Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/151

 Northwest Trader Hawaiian Islands 131 Jarves and Greatheed say that Brown gave the harbor its name "Fairhaven." Mr. Cartwright, as previously noted, has shown that Brown was not the original discoverer of Honolulu har- bor, and he has done this by the simple process of show- ing that someone else had already discovered it several years before Brown came to the Hawaiian Islands. A similar line of reasoning can be applied to the statement that Brown brought the first sailing vessel into the har- bor. Menzies, 39 writing under date of March 23, 1793, is authority for the statement that while on the North- west coast Vancouver had been informed by the masters of some of the trading vessels that there was a small snug harbor in this vicinity. This plainly indicates, though it does not prove absolutely, that some of these trading ves- sels had actually entered the harbor. If so, they must have done this during the winter of 1791-2 or earlier. Vancouver left the American coast in January, 1793, 40 and therefore received this information during the sum- mer or fall of 1792. If our account of Brown's activities is correct, his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands was made in February, 1793, and it is therefore highly prob- able that he was not the first trader to bring a ship into Honolulu harbor. As to the third claim made for Cap- tain Brown, there seems at present no sound reason for denying that he gave to the harbor the name "Fairhaven," although this claim rests on the same foundation as the other two. 39 Op. cit., 126. 40 Vancouver, op. cit., Ill, 169.