Nootka Sound

Last updated
Nootka Sound
French: Baie de Nootka
Mowichat (Nuu-chah-nulth)
Morning on Nootka Sound.jpg
Clouds over Nootka Sound
Canada British Columbia relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Nootka Sound
Location in British Columbia
Canada relief map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Nootka Sound
Nootka Sound (Canada)
Carte baie Nootka.svg
Map of Nootka Sound
Location Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Coordinates 49°41′N126°33′W / 49.683°N 126.550°W / 49.683; -126.550
Type Sound
Ocean/sea sources Pacific Ocean
Settlements Gold River, Tahsis, Yuquot, Zeballos

Nootka Sound (French : Baie de Nootka) is a sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Pacific Northwest, historically known as King George's Sound. It separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island, [1] part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It played a historically important role in the maritime fur trade.

Contents

History

John Webber's A Native of King George's Sound, drawing published in a 1783 book about Captain James Cook A Native of King Georges Sound.jpg
John Webber's A Native of King George's Sound, drawing published in a 1783 book about Captain James Cook
John Webber's The launching of the North West America Ships of Meares at Nootka Sound in 1788 Nootka.jpg
John Webber's The launching of the North West America Ships of Meares at Nootka Sound in 1788
John Webber's Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, c. 1788 John Webber - Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound - Google Art Project.jpg
John Webber's Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, c. 1788

The inlet is part of the traditional territory of the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth people. They called it Mowichat. [2] John R. Jewitt is an Englishman who describes the area in some detail in a memoir about his years as a captive of chief Maquinna from 1802 to 1805.

European exploration and trade

On August 8, 1774, the Spanish Navy ship Santiago, under Juan Pérez, entered and anchored in the inlet. Although the Spanish did not land, natives paddled to the ship to trade furs for abalone shells from California. [3] Pérez named the entrance to Nootka Sound Surgidero de San Lorenzo. The word surgidero means "source". When Esteban José Martinez arrived in 1789 he gave Nootka Sound the name Puerto de San Lorenzo de Nuca. To the Spanish establishment at Friendly Cove he gave the name Santa Cruz de Nuca . [4]

In March 1778, Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy landed on Bligh Island and named the inlet "King George's Sound". He recorded that the native name was Nutka or Nootka, apparently misunderstanding his conversations at Friendly Cove/Yuquot ; his informant may have been explaining that he was on an island (itchme nutka, a place you can "go around"). There may also have been confusion with Nuu-chah-nulth , the natives' autonym (name for themselves). It may also have simply been based on Cook’s mis-pronunciation of Yuquot, the native name of the place. [5] The earlier Spanish and British names for the Sound swiftly went out of use.

At the time, the Spanish monopolized the trade between Asia and North America, and had granted limited licenses to the Portuguese. The Russians had established a growing fur trading system in Alaska. The Spanish began to challenge the Russians, with Pérez's voyage being the first of many to the Pacific Northwest. [6] The British also became increasingly active in the region.

The next European to visit Nootka Sound after James Cook was the British trader James Hanna in August 1785. Hanna traded iron bars for furs. He sold the furs in China for a handsome profit, [7] beginning an era of the Maritime Fur Trade.

In 1786 another maritime fur trader, James Strange, visited Nootka Sound. One of his crew, John Mackay, volunteered to remain at Nootka and work to establish relationships until Strange returned the next year. But Strange never returned. When the trader Charles Barkley arrived at Nootka in the summer of 1787, he was surprised to find John Mackay who, over the year, had learned the Nuu-chah-nulth's language and customs, adapted himself to their ways, and married a young native girl. [8] At first Mackay was welcomed and befriended by Maquinna, but after unknowingly breaking a taboo he was exiled from Maquinna's house and forced to survive on his own. Barkley took Mackay on board his ship, Imperial Eagle . [9]

Nootka Crisis

Starting in 1774 Spain sent several expeditions to Alaska to assert its long-held claim over the Pacific Northwest which dated back to the 16th century. During the decade 1785–1795 British merchants, encouraged by Sir Joseph Banks and supported by their government, made a sustained attempt to develop British fur trade in the area, despite Spain's claims and navigation rights. The endeavours of these merchants did not last long in the face of Spain's opposition. The challenge was also opposed by Japan holding obdurately to national seclusion. [10] In 1789 Spain sent Sub-Lieutenant Esteban José Martinez, commanding Princesa and San Carlos, to enforce Spanish sovereignty and defend its claims. He arrived in February 1789 and established a settlement and built Fort San Miguel. The ship Iphigenia Nubiana, under Captain William Douglas and owned by John Meares, was impounded [11] and the Spanish navy seized two other British ships, including Princess Royal. Two American ships in the area were allowed to sail as the United States was Spain's ally (Spain had helped the US in its War of Independence). However, the American ship Fair American, under Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe, was seized and taken to San Blas, before being released. The capture of the British ships led to the Nootka Crisis and near war between Britain and Spain. The British challenged Spanish claims to allegedly "un-colonized" land on the Pacific coasts of North and South America. The first Nootka Convention (1790) gave both countries the right to settle along the Pacific coasts, interrupting the Spanish monopoly for the first time in over two centuries. The British quickly sponsored the Vancouver Expedition of exploration. Difficulties in implementing the terms led to a second, and then a third Nootka Convention (1794). [12]

