Page:Lewis & Dryden's Marine History.djvu/30

 scene, we adopted, as far as was iu our power, the ceremony of other dock-yards. As soon as the tide was at its proper height, the hnglish ensign <ru displayed on the shore and on board the new vessel, which at the proper moment was named the Xor/Awest America, as being the first bottom ever built and launched in this part of the globe. It was a moment of much expectation : the circumstances of our situation made us look to it with more than common hope. Marminua, Callicum. and a large body of their people who had received information of the launch, were come to behold it. The Chinese carpenter* did not verj well conceive the last operation of a business in which they themselves bad been so much and so materially concerned, nor shall we forget to mention the chief of the Sandwich Islands, whose every power Was absorl«d in the business that approached, and who had determined to be on board the vessel when she glided into the water. The presence of the Americans ought nl*o to lie considered when we are describing the attendant ceremony of this important crisis, which, (rom the labour that produced it, the scene that surrounded it. the spectators that beheld it, and the commercial advantages as well as civilizing ideas counected with it, will attach some little COMfcquence 10 its proceeding iu the mind of the philosopher as well as in the view of the politician, but our suspense was not of long duration On the firing of a gun, the vessel started from the ways like a shot; indeed she went off with so much velocity that she had nearly made her way out of the harbor ; for the fact was that, not being very much accustomed to this business, we had forgotten to place an anchor and cable on lioard to bring her up, which i* the usual practice on these occasions. The boats, however, soon towed her to her intended station, and iu a short time the Northwest Ameiua was anchored close to the Iphegenia and /■'elite.

Commenting on the 'surprise expressed by Tianna. the Kanaka chief, Meares says :

" Nor were the natives of the Sound who were present at thus ceremony less impressed by a scries of operations, the simptest of which was far above their comprehension ; in short this business did not fail to raise us still higher in their good opinion and to afford them better and more correct notions than they hitherto possessed of the superiority of civilized over savage life."

The schooner was of about forty tons burden, and Robert Flutter was placed in command.

September 28th Meares sailed for Canton, followed tin the 27th of October by the Iphegenia and the North- west America. Eleven days before he sailed. Capt. Robert Gray and Capt. John Kendrick arrived with the brig Washington and the ship Columbia. The expedition of Gray and Kendrick with the ( 1 / 11 m b ia ami Washington was one of the results of the publication of Cook's journal of his third voyage. The Boston- iaus read with a great deal of interest how the natives of this far-away country willingly bartered away valuable sea- otter and other furs, worth from $20 to $KK) each, for a few heads, knives or cheap brass trinkets; and, in order to be among the first in the field, Joseph Barrell, Charles Bullfinch, John Derby, Capt. C rowel 1 Hatch, of Boston and vicinity. and John M. Pintard, of New York, formed a stock company and purchased the ship Columbia, and a consort for her called the Washington, a 90-ton sloop. These vessels were dispatched from Boston, September 30, 17S7, the Columbia* in command of Capt. John Kendrick and the Washington in command of Capt. Robert Gray. Inasmuch as the Columbia was the first American vessel to carry the Stars and Strijies around the glol>e and the first vessel to enter the great river of the West, to which her name was given, and by which she gave the I'nited States title to that magnificent domain now represented by the States of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, more than passing notice must be given of her first voyage.

The Columbia and her consort made a good run to the Cape Verde Islands, where they remained for nearly two months, Simon Woodruff, the mate, and Dr. Roberts, the surgeon, leaving the Columbia there. The voyage was resumed on the 28th of February, 178S. They encountered very heavy weather for a month, and on April 1st LM'NCHIXO op SCHnONK* " Northwest Amrrica," SupTKSinita 30. 17s.. Prom 11 <lrawinj{ by Capt John Meares

1 The ship Columbia was built in 177.J by James Itriggs, at Mohan's Lauding, on North River. She was a full-rigged ship of 31 i tons burden, two decks, and mounted ten grins. Capt. John Kendrick was an experienced officer, about forty-five years of age when he took command of the Columbia. He had done considerable privateering during the Revolution, ami nfier the war bad tieen in charge of several merchant vessels. After his second trip from this coast he was trailing between the Sandwich Islands nn<l Boston, and was accidentally kille<! at Hawaii aliout 1800. Columbia's crew: First mate. Simou Woodruff; second mate. Joseph Ingraham; third mate, Robert Has well ; boatswain, Johu B. Cordis; cleik, Richard S. Howe; surgeon, Dr. Rolierts; astronomer, J. Nutting ; mate on the sloop, Davis Coolidge.