by Scott Ridley
The United States, likewise, sent the navy frigate Essex to destroy British ships in the “South Sea” and camps on the South American coast. This conflict would not end with the war. In June 1816, President James Madison sought to reclaim Astor’s outpost and “assert American sovereignty along the [Pacific] coast.” To support the American claims, he issued instructions to gather documents on Kendrick’s voyage, including his deeds and the ship’s log with Gray’s first entry into the Columbia River.
Few of Kendrick’s officers from the expedition or owners of the ships were alive to interview. Robert Davis Coolidge had died in 1795. Joseph Ingraham was lost with the American Navy brig Pickering in the fall of 1800. Robert Haswell disappeared with the trader Louisa, probably around Cape Horn, as he made his way to the Northwest Coast in 1801. Robert Gray died in 1806 of what was believed to be yellow fever on a passage from Charleston, South Carolina, leaving a widow and four daughters. Joseph Barrell died in 1804, and John Hoskins had married and moved to France to handle the Barrell family business affairs in Europe.
Barrell’s son, Samuel, was able to procure letters about Kendrick’s land purchases, and copies of Kendrick’s deeds would be found in the State Department. Ultimately, the search ordered by Madison confirmed “in the most satisfactory manner, that Captain Kendrick did make several purchases of the Indians, of lands, on that coast, for the owners of the Columbia and Washington, whose vessels were under his command … The lands were taken possession of with much formality, the American flag hoisted, a bottle sank in the ground, etc., and many Chiefs present at the ceremony …”
The Columbia’s log, which contained Gray’s record of entering the Columbia River in May 1792, remained eagerly sought after. The new secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, who had personal knowledge of the expedition and its participants, turned to his friend Charles Bulfinch for assistance. Bulfinch acquired a portion of the Columbia‘s log from Robert Gray’s brother-in-law, Captain Silas Atkins. Atkins copied extracts, including entries for May 7 through May 21, 1792, related to the discoveries of Gray’s Harbor and the Columbia River. These were shown to Adams. Together with copies of Kendrick’s deeds, the documents supported a strong American claim on the Pacific coast.
In 1818, Britain returned Astor’s trading post and agreed not to interfere with American use of the Columbia River, but wanted joint rights to settle what was now known as “the Oregon Country,” which stretched from northern California to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Seeking to shut out Britain, in 1819, John Quincy Adams negotiated for Spain’s rights to the Oregon Country. However, Britain refused to acknowledge the agreement, claiming that Spain had relinquished her rights to the region in the Nootka settlement.
Contention over possession of the region continued into the 1820s and 1830s. Kendrick’s original deeds remained missing, and the Barrell family tried to track them down by tracing John Howell to Bengal, India, where he allegedly died. To confirm what the deeds had contained, once-young sailors were summoned to given sworn statements.
They came through the streets of Boston like ghosts, old men who had stood in the wilderness on the deck of the Washington in the summer of 1791, or at the smuggler’s haven of Dirty Butter Bay. James Tremere of Boston, age seventy-seven, recalled seeing Maquinna climb to the Lady Washington’s masthead to point out the four directions of the land transferred to Kendrick. Ebenezer Dorr of Roxbury, seventy-six years old, had sailed on the Hope with Ingraham in 1792. He said: “I had intimate acquaintance with Captain Kendrick; and, while in Lark’s Bay [Dirty Butter Bay], was frequently on board his vessel … I recollect to have seen, inspected, and read, several deeds executed by Indians on the Northwest coast, to Captain John Kendrick … I recollect that muskets and clothing, copper” and other articles were given as compensation for the land. And John Cruft of Boston, age seventy-one, who had been first mate on the Hope and served Kendrick while the Avenger was being built at Macao, confirmed what Dorr had seen, having had the deeds “in my hands several times.” He remembered the names of the chiefs with crosses or marks beside their names. Others verified that the deeds were on board the Washington.
