LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED H A RBOUR The Independent Voice of Pender Harbour & Egmont APRIL 2010 since 1990. SPIEL ISSUE 232

Were Americans the  rst to visit the Sunshine Coast? LOCALLY Could the  rst visitors to the Sunshine Coast have been American? By Gary Little

Although it seems well established that the Spanish were the  rst Europeans to sail along our coast in 1791 — they even went ashore near Mission Point in Davis Bay — an intriguing chart from a 1790 book by John Meares hints that a merchant ship from Boston, Mass. may have been the  rst in the neigh- bourhood. John Meares, a former Royal Navy lieutenant, was an entrepreneur- ial fur trader and part-time explorer on the northwest coast of America in the Gordon Miller painting late 18th century. The American fur trading ships the Columbia Rediviva and the Lady Washington He was seeking his fortune after leaving Boston in 1787. reading the of cial account of Capt. about his adventures titled Voyages of an Inland Navigation from Hudsons James Cook’s third voyage (pub- Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, Bay to the West Coast. lished in 1784), noting the high prices from China to the North West Coast of This chart is interesting for two fetched in China for sea otter pelts America. reasons: acquired inexpensively during Cook’s The book would later be carried It shows a possible navigable one-month stay at Nootka Sound on to the northwest coast as a reference water route between Hudson Bay and Vancouver Island in 1778. by none other than George Vancouver Alaska. (This concept was borrowed Meares’s activities brought him who left England in 1791 with orders from a map by Peter Pond, a North to Alaska over the winter of 1786-87 to chart the “backside of America” in West Company fur trader, published (a harsh season he barely survived) detail from California to Alaska. in England in March 1790. Meares and then to the west coast of Vancou- Meares’s book included the chart himself did not explore inland.) ver Island in 1788. shown (facing page): A Chart of the It shows “the sea” surrounding In 1790, following his return to Interior Part of North America Dem- most of present-day British Columbia England, he wrote a popular book onstrating the very great probability with a path marked “Sketch of the Track of the American Sloop Wash- ington in the Autumn of 1789.” It is this latter feature that’s most Mimosa interesting to us here on the Sunshine Coast because it shows a great sea Saturday, April 10 [ 8 p.m. behind Vancouver Island accessed via $20 Juan de Fuca Strait and extending to the north of Haida Gwaii. If Serge Gainsbourg, Cleo Laine and Jobim all hung out together one night and jammed, they might We now know, of course, there sound something like what Mimosa has to offer: a journey into a land of gorgeous melodies, groovy rhythms and stellar improvisations. is no sea of enormous size and extent Pender Harbour School of Music indicated on this chart, but perhaps Tickets at Harbour Insurance, John Henry’s, Sechelt Visitor Info Centre and Gaia’s Fair Trade. this was simply a crude approximation ~ Sponsored by of the  rst voyage ever into Georgia Page 14 Harbour Spiel LOCALLY

map courtesy of Gary Little From a 1790 book by explorer John Meares, this chart entitled ‘A Chart of the Interior Part of North America Demonstrating the very great probability of an Inland Navigation from Hudsons Bay to the West Coast,’ might fuel speculation about the first non-native visitors to the Sunshine Coast. Strait and around Vancouver Island The plan was to go to Nootka, — a voyage that predates the well- trade with the natives for sea otter documented visits of Narváez in 1791 pelts, then head to China to sell them and George Vancouver in 1792. at the high prices Cook had reported.

