Covering the adventures of coastal and ocean explorers who made key discoveries and landmark observations from northern California up the coastline to Alaska during the mid-1700s to the early 1800s, this anthology of primary source journal entries, book excerpts, maps, and drawings enables readers to "discover" the Northwest Coast for themselves.
More than 200 years ago, explorers traveled from Central America, Russia, and even Europe to explore the coastline of the American Pacific Northwest, with goals of developing new trade routes, claiming territory for their home countries, expanding their fur trade, or exploring in the name of scientific discovery. This book will take readers to the decks of the great ships and along for the adventures of legendary explorers, such as James Cook, Alejandro Malaspina, and George Vancouver.
This book collects primary source materials such as journal entries, book excerpts, maps, and drawings that document how explorers first experienced the unknown Pacific Northwest coast, as seen through the eyes of non-native people. Readers will learn how explorers such as Vitus Bering and Robert Gray used the full extent of their powers of observation to record the landscape, animals, and plants they witnessed as well as their interactions with indigenous peoples during their search for the mythic Northwest Passage. The book also explains how the maritime explorers of this period mapped the remote regions of the Northwest Coast, working without the benefit of modern technology and relying instead on their knowledge of a range of sciences, mathematics, and seamanship—in addition to their ability to endure harsh and dangerous conditions—to produce exceptionally detailed maps.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction
Selected Chronology
Chapter 1: Sebastián Vizcaíno, Expedition to California, 1602–1603
1. A Port for the Manila Galleon, 1585
2. Viceroy Conde de Monterrey's Sailing Orders, 1602
3. At the Port of Acapulco, 1602
4. Scurvy Interrupts the Voyage, 1603
5. Navigating with the Bolaños Derrotero, 1603
6. Rio de MartÍn Aguilar, 1603
7. Port of Monterey, 1603
8. California as an Island, 1625
9. Coastal Chart of the Vizcaíno Voyage, 1802
Chapter 2: Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov, Second Kamchatka Expedition, 1733–1743
10. Joseph Delisle Map, 1733
11. Orders from the Empress Anna, 1732
12. Imperial Ambitions, 1732, 1734
13. Reports from Kamchatka, 1742
14. Georg Stellar on Bering Island, 1743
15. Tragic Cost of Scurvy, 1741
16. Social Costs of Natives of Kamchatka, 1743
17. Joseph Delisle's Map of New Discoveries, 1752
18. Gerhard Müller's Attack on Delisle, 1754
19. The Russian Map, 1754
Chapter 3: Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra and Bruno de Hezeta, Second Bucareli Expedition, 1775
20. Defense of Empire, 1757
21. Viceroy Antonio Bucareli's Orders, 1775 (1773)
22. Shipboard Conditions, 1775
23. Hazards of Navigation, 1775
24. Ceremonies of Possession, 1774
25. Bruno Hezeta's Map of the Columbia River, 1775
26. Ayala in San Francisco Bay, 1775
27. Human Cost and First Encounters, 1775
28. Bruno Hezeta's Coastal Map, 1775
29. Rare Publicized Reports, 1776, 1781
Chapter 4: James Cook, First British Foray to the Northwest Coast, 1778
30. Secret Instructions from the Admiralty, 1776
31. On the Oregon Coast, 1778
32. Ship Repairs at Nootka Sound, 1778
33. Buying Nature at Nootka Sound, 1778
34. Native Art, 1778
35. Looking for the Northwest Passage, 1778
36. At the Bering Strait on the Edge of the Continent, 1778
37. Meeting the Russians, 1778
38. Death of Cook, 1779
39. Cook's Great Chart, 1784
Chapter 5: Fur Traders, Commerce, and Cartography, 1785–1792
40. George Dixon's Discoveries in the Pacific Northwest, 1787
41. John Kendrick's Land Purchases, 1791
42. John Meares and the Nootka Sound Controversy, 1790
43. John Meares's Orders to Explore New Markets, 1788
44. A Conniving Letter to Joseph Banks, 1788
45. Alexander Dalrymple's Fur Trade Plan, 1789
46. Tragic Human Costs of Pursuing Furs, 1787
47. James Hanna's Conflict with Natives, 1785
48. John Meares's Map, 1790
49. Aaron Arrowsmith's Map of the Northwest Coast, 1790
Chapter 6: Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse, Following Cook, 1785–1788
50. The King's Instructions, 1785
51. Sighting the Northwest Coast, 1786
52. Map of Port des Français, 1797
53. Lituya Bay Tragedy, 1786
54. The Tlingit Narrative of the Lituya Tragedy, 1886
55. Tlingit Trade Exchange, 1786
56. La Pérouse's Map of the Northwest Coast, 1797
57. Macao Trade Protocols, 1787
58. Uncertain Remedies for Scurvy, 1788
Chapter 7: Alejandro Malaspina, Spanish Enlightenment on the Northwest Coast, 1788–1791
59. Malaspina's Plan for a Circumnavigation, 1788
60. In Search of the Strait of Anian, 1789
61. Malaspina and Bustamante at Acapulco, 1791
62. Strait of Anian Investigations, 1791
63. Port Mulgrave Map, 1802
64. With the Tlingit at Port Mulgrave, 1791
65. Speculations on the Peopling of America, 1791
66. A Plan of the Friendly Harbor, 1802
67. Malaspina at Nootka Sound, 1791
68. Malaspina and Political Tragedy, 1794–1803
Chapter 8: George Vancouver, the Great Survey of the Northwest Coast, 1791–1795
69. Letter of Instruction to George Vancouver, 1791
70. First Contact with Northwest Natives, 1792
71. Near-Conflict in Puget Sound, 1792
72. Sounding and Surveying Puget Sound, 1792
73. Negotiating the Nootka Convention, 1792
74. Maquinna's Feast at Tahsis, 1792
75. Menzies at Friendly Cove, 1792
76. Broughton's Map of the Columbