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Spain’s Supremacy in the North Pacific is Overthrown.-The Nootka Convention
The sight of English and American vessels venturing into the Pacific-and those spoken of in previous chapters were by no means the only ones, since the South Pacific was traversed by several exploring expeditions whose work had no particular bearing upon the history of Oregon-admonished Spain that if she would maintain her supremacy she must be up and doing. From the position taken by her in the sixteenth century, Spain had never in the least degree receded. She still claimed complete dominion of the west coast of America and the sole right to trade with all regions approachable by the way of Cape Horn. Determined to maintain this right, Spain at this time began active operations in colonizing, and also sent out expeditions to gather information as to the extent and character of the Russian settlements in the extreme north. This was a period of excitement and activity for Nootka and vicinity. What Spain considered Russian encroachment upon her dominion, and English and American infringement upon her commercial rights, brought about a trained and hostile state of affairs at Nootka, which was fortified and occupied in the name of the King of Spain. In these complications the Americans, while not entirely disinterested, were inactive. The troubles were carried to the home governments, and after a period of diplomatic activity, varied by preparations for war, these differences between England and Spain were terminated by the “Nootka Convention” on the 28th day of October, 1790. By this treaty it was stipulated that all buildings and tracts of land on the northwest coast of America of which Spanish officers had dispossessed any British subjects should be restored; that just reparation should be made by both parties to the agreement for any acts of violence committed by the subjects of either of them upon the subjects of the other; that any property seized should be restored and compensated for; that subjects of Great Britain should not approach within ten leagues of any part of the coast already occupied by Spain; that north of that point both parties should have equal rights, as well as south of the limits of Spanish settlements in South America. The treaty met with violent opposition both in Spain and England, each considering that valuable rights had been surrendered without any compensation; but it was finally ratified and went into effect, and commissioners were despatched to Nootka to execute its provisions. The Spaniards meanwhile remained in possession of the disputed port, and affairs at Nootka were unchanged.
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Second Voyage of Captain Gray.-Voyage of Captain Vancouver-Discovery and Naming of Columbia River-Final Adjustment of Nootka Differences and Abandonment of that Port
The year 1792 was an important one in the history of the northwest coast. More discoveries were made, and more important explorations carried on, than in any year before or since, and a flood of light was thrown upon the dark geography of the coast. At least twenty-eight vessels visited this region, the majority of them to engage in the fur trade, representing France, Spain, Portugal, England, and the United States. Passing by the majority of these without further mention, let us turn our attention to those which made valuable discoveries, pertinent herein. They were the “Columbia,” under Captain Gray, two vessels under Captain Vancouver, and a small Spanish fleet. As has been said, Captain Gray reached Boston, returning from his voyage to the pacific, on August 10, 1790, having sailed, by the “Columbia’s” log, fifty thousand miles. This voyage of the “Columbia” gave the vessel, her officers, and owners great prominence. Though the profits of the voyage were small, it was an achievement to be proud of, and had prepared the way for more profitable trade in subsequent years. A second voyage was therefore immediately projected, and the “Columbia” again left Boston on the 28th of September 1790, with Captain Gray in command, and arrived at Clayoquot harbor, on Vancouver Island, just north of the Straits of Fuca, on June 4, 1791. The instructions to Captain Gray contemplated a season’s trade with the natives on the coast, then a visit to China for the sale of the furs he might obtain. The commissioner appointed on the part of England to carry into effect certain provisions of the Nootka Treaty referring to the restoration of property at that port was Capt. George Vancouver, of the Royal Navy. The Admiralty took occasion to make his voyage one of extended discovery, directing his attention especially to the clearing up of geographical conundrums on the coast, particularly that of a river or any other interoceanic passage. Vancouver commanded the sloop of war “Discovery,” and accompanied by the armed tender “Chatham,” under Lieut. W.R. Broughton, arrived off the coast of California in April, 1792, in the vicinity of Cape Mendocino. Here he began a most careful examination of the coast, strict watch being kept for signs of harbors and navigable rivers. On the 27th of April he recorded in his journal “ “Noon brought us up with a conspicuous point of land composed of a cluster of hummocks moderately high and projecting into the sea. On the south side of this promontory was the appearance of an inlet, or small river, the land not indicating it to be of any great extent, nor did it seem to be accessible to vessels of our burthen, as the breakers extended from the above point two or