Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 26/Some Additional Notes upon Captain Colnett and the "Princess Royal"
SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES UPON CAPTAIN COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL"
In the issue of this Quarterly for March, 1924, (Volume xxv, pp. 36-52) Professor Ralph S. Kuykendall, of the Hawaiian Historical Commission, presented a fine study of "James Colnett and 'The Princess Royal'," limited, however, to the period between the release of Colnett from his imprisonment in Mexico in July, 1790, and the arrival of the Princess Royal at Macao the following year.
These notes are offered as a contribution towards the completion of the story by filling up some of the gaps which Professor Kuykendall was obliged to leave.
On page 39, after stating that Colnett sailed in the Argonaut from San Bias on July 9, 1790, expecting to receive the Princess Royal from the Spaniards at Nootka, he proceeds: "From this point on, Colnett's movements are difficult to trace with certainty;" and on page 40 he says: "It is, however, reasonable to conclude that his arrival in China from Nootka occurred a short time before the date, July 25, 1791." Thus the material on which Professor Kuykendall was working leaves a blank space of about a year, July 1790 to July 1791, save only as to the incident at Hawaii in April, 1791.
This hiatus can, to a certain extent, be filled up from the copies of the British Foreign Office Correspondence in the Archives of the Province of British Columbia and from Hoskins' manuscript Narrative. In a letter from Joseph d'Anduaga to the Count d'Aranda it is stated that though Colnett left San Bias on July 8, 1790, for Nootka, he did not arrive there until February 4, 1791— "nearly six months, when only a few weeks were necessary," the Spaniard complains.[1] Where was he in this interval? Hoskins' manuscript Narrative furnishes the answer.[2] In June, 1791, the Columbia (on which Hoskins was clerk, etc.) reached Clayoquot Sound, the next sound south of Nootka on the west coast of Vancouver Island; and about 15th June Hoskins records that he was informed by Tootiscoosettle, a subordinate chief, "that Captain Colinet [sic] was here the last season and wintered here."
Hoskins then goes on to recount an incident which that chief had told him. He says:
"Captain Colinet, having sent Captain Hudson, Mr. Temple, and four hands, in a sail boat to Nootka; in their passage thither, they ran on to a ledge of rocks, near to Esquot: the boat went to pieces, and they were drowned; a few days after, their bodies were found by the natives, taken up, striped, gashed, and thrown out for the crows to devour, this account has also been confirmed, by Cleeshinah, or Captain Hanna, and several other Chiefs; with this addition, that it blew very hard, with a heavy sea, one of which upset the boat; the natives of Esquot seeing it, went off in their canoes, to their assistance; but before they got to them, the boat's crew were all dead; they picked them up, brought them ashore, and treated them, as above related, he also added that after Captain Hudson, with his boat's crew, had been gone some time, Captain Colinet hearing nothing of them, sent Mr. Gibson to Nootka, to enquire of the Spaniards there, about them (I suppose suspecting the Spaniards had detained them); in a short time Mr. Gibson returned, and brought word they were killed by the natives; on hearing of which, Captain Colinet took Tootiscoosettle and Tootooch; at the same time threatening, without the dead bodies were brought, in a week, for him to see, whether they were killed or not; he would kill those two Chiefs, and every native he could find. Cleeshinah says, he immediately went to Esquot himself; where the dead bodies were, but being putrified and much eaten by the crows, he did not bring them; but brought all their cloths: these not being bloody, Captain Colinet was satisfied, released the Chiefs, and made them a present of several sheets of copper, cloating, etc. etc. but before he returned, he says, his people had taken one of Captain Colinet's out of a boat not far from the ship. Since this, I have been informed by Captain Kendrick, that it is the opinion of the Spaniards at Nootka, that these people were murdered by the natives; and those of Clioquot were the instigators of it."
We may therefore conclude that Colnett spent the remainder of the season of 1790 in trading for furs along the Northwest Coast and wintered in Clayoquot Sound. This seems to follow from the fact that when he arrived in Macao on 21st May, 1791, he had a cargo of 1,200 sea-otter skins.[3]
When Colnett left the coast is not exactly known; but, from Nootka on 28th February, 1791, he wrote a letter to Quadra.[3] He must have sailed shortly afterwards; for the voyage to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands usually occupied about a month, and he was there on April 2, 1791, as Professor Kuykendall has shown. As he reached Macao on May 21, 1791, his visit must have been very brief.