The Nootka Sound controversy also played a part in the French Revolution. The Spanish Bourbon monarchy asked for French support in the dispute in the event that it led to war between Spain and Great Britain. The French Bourbon king Louis XVI wanted to back Spain against Great Britain, but his right to enter France into an alliance on his own prerogative was disputed by the National Assembly. The Assembly maintained that the King's right to determine foreign policy and declare war was subject to the sovereignty of the people. Eventually the Assembly ruled that a proposal for a declaration of war could be initiated by the king, but had to be ratified by the Assembly; this was a major blow to the monarchy.

Thomas Muir

The Scottish political reformer Thomas Muir had been banished to Port Jackson in Botany Bay in Australia for 14 years for the crime of sedition in 1793. He managed to escape having only spent 13 months there, on board the American merchant ship Otter. After a highly adventurous voyage across the as yet largely uncharted Pacific Ocean to Vancouver Island, Otter finally dropped anchor in Nootka Sound on 22 June 1796.

In conversation with José Tovar, the piloto (master) of Sutil, a Spanish vessel at anchor in the Nootka Sound, Muir learned to his dismay of the presence in neighbouring waters of HMS Providence, the British sloop-of-war under William Robert Broughton. This vessel had visited Port Jackson in Australia shortly before Muir’s escape and, since Broughton had almost certainly become acquainted with the captain or members of the crew, his life was now in real danger.

To be captured while under sentence of transportation meant immediate execution. Once again Muir’s extraordinary luck held out. While a student at Glasgow, he had acquired a fluent command of Spanish and he was now able to persuade Tovar to break his regulations regarding the admission of foreigners into Spanish territory. Changing vessels he sailed with Tovar down the Pacific West Coast to the port of Monterey in Spanish Las Californias.

The chronicles of Pierre François Péron describe Muir's escape from Australia and the voyage across the Pacific to Nootka Sound, and then as far as Monterey, California.

Nootka Sound has not been the scene of any major international disagreements in modern history. [11] [13]

Climate

Climate data for Nootka Lightstation
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Record high °C (°F)18.5
(65.3)		16.5
(61.7)		18.5
(65.3)		23
(73)		27.5
(81.5)		30
(86)		32
(90)		30.5
(86.9)		26.5
(79.7)		22.5
(72.5)		22.5
(72.5)		18
(64)		32
(90)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)7
(45)		8
(46)		10
(50)		12
(54)		14.7
(58.5)		16.7
(62.1)		19.1
(66.4)		19.5
(67.1)		17.8
(64.0)		13.3
(55.9)		9.1
(48.4)		7
(45)		12.9
(55.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)3.3
(37.9)		3.5
(38.3)		4.2
(39.6)		5.6
(42.1)		8.2
(46.8)		10.4
(50.7)		12.3
(54.1)		12.9
(55.2)		11.6
(52.9)		8.4
(47.1)		5.1
(41.2)		3.3
(37.9)		7.4
(45.3)
Record low °C (°F)−6.5
(20.3)		−10
(14)		−2.5
(27.5)		0
(32)		1
(34)		5
(41)		6
(43)		9
(48)		5
(41)		−1
(30)		−7
(19)		−5.5
(22.1)		−10
(14)
Average precipitation mm (inches)438.1
(17.25)		363
(14.3)		299
(11.8)		264.1
(10.40)		164.6
(6.48)		159.2
(6.27)		78
(3.1)		91.7
(3.61)		152
(6.0)		348.4
(13.72)		459.3
(18.08)		456.3
(17.96)		3,273.6
(128.88)
Source: Environment Canada [14]

Luna the orca

In 2001, a two-year-old male orca, later named Luna, was seen alone in Nootka Sound as far inland as the marina at Gold River, British Columbia. [15] Presumed to be an orphan separated from his pod, Luna became a local and international celebrity as a result of his playful and curious behaviour towards tug boats and recreational watercraft on Nootka Sound, and with people, including young children, on the Gold River dock. [15] The popularity of Luna made Nootka Sound and Gold River an international attraction from early 2002 through March 2006 when Luna was killed in an accidental collision with the propeller of the Vancouver-based tugboat, General Jackson, on Mooyah Bay in Nootka Sound. [15] [16] [17]

It is mentioned in the former unofficial national anthem of English-speaking Canada, "The Maple Leaf Forever", to represent the western extent of Canada's "fair dominion".