three miles into the ocean, until they joined those on the beach nearly four leagues further south. On reference to Mr. Meares’ description of the coast south of this promontory, I was first induced to believe it was Cape Shoalwater, but on ascertaining its latitude, I presumed it to be what he calls Cape Disappointment; and the opening to the south of it Deception Bay. This cape was found to be in latitude 46° 19’, and longitude 236° 6’. [He reckoned east from Greenwich.] The sea now changed from its natural to river colored water; the probable consequence of some streams falling into the bay, or into the ocean to the north of it, through the low land. Not considering this opening worthy of more attention, I continued our pursuit to the N.W., being desirous to embrace the advantages of the prevailing breeze and pleasant weather, so favourable to out examination of the coast.” Vancouver rounded Cape Disappointment, and continued up the shore. He passed Gray’s Harbor in the night, and after nothing the position of Destruction Island and observing Mount Olympus, “the most remarkable mountain we had seen on the coast of New Albion,” fell in with the “Columbia” a few miles south of the Straits of Fuca. Vancouver sent an officer to the American vessel to glean information from its commander, who did not hesitate to tell him all he knew of the coast, including adenial of the report that he had sailed around Vancouver Island in the “Lady Washington.” And told also of “his having been off the mouth of the river in latitude 46° 10’, where the outset, or reflux, was so strong as to prevent his entering for nine days. This was probably,” continues Vancouver, “the opening passed by us on the forenoon of the twenty-seventh; and was, apparently, inaccessible, not from the current, but from the breakers that extended across it.” That Gray must have made this effort to enter the Columbia some time the previous year is evident from the fact that Vancouver states that he “was now commencing his summer’s trade along the coast to the southward.” The above remarks show plainly that Vancouver had no faith in the existence of such a stream as Rio de San Roque, Oregon, or River of the West, and this is rendered more certain by an entry in his journal made upon reaching Cape Flattery, that there- “was not the least appearance of a safe of secure harbour, either in that latitude, or from it southward to Cape Mendocino; notwithstanding that, in that space, geographers had thought it expedient to furnish many….So minutely had this extensive coast been inspected, that the surf has been constantly seen to break upon its shore from the mast-head; and it was but in a few small intervals only, where our distance precluded its being visible from the deck. Whenever the weather prevented our making free with the shore, or on our hauling off for the night, the return of fine weather and of daylight uniformly brought us, if not to the identical spot we had departed from, at least within a few miles of it, and never beyond the northern limits of the coast which we had previously seen. An examination so directed, and circumstances happily concurring to permit its being so executed, afforded the most complete opportunity of determining its various turnings and windings….It must be considered as a very singular circumstance that, in so great an extent of sea coast, we should not until now [he had entered the Straits of Fuca] have seen the appearance of any opening in its shores which presented any certain prospect of affording shelter; the whole coast forming one compact solid, and nearly straight barrier against the sea. The river Mr. Gray mentioned should, from the latitude he assigned it, have existence in the bay, south of Cape Disappointment. This we passed on the forenoon of the twenty-seventh; and, as I then observed, if any inlet or river should be found, it must be a very intricate one, and inaccessible to vessels of our burthen, owing to the reefs and broken water which then appeared in its neighborhood. Mr. Gray stated that he had been several days attempting to enter it, which at length he had been unable to effect, in consequence of a very strong outset. This is a phenomenon difficult to account for [Gray account for it easily enough by the theory that the outset was the discharging of unusually large river, a conclusion Vancouver would not admit because he had been there and had not seen it], as, in most cases where there are outsets of such strength on a sea coast, there are corresponding tides setting in. Be that, however, as it may, I was thoroughly convinced, as were also most persons of observation on bard, that we could not possibly have passed any safe navigable opening, harbour, or place of security for shipping on this coast, from Cape Mendocino to the Promontory of Classett [Cape Flattery]; nor had we any reason to alter our opinions.” The coast has since been found much less barren of harbors than this distinguished navigator supposed, though with the single exception of the Columbia, there are non affording entrance to large vessels without first undergoing improvement. Leaving Captain Vancouver in the Straits of Fuca, let us follow the movements of the American vessel. The “Columbia” had wintered at Ford Defiance, in the harbor of Clayoquot, her crew being busily employed in constructing a small sloop, which was launched in February and christened the “Adventure.” This was the second vessel constructed on the Pacific coast north of the Spanish possessions, Meares’s “Northwest American” being the first. Haswell, the first mate, was placed