Now, as regards the Princess Royal, Professor Kuykendall has traced her movements in the summer of 1790, when, under Quimper, she was employed in exploring the strait of Juan de Fuca. According to the "Viage"[4] she sailed from Nootka on 31st March, 1791, and finished her work on 1st August following. Doubtless she was sailing southward under the circumstances mentioned by Professor Kuykendall, while Colnett in the Argonaut was pressing northward to obtain her. After her arrival the Princess Royal was, in a gale, driven ashore at San Bias. This further complicated the plans for her return, and in consequence, the Viceroy wrote to Captain Colnett stating that the sloop would now be sent to Canton in order to be re-delivered to him through the Philippine Company. On her arrival in a damaged condition as Macao she was tendered to her owners; but, as Lord St. Helens explains, "though tendered at Macao she was not actually restored, and the tender itself, considering the circumstances in which she then was, was little better than illusory."[5]
After the tender was refused the Spanish authorities decided, as Professor Kuykendall states, to sell the sloop, but he is uncertain whether the sale actually occurred. The letters in the Archives of British Columbia fill up this small gap; they show that the Governor of the Philippine Company reported that the Princess Royal had been sold for $2,000.[6] This was probably a very fair price in view of her alleged poor condition; she had been bought by her owners for $3,600, some three years before.
Colnett appears to have been in correspondence with the Spanish officials and, as usual, making complaints: an occupation which he seems almost to have enjoyed. The following extracts from a letter from the Viceroy of Mexico to him may prove of interest.
"The moment that you preferred to me in your complaint of having been robbed of your effects I ordered a speedy and formal judicial enquiry to be made and from it we learnt that the gold watch had been returned to Kendrick, the octant and the musquets—it had been understood that they had been given as presents—have been returned to their owners. ***** Bad weather occasioned the Princess Royal to go ashore at San Bias and this unfortunate accident prevented her being sent to you at Nootka; by the dispositions that were immediately made she will be carried to Canton in order to be redelivered to you by the means of our Philippine Company. Of this I informed you in my letter of the 18th of January of this year which you will have received at Canton."[7] In the Archives of British Columbia will be found many leters dealing with the efforts of Meares and his associates to wring a little more money out of Spain. The original claim of $653,433 was, in September, 1790, increased to £469,865 (i. e. it was multiplied about four times), and in order that anything omitted might thereafter be included, the statement bears the words": "Errors Excepted."[8] Perhaps they regarded this as the 18th century form of singeing the Don's beard. The whole indemnity paid by Spain was only $210,000. From the letter appended hereto it seems that $200,000 had been tentatively agreed upon on the understanding that, inter alia, the Princess Royal had been restored in good order. After is was ascertained that this was not really the fact, $10,000 more was obtained.
The conduct of Colnett at Hawaii in April, 1791, as described by Professor Kuykendall and the letter that he reproduces show him to have been, at the best, a man who in an emergency easily became unduly excited and acted in a precipitate, ill-judged,and un-balanced manner. Meares states that on the seizure of the Argonaut Colnett became so deranged that he attempted frequently to destroy himself. Meares, though in general quite unreliable, has in this instance the support of the Spaniards. Martinez in his manuscript diary, under the date July 9, 1789, writes:
Two days later the diary contains this entry:"This afternoon, the pilot Don Jose Tovar, who is entrusted with the guarding of the packet, (i. e. the Argonaut) informed me that Captain Comet, whom, the day before, I had permitted to be on board his own ship, had, either through madness or desperation at seeing himself a prisoner, made a motion as if he wished to throw himself into the water. * * * * However the men who were at work and some of his officers who were in sight prevented him from leaping overboard."
"At daybreak this morning, I was informed by the pilot Don Jose Tovar, who is entrusted with the command of the packet for its voyage to San Bias, that Captain Colnett, from the effects of despair or madness, had thrown himself into the water through one of the port-holes or windows of his cabin. However, on hearing the noise which he made when he struck the water, he was discovered from the quarter-deck, and was picked up by the packet's launch, which went to him at once. When it reached him he was half-drowned, but they turned him on his stomach and relieved him of much of the water he had swallowed. I immediately ordered that he be shut up in a stateroom to prevent him from suffering harm in that way."
The documents annexed hereto are reproduced by the kind permission of Mr. Forsyth, the Archivist of British Columbia. They will, it is hoped, be found useful to those who are interested in this side of the celebrated Nootka dispute.