Understand how this unusual The two ships left Boston on track showed up on the Meares map October 1, 1787 to much excitement requires us to go back to Boston in and fanfare. 1787. In that year, only 11 years They later separated in bad after the United States Declaration weather as they rounded the Horn of of Independence, several wealthy South America, but both ended up New England merchants launched a making it to Nootka Sound in Septem- joint venture to tap the same lucrative ber 1788 within a week of one anoth- northwest fur trade market that at- er, with Gray in the Lady Washington tracted Meares and others. arriving  rst. They out tted two ships, the Co- Here Gray and Kendrick found lumbia Rediviva and the sloop Lady John Meares and his ship the Felice Washington and put them under the Adventurer but they would have little command of Capt. John Kendrick and Robert Gray 1755 - 1806 Capt. Robert Gray, respectively. continued next page April 2010 Page 15 LOCALLY First visitors (cont.) (continued from page 15) ing on the northwest coast until his opportunity to get to know him be- death in Hawaii in December 1794. cause he departed for China a few days later. John Meares spent the whole of The Americans wintered at 1789 in Canton managing the affairs Nootka and accumulated furs until the of his trading business and, presum- following summer. ably, writing a good portion of the Then, in July 1789, the two cap- book he would publish the following tains exchanged ships. year. Gray sailed immediately for In December 1789 he left for China aboard the Columbia Rediviva England to personally complain to while Kendrick stayed behind in the the government about seizures by the Lady Washington, presumably to ac- Spanish of his company’s ships and quire more furs before departing. land at Nootka. (This precipitated the But the full scope of his activities Nootka Crisis and nearly led to war John Meares 1756-1809 during that summer and autumn is not between Britain and Spain.) ies made by others. completely known. Meares’ book was a monumental As for the purported track of Gray arrived in Macao in No- work. It was over 400 pages and in- the Lady Washington, Dixon said it vember 1789 followed by Kendrick in cluded 28 copper-engraved plates and resembled nothing “so much as the January 1790. maps, including the map shown here. mould of a good old housewife’s but- Gray then left for Boston the However, the book was savaged ter pat” and was a complete fabrica- following month and successfully by George Dixon, a rival northwest tion. returned on Aug. 9, 1790, making the fur trader of the day (Dixon Entrance In a public exchange of pam- Columbia Rediviva the  rst American north of Haida Gwaii is named for phlets with Dixon (an 18th-century ship to circumnavigate the globe. him). He ridiculed Meares for sev- version of an e-mail  ame war) Kendrick stayed behind in the eral statements made in his book and Meares defended himself by saying Lady Washington and never did return alleged that Meares was fraudulently that he had obtained his information to Boston although he continued trad- attempting to take credit for discover- from “Mr. Neville, a gentleman of the most respectable character, who came Art. In yurts. home in the Chesterfi eld, a ship in the featuring: service of the East India Company,” “Ursula’s Collection” and that Mr. Neville had “received the with Ursula Bentz, Gibsons particulars of the track” from Captain April 02 to May 02 Kendrick. Artist Reception: Sat. April 3, 2 - 4 p.m. Capt. George Vancouver had the “Wax Works” Meares book with him when he left with Els van Baarle from the Netherlands Britain on April 1, 1791 to perform a May 08 to June 13 detailed survey of the northwest coast Artist Reception: Sat. May 8, 2 – 4 p.m. to Alaska and he was also well aware Workshop: of Dixon’s criticisms. April 24: Painting with Wool with Ursula He mentions the book several Bentz, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. times in his own book and was obvi- May 15: Bull Kelp Baskets with Joanne ously interested in con rming what Waters,10 a.m. to 3 p.m. FibreWorks Studio & Gallery lay beyond Juan de Fuca Strait. 12887-12889 Sunshine Coast Hwy. • Madeira Park, BC Like  nding a needle in a hay- (604)883-2380 • www.gunboatbaylodge.com/fi breworks.html stack, Vancouver encountered Robert We’re open Wednesday to Sunday 11a.m. to 5 p.m. & by appt. Gray at sea, off the Washington State PagePage 16 Harbour Spiel LOCALLY coast, in April 1792. Gray was on his second trip to Nootka from Boston and Vancouver had just arrived on the northwest coast to begin his survey. Vancouver speci cally ques- tioned Gray about the Meares chart and in his book A Voyage of Discovery (1798), he records Gray’s reaction: “It is not possible to conceive any one to be more astonished than was Mr. Gray, on his being made Medal minted for the Columbia-Washington Voyage of 1787. acquainted, that his authority had been China leaving John Kendrick in com- may have sailed from Clayoquot quoted, and the track pointed out that mand of the Washington. Sound through the Strait of Juan de he had been said to have made in the Kendrick did more trading, then Fuca and then north behind Vancouver sloop Washington. eventually ended up in Macao in early Island perhaps to trade with natives “In contradiction to which, he 1790 after a stopover in Hawaii. near the Queen Charlotte Islands. assured the of cers, that he had pen- Could he have circumnavigated “The truth will never be known, etrated only 50 miles into the straits Vancouver Island in the interim? because Kendrick died in Hawaii in in question, in an E.S.E. direction; It seems unlikely for a couple of 1794 without ever returning to Bos- that he found the passage  ve leagues reasons. ton and any record concerning this wide; and that he understood, from First, he probably would not have incident was lost or has never been the natives, that the opening extended had enough time to do so. found.” a considerable distance to the north- Second, such an important One thing is certain: If Meares’s ward; that this was all the information achievement would surely have been assertion was correct — and if Kend- he had acquired respecting this in- communicated to many others by rick had a better publicist — most of land sea, and that he returned into the Kendrick, who remained an active present-day British Columbia would ocean by the same way he had entered trader in the north Paci c until his have become American territory faster at.” death  ve years later, but it wasn’t. than you can say “Fifty-four forty or Two weeks later, on May 11, Nevertheless, the possibility of  ght!” 1792, Gray would achieve enduring a 1789 voyage around Vancouver fame as the  rst to sail into the great Island, however faint, still lingers. Gary Little is a realtor with Royal river which he named for his ship — As J. Richard Nokes, author of LePage Sunshine Coast and is well known for his interactive maps of the area the Columbia. Almost a Hero (a biography of John This act of discovery was the key — real estate for sale, waterfalls, and Meares) says, exploration. Find out more about him at to recognition of U.S. claims to the “It is conceivable that Kendrick www.GaryLittle.ca. river and to the area north to the 49th parallel in 1846. Something to Squirrel away? An important point that seems SECURE, HEATED SELFǧSTORAGE to 5x10 ft. to have escaped everyone’s atten- tion, however, is that in the autumn of Central Madeira Park, next to Speed Bump Alley 1789, the time when the Washington SQUIRREL STORAGE was said to have sailed the inland sea, Gray was not its captain. LARRY & LINDA CURTISS He had transferred to the Colum- bia in late July and sailed her back to CALL 883-2040

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