Nootka Sound is referred to in the 2017 FX/ BBC One drama Taboo and is a central part of the story line. The Nootka trading post becomes an issue of contention between the United States, the British Crown, the East India Company and the protagonist James Keziah Delaney who has inherited the trading post from his father.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuu-chah-nulth</span> North American ethnic group

The Nuu-chah-nulth, also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related tribes whose traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Meares</span> British navigator, explorer and fur trader (c. 1756 – 1809)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gray (sea captain)</span> American Merchant Sea Captain (1755–1806)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maquinna</span>

Maquinna was the chief of the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Nootka Sound, during the heyday of the maritime fur trade in the 1780s and 1790s on the Pacific Northwest Coast. The name means "possessor of pebbles". His people are today known as the Mowachaht and reside today with their kin, the Muchalaht, at Gold River, British Columbia, Canada.

Nuu-chah-nulth, a.k.a.Nootka, is a Wakashan language in the Pacific Northwest of North America on the west coast of Vancouver Island, from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound in British Columbia by the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. Nuu-chah-nulth is a Southern Wakashan language related to Nitinaht and Makah.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dionisio Alcalá Galiano</span> Spanish naval officer

Dionisio Alcalá Galiano was a Spanish naval officer, cartographer, and explorer. He mapped various coastlines in Europe and the Americas with unprecedented accuracy using new technology such as chronometers. He commanded an expedition that explored and mapped the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia, and made the first European circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. He reached the rank of brigadier and died during the Battle of Trafalgar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuquot</span> Historic site in British Columbia, Canada

Yuquot, also known as Friendly Cove, is a small settlement of around six people—the Williams family of the Mowachaht band—plus two full-time lighthouse keepers, located on Nootka Island in Nootka Sound, just west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It was the summer home of Chief Maquinna and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht (Nuu-chah-nulth) people for generations, housing approximately 1,500 people in 20 traditional wooden longhouses. The name means "Wind comes from all directions" in Nuu-chah-nulth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esteban José Martínez Fernández y Martínez de la Sierra</span> Spanish navigator and explorer

Esteban José Martínez Fernández y Martínez de la Sierra, or simply José Esteban Martínez (1742–1798) was a Spanish naval officer, navigator and explorer, native of Seville. He was a key figure in the Spanish exploration of the Pacific Northwest and the Nootka Crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles William Barkley</span>

Charles William Barkley was a ship captain and maritime fur trader. He was born in Hertford, England, son of Charles Barkley.

Fenis and St. Joseph, also known as the São João e Fénix, São Jao y Fenix or the San José el Fénix, was a 50 foot brig that visited Nootka Sound in 1792. She was also described as "an open shallop, with only 14 men". She bore a Portuguese flag of convenience, possibly out of Macau and had a Portuguese captain, João de Barros Andrade, but had the Englishman Robert Duffin on board as supercargo. Duffin was an associate of John Meares who had organized a number of British fur trading expeditions using the Portuguese flag in order to evade paying for trading licenses from the East India Company. It is probable that Duffin was actually in command of the vessel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nootka Crisis</span> Naval confrontation between the United States, Great Britain and Spain near Vancouver Island

The Nootka Crisis, also known as the Spanish Armament, was an international incident and political dispute between the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, Spain, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the fledgling United States of America triggered by a series of events revolving around sovereignty claims and rights of navigation and trade. It took place during the summer of 1789 at the Spanish outpost Santa Cruz de Nuca, in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island in present-day British Columbia, Canada. The commander of the outpost, Jose Esteban Martínez, seized some British commercial ships which had come for the maritime fur trade and to build a permanent post at Nootka Sound. Public outcry in Britain led to the mobilization of the Royal Navy, and the possibility of war. Both sides called upon allies, the Dutch joined the side of Britain; Spain mobilized their navy and her key ally France also mobilized theirs, but the latter soon announced they would not go to war. Without French help, Spain had little hope against the British and the Dutch, resulting in Spain seeking a diplomatic solution and making concessions.

