Atahualpa was a 210 ton ship built at Kennebunk, Maine. Its sister ship was Guatimozin. The Atahualpa was named after the last IncaemperorAtahualpa. Guatimozin was named after the last Aztec emperor Guatimozin. Both ships were owned by the Boston company of Theodore Lyman and Associates.[1]
Atahualpa continued cruising the coast for furs in 1802, then sailed to the Hawaiian Islands and on to Canton (Guangzhou), China, where the furs were sold via the Canton System. Then Atahualpa sailed back home via the Sunda Strait and Cape of Good Hope, arriving in Boston in June 1803.[1] During this voyage Atahualpa acquired 3,536 sea otter skins, of which 2,297 were prime pelts, and also 2,374 tails, 40 cotsacks, and 69 pieces, plus 129 beaver and land-otter pelts. This was a large take, as American vessels were averaging just over 1,000 skins at the time.[2]
The first voyage of Atahualpa is well documented thanks to the log and records of its supercargo Ralph Haskins.[1]
Second voyage
Shortly after returning to Boston in 1803 Atahualpa set out on another maritime fur trading voyage, this time under the command of Oliver Porter. By January 1804 the ship was trading on the Pacific Northwest coast. The ship continued to cruise the coast the following year.[1]
On 12 June 1805 the ship was attacked at Milbanke Sound by the Heiltsuk First Nation. Captain Porter and eight of his men were killed, and several more seriously wounded. According to the surviving crew Atahualpa had been anchored near a native village and all seemed peaceful. A number of natives were on board. A canoe brought the local chief, who called for Captain Porter to inspect some sea otter furs. When Porter leaned over the rail to see, one of the natives on board Atahualpa stabbed him in the back and threw him overboard. Then followed, according to the survivor Joel Richardson, "a general massacre". The captain, first mate, second mate, supercargo, cooper, cook, and others were killed. Some of the crew who were below deck fired up through the hatches and then charged with knives and muskets, retaking the ship. Only four of the crew were uninjured by the end of the battle. These four, with three of the wounded, cleared the deck of dead bodies, loosed sails, waited for the ship to swing the right direction, then cut the anchor cable and barely cleared "the village rock". Then they made all sail and beat out of Milbanke Sound.[3]
According to the Heiltsuk people (Q̓vúqvay̓áitx̌v), the Atahualpa was conducting trading business in a way that was a grave violation of Heiltsuk Ǧviḷás (law). Thus, according to the Heiltsuk the attack was "enforcement of Heiltsuk jurisdiction under Ǧviḷás". The Heiltsuk explain the attack on the Atahualpa as "one example of Heiltsuk agency when making decisions about natural resources and addressing the misconduct of visitors within our territory."[4]
On 17 June 1805 the dead were buried at sea. The ship was taken to Kaigani where it was hoped other American vessels would be found. They waited at Kaigani until 23 June, when Vancouver, under captain Thomas Brown, arrived. The teenage boatswain of Atahualpa was the highest ranking man left alive. He immediately turned the ship over to Captain Brown, who sent his chief mate, David Adams, over to take command of Atahualpa. Mr. Low, who had left Boston as first mate of Lydia and transferred to Vancouver, was made first mate of Atahualpa. The two ships sailed to Nahwitti.[3]
News of the attack spread quickly along the coast and by 27 June there were six New England trading vessels at Nahwitti, three belonging to the Lyman Company, Atahualpa, under David Adams, Vancouver, under Thomas Brown, and Lydia, under Samuel Hill, and the vessels Juno, under John DeWolf, Pearl, and Mary. Between all the ships a plan was devised to make up the lost crew of Atahualpa with men from other ships, and to establish a new hierarchy of command.[3]