in command and sent northward on a trading voyage along the coast on the 2d of April, while Gray sailed south in the “Columbia.” Nothing is known of his movements until the 2d of May, except what Vancouver records as having been learned from him as stated above, and this was on the 29th of April, 1792, when they met just below the entrance of Fuca Straits. From Vancouver’s record it appears that Gray, either that spring of the year before, had been off Deception Bay, which he had believed to be the entrance to a large river, and which for nine days he had in vain endeavored to enter. The vessels parted. Vancouver, scouting the idea that a river could possibly exist at that point, since he had been there and had not observed it sailed into the Straits of Fuca in search of an interoceanic passage; Gray, convinced of the correctness of his own observations, sailed southward to discover and enter the greatest river on the Pacific coast, and the second in size on the continent of North America. On the 7th of May Gray entered a port in latitude 46° 58’, which he named “Bulfinch Harbor,” in honor of one of the owners of his vessel. He sailed out again on the 10th, having, while there, repulsed an attack by the natives, killing some of the assailants, and on the 11th safely crossed the bar which had before baffled him. Sailing ten miles up the stream he cast anchor in the mighty Columbia, for so Gray named the river in honor of his vessel. He also bestowed the name “Cape Hancock” upon the high promontory on the north, which had before been known as “Cabo de San Roque” and “Point Disappointment”; and upon the low point on the south, formerly called “Cape Frondoso,” he bestowed the name “Point Adams.” Three days later he ascended the stream fifteen miles farther, and having gotten into shoal water by reason of missing the channel, dropped down again and anchored nearer the mouth. The inhabitants of the Chinook village on the north bank of the Columbia were very friendly, and from them Gray obtained a large quantity of furs. It was not until the 20th that the bar was smooth enough to permit the “Columbia” to cross out, but on that day she sailed northward, and later, at two points on the upper coast, had bloody conflicts with Indians who attacked her. Here was met the “Adventure,” which had been twice around Queen Charlotte’s Island and had enjoyed only a moderate trade with the Indians. Both ships then made another trading voyage to the north, during which the “Columbia” struck upon a rock in the inland passage just above latitude 52° and was considerably damaged. She succeeded in reaching Nootka, where with the assistance of the Spaniards she was soon made tight and seaworthy again. She again sailed north, met the “Adventure” at Port Montgomery, on Queen Charlotte’s Island, and both vessels returned to Nootka, where Gray found Captain Vancouver and gave him a memorandum of his discovery of the Columbia River. Gray then sailed for home by way of the Sandwich Islands and China. After speaking the “Columbia,” Vancouver’s vessels entered the Straits of Fuca on the 30th of April, and proceeded slowly inland, Vancouver making a careful examination as he progressed. The vessels anchored at Port Discovery, and from that place as a rendezvous, Captain Vancouver and Lieutenants Menzies, Puget, and Johnstone explored the channels and bays to the southward for about four weeks. Vancouver bestowed the following well known names in that region: “Puget Sound,” in honor of Lieutenant Puget; “Hood’s Canal,” for Lord Hood; “Admiralty Inlet”; “Mount Rainier,” after Rear Admiral Rainier of the English navy; “Vashon Island,” after Captain Vashon; “Port Orchard,” the name of the officer who discovered it; “Possession Sound,” where he landed on the 4th of June and took possession in the name of King George of England; “Port Townsend,” in compliment to the “noble Marquis of that name”; “Whidby Island,” after one of his lieutenants; “Mount Baker,” discovered by Lieutenant Baker; “Bellingham Bay”; “Deception Passage”; “New Dungeness,” because of a fancied resemblance to Dungeness in the British Channel. Vancouver continued his explorations as far north at latitude 52° 18’, when he turned about and sailed for Nootka Sound, reaching that port on the 28th of August. Here he found the store ship “Daedalus,” which had been sent out from England with supplies and fresh instructions for his guidance in arranging affairs at Nootka. Vancouver remained at Nootka for more than a month, engaged in the fulfillment of his diplomatic mission. When he had concluded his negotiations, armed with a rough chart of the Columbia’s mount which Gray had left at Nootka, Vancouver sailed southward with his fleet, now increased to three vessels. On the 18th of October the “Daedalus,” commanded by Lieutenant Whidby, entered Bulfinch’s, or Gray’s, Harbor, to make a thorough examination, while her two consorts continued to the mouth of the Columbia. On the morning of the 19th the “Chatham” and “Discovery” attempted the passage of the bar, the former crossing safely, but the latter hauling off for fear there was not a sufficient depth of water. This circumstance led Vancouver to record in his journal that his “former opinion of this port being inaccessible to vessels of our burthen was now full confirmed, with this exception, that in very fine weather, with moderate winds, and a smooth sea, vessels not exceeding four hundred tons might, so far as we were able to judge, gain admittance.” It was while lying at anchor off the bar that he gained a view of a “high, round snow mountain” far up