S8E21 A Global Collision - The North Pacific Fur Trade

Hey folks, before we start the show today, I just wanted to say that this will be the last episode of season 8. It's been a fantastic season and I thank you all so much for sticking around to listen to all these episodes. We've had a wide, diverse array of topics. We will return in September with the beginning of season 9. So until then, stay tuned and stay curious. Hello and welcome to Curious Canadian History, I'm your host, David Boris. In the 1770s, the realization that sea otter pelts from the Pacific Northwest were fetching high prices in China led to an absolute bananza of trading expeditions into the largely unexplored region. For many, the Pacific Northwest was one of the farthest places on the planet to reach. Yet over the course of the last decades of the 18th century, the Pacific Northwest became a place that saw the collision of cultures and empires, from various indigenous groups to European, imperial monarchies to an American republic. Variety of characters arrived in the region to chase their dreams of fortune. It was a place of danger and discovery and a place that could make or break one's financial fortune and even cost one their life. This is season 8, Episode 21, a global collision, the North Pacific fur trade. Today's book, Recommendation, is titled Pacific Voyages, the story of sale in the Great Ocean. This is by author Gordon Miller and it was published in 2023 by Douglas and Macintyre. The Pacific Northwest was for many, one of the most distant places on Earth. From London or Madrid or France or Boston, one would have to sail south and brave the perils of the Cape Horn to then sail up the Pacific coast of North America. And from St. Petersburg, Voyagers would endure the icy cold of life in a Siberian port before making the long crossing of the Bering Sea. Despite the treacherous waters and the incredibly long time at sea, it was the potential for wealth that brought these international expeditions to the Pacific Northwest. That wealth came in the form of fur. You see, the area ranging from modern-day Oregon to Alaska is roughly the territorial range of the northern sea otter, a mammal with one of the densest, richest pelts amongst fur-bearing animals. These pelts received significant sums in ports along China's coast, and thus, these ships that arrived in the Pacific Northwest to trade for furs were connected to a huge global commercial and transportation network. The journey often went like this. From their place of origin, ships usually left port to sail around the horn, so the southern tip of South America. And this would be done during the summer season, by summer I mean summer in the southern hemisphere. They would then arrive in the Pacific Northwest to spend between a week or several weeks during the summer season in the Pacific Northwest. They would then make their way to Canton with a rest and reprovision stop in Hawaii along the way. After trading in Canton, they would then make their long journey back to their place of origin, often continuing westward to make it around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of South Africa. In Canton, otter pelts were often exchanged for significant sums, sometimes in coin, but also invaluable trade goods such as porcelain, silk, and tea, which fetched high prices in various domestic markets around the world. Thus, when looking at these fur trading expeditions of the late 18th century, we are talking about the longest, deep water commercial ventures of the era. Claims to be the first Europeans to arrive in the Pacific Northwest are disputed, though we do know for certain that a Spanish ship did arrive off of what would become Vancouver Island's west coast in 1774. That ship, the Santiago, was under command of Juan Martinez, who anchored his ship off of Estevan Point. Martinez named it Puntasán Esteban. Martinez traded with the local Nechanalth people, but never came ashore, and thus his contact was brief. It was two years later that Euro-Indigenous contact would be more cemented when James Cook sailed into Nutca Sound leading two British vessels, the Resolution and Discovery. They were seeking a sheltered bay to conduct repairs. Now while anchored, the British and the Nechanalth engaged in extensive trading, Cook was able to secure nearly 1,500 peltz in this trading frenzy and sold them for an exorbitant price in Canton. When Cook's journey was published in 1784, numerous nations and private trading companies began gearing up for the arduous journey to access this new source of wealth. In 1785, Englishman James Hanna and his aptly named ship Sea Otter became the first commercial trading vessel to arrive in Nutca Sound. For the next two years, the trade was dominated by the British, but in 1789, the first American traders began to arrive primarily ships out of Boston. In fact, the Nechanalth began to distinguish the two groups between King George Men and Boston men. The Nechanalth tribes that dominated this coastal trade were adept traders and skilled barters. Generally speaking, the relationship between Europeans and the Nechanalth were peaceful. Both sides clearly seeking economic gain in their partnerships. The violence was rare. It did happen. The key for specific tribal leaders was to dominate coastal contact with Europeans. Effectively becoming the middlemen in the fur trade. From Nukka Sound, the leader Makina of the modern day Moachat people, was able to control the trade in such a way as to make himself a powerful and influential figure amongst the Nechanalth, but also with the arriving Europeans. He was a key figure in the coastal fur trade from the late 1770s up until his death sometime in the mid-1790s. Of course, not all traders focused their efforts on Nukka Sound. Formed in 1785, the King George's sound company sent two ships into the Pacific Northwest, scourting the traditional trading site of Nukka Sound. The King George sailed north to Alaska, trading along the coast there while the other ship, between Charlotte, sailed south from Alaska, eventually finding a large