Tonquin

The "Tonquin" was an American merchant ship involved with the fur trade of the early 19th Century. The ship was used by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company to establish fur trading outposts on the Northwest Coast of North America, including Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River. The 290-ton bark was destroyed and sunk at Clayoquot Sound a few weeks after leaving the Columbia River after a dispute with Tla-o-qui-aht, the indigenous people of the sound.

Astoria

Built in New York in 1807, the "Tonquin" was purchased by American John Jacob Astor on August 23, 1810. [Gough, Barry. [http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008040 Tonquin.] The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved on February 20 2008.] This vessel was to be used in the fur trade of the Northwest coast of America.cite web
last = Eddins
first = O. Ned
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = John Jacob Astor - Pacific Fur Company: Astorians - Tonquin - Fort Astoria
work = Mountain Man Plains Indian Canadian Fur Trade
publisher = TheFurTrapper.com
date =
url = http://www.thefurtrapper.com/astorians.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-02-17 ] Astor paid $37,860 to Fanning & Coles for the 290 ton bark that would be used by the Pacific Fur Company that Astor owned half of. He then placed United States Navy lieutenant Jonathan Thorn in charge of the 10 gun merchant vessel.

On September 8, 1810 ship and crew departed New York harbor bound for the Columbia River in Oregon Country as part of the Astor Expedition. Cargo on board included fur trade goods, seeds, building material for a trading post, tools, and the frame of a schooner to be used on the coastal trade. The crew consisted of 34 people including the captain, 30 of whom were British subjects. [ [http://www.nosracines.ca/e/page.aspx?id=491189 "History of British Columbia from its earliest discovery to the present time" p. 7, Alexander Begg, publ. William Briggs, Toronto, 1894] ] There were four partners of the company: Duncan McDougall, David and Robert Stuart, and Alexander McKay. Additionally there were 12 clerks and 13 Canadian voyageurs, plus four tradesmen: Augustus Roussel a blacksmith, Johann Koaster a carpenter, Job Aitkem a boat builder, and George Bell a cooper. (Clerk Gabriel Franchère's account of his journey on the "Tonquin" later formed a large part of his "Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America." cite web
last = Franchère
first = Gabriel
authorlink = Gabriel Franchère
coauthors =
title = Narrative of a voyage to the Northwest coast of America, in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814, or, The first American settlement on the Pacific
work =
publisher = Early Canadiana Online
year = 1851
url = http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/mtq?id=526827c58b&doc=35175
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-02-20] )

On the voyage around South America the vessel put in at the Falkland Islands to make repairs and take on fresh water. Upon leaving Captain Thorn set sail without eight of the crew and only stopped to pick them up after Robert Stuart threatened to shoot Thorn if he did not stop for them, as his uncle David was one of those not onboard. On December 25, they rounded Cape Horn and sailed north, reaching the Sandwich Islands on February 12, 1811, where they dropped anchor at Karakakooa Bay.cite book
last = Skinner
first = Constance Lindsay
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Adventurers of Oregon: A Chronicle of the Fur Trade
publisher = Yale University Press
year = 1920
ISBN =
doi = ] There they traded for sheep, hogs, goats, poultry, and vegetables. The "Tonquin" also took on 12 Native Hawaiian that were recruited for the fur venture before setting sail for the Columbia. One of the Hawaiians, Naukane, was appointed by King Kamehameha to oversee the interests of Hawaiian laborers. Naukane was given the name John Coxe while on the "Tonquin". He later joined the North West Company.

On March 22, 1811, the "Tonquin" reached the Columbia River. Here the dangerous bar posed a problem of access to the river, so Thorn sent John Martin, Ebenezer Fox, and three others in a boat to attempt to locate the channel. However, the small boat was lost. The next day they tried again with William Mumford and four others to sound for the channel, but were unsuccessful and also nearly lost the small craft. A third attempt resulted in locating the channel, but the small boat with Aiken, Stephen Weekes, John Coles and two others sank before returning to the ship. Finally on the 24th the "Tonquin" was able to cross the bar and into the Columbia’s estuary where they laid anchor in Baker’s Bay and began searching for the lost men. Only Weeks and one other person was found.

The party then proceed upriver fifteen miles where they began building a fort, a shed, and a small boat where present day Astoria, Oregon is located. This new outpost was named Astoria. Here some of the cargo was unloaded and the trading post was built. The ship remained there for 65 days before sailing with a crew of 23 plus an half-native half-British interpreter named Lamazu while construction continued. McKay remained with the ship as supercargo and James Lewis as clerk as Thorn ordered the ship downriver. On June 5, 1811 the "Tonquin" left Baker’s Bay and sailed north to trade for furs.

Demise

After leaving the newly created outpost on the Columbia, the ship and crew traveled north to Nootka Sound. Here, off Vancouver Island at a place named Woody Point in Clayoquot Sound, the "Tonquin" engaged in the fur trade in June 1811.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Massacre by Savages
work =
publisher = A Place Called Oregon
date =
url = http://gesswhoto.com/tonquin.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-02-20] While trading with the local inhabitants, Captain Thorn tossed some otter pelts at a local chief that was on board the ship trading.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Traders Insult Indigenous Peoples
work =
publisher = Graveyard of the Pacific
date =
url = http://www.pacificshipwrecks.ca/english/tales_boston_tonquin.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-02-20] This insult lead to the locals returning to the ship the next day to seek revenge. Under the guise of seeking further trading opportunities, these natives attacked the crew on board. Only five of the crew were able to survive this onslaught and eventually drive the attackers from the ship. The next day four abandoned ship in a canoe in an attempt to flee, but were later killed on shore. The remaining crew member, James Lewis, who was injured was somehow able to light the gunpowder magazine on fire and blow up the "Tonquin", himself, and numerous locals that had returned to pillage the ship. The only survivor from the crew was a half Chinook and half British individual named Lamazee (also known as George Ramsay) that served as a pilot on the ship.

ee also

*Tonquin Valley

External links

* [http://www.eapoe.org/WorkS/criticsm/wrks4006.htm Account of Tonquin Massacre by Edgar Allan Poe]
* [http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=10901&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398 Tonquin Anchor]
* [http://thetyee.ca/Life/2008/03/14/SuicideIn1811/ "The Tyee" article "The Suicide Bomber of Clayoquot Sound, Revived"] about a planned movie on the destruction of the "Tonquin".

References