Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1989 Revisiting the Rediviva : first mate Robert Haswell's account of the Columbia Rediviva's activities in China and on the return journey during the second voyage Lucinda Joy Herrick Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Herrick, Lucinda Joy, "Revisiting the Rediviva : first mate Robert Haswell's account of the Columbia Rediviva's activities in China and on the return journey during the second voyage" (1989). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4068. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5952 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. AN A~STRACT OF THE TE~SIS of Lucinda Joy Herrick for the Master of Arts in Eistary presente~ November 3, 1?89. Title: Revisitins The Reciviva : First Mate Robert Haswell's Account Of The Columbia Rediviva's Activities In China And On The Return Journey During The Second Voyage APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE THESIS COMMITTEE: Thomas D. Morris From 1787 to 1793 a group of Bostonians plied the sea otte:?:" pelt trade between the northwestern coast of the North American continent and Canton, China. By chance, in May of 1792, their captain, Captain Robert Gray discovered the Columbia River, thereby feeding the popular belief in a 2 transcontinental river and strengthening subsequent American claims to the Pacific Northwest. Presented here is a previously unpublished portion of First Mate Robert Haswell's log of the second voyage. This portion spans the dates October 3, 179 2 through May 2 6, 1793 and records the voyage from the completion of trade in the Pacific Northwest until the Columbia Rediviva's arrival in St. Helena. It has been lightly annotated and placed within the context of the subsequent use by statesmen and scholars of Columbia Rediviva records. REVISITING THE REDIVIVA: FIRST MATE ROBERT HASWELL'S ACCOUNT OF THE COLUMBIA REDIVIVA'S ACTIVITIES IN CHINA AND ON THE RETURN JOURNEY DURING THE SECOND VOYAGE by LUCINDA JOY HERRICK A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in HISTORY Portland State University 1990 TO THE OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES: The me mbers of the Committee a2~rove t he thesis of Lucinda J oy H~rrick presentec November 3, 19 89 . Whitne~v Bates Thomas D. Morris Department of History C. William Savery, Interim_v'._ice Provost for Graduate Studies and Researc~ DEDICATED TO JANE PITKIN MARTYN ARCHIBALD WHO REFUSED TO ACCEPT "A MODERN EPIC OF A TIMEWORN THEME" FOR SANDBURG'S "MAMIE" ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to all the overworked manuscript librarians who checked to see whether they had the original of Robert Haswell's log of the second voyage: Martin L. Levitt, American Philosophical Society; Philip Bergen, The Bostonian Society; Sandra Smith, Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House (previously China Trade Museum) ; Stuart M. Frank, The Kendall Whaling Museum; Dorothy A. Thomas, Mystic Seaport Museum; Gayl Michael, Nantucket Historical Association; New Haven Colony Historical Society; Virginia M. Adams, Old Dartmouth Historical Society Whaling Museum; Mary Malloy and Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, Peabody Museum. A special thanks to Mary-Ellen Jones, The Bancroft Library; Ella Mae Young, Douglas County Museum; Jessica G. Randolph and particularly Katherine H. Griffin, Massachusetts Historical Society; Melissa Maier and June Mikkelsen, Multnomah County Library; Peggy Haines, Oregon Historical Society; Richard H. Engeman, Special Collections and Preservation Division, University of Washington Libraries; to Gordon Dodds for being so patient and supportive; to Jon Mandaville for his passing comment about following one's fantasies, and to B.L.Eddy for doing such a fine scrivener's job in 1896. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................... iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ..••......•••....•.•.....•.. · 1 II BACKGROUND • .•••••.•••.•.••••••••••••••••• 18 III THE LOG - PACIFIC NORTHWEST TO CHINA •.••. 26 IV THE LOG - CHINA TO ST. HELENA ••••.•.••••• 77 v CONCLUSION ••••••••••. ••••.•.•••••••• · • • • • 155 LIST OF WORKS USED.................................. 176 APPENDICES A EXAMPLES OF HASWELL AND EDDY'S WORK ••.••. 186 B SOUNDINGS FOR FEBRUARY 25-28, 1793 ••••.