The supercargo of Lydia, Isaac Hurd, was happy to volunteer to transfer to Atahualpa. He and Captain Hill had become bitter enemies during the voyage of the Lydia. Hill refused to let Hurd go. It was agreed that Atahualpa, with David Adams as captain, would sail immediately to Canton. Two days were spent preparing Atahualpa for the voyage. The ship's guns and cargo were moved to the Vancouver. On 3 July Brown and Hurd decided that it would be in the best interest of their employer if the cargos of Vancouver and Lydia were consolidated and one of the ships accompany Atahualpa to Canton. Since Vancouver was larger and could easily take Lydia's cargo, but not the reverse, they argued that the Captain Hill of the Lydia should give up his cargo and sail for Canton. As supercargo of the Lydia Hurd was in charge of the cargo, and so went to inform Captain Hill of the decision. Hill reacted with extreme anger and threats of violence. After several days and attempts to persuade Hill to comply with the plan, Hill still refused to transfer any of the cargo. In the end he allowed Hurd to transfer to Atahualpa, allowing him on board Lydia only to get his personal clothing. When Hurd came on board to do so Captain Hill stood over him the entire time with a club, ready to strike. Watching this from the Vancouver, Captain Brown threw up his hands and declared he would never have anything to do with Hill again.[3]
The Lydia's cook, who had also suffered under Captain Hill, snuck away to Atahualpa. As Atahualpa began to sail away, without the escort Brown and Hurd had wanted, Captain Hill approached in a boat and demanded to come aboard to get his cook. David Adams refused. Once Atahualpa was out of Hill's reach the cook came on deck and waved.[3]
From Nahwitti Atahualpa sailed to Canton and then back to Boston, arriving home in late December 1805.[1]
The attack and its aftermath were documented in various ship logs and other records. Ebenezer Clinton's journal of the Atahualpa and Vancouver includes a song memorializing the event, called The Bold Northwestman.[1]
Third voyage
Atahualpa sailed a third maritime fur trading voyage under William Sturgis, leaving Boston in October 1806. The ship trading on the Pacific Northwest Coast in 1807, then sailed to Canton via Hawaii. From Canton Sturgis sailed the ship back to Boston, arriving in June 1808.[1]
Sturgis then sailed Atahualpa from Boston to Canton and back.[1] In the summer of 1809 Atahualpa was attacked twice by pirates in the Pearl River estuary near Canton. The first time Captain Sturgis outran about 200 pirate vessels. The second time the pirates were evaded with the help of four other American vessels.[5]
Fourth voyage
Atahualpa sailed a fourth maritime fur trading voyage under John Suter, leaving Boston in October 1811. The ship cruised the Pacific Northwest Coast from April 1812 to August 1813, then sailed to the Aleutian Islands and on to Hawaii,[1] arriving at the Island of Hawaii on 17 October 1813.[6]
Captain Suter learned that the War of 1812 had broken out between the US and UK in June 1812, putting US ships in danger, and also that the armed schooner Tamaahmaah was waiting at Honolulu to take the cargoes of American trading ships to China. Therefore Suter took Atahualpa to Honolulu, arriving on 19 October 1813. There, in late October 1813, Atahualpa was sold to three New England captains for $4,500.[6] These were William Heath Davis of Isabella, James Bennett of Lydia, Nathan or John Winship, and Lemuel Porter of the Tamaahmaah. Porter had come to Hawaii with instructions to warn American interests about the outbreak of the War of 1812. The purchase of the Atahualpa effectively prevented its seizure by the British since an American registry for the vessel could not be obtained while in the Pacific.[1]
Russian vessel
In December 1813 Atahualpa and another ship were sold to Alexander Baranov of the Russian–American Company for 20,000 sealskins. The Atahualpa was renamed Behring or Bering.[7] James Bennett served as its captain while under RAC ownership.[1] He first sailed the ship to Okhotsk to pick up the furs being used to buy the ship.[7]
Bennett sailed Bering back to Hawaii to pick up provisions for Russian America, arriving at Kauai in early October 1814. He made stops at Honolulu, Oahu, and Maui, before returning to Kauai. Off Niʻihau on 1 January 1815 a leak was discovered, so Bering returned to Honolulu for repairs, after which Bennett sailed back to Kauai, arriving at Waimea Bay on 30 January 1815. During a gale on 30 January 1815, Bering was damaged and drifted toward the shore. At 3:00 AM, 31 January 1815, the ship was struck the beach in Waimea Bay, Kauai.[6] Bennett and his crew were stranded on Kauai for two months until 11 April 1815, when they obtained passage on the Albatross, under Captain William Smith. The Native Hawaiian chief Kaumualiʻi kept the ship's goods, including the cargo of furs and the crew's personal possessions. Captain Smith took Bennett to Sitka, Alaska, where he informed Baranov of the loss of Bering and tried to convince him to use force to retrieve the cargo and other property.[6] Baranov decided to try diplomacy and sent Georg Anton Schäffer to Hawaii on the ship Isabella.[7]