In Hawaii, whose cession the British Parliament had never formally confirmed, John Young, in his late eighties, recalled Kendrick “as having passed several Winters” at Kealakekua. “I had much intimate acquaintance with Captain Kendrick and believed him to be a man of strict veracity,” he said. He heard Kendrick “often speak of purchases of lands,” which he said Kendrick had made from Indian chiefs on the Northwest Coast. “I frequently saw deeds in his possession, signed by Chiefs, who, at that time, lived at and South of Nootka-sound, and witnessed by men belonging to his vessel.”
The statements were dwarfed by the larger scheme of things. Beyond these aged men the world had changed. The Spanish Empire was a shadow of its former self in the Americas, having lost Louisiana to France and then many of its Latin American colonies through wars of independence between 1810 and 1825. Britain was the ascendant power after defeating Napoleon and France, and stood firmly in the way of U.S. ambitions. As the passions associated with a presidential election mounted in 1843–44, talk of war with Britain raged again. America’s confidence and expansionist fever were running high during what became known as the “furious forties.” Democrat James Polk wanted to annex Texas and take possession of the Oregon Country to 54°40’ north latitude, which later gave rise to the slogan “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!” In a nation that had grown more confident and belligerent, the naive notion of carrying the American Revolution into the world through open ports and free trade had long given way to the ancient strategy of taking territory and resources. There was an underlying belief among many Americans that the United States had a foreordained right and obligation to bring republican government, free enterprise, and Christian civilization to new lands. By the end of 1845, this concept, which had begun to pervade political thinking and American culture, had a name. New York journalist John L. O’Sullivan called it “manifest destiny.” While part of this confidence certainly en compassed humanitarian desires, an Old World–conquering zeal, similar to that of Spain or Britain, or other ancient nations, would drive it forward.
After he was elected, Polk chose to go to war with Mexico, and not with Britain. As Floridablanca had decided fifty years before, spending millions of dollars to go to war and lose thousands of lives for a stretch of wilderness where the sea otter trade had already played out was not worth it. Polk signed a treaty with Britain in 1846 that set the northern border of the United States at the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Britain acquiesced on American interests in lands to the south that included New Albion and San Francisco harbor, but missing from the treaty was protection of lands north of the new border that were privately owned by Americans. With the stroke of a pen, John Kendrick’s land purchases were no longer a matter of concern for the United States. Attention turned south and westward.
Under the banner of “manifest destiny” the United States would take California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Arizona from Mexico in 1848; and then push farther westward, sending warships to force the opening of Japan in 1853–54, finally taking Hawaii as a protectorate in 1893, and seizing the Philippines from Spain in 1898. Historically, it was a long march from Kendrick’s voyage and the first American expedition into the Pacific.
And it hasn’t ended. Kendrick’s odyssey still has a certain resonance today. It is easy to see the early elements of arms trading, surrogate wars, and megabusiness ventures leading to conflicts over resources scattered across the globe. In many ways, events reveal how little we have progressed from that morning of fire and the ancient drives for dominance in trade and resources. But there is much more than a wild root of imperialism in Kendrick’s journey.
Kendrick’s voyaging broadened Americans’ consciousness and expanded their sense of horizon. He changed the perception of what was possible and became one of those rough-hewn characters who helped shape the new nation.
His journey outward into the world became
America’s journey. As Joseph Barrell had envisioned, the maritime surge that followed Kendrick fed the growth of the new nation. The wealth that flowed from whaling and the sandalwood trade in the Pacific funded increased shipbuilding and the early industrialization of New England. And two decades behind him, John Jacob Astor completed what Kendrick had begun in planting a dream of an American outpost on the Northwest Coast. Because of Kendrick, and others who followed, much of America’s fate turned westward.
But there was no journal that captured the scope of what he had attempted and achieved. His death on the far side of the world and the scattering of his story left him off the list of iconic frontier figures such as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. His reputation remained under a cloud, and memory of his legacy became obscured and buried over time. There is no single anecdote that captures the sweep of his seven-year odyssey. But in setting the stage for a new era, he opened the Pacific for American ships, and with his part in the Nootka crisis, he helped shake the balance of power in Europe, which affected not only the map of the Old World but American acquisition of the West. In essence, his life embodied that morning of fire at the close of the eighteenth century, and his voyaging marked a period when the new nation began to extend and define itself. Coming out of that perilous time, perhaps one of the darkest and most uncertain in U.S. history, his journey changed the way Americans saw themselves and their place in the world. For Kendrick, and for the nation, it remains an unfinished voyage.
