood: Variant sources describe this attack. Hoskins, who heard it directly from Kendrick, is used as the primary source here, along with additional information from Ingraham. See Hoskins, Narrative, 105–7; Ingraham, Journal, 180– 81; Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 191–92; John Bartlett, “A Narrative of Events in the Life of John Bartlett of Boston, Massachusetts, in the Years 1790–1793 …,” 320–21.

  228 “now put me into your gun carriage”: Hoskins, Narrative, 105.

  228 piercing Kendrick‘s shirt: Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 193; Hoskins, Narrative, 106.

  229 “urging them to action”: Hoskins, Narrative, 106. Coyah‘s wife and child: Ingraham, Journal, 204.

  One sailor’s second-hand narrative: Bartlett, “Narrative of Events,” 320. Kendrick took the Washington: Bartlett reports seeing the Washington. Bartlett, “Narrative of Events,” 307.

  As the Washington approached: Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 191.

  230 they came from Macao: Ibid., 192.

  After two months he departed: Quimper left Nootka on May 31, 1790, to examine the straits, and departed the straits for Monterey on August 4.

  231 Secret instructions he sent: “Secret Instructions to Lieutenant Don Franscisco de Eliza, Commandant of the Puerto de Nutca and the Frigates Concepcion and Princesa, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, San Blas, February 4, 1791,” in Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 137.

  By July 22, the San Carlos: Extract from “Voyage by Eliza,” in Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 133.

  “oceanic passage so zealously sought”: Ibid. Also H. H. Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, 1543–1800, 248, quoting letter from Eliza to Quadra, August 1791.

  232 According to Saavedra, they feared: Wagner, Extract of “Navigation by Pantoja,” 192.

  the British royal company that had been: Ibid., 193.

  “it has pleased His Majesty”: Wagner, Spanish Explorations, 140.

  233 Tartoochtheatticus, Wickaninish’s brother: See signatories on Kendrick’s deed for those who were present. For additional background see Daniel W. Clayton, Islands of Truth: The Imperial Fashioning of Vancouver Island, 114 on Hannope and on Clahquakinnah at Mawina; 144 on Tartoochtheatticus.

  In a ceremony on the deck: Affidavit of James Tremere, October 30, 1830, in Shea and Stiles, “Expeditions,” 172–73.

  234 To all persons to whom these present: For the text of the deeds, see Shea and Stiles, “Expeditions,” 168.

  235 the area encompassed 324 square miles: An erroneous total for the area of Kendrick’s land
as described in the five deeds has been passed down historically as “4 degrees of latitude or 240 square miles.” That stretch of latitude is 240 linear miles. Even without a formal survey and plot plan, the dimensions given in the deeds indicate the relative area of each tract. The land area of the first deed from Maquinna to Safe Retreat Harbor (Mawina) based on the formula for the area of a square 18 miles on a side or 324 square miles. The other four deeds total more than 1,500 square miles, taking in three major sounds and more than 1,000 square miles of land on western Vancouver Island. An alleged “missing” deed for the area around Gray’s Harbor contributes to the “4 degrees of latitude,” but is not included in the estimate of more than fifteen hundred square miles.

  235 he took the Washington out: Hoskins, Narrative, 107.

  237 he told Wickaninish and his chiefs: James Colnett, The Journal of Captain James Colnett aboard the Argonaut from April 26, 1789 to November 3, 1791, 192. Colnett told the same story to Maquinna: Colnett, Journal, 208.

  in 1792 Wickaninish was said to have: José Mariano Mozino, Noticias de Nutka:

  An Account of Nootka Sound in 1792, 70–71.

  Saavedra would also observe: Clayton, Islands of Truth, 122.

  238 famous mixed-blood trader Alexander McGillivray: McGillivray was a very highprofile native leader in the South and entered into a landmark treaty with President Washington, the first that attempted to guarantee lands for native tribes. See: “New York, August 21,” Boston Gazette, August 30, 1790, 2. This treaty was ignored by the State of Georgia, which sought to sell off native lands for development. Kendrick would also have learned of McGillivray as his packet passed in and out of Charleston: “Charleston, S.C. January 5th,” Massachusetts Spy 15, no. 728 (March 31, 1785). In this article McGillivray issued an open letter that states in part: “You wish to have our trade; but let us ask you, where are we to find skins to buy your goods with, after you have taken from us our hunting ground.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  240 He considered himself still: Kendrick’s original instructions to make determinations based on the conditions he found himself in were repeated in Joseph Barrell’s letter of December 12, 1787, which Kendrick received at Macao in January 1790.