the stream, which he named “Mount St. Helens,” in honor of his Britannic Majesty’s ambassador at the Court of Madrid. The first sound that saluted the commander of the “Chatham” upon crossing the bar was the report of a cannon, which was answered in a similar manner by Lieutenant Broughton. It came from a brig called the “Jenny,” lying in a sheltered bay within the mouth of the stream, which has ever since been known as “Baker’s Bay,” in honor of the captain of that little craft which had sailed from Rhode Island. This made the second American vessel to enter the river before these official representatives of Great Britain undertook to explore it. The “Chatham” lay in the river several days, during which time Broughton ascended the stream in a boat some one hundred and twenty miles, as far as a point which he named in honor of the commander of the expedition, being the same upon which Fort Vancouver was afterward built by the Hudson’s Bay Company. The high snow crowned peak rising above the Cascades to the east he called “Mount Hood.” During his stay he formally “took possession of the river and the country in its vicinity, in his Britannic Majesty’s name, having not reason to believe that the subjects of no other civilized nation or state had ever entered this river before.” The closing portion of this sentence sounds strange when it is remembered that Captain Vancouver had in his possession the rough chart, made by Captain Gray, of the mouth of the Columbia, and that this chart was probably the cause of the “Chatham” and the “Discovery” being there at that time. It is explained by saying that Broughton affected to consider the broad estuary near the mouth of the stream as no portion of the river, and that in consequence Gray, though he had ascended the stream twenty-five miles, had not entered the river proper. This strained construction England maintained in the after controversy with the United States about the rights of discovery. Vancouver wintered at the Hawaiian Islands, returning to Nootka in may, 1793, and finding that no news had been received from Europe, sailed north to continue his examination of the coast from the point he had reached the year before. Later, upon receipt of intelligence from his government to the effect that an amicable settlement had been arrived at and that England had appointed a new commissioner, he at once set sail for England, where he arrived in October, 1795. Vancouver’s narrative of his four years’ voyage and explorations, the most complete and important ever issue up to that time, was published in 1798, previous to which the great explorer died. The “amicable settlement” spoken of was the one signed at Madrid by the representatives of Spain and England on the 11th of January, 1794. The tide of European politics had so turned that it was then the best policy of both England and Spain to form an alliance; hence the mutual concessions in this agreement. The treaty provided that commissioners of both nations should meet at Nootka, and that formal possession of the small tract of land claimed by Meares, by right of purchase from the Indian chief Maquinna, be given to the representative of England by the Spanish commissioner. It continued in the following explicit language:- “Then the British officer shall unfurl the British flag over the land thus restored as a sign of possession, and after these formalities the officers of the two crowns shall retire respectively their people from the said port of Nootka. And their said majesties have furthermore agreed that the subjects of both nations shall be free to frequent the said port as may be convenient, and to erect there temporary buildings for their accommodation during their residence on such occasions. But neither of the two parties shall make in said port any permanent establishment, or claim there any right of sovereignty or territorial dominion to the exclusion of the other. And their said majesties will aid each other to maintain their subjects in free access to the said port of Nootka against whatever other nation may attempt to establish there any sovereignty or dominion.” This solemn farce was actually enacted at Nootka on the 23d of March, 1795, by General Alava on the part of Spain, and Lieut. Thomas Pierce as representatives of Great Britain. Everything portable was then embarked on the Spanish vessels, which sailed away and left Nootka again in the sole possession of the natives. From that day to this no while settlement has been attempted at that historical spot. English historians, and many others writing, like them, from incomplete data, have asserted that the port of Nootka was surrendered to England by the Spaniards; but such the above quotation from the treaty shows not have been the case. Only the small patch of ground claimed by Meares to have been purchased from Maquinna was formally transferred; and England was as firmly bound as Spain not to make any future settlement at that point, while both were at liberty to occupy any other points they might see fit. Their interests in Europe, however, were so closely linked for the next few years that neither felt it necessary to attempt any settlements on the upper Pacific coast as a safeguard against the other. No other nation attempted to plant a colony here, and thus the matter stood for nearly a score of years, when the question of ownership was raised by a new claimant,-the United States. Traders continued to carry on the fur business as before, but their operations were of little historical importance.
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© Shauna Williams