Paper Endorsed "Princess Royal. Certificate of Cost"
John Etches of ffenchurch Street in the City of London, Merchant, lately Commercial Superintendant on board the Ship Prince of Wales, James Colnett, lately Master, having then under his Command the Sloop called the Princess Royal, Charles Duncan, Master, on a voyage from London to the North West Coast of America, and Canton in China, maketh Oath and saith that the said two Vessels arrived in Macao Roads, from the North West Coast of America, with each a Cargo of Furs, in or about the Month of November 1788, and that the said Sloop Princess Royal was afterwards valued by the said Captains Colnett & Duncan with all her Tackles and furniture as she arrived there from Sea, at the sum of Three thousand and six hundred Dollars or Nine hundred pounds Sterling, for which Sum she was actually and bona fide sold to Daniel Beale Esq. Agent at Canton, for the Associated Merchants trading to the North West Coast of America.
Sworn at Guildhall,
London, the 4th of November, 1791,
Before me
John Boydell,
Mayor.
Harrogate,
Private.
My dear Lord,
As I imagine that you are by this Time returned to town and are prehaps preparing to send instructions to Mr Jackson for the final adjustment of the Nootka claims, I take the Liberty of laying before you a few remarks that have occurred to me in looking through MessTM Meares and Etches last letter upon that subject to Sr R. Woodford.
In the first place, it seems to me that their demands of an indemnification for the Ship the Pss Royal, over and above the 50,000 £ which they expect to receive by way of compromise, is by no means well-founded, since it is in reality asking to be paid for her twice over; neither can they have any kind of claim to the cargo which she brought to China, and which they themselves admit to have been purchased and loaded upon Spanish account. But in other respects the circumstances which this letter mentions relative to that Vessel (and which I do not recollect to have seen distinctly stated before) are, I think, deserving of notice, and, should Your Lordship be inclined to press the Spanish Minister to increase his offer, of a nature to give great weight to such a requisition. For I well remember that the only reason which he assigned for reducing it to 200,000 Dollars from 237,000 at which it had been fixed, was his having received what he considered as positive information of these two facts, the one, that this Vessel, the Pss Royal, had been actually re-delivered to her owners, in good condition, at the Port of Macao; the other, that the Vice Roy of Mexico had not only advanced a considerable sum of Money to Captn Colnett, but provided, at the King of Spain's expence, for the entire re-equipment of his Ship, the Argonaut. Now it appears pretty clearly from this letter and from Colnett's former narrative, 1°, that in adjusting the proposed compromise, the value of the Pss Royal and her original cargo ought to be taken into account, since tho' tendered at Macao, she was not actually restored, and the Tender itself, considering the circumstances in which she then was, was little better than illusory; and 2°, that Captn Colnet was obliged, tho' as it should seem, contrary to the Vice Roy's intentions, to expend at St Bias almost the whole of the money with which he had been supplied at Mexico, in the necessary repairs and refitting of his Vessel; so that, as the Spaniards were confessedly bound to restore both Ships in statu quo, they are plainly not entitled to charge that advance of money as making part of the stipulated indemnification. I presume therefore, as I mentioned above, that the Spanish Minister, on his being made acquainted with the substance of these two papers, must immediately see that the information which had led him to lower hia intended offer, was by no means correct, and consequently agree to fix it, as before, at 237,000 Dollars, which sum, rating the Dollar at only 4s and 2d, which I believe is less than its present value, would amount to within a few hundred Pounds of the 50,000 £ demanded by the Claimants, but I think that it would be better to try to obtain the augmentation by this mode, than by proposing as Messrs Meares & Etches recommend, that the 200,000 Dollars now offered should be rated at 5s each, so as to render the effective payment about 240,000 Dollars. For Count d'Aranda would not readily comprehend this last proposal (which would besides be somewhat repugnant to the idea of a compromise, by requiring an investigation of many items of the account) whereas it must certainly be present to his recollection, and that of his first Secretary, M. Otamendi (with whom I negotiated the detail of this business) that the result of the conferences which we held together last June had been that their intended proffer should amount to the precise sum of 237,000 Drs, though they afterwards reduced it on receiving the above mentioned advices from Mexico; and indeed this fact is partly proved by the correspondence between myself and Count d'Aranda, copies of which I transmitted in my dispatches of that period. I have thought it my duty to mention these circumstances to your Lordship, under the notion, that as the Claimants would, no doubt be highly gratified in obtaining these additional 37,000 Drs and there is reason to suppose that they may be easily had, you may perhaps think it worth while to ask for them; but I no means wish to intimate as my opinion that in case this application should fail, it would be prudent to reject the present tender altogether, and have recourse to the other alternative of an arbitration; nor indeed can I easily persuade myself that the claimants themselves would wish to carry matters to that extremity notwithstanding the language which they may now affect to hold. In fact every thing considered there seems great reason to doubt whether, even after all the expence, delays, and other inconveniences attendant upon a reference, the ultimate award of the Arbitrators would be for a larger sum than that now offered. I inclose herewith a translation of the papers in Spanish annexed to the above mentioned letter from Messrs Meares & Etches as they have been so incorrectly copied as to be hardly intelligible in the original.