A NOTE ON THE SOURCES
THE STORY OF AMERICA’S first expedition into the Pacific has long been buried in history. The popular version handed down from the most accessible sources describes the fur trade, the discovery of the Columbia River, and Robert Gray as an explorer, circumnavigator, and American hero. While Gray deserves credit for what he accomplished (although he didn’t recognize the significance at the time), the larger story is much more intriguing and valuable to an understanding of the new nation and global events. That larger story, focused on John Kendrick, is much more difficult to unearth. Given the scattering of the expedition’s record, the task for research was twofold. First, to document and examine the full course of events of the expedition in order to gain a balanced perspective on Kendrick and the entire seven-year voyage. And second, to place the expedition firmly in historical context to frame the flow of events and the actions of the main players. This meant examining American, Spanish, and British perspectives, as well as the changing worlds of native people in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.
Fortunately, the obsession of our culture to write down and save everything yielded a rich, though far-flung, document stream. Research grew over time in a spreading arc from Boston, Harwich, and Salem,
Massachusetts, to the West Coast and Hawaii, to Macao, and the archives of Spain and Britain. The sources cited in the notes and contained in the bibliography reflect the greatly refined labor of my search. Wherever possible I have used primary sources, and attempted to point out where those and secondary sources offered conflicting views of an event, such as the death of John Kendrick. The result, I hope, contributes to a broader understanding of this seminal voyage and sparks the vital scholarship it deserves.
NOTES
PROLOGUE
1 March 4, 1788—Through a gray: Robert Haswell, A Voyage Round the World onboard the Ship Columbia-Rediviva and Sloop Washington (hereafter referred to as First Voyage), 29.
2 The late eighteenth century: Generally, see Jeremy Black, British Foreign Policies in an Age of Revolutions, 1783–1793. Also Warren L. Cook, Flood Tide of Empire: Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543–1819, and Peggy Liss, Atlantic Empires: The Network of Trade and Revolution 1713–1826.
For three hundred years: Pope Alexander VI issued the Inter Caetera Papal Bull on May 4, 1493, to address possession of non-Christian land in the New World. The dividing line between Spanish and Portuguese possessions was set one hundred leagues west of Cape Verde. The Treaty of Tordesillas, concluded on June 7, 1494, moved the dividing line to 370 leagues west of Cape Verde. This allowed Portugal to claim Brazil.
the fledgling United States: Curtis P. Nettles, The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775–1815, 65–69.
The commander, John Kendrick: See Josiah Paine, Edward Kenwrick: The Ancestor of the Kenricks or Kendricks of Barnstable County and Nova Scotia and His Descendants.
3 In a historic letter: American Commissioners to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Passy, France, February 28, 1778. Benjamin Franklin Papers, vol. 25, 726a, American Philosophical Society and Yale University. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and France was signed on February 6, 1778.
3 contemporaries describe him: Paine, Edward Kenwrick. Also Amasa Delano, A Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, 400. “banditti of renegadoes”: Robert Gray charged that Kendrick was trying to steal from the ships’ owners. This led to widespread disparagement of Kendrick, as noted by John Quincy Adams and contemporary newspaper accounts. Kendrick’s failure to make financial returns to the owners reinforced this characterization. George Vancouver made the reference to the American “renegadoes"; Vancouver, Vol. V, 112, 125.
4 Kendrick remained dedicated: Paine, Edward Kenwrick.
“Tis a wonder they were not”: “Boston, May 27,” Boston Weekly News-Letter, no. 1683 (May 20–27, 1736), 1.