Schäffer first went to the Island of Hawaii and met with King Kamehameha. He then went to Oahu and then Kauai. On 2 June 1816 Kaumualiʻi agreed to return the cargo that remained and pay restitution in sandalwood for any items that could no longer be accounted for.[8]
Waimea is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kauaʻi County, Hawaiʻi, United States. The population was 2,057 at the 2020 census. The first Europeans to reach Hawaii landed in Waimea in 1778.
John Meares was an English navigator, explorer, and maritime fur trader, best known for his role in the Nootka Crisis, which brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war.
Robert Gray was an American merchant sea captain who is known for his achievements in connection with two trading voyages to the northern Pacific coast of North America, between 1790 and 1793, which pioneered the American maritime fur trade in that region. In the course of those voyages, Gray explored portions of that coast and in the year 1790 he completed the first American circumnavigation of the world. He was also noted for coming upon and naming the Columbia River, in 1792, while on his second voyage.
Tonquin was a 290-ton American merchant ship initially operated by Fanning & Coles and later by the Pacific Fur Company (PFC), a subsidiary of the American Fur Company (AFC). Its first commander was Edmund Fanning, who sailed to the Qing Empire for valuable Chinese trade goods in 1807. The vessel was outfitted for another journey to China and then was sold to German-American entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. Included within his intricate plans to assume control over portions of the lucrative North American fur trade, the ship was intended to establish and supply trading outposts on the Pacific Northwest coast. Valuable animal furs purchased and trapped in the region would then be shipped to China, where consumer demand was high for particular pelts.
John Kendrick (1740–1794) was an American sea captain during the American Revolutionary War, and was involved in the exploration and maritime fur trading of the Pacific Northwest alongside his subordinate Robert Gray. He was the leader of the first US expedition to the Pacific Northwest. He is known for his role in the 1789 Nootka Crisis, having been present at Nootka Sound when the Spanish naval officer José Esteban Martínez seized several British ships belonging to a commercial enterprise owned by a partnership of companies under John Meares and Richard Cadman Etches. This incident nearly led to war between Britain and Spain and became the subject of lengthy investigations and diplomatic inquiries.
Milbanke Sound is a sound on the coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Charles William Barkley was a ship captain and maritime fur trader. He was born in Hertford, England, son of Charles Barkley.
The Schäffer affair was a controversial diplomatic incident caused by Georg Anton Schäffer, a German physician who attempted to seize the Kingdom of Hawaii for the Russian Empire. After two years, his scheme failed and he returned to Germany.
James Colnett was an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a maritime fur trader. He served under James Cook during Cook's second voyage of exploration. Later he led two private trading expeditions that involved collecting sea otter pelts in the Pacific Northwest of North America and selling them in Canton, China, where the British East India Company maintained a trading post. Wintering in the recently discovered Hawaiian Islands was a key component of the new trade system. Colnett is remembered largely for his involvement in the Nootka Crisis of 1789—initially a dispute between British traders and the Spanish Navy over the use of Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island that became an international crisis that led Britain and Spain to the brink of war before being peacefully resolved through diplomacy and the signing of the Nootka Conventions.