John Rodgers Jewitt was an English armourer who entered the historical record with his memoirs about the 28 months he spent as an enslaved captive of Maquinna of the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people on what is now the British Columbia Coast. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes Jewitt as a shrewd observer and his Narrative as a "classic of captivity literature". The memoir, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, is a major source of information about the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Princess Royal was a British merchant ship that sailed on fur trading ventures in the late 1780s, and was captured at Nootka Sound by Esteban José Martínez of Spain during the Nootka Crisis of 1789. Called Princesa Real while under the Spanish Navy, the vessel was one of the important issues of negotiation during the first Nootka Convention and the difficulties in carrying out the agreements. The vessel also played an important role in both British and Spanish exploration of the Pacific Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands. In 1790, while under Spanish control, Princesa Real carried out the first detailed examination of the Strait of Juan de Fuca by non-indigenous peoples, finding, among other places, the San Juan Islands, Haro Strait, Esquimalt Harbour near present-day Victoria, British Columbia, and Admiralty Inlet.

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.

James Hanna was the first European to sail to the Pacific northwest to trade in furs. This maritime fur trade was an important factor in the early history of the Pacific Northwest and the westward expansion of the United States and Canada.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Cruz de Nuca</span> 1789–1795 Spanish settlement in Vancouver Island, Canada

Santa Cruz de Nuca was a Spanish colonial fort and settlement and the first European colony in what is now known as British Columbia. The settlement was founded on Vancouver Island in 1789 and abandoned in 1795, with its far northerly position making it the "high-water mark" of verified northerly Spanish settlement along the North American west coast. The colony was established with the Spanish aim of securing the entire west coast of the continent from Alaska southwards, for the Spanish crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Charles Stuart Strange</span> British politician

James Charles Stuart Strange was a British officer of the East India Company, one of the first maritime fur traders, a banker, and a Member of Parliament.

North West America was a British merchant ship that sailed on maritime fur trading ventures in the late 1780s. It was the first non-indigenous vessel built in the Pacific Northwest. In 1789 it was captured at Nootka Sound by Esteban José Martínez of Spain during the Nootka Crisis, after which it became part of the Spanish Navy and was renamed Santa Gertrudis la Magna and later Santa Saturnina.

References

  1. ↑ "Port Cox". BC Geographical Names .
  2. ↑ Naish, John (1996). The Interwoven Lives of George Vancouver, Archibald Menzies, Joseph Whidbey and Peter Puget: The Vancouver Voyage of 1791–1795. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN   0-7734-8857-X.
  3. ↑ Pethick, Derek (1980). The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795 . Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. pp.  8–9. ISBN   0-88894-279-6.
  4. ↑ Tovell, Freeman M. (2008). At the Far Reaches of Empire: The Life of Juan Francisco De La Bodega Y Quadra. University of British Columbia Press. pp. 14, 202. ISBN   978-0-7748-1367-9.
  5. ↑ Alexander von Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, translated by John Black, Vol. 2, London, Longman, 1822, translator’s note, p.322.
  6. ↑ Pethick, Derek (1980). The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795 . Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. pp.  7–8. ISBN   0-88894-279-6.
  7. ↑ Pethick, Derek (1980). The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790–1795 . Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. p.  13. ISBN   0-88894-279-6.
  8. ↑ Pethick, Derek (1976). First Approaches to the Northwest Coast. J. J. Douglas. pp. 87–88, 108–109. ISBN   978-0-88894-056-8 . Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  9. ↑ Horsfield, Margaret; Kennedy, Ian (2014). Tofino and Clayoquot Sound: A History. Harbour Publishing Company Limited. pp. 39–40. ISBN   978-1-55017-682-7 . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  10. ↑ Robert J. King, "'The long wish'd for object' — Opening the trade to Japan, 1785–1795", The Northern Mariner, vol.XX, no.1, January 2010, pp.1–35.
  11. 1 2 "The Nootka Incident". Canadian Military History Gateway. 2005. Archived from the original on October 18, 2006. Retrieved 2005-03-25.
  12. ↑ Robert J. King, “George Vancouver and the contemplated settlement at Nootka Sound”, The Great Circle, vol.32, no.1, 2010, pp.3–30.
  13. ↑ "Timeline of Nanaimo (PDF)" (PDF). City of Nanaimo. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  14. ↑ Environment Canada—Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000, accessed 12 August 2012
  15. 1 2 3 Parfit, Michael (November 2004). "Whale of a Tale". Smithsonian Magazine . Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "Luna killed by tugboat". CBC News - British Columbia. 10 March 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  17. ↑ Suzanne Chisholm; Mike Chisholm (March 11, 2006). "Luna (L98) – Nootka Sound's friendly orca: A true tale of a legendary whale (includes 24 minute documentary video)". Gold River Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 17 September 2019.

Bibliography


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.