•• 200 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The Columbia Redi viva' s records are among the most thoroughly used ship's logs. In addition to historians studying the original documents, in 1941, the Massachusetts Historical Society published verbatim most of the known records of her two voyages to the Pacific Northwest: 1787-1790 and 1790-1793. The special treatment given to the Columbia Rediviva can best be explained by the significant role Captain Gray's discovery of the Columbia River played in the Anglo-American territorial disputes of 1818-1846. Two documents have been missing from the Columbia Rediviva oeuvre of the second voyage, 1790-1793: Captain Gray's log of the second voyage and the bulk of Robert Haswell's record. A larger portion of Captain Gray's log than was previously thought to exist was recently 1 discovered at the Library of Congress. Until this fortunate event, it appeared that Captain Gray's official log of the Columbia Rediviva's second voyage had disappeared except for the portion documenting Gray's 1 J. Richard Nokes, "Thri 11 of search ends in ship log's discovery," The Oregonian 29 July 1989: A2. 2 discovery of the Columbia River, currently housed at the University of Washington Library. Un ti 1 recently, it was believed that the original of First Mate Robert Haswell's log of the same voyage had suffered the same fate. The two known versions of Haswell's log were a partial copy Hubert Howe Bancroft had made about 1879 for his collection and a composite copy housed at the Library of Congress. The 2 Bancroft copy covers the period August 14, 1791 through December 7, 1792. During this period Captain Gray and his crew traded on the Pacific Northwest coast with the Indians for sea otter pelts, lived for a winter on shore, discovered the Columbia River, and had dinner with Don Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, the Spanish colonial governor at Nootka. When the Massachusetts Historical Society published the Columbia Rediviva documents, it used the Bancroft copy. The Library of Congress copy is a composite written by -~ Robert Haswell and Third Mate Owen Smith. Haswell covered the first part of the second voyage: Boston harbor, around the Horn, the first season's trading, and beginning to 2 "My copy of Mr. Haswell's log begins on the 14th of August 1791, just before the ship arrived at what was called Hancock River, an indentation on the northern end of Queen Charlotte, or Washington Island." Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast 1543-1800, vol.27 of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft --rsan Francisco: A.L.Bancroft & Co., Publ.,1884) 251; Source of the copy was Captain Haswell's daughter, Mrs. John J. Clarke of Roxbury, Massachusetts; Bancroft 27: 251n and 187n. 3 build the Adventure, the vessel he would captain during the 3 next summer's trading season. Smith's portion of this fragment covers building the Adventure and the winter on shore. 4 Charles Bulfinch gave the Haswell-Smith document to the State Department in 1841 when he requested compensation for land possibly purchased by officers of the 5 Columbia Rediviva. The claim appears sporadically in Congressional records under Martha Gray, Captain Gray's destitute widow, until 1852 when the Senate passed to second reading a bill granting Oregon land to Martha Gray 6 and others. In 1986 I came across a partial copy of Haswell's log of the second voyage in the Multnomah County Library's Rare Books Room. This copy is there because in 1896 a D. F. Sherman offered the Portland Library Association, governing body for the Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon, the opportunity to make a copy of Haswell's logs for both 3 September 28, 1790 - October 3, 1791. 4 October 4, 1791 - February 20, 1792. 5 University of Washington Libraries letter to the author, 19 February 1987. 6 11 August 1852, Congressional Record, 32nd Cong., 1st sess., p.2169. 4 7 of his voyages on the Columbia Rediviva. The Portland Library Association hired Benjamin L. Eddy, 8 a ycung lawyer, to make a typed copy of the leg from t~e Columbia Rediviva's first voyage and a handwritten rendition cf t~e form as wel 1 as the content of the second voyage's log. The Eddy copy of the first voyage matches the original as published by the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1941. The Eddy copy of the second voyage matches t!"le Massachusetts Historical Society's publication of the Bancroft copy of circa 1879, with the exception that the Bancroft copy ends with December 7, 1792 and the Eddy copy carries through to the stay at St. Helena on May 26, 1793. The Eddy copy includes the Harbor Log for Canton Roads, the trip through Malaysia and around the Cape of Good Hope, a glimpse of the English convoy carrying Lord Macartney, on his way to pay tribute to the Chinese Emperor, and the news at St._Helena that France and England were at war. The Eddy copy begins on August 14, 1791 and ends on 7 The Minutes for the Portland Library Association show that Mr. Sherman received the logs from Col. Haswell c. Clarke, grandson of Robert Haswell. Col.Clarke was going to give the logs to the Massachusetts Historical Society. Multnomah County Library, letters to the author. 31 March and 21 April 1987.