ver saw a sail o n rhe ho ri zo n and maneuvered to rendezvous wirh rhe Am erican Capt. G ray, who was now in command of the Columbia. T he rwo ships met in rhe lee ofDestrucri o n Island and bestowed names on today's fa mili ar landmarks: Mt. Baker; D eceptio n Pass; Mt. Raini er; Po rr Townse nd and orhers. As he co ntinued towa rd Noo rka So und, Vancouve r found rhe narrow Discovery Passage rhar separared Vancouve r Island fro m the mainland, and this led them to th e open wate r of Queen C harlorte So und. On 28 August 1792, Vanco uve r's rwo ships arrived at F ri endl y Cove and we re greeted wi th an hono rary exchange of gun salu res. Q uad ra received the lo ng-awaited British rep resentati ves gracio usly. Capt. Vancouve r told Q uadra of his extensive ex plo rati o ns and in fo rmedhim that Nootka was, in fact, o n an island and not the No rrh Ameri ca n mainl and. Th e rwo sea captain s exchanged charts and survey info rm ati o n, hosted each oth er at fo rmal dinn ers, to ured the Noo tka garrison, and discussed te rm s fo r th e settl ement. C hi ef Maquinna invited both Q uad ra and Vancouve r alo ng with their offi cers and men to his inland village, where sailo rs dan ced ho rnpipe jigs fo r their am azed hosts. E n route bac k to F ri endl y Cove, it was p ro posed th at the land now recogni zed as an island be named Quadra y Va ncouve r Island . T hi s was the des ignati o n o n nauti cal charts fo r many years. H av in g o nly his ori ginal orders to " rake possess io n fo r th e British C rown of the land des ignated 'Nootka' from the Spanish represe ntative," Vancouver hoped in va in that th e supply ship rhar mer him at Noo tka wo uld have mo re insuucrions fro m the British Fo reign Office. His offi cial pos iti o n was that Sir F rancis D rake in 1579 had landed o n th e California coasr abo ut 30 mil es no rth of San Francisco Bay, cl aimed New Albio n for Britain , and stayed th ere about a mo nth while preparing the Golden Hinde fo r the completion of his histo ric ci rcumn av igatio n. T herefore, the British had prior claim to the land no rthwa rd . Q uadra co uld nor accede to that cla im and no settlemem was reached. H owever, d iplo macy cominued to prevail , and d ifferences in opinion had no effecr o n their hospitali ty o r fri endship. Vanco uver and Quadra parred on good terms and sent the pro blem back to their gove rnments fo r an J8
Artist Steve Mayo writes: During the day ofApril 28th, 1792, the American ship Columbi a had been anchored about a mile off a small Indian village called Kenehenwhitt, several miles south ofthe Quillayute River-today, La Push, Washington. With evening, the weather showed signs ofdeteriorating, so they weighed anchor and spent the night sailing back andforth "on short hanks" on an east-west track to maintain their position on the coast. Also on the 28th, Capt. George Vancouver's British vessels HMS Di scovery and HM Armed Tender C hatham had anchoredfor the night offDestruction Island about 12 miles south. On the 29th, the two vessels weighed anchor at 03 00 and with a light southerly breeze, set sail. Heading northwest along the coast, they spread studding sails as a light rain set in. Jn his published journal, Vancouver wrote: ''..4t four o'clock, a sail was discovered to the westward standing inshore. ... She soon hoisted American colours, andfired a gun to leeward. At six, we spoke her. She proved to be the ship Columbi a, commanded by Mr. Robert Gray, belonging to Boston, whence she had been absent nineteen months. " The view is looking to the southeast at about 0600 on the 29th of April. All hands are on deck on the Columb ia. Coming up from the south, the D iscovery leads the slower C hatham with studding sails set. D iscovery is taking in her studding sails as she prepares to heave to. From this meeting, Vancouver learned of the existence ofthe Strait ofJuan de Fuca just 20 miles up the coast where he would soon begin his extensive survey ofthe Northwest. (''Colum bia Meeting D iscovery and C hatham," by Steve Mayo; watercolor, 31"x42''.¡ courtesy the artist) ambassado rial solutio n. T he French Revoluti o n, the Terro r and the asce ndancy of Napoleo n raised co ncerns of possible rebellio n in orher E uropea n nations. E uro pe's unresr coo led the Noo tka Sound crisis, fo r rhere we re bigger pro blems fac in g Lo rd St. Helens and Count Fl o rablanca. T he T hi rd Noo tka So und Agreement they wo rked out ca lled for the co mplete evacuatio n by bo th coumri es of Noo tka. On 16 M arch 1795, Briti sh Lieutenant Tho mas Pi erce arri ved at Noo tka aboard a Spanish warshi p in the co mpany of General Alava. T hey signed declaratio ns, raised and lowered rheir na ti onal fl ags and depan ed. T he British and Spanish fl ags lowered in the fin al ceremo ny we re give n to C hief M aquinna. T he wa rship was ba rely o ut of sight before the natives stri pped the village
of everything po rtable; they parri cul arly looked fo r nails to make fish hooks. Soo n there was no evidence that E uro peans had ever tried to plant an outpost at Noo tka. W hat a peaceful fi nale to a dra ma that had almost sparked a global co nflict! U nder the fi nal settl ement, Britain could co ntinue to carry out co mmerce on the Norr hwes t Coast and cross th e Pacific Ocean carrying goods to C hin a, a benefit much more importa nt to th em than possessio n o f land. Prim e M iniste r Pi tt had wo n the spo ils of wa r, and taken one mo re step towa rd Bri ta in 's goal of freedo m of th e seas witho ut a shot being fired . !,
Author and photographer Thornton Thomas first presented this paper to the 1998 Annual Conference of the Society for the H istory of Discoveries.
SEA HISTORY 88, SPRING 1999