  Kendrick’s appearance was not: Robert Haswell, A Voyage on Discoveries on the

  Ship Columbia Rediviva (hereafter referred to as Second Voyage), 7.

  “as a spy upon his and their conduct”: John Hoskins to Joseph Barrell, August 21, 1792.

  ordered Gray to consult with him: Joseph Barrell to Robert Gray, September 25, 1790.

  240 the ship’s officers regarded: Hoskins to Barrell, August 21, 1792.

  “what we could have wished”: John Hoskins, The Narrative of a Voyage, 25.

  by late March the men began to complain: John Boit Journal, 7.

  “the last stage of Scurvy”: Ibid., 9.

  “up to the Hips in the earth”: Ibid., 10.

  241 “took Coyah, tied a rope”: Hoskins, Narrative, 51.

  242 railed privately in his journal: Haswell, Second Voyage, 8. Over dinner he gave a full narrative: Hoskins, Narrative, 103–7. about twelve hundred otter skins: Haswell, Second Voyage, 109. about seven hundred skins: Ibid., 3.

  243 A significant portion of next year‘s harvest: Joseph Ingraham, Joseph Ingraham‘s Journal of the Brigantine Hope on a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America, 1790–1792, 223.

  “We were received at a small Island”: Hoskins, Narrative, 109.

  “Your letter per Captain Gray”: John Kendrick to Joseph Barrell, March 28, 1792.

  244 Kendrick offered to turn over: Hoskins to Barrell, August 21, 1792.

  245 “during the continuance”: Hoskins, Narrative, 117. Gray took one of the chiefs: Ibid., 32.

  “I am sorry to be under”: Boit, Remarks, 27.

  246 “any future intercourse”: Hoskins, Narrative, 169.

  After leaving Clayoquot: Historians who have criticized Kendrick for not cruising and trading more avidly ignore the fact that he had a different method of gathering furs, paying in advance and collecting them at specific locations. F. W. Howay, in particular, criticizes Kendrick for being lackadaisical about trading and sailing late from Clayoquot. Kendrick was clearly spending time among the native people, and would not have wanted to arrive at Hawaii until the start of the makahiki period in October or November.

  talk had circulated among the trading vessels: The desire to have a small armed vessel was high in the armament race among the islands. Despite the imagined or real attacks, there were no reported efforts to take the Lady Washington. See notes below concerning other vessels.

  Ingraham then fled to Oahu: Ingraham, Journal, 85–86. “that it was his people’s wish”: Hoskins, Narrative, 85–86.

  247 “every girl on the ship clung fast”: John Bartlett, “A Narrative of Events in the Life of John Bartlett of Boston, Massachusetts, in the Years 1790–1793 …,” 311–13.

  247 called it Kepuwahaulaula: Ralph S. Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom: Foundation and Transformation 1778–1854, vol. 1, 37.

  248 By October 27, Kendrick was at Kauai: George Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World…, vol. 1, 383.

  Kendrick left three men: Ibid., 378–85. he believed that as many as twenty: Ibid., 407.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  253 George Vancouver sighted the island: George Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World…, vol. 1, 347.

  which seemed to occupy the center: Archibald Menzies, Hawaii Nei, 128 Years Ago: Journal of ArchibaldMenzies, 13.

  254 Britain’s policy now targeted: Graham MacDonald, “Exploration of the Pacific,” 515.

  255 “have the keys of the whole Pacific”: John Etches, writing as “Argonaut,” “A Continuation of an Authentic Statement of All the Facts Relative to Nootka Sound, Its Discoveries, History, Settlement, Commerce and the Public Advantages to be derived from It.”

  “restitution of the territories”: Vancouver, Voyage, vol. 1, 49. instructions from the king: Ibid., 58.

  the merchant Richard Etches: Richard Cadman Etches to East India Company Court of Directors, April 29, 1785, in Vincent T. Harlow, The Founding of the Second British Empire, 1763–1789, 421–24.

  the home of a half-million British subjects: John Meares, Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789 …, 210.

