Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/46



Much has been written about the Nootka Sound affair, and much more may still be written without exhausting the subject. From the standpoint of international politics the diplomatic battle waged in Europe is of the greatest interest, and that is the aspect of the matter which has hitherto received the most careful investigation. But from the point of view of human interest the happenings at Nootka and their various ramifications seem to afford a richer field of study. The present sketch is concerned with one of those ramifications, culminating in an incident that took place at the Hawaiian Islands in the spring of 1791.

The occurrences at Nootka and elsewhere which are essential to an understanding of this incident can be briefly stated. Two English merchant ships, the Argonaut and the Princess Royal, engaged in the fur trade under the general command of James Colnett, were seized by the Spaniards in Nootka Sound in July, 1789, and sent under prize crews to San Bias. Colnett and his fellow prisoners were likewise taken to Mexico, where they were kept in rather liberal captivity for nearly a year. In the spring and early summer of 1790 the Viceroy of New Spain issued a series of orders providing for the release of the English prisoners and the restoration of the two ships. Only one of the ships, the Argonaut, being at San Bias at the time, Colnett was furnished with an