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It is important to contrast the methods practiced by many captains in the maritime fur trade with those of the exploring expeditions in dealing with the native people, since both were visiting this long-hidden coast for the first time in the late 18th century. In one of destiny 's coolest ironies, on the very day the American captain Robert Gray was firing the ancient village in future British Columbia waters, the Briti sh captain George Vancouver was sailing up the Two hundred years later--a replica a/Discovery's yawl sounds the same channel future Oregon/Washington coast on the Northwest Coast charted by Capt. Vancouver in his original yawl of 1792 . past the mouth of the yet unnamed (and unclaimed) Columbia River. His journal comments on the opening with its "river coloured water," but continuous breakers on the bar rendered it "not . .. worthy of more attention," and he sailed on past and ultimately out of the running for possession-taking. When Vancouverreturned in October after his first summer's meticulous survey of Puget Sound and the labyrinthine coast inside Vancouver Island, the 65-foot brig Chatham succeeded where the larger 100-foot Discovery failed , crossed the bar, and sent her cutter and launch almost 130 miles upriver under William Broughton to chart the Columbia for the first time. During thi s remarkable 12-day exploration the Chatham' s 22foot cutter and 19-foot launch were almost constantly under surveillance or actually accompanied by local Indians, who vastly outnumbered the explorers (23-25 canoes). Yet no hostile actions resulted on either side; on the contrary , the first navigation of the Columbia River by explorers is a model of friendliness and cooperation. In fact, si nce the boats were only provisioned for one week 's journey, the hospitality of the Discovery's launch on Lake Union, Seattle, with f olksinger Pete natives was largely responsible for the success of the mission. Seeger manning an oar. On other occasions the explorers were not so well received. Seacoast landings in particular sometimes involved perils in The excitement of the original exploration is recaptured by high addition to the challenge of the surf. The first recorded European school students sailing a Spanish longboat replica. landing on the present Washington coast(atPointGrenville) was made by eight Spanish mariners in the 15-foot "bote" from Bodega y Quadra's schooner Sonora in 1775. Sent ashore for water and firewood, the boat party was overwhelmed in the surf by three hundred Indians who suddenly appeared out of the forest and seized the boat and took the lives of several sailors. This incident, which left the Sonora boatless and undermanned, and others like it, suggest that the Northwest Coast natives' mastery of the dugout canoe did not preclude a keen appreciation of planked boats, from the earliest contact.
Jacks of All Trades Hundreds of old paintings show ships towing their boats, but very few illustrate what became an even more common sight in the arduous first navigation of the Northwest Inside Passage-boats towing their ship. Vancouver' s journal abounds ~ with references to this practice: ii: SEA HISTORY 61, SPRING 1992
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