The maritime fur trade, a ship-based fur trade system, focused largely on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. Entrepreneurs also exploited fur-bearing skins from the wider Pacific and from the Southern Ocean.
Otter was a maritime fur trading vessel. Between 1795 and 1798 it visited the Pacific. It was most famous for the rescue of Thomas Muir, a famous Scottish political exile.
James Cook's third and final voyage took the route from Plymouth via Tenerife and Cape Town to New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands, and along the North American coast to the Bering Strait.
William Douglas was a Scottish ship captain and an oceanographer maritime fur trader during the late 18th century. He worked with the British trader and Captain John Meares, commanding the ship Iphigenia Nubiana. He was involved in the Nootka Crisis of 1789, which brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war. A few years later he was captain of the American ship Grace. In 1791 he partnered with Captain John Kendrick in an attempt to open trade with Japan.
Samuel Hill was an American merchant sea captain and adventurer. He commanded various ships on many long voyages, often to remote parts of the world.
Nahwitti was a Kwakwakaʼwakw First Nation village and a major trading site during the maritime fur trade era of approximately 1790 to 1850. Today it is an Indian reserve under the administration of the Kwakwakaʼwakw Tlatlasikwala Nation. It is located near the northern tip of Vancouver Island, at Cape Sutil on Queen Charlotte Sound, near Hope Island and the Nahwitti River, east of Cape Scott, and not far from historic Fort Rupert and modern Port Hardy.
Hope was an American brigantine built at Kittery, Maine in 1789 for use in the maritime fur trade and owned by Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Russell Sturgis, and James Magee.
James Magee (1750–1801) was one of the first Americans involved in the Old China Trade and the Maritime Fur Trade. He was born in County Down, Ireland, probably near Downpatrick. James and his brother Bernard immigrated to New England shortly before the American Revolutionary War Described as a "convivial, noble–hearted Irishman", he married Margaret Elliot, sister of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, in October 1783. Magee lived in Roxbury, today part of Boston, ultimately in the Shirley–Eustis House, which he bought in 1798. His brother, Bernard Magee, was also a sea captain in the maritime fur trade.
Margaret was an American ship built at Boston and launched in the fall of 1791. It was built for use in the maritime fur trade and was owned by Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Russell Sturgis, James and Thomas Lamb, and James Magee. It was armed with eight cannon and six to eight swivel guns. On its maiden voyage it left Boston with a crew of 25.
Lydia was a US merchant ship that sailed on maritime fur trading ventures in the early 1800s. In December 1813 it was sold to the Russian–American Company and renamed Il'mena, also spelled Ilmena and Il'men'. As both Lydia and Il'mena it was involved in notable events. Today it is best known for its role in an 1814 massacre of the Nicoleño natives of San Nicolas Island, which ultimately resulted in one Nicoleño woman, known as Juana Maria, living alone on the island for many years. These events became the basis for Scott O'Dell's 1960 children's novel Island of the Blue Dolphins and the 1964 film adaptation Island of the Blue Dolphins.
John DeWolf, also known as John D'Wolf, John D'Wolfe, John DeWolfe, John DeWolf II, Norwest John or Nor'west John, was a sea captain, merchant, and businessman known for his role in the maritime fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and his influence on the Russian-American Company in Novo-Arkhangelsk in Russian America, and for being an uncle of Herman Melville. Melville was inspired by DeWolf's stories, including an encounter with a large whale that contributed to Melville's Moby-Dick, which Melville describes explicitly in Moby Dick, "Chapter XLV: The Affidavit". "Captain D'Wolf" is also described in the same chapter. John DeWolf was the first American known to have travelled overland across Siberia, and probably the first person ever to circumnavigate the globe by way of crossing Asia overland.
1 2 3 4 5 Malloy, Mary (2006). Devil on the deep blue sea: The notorious career of Captain Samuel Hill of Boston. Bullbrier Press. pp.37–42. ISBN978-0-9722854-1-4.
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