He did so in retaliation for insults he thought he had endured, and in response to rumours of a plot against his men conceived by some local natives and a Sandwich Islander of his own crew. As he departed, Gray ordered the destruction of the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) of Opitsitah, a village of about 200 houses with much carved work. Gray, sailed Columbia Rediviva south from Clayoquot, while Gray’s first mate, Robert Haswell, sailed Adventure north to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Over this winter, the crew built a 45-ton sloop named Adventure, the first ship to be built in the region. Gray put in at Nootka Sound on June 5, 1791, and wintered at a stockade they built and named Fort Defiance. On this voyage, Gray, though a private merchant, was sailing under papers of the United States of America signed by President George Washington. Gray embarked from Boston in 1790, reaching his destination in 1792 and Gray and Kendrick re-joined for a time. This vibrant trade would support American claims against the British for Oregon Country, and would contribute to limiting Spanish claims to California and Russian claims to Alaska. By 1801, 16 American merchant vessels were involved in continuous trade to China on a triangular route. Other New England sea merchants began to send vessels to take part in this lucrative new trade opportunity.
With that voyage Columbia Rediviva became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe.įrom profits realized by the voyage Gray set out for the north Pacific coast again later in 1790. He then continued west, through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Atlantic, to arrive in Boston on August 9 of that year. Gray arrived in Canton in early 1790, trading his cargo for large amounts of tea.
Kendrick stayed on the North American coast in Lady Washington, trading for pelts and furs, while Gray sailed their collected pelts to China. Around this time Gray and Kendrick swapped vessels, putting Gray in command of the Columbia Rediviva. In 1788, Gray attempted to enter a large river, the Columbia, but was unable to due to strong tides. The American ships were left alone, although Martínez captured a third American ship, the Fair American, when it arrived in the fall of 1789.ĭuring their trading along the coastlines of what are now British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California, the two Americans explored the coast. A number of British merchant ships soon arrived, and conflict between the Spanish and British resulted in the Nootka Crisis, almost resulting in war between the two nations. They were still in the vicinity when Esteban José Martínez arrived in early May of 1789 to assert Spanish sovereignty. On September 17, 1788, Gray brought Lady Washington into Nootka Sound.Ĭolumbia Rediviva arrived soon after and the two ships wintered at Nootka Sound. Meanwhile, Gray reached the north Pacific coast in August where the ship ran aground attempting to enter a river and was attacked by natives, losing one of her crew before freeing herself. In January after passing Cape Horn, the two encountered a storm that separated their vessels and damaged the Columbia Rediviva, forcing her to sail for the nearest port, Juan Fernandez. They were funded by Boston merchants who had read of Captain Cook’s success trading pelts from North America’s northwest coast in China.
Gray commanded Lady Washington and Kendric commanded Columbia Rediviva. In 1787, Robert Gray and Captain John Kendrick left Boston, to trade blankets, knives, iron bars, and other goods for fur seal pelts along the north Pacific coast. In 1790, he completed the first American circumnavigation of the world. Robert Gray before the loss of an eye R obert Gray (1755 -1806) was an American merchant captain who pioneered the American maritime fur trade along the northern Pacific coast.
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