Having found great benefit from these Waters, I propose remaining at Harrogate a few weeks longer, after which I believe I shall go to Nottinghamshire, but, at any rate if Your Lordship should have any commands for me Mr Aust will always know where I am to be found. I beg my best respects to Lady Grenville, and that you will believe me ever with the sincerest attachment,
The Rt Honble Lord Grenville.
St. Helens to D'Aranda. May 22, 1792.
"D"
Translation
Granting that the points of the provisional adjustment agreed to between the Commissaries concerning the skins on board the Ship Princess Royal: the value of the Argonaut; and that of the Jason, which amount the three together to 137,333 hard dollars, are not to suffer other diminution than what may result from the documents which on the part of Spain may prove to be satisfactory, we only could pay down immediately to the reclaiming parties 47,816 hard dollars which is the sum that for the sake of a speedy conclusion might be looked upon as disembarrassed or in other words as indisputable out of the 185,152 hard dollars of the provisional adjustment.
Letter from Vice Roy of Mexico to Captain Colnett.
Letter to Count Florida Blanca from Mexico. May 1,1790.
The Sloop "Princess Royal" shall be delivered to Thomas Hudson at Nootka in a good and serviceable condition, for which I direct the Commandant to give the necessary orders.
Letter addressed from Whitehall, Sept. 1792, to Mr. Jackson.
You will have observed in Lord St Helens Correspondence in the Month of June last, that before the Intelligence was received from the Vice Roy of Mexico, of the order he had given for the Restoration of the Princess Royal, Count d'Aranda had fixed the intended offer at 237,000 Dollars, and that he lowered the Sum to 200,000 only on the Supposition of these orders having had their full effect. I cannot therefore Doubt, when you explain these Circumstances to him, that he will consent to add the Sum of 37,000 Dollars to his Proposal as he originally intended, and as this total will then be a very little short of £50,000 Sterling.
Letter from Anduaga to Aranda. Nov. 14, 1792.
With respect to the restitution of the Sloop Princess Royal, since Spain had offered to make it, and it had not taken place, I said to Mr. Jackson that I considered it just that the Value should be made good; though I observed to him that Captain Colnet should not have refused to admit her, but should have received the Vessel and demanded the Amount of the damage that it might appear she had sustained compared with the state in which she ought to have been restored; adding that this step had been taken at Canton with the necessary formalities on our part, by which it appeared the price for which she had been sold at Canton, after Colnet's Protest and the estimate that was made of the damages which she was found to have suffered compared with the value that had been put upon her before the same formalities.
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- ↑ Letter dated 14th November, 1792. Copy in Archives of British Columbia.
- ↑ The narrative of a voyage to the North West Coast of America and China on trade and discovery, by John Hoskins. Performed in the ship Columbia Rediviva, 1790, 1701, 1792 and 1793. The original manuscript is in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society; copy in the Archives of British Columbia.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Letter of 14th November, 1792, mentioned in note 1 for both statements.
- ↑ Relacion del viage hecho por las goletas Sutil y Mexicana (Madrid, 1802). See the translation in papers relating to the Treaty of Washington: Berlin Arbitration (Washington, 1872), vol. v, p. 97.
- ↑ See letter appended hereto; from the Archives of British Columbia.
- ↑ Letter 4th December, 1792, from Francis James Jackson, British Ambassador at Madrid, to Lord Grenville. Copy in the British Columbian Archives.
- ↑ Letter to Captain Colnett dated 2nd September, 1791; copy in the Archives of British Columbia.
- ↑ See the Report of the Archivist of British Columbia for 1913. (Victoria, 1914) p. 35.