  256 more detailed orders: Vancouver, Voyage, 59. Both ships were newly designed: Ibid., 47–50. natives came paddling out: Menzies, Hawaii Nei, 13.

  257 was dismayed to learn: Vancouver, Voyage, 406. “unwarrantable desires”: Vancouver, Voyage, 404. “have become very familiar”: Ibid., 403.

  “were wholly directed”: Menzies, Hawaii Nei, 14.

  258 “with most of the chiefs of Kauai”: Vancouver, Voyage, 352. they expected a retaliatory invasion: Ibid., 361.

  “The apparent docility”: Ibid., 362. “avidity with which the men”: Ibid., 377–78.

  259 “he was of Derbyshire”: Ibid., 378. would arrive in the islands: Ibid., 379.

  now lived with Kaumaulii: Menzies, Hawaii Nei, 30.

  260 and one from John Kendrick: Vancouver, Voyage, 383. “which he wore with much less decency”: Ibid., 384. “tattooed with a broad badge”: Menzies, Hawaii Nei, 32. “I asked him what he had done”: Vancouver, Voyage, 384.

  261 After recovering in his cabin: Menzies, Hawaii Nei, 33.

  John Williams, a Welshman: Vancouver calls him Richard Williams. Voyage, 388.

  262 Vancouver bestowed the name: Ibid., 400. “infinite surprise and admiration”: Ibid., 397–98.

  He left a letter behind: The letter was left with Kaiana at Hawaii. Ibid., 353. William De Witt Alexander notes that the Daedalus arrived on May 7, 1792, at Oahu, A Brief History of the Hawaiian People, 135.

  “reduced by at least two-thirds”: Vancouver, Voyage, 405. Disease is also suspected to have played a major role in the decline of population. Venereal disease, in addition to fatality for those infec
ted, has been assumed to have made many women and men sterile. “I shall take leave”: Ibid., 407.

  “Mr. Kendrick must, undoubtedly”: Ibid. Despite Vancouver’s mockery, the sandalwood trade would become extensive and highly profitable, although within a few decades it would also become oppressive work for the villagers and heavily damaging to the environment.

  263 He had arrived at Macao: Joseph Ingraham, Joseph Ingraham‘s Journal of the Brigantine Hope on a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America, 1790–1792, 179. Also see John Kendrick to Joseph Barrell, March 28, 1792.

  Scotsman William Douglas, who seems: Ingraham, Journal, 176, on death of Douglas; 178, on the ships at Lark’s Bay. “This is generally the case”: Ibid., 182.

  “twenty-one thousand Spanish head dollars”: Kendrick to Barrell, March 28, 1792. Also see Ingraham, Journal, 177–186, on embargo, amount of furs in port, smuggling, and dealings with the Portuguese.

  264 “I am confident you have been told”: Kendrick to Barrell, March 28, 1792.

  265 “I am now fitting out the Brig”: Ibid.

  266 Kendrick was near death: John Hoskins to Joseph Barrell, August 21, 1792. “Not considering this opening”: Vancouver, Voyage, vol. 2, 34.

  267 “those parts which lie”: David MacKay, In the Wake of Cook: Science, Exploration

  and Empire 1780–1801, 96, citing Home Office 42/17 December 1790, Grenville to Lords of the Admiralty H.O. 28/7, 392–99.

  267 hanging "that the Spaniards have recently found”: Vancouver, Voyage, vol. 2, 34. “This inlet could be now only ten miles”: Ibid., 40.

  “a sail was discovered”: Ibid., 41.

  though he understood from the natives: Ibid., 42.

  “we gave them all the information”: Boit indicates the date as April 28, 1792, while Vancouver’s log states April 29. John Boit, Remarks on the Ship Columbia’s Voyage from Boston (on a Voyage, Round the Globe), 29.

  268 "must be a very intricate one”: Vancouver, Voyage, vol. 2, 58.

  “We had now advanced further”: Ibid., 56.

  “long since designed”: Ibid., 169.

  269 a Spanish ship had performed: Warren L. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire: Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543–1819, 349.