Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/49

 JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" 39 same or a somewhat longer period; (3) the circumstances attending and following the meeting referred to. II Colnet sailed in the Argonaut from San Bias on July 9, 1790, having on board the crew of the Princess Royal, which he expected to receive from the Spanish com- mander at Nootka Sound, Don Francisco Eliza. 7 He had also, with some difficulty, succeeded in obtaining from the Viceroy a passport which permitted him to trade at any place on the northern coast not actually under Spanish dominion. 8 From this point on Colnettte movements are difficult to trace with certainty. Greenhow, as noted above, indi- cates that he went from the northwest coast to China in the fall of 1790 and returned thence in the spring of 1791 to the Sandwich Islands, where he met the Princess Royal. Bancroft accepts Greenhow's statement. An ex- amination of the evidence, however, leads to a different conclusion. In the introduction of his book and in a long note on pages 96-102, Colnett gives an account of his operations during the period in question. He says that after his release from captivity in Mexico, "I now returned to Nootka, in the only vessel which remained to me; and, after suffering incredible hardships from a want of pro- visions, and the ship getting several times on shore, I procured another valuable cargo of furs and proceeded to China. ... I did not remain there, but, in a short time, set sail, and, at the request of those gentlemen who were joint agents with me, coasted for a market to the West side of Japan, nad East side of Corea." Soon after his return from the voyage along the coast of Japan, Colnett 7 Revilla Gigedo to Valdes (No. 6 Reservada), July 28, 1790. Copy (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. 8 Manning, op. cit., p. 357. m