5 the whaling brig Lydia: The Earl of Sandwich signed a Mediterranean passport for John Kendrick and the Brig Lydia in 1772.
took the schooner Rebecca: “New York, June 25,” Boston Evening Post, no. 1919 (July 6, 1772), 3.
6 the owners applied to: Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, 108. Also see Independent Chronicle 9, no. 459 (June 6, 1777), 4.
His first large prizes: Independent Ledger 1, no. 22 (November 9, 1778), 1.
engaged Benjamin Franklin: Several letters in the Benjamin Franklin Papers, including American Commissioners: Memorandum for the French and Spanish Courts, Paris, November 23, 1777. Also American Commissioners to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, November 30, 1777.
initiated into St. Andrew’s lodge: Kendrick was initiated into the St. Andrews Lodge of Freemasons on December 10, 1778. Samuel Crocker Lawrence Library Archives, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Boston.
Kendrick bought a house, wharf, and store: David Nye to John Kendrick, November 27, 1778, for eighteen hundred pounds of lawful money. Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, Book 59, 193. Kendrick is listed in the deed as a resident of Wareham, placing the move of his family to the mainland village prior to that time, perhaps when he embarked on the Fanny in the summer of 1777.
built the first public school: New Age 48: 539–40.
7 the Count d’Estaing, which he owned: Secretary, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors.
7 Southwest of the Azores: For the details of Kendrick’s capture and subsequent voyage with his men, see John Kendrick to Benjamin Franklin, June 13, 1779. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin.
He then left for the Caribbean: Charles Henry Lincoln, Naval Records of the American Revolution, 1775–1788, 383. It is interesting to note that Arnold Henry Dohrman, who had assisted Kendrick and his men at Lisbon, is listed as one of the owners following Kendrick’s cruise. Also see “Providence, April 25,” American Journal and Advertiser 3, no. 21 (April 25, 1781), 2.
Kendrick came ashore: “Providence, May 16,” American Journal and General Advertiser 3, no. 127 (May 16, 1781), 2.
CHAPTER ONE
11 the snow-crusted lane: What is now Washington Street in Boston was called Marlborough Street in 1787. Modern-day Marlborough Street was marshland at the time.
It was early February: Charles Bulfinch became engaged in discussion about the expedition “immediately after his return” from Europe, according to biographer Susan Bulfinch in The Life and Letters of Charles Bulfinch, Architect; with Other Family Papers, 64
. His ship arrived in Boston on January 2, 1787. See “Boston, January 2,” Massachusetts Gazette 6, no. 292 (January 2, 1787), 3.
a detailed plan: Joseph Barrell, “Annotations on Business.” Also see John Gilmary Shea and Henry Reed Stiles, “Explorations of the Northwest Coast of the United States. Report of the Claims of the Heirs of Captains Kendrick and Gray,” 157.
an economic depression had settled: Jonathan Smith, “The Depression of 1785 and Daniel Shays’ Rebellion.” Also see Curtis P. Nettles, The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775–1815, 60–66.
12 Each of those kingdoms: Peggy Liss, Atlantic Empires: The Network of Trade and Revolution 1713–1826, 148.
The unrest had been spreading: George Richards Minot, History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts in the Year Seventeen Hundred and Eighty-Six and the Rebellion Consequent Thereon. Also Leonard L. Richards, Shays’s Rebellion: The American Revolution’s Final Battle.
Washington wrote, “I am mortified”: George Washington to Henry Lee, October 31, 1786.
13 A push was on: The pressure was mounting for a constitutional convention to take on the creation of a federal government rather than just reforms of the Articles of Confederation. Joseph Barrell was one of the Boston merchants strongly advocating a federal government.
13 at the home of Thomas Bulfinch: Bulfinch, Life and Letters, 64.
James Cook‘s journal: James Cook and James King, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean.
14 as much as one hundred and twenty: Cook and King, Voyage, vol. 3, 437.
This was more than double: Based on the full seaman’s wage of two to three pounds per month, with the equivalent of $2.60 to $3.30 Spanish dollars per English pound.
sent the crews of Cook‘s two ships: Cook and King, Voyage, vol. 3, 437.