opening that the captain, George Dixon, named Dixon Strikes. Today, this is Dixon Entrance, where the Alaska BC border now sits. Now, Dixon did not stop there. Every new area that he might discover could be a potential new source of furs. He continued exploring what is today the northern Pacific coast of BC, trading and mapping his route as he went. His major discovery was that he had been sailing around an island archipelago home to an indigenous group known as the Haida, a group that had already been trading extensively with Europeans. He named the island archipelago the Queen Charlotte Islands after his ship. Today, it is known as Haida guay. Two years later, a British captain named Charles S. Barkley, led a trading expedition on behalf of a private trading venture. Traveling with him was his 17-year-old wife, Francis Hornby Trevor. Barkley named several sites after his wife, including Hornby Island, but most importantly, he was the first captain to find the entrance to a massive, wide, straight. This was the long-lost straight of Juan de Fuca. Now, interestingly, this straight was said to have been discovered in the late 16th century by Captain Juan de Fuca. Captain Juan de Fuca was actually a postalos filerianos, a Greek sailor who was sailing under the Spanish flag. But back to Charles S. Barkley, Barkley's wife would end up being the first European woman to visit not only the Pacific Northwest, but also the Hawaiian Islands. In fact, when Francis and her maid Winnie, a Hawaiian girl, arrived in Nucca Sound on Barkley's ship, they both became the first two non-indigenous women to visit the Pacific Northwest coast. Now, not all trips ended in fortune. John Mears was an ex-left tenant of the Royal Navy, who, in 1786, heard about the money being made in the Pacific Northwest. He gathered together some investors and they formed the Bengal Fur Company. And later that year, two ships sailed to the Pacific Northwest representing that company. One of the vessels was also named Sea Otter. It was able, in fact, to collect a pretty good cargo of fur, and this was reported by a British naval vessel it had made contact with in the region. However, when this sea otter sailed out of Prince William's Sound off of the South Coast of Alaska, it was never heard from or seen again. Now Mears was captaining the other ship, named Nucca, and this ship faired nearly as bad. Traveling along the Alaskan coast, Mears and his crew found first sources in the region quite depleted. The vessel then anchored in Prince William's Sound where it became trapped for the winter. Food ran scarce, men began to fall ill, and soon die. In the warm weather finally arrived in May, the ship was barely sea worthy, and so many men had died, the crew could barely sail her even if she were. If it wasn't for the arrival of the ship King George of the King George's Sound Company, Mears and his crew could have very well been stuck or even perished completely. With the help from the crew of King George, Mears and his remaining crew finally sailed out of Prince William's Sound and returned home. The first expedition of the Bangalford Company had been a total disaster. Mears, however, was not done. In 1787 he returned to the West Coast, this time with the plan to set up a permanent trading post in Nucca Sound at Friendly Cove. This being a long-term effort to collect furs all year round. He arrived in May 1788, with a crew that included 29 Chinese laborers. Mears claimed he had purchased a small plot of land from Makina, and not only did he and his team build a small trading post on the spot, but they also began construction on a small ship. In September of 1788, that ship was complete. The first European vessel to be built on the Pacific Northwest Coast christened the Northwest America. Folks, I know that sometimes advertisements can get in the way of a good story. And here at CCH, we never want a good story's momentum broken up, but we rely on advertisement for the financial support needed to continue to make this. That being said, there is a way, my friends, to access CCH episodes advertisement free. If you go to patreon.com, that's P-A-T-R-E-O-N, and search Curious Canadian History, you can access all our episodes ad free by just donating a few bucks to the podcast. It's easy, safe, and a great way to get this content without the ads. Canadian even has an app, so you can simply use the app on your phone like you would be using any of your podcast apps and have every new CCH episode right there at your fingertips. Check out patreon.com/curiouscanadianhistorytoday and join the club. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Now, of course, while all this British activity was going on, the Americans were beginning to make their presence felt in the Pacific Northwest. The first American to really test the waters was John Kendrick, who sailed out of Boston on the Columbia Red Viva in October 1787, arriving in Nukka in September 1788. Kendrick's time on the Pacific Coast was not without drama. While anchored off the Haida village of Ninstance in 1789, a local Haida chief, chief Koya, got into an argument with Kendrick, ultimately resulting in Kendrick assaulting Koya. It said he painted his face and shaved his head. The chief ceded for revenge from this act, but no further conflict ensued at the time. Kendrick then led his ship on a successful trading expedition, loading up on firs along with his sister ship, Lady Washington, selling them all in Canton, and the Columbia arrived back in Boston in August 1790 to immense celebration from Boston crowds. Instead of returning home, Kendrick actually remained in Canton, with Lady Washington and in 1791 Kendrick and Lady Washington met up with the Columbia in Klayakwatt Sound, where they actually built a temporary settlement, engaged in further trading, and even built a 45-ton slupe, which was eventually sold off to the Spanish. Interestingly, Kendrick returned to Ninstance in that same year, where once again, he clashed with chief Koya, who was bent on exacting revenge. The details aren't incredibly clear, but basically, the Haida overwhelmed the crew of Lady Washington and forced the men below. Intent on saving the ship, Kendrick was able to escape from his captives and free some of his armed officers who attacked the Haida on the deck and drove them off. What followed was a violent display of firepower, as Kendrick and his crew opened up on the retreating Haida with every gun at their disposal. Those Haida warriors, along with Koya's wife and two children, were killed in this barrage. As an aside, Kendrick had one of the weirdest deaths amongst the Pacific Northwest fur traders. In Hawaii, in 1794, Kendrick and two British vessels sought to salute each other as they all sailed out of harbor. Now in the exchange of what was supposed to be symbolic shots, i.e. no cannons actually being loaded, one of the British cannons accidentally fired great shot at Kendrick's ship. It pierced the side of his ship and killed Kendrick while he sat at his table in his quarters. Now a young officer aboard the Columbia was American John Boyd, who, at 19 years of age, was given the captaincy of the Slope Union out of Rhode Island with a trading mission to the Pacific Northwest. He left in July 1794 and arrived on the Northwest side of Vancouver Island in Columbia Cove in June '95. They spent a week in that Cove trading before moving north, eventually anchoring off of the village of none other than Chief Koya. Great records that nearly 40 canoes of armed Haida rode out to meet his vessel. He let several chiefs on board, but kept the numbers small, regardless of violence ensued. Somehow during their negotiations, Koya and the second mate got into a scuffle and Boyd killed Koya with a bayonet. Boyd's crew then opened up with musket and cannon fire on the Haida surrounding the ship, killing scores of Haida warriors. The next day, some of the same chiefs who survived this barrage returned to Union with stacks of furs. Despite the violence that had occurred the day before, trading still seemed to be the priority, and Boyd left with a stack of furs heading south. In January 1796, the Union arrived in Canton, where it sold its furs and then the long journey home began, Union arrived back in Cape Cod in July 1796. By the 1790s, it was clear that the Pacific Northwest was contested by two powers, the British, who had the strongest claim, and the Americans, who, unsurprisingly, refused to acknowledge any sort of British supremacy in the region. Yet, one power that used to be influential in that region and by the end of the 18th century had totally disappeared was the Spanish. In the late 1770s, Britain refused to acknowledge Spain's claims to Nookah Sound due to the fact that Captain Martinez had only anchored offshore while Cook had actually stayed in the sound for four weeks. Regardless, Spain launched ten different expeditions between 1788 and 1793 to press their claims to the space. In 1789, this included an attempt to establish a permanent base in Nookah Sound. When the leader of that expedition, Captain Martinez, arrived in May 1789, there were already two ships there, an American vessel, and the British ship, Ifagenia. Backed by Spanish numerical superiority, Martinez seized the British vessel, though later he did let it go on promise that it would quit the coast. Then in July, Martinez did the same thing, seizing the Argonaut, a British trading vessel with the East India and South Sea companies. When news of this second seizure reached London, public anger over the Spanish was aroused. One must keep in mind that as all this was going on, France had descended into chaos as the French Revolution had just erupted, the storming of the Bastille. France was Spain's main ally, especially against British global supremacy. With the French having their own very serious domestic problems, the British forced the Spanish into signing the Nookah Conventions. They made them sign this on the threat of war. And effectively, the signing of these conventions ended Spanish claims to the Pacific Northwest. This didn't mean that the Spanish stopped coming to the region, though. In 1791, Francisco de Aliza led an exploratory trading mission along the eastern end of the strait of Wandafuka. His ship sailed into the strait, explored what is today known as the Salish Sea, and navigated the various islands, eventually entering into the opening of what would become known as the Strait of Georgia. This is a large body of water separating Vancouver Island from mainland Vancouver. Aliza writes how he was able to see, often the distance, the volcanic peak of what would later be named Mount Baker. Further exploratory attempts got them into Bellingham Bay, modern day Bellingham, and East along the San Juan Islands, before spotting both Point Roberts, so modern day Point Roberts in Washington, and Point Gray. This is a geographical heading, marking the entrance into English Bay and Barard, inland. Despite not having any more serious claim to the Pacific Northwest, Spanish explorers played a crucial part in identifying and naming numerous landmarks that define the region today. This, from the 1770s onwards, the Pacific Northwest became a trading entrepoh, connecting massive European empires, a North American republic, and powerful indigenous tribes with one another. It was a battleground, a place for wealth, a place of discovery and adventure, and one of the last places on the planet to capture the imagination of European explorers. From the Strait of Wanda Fuka into the Salish Sea to the Strait of Georgia, or farther north to Nukka Sound and even farther up the coast, all the way to Hightaguay and into the modern state of Alaska, the complex and treacherous coastline truly became a site for a global collision. I want to thank you all for listening today. Don't forget, you can find me on Twitter @dotorus@docboys, you can find us on Facebook, you can find us on Instagram, you can find us on Patreon, and you can find us on all podcast listening devices. And please do not hesitate to write and leave a comment we love to hear from you. I'm David Boris, Stay Curious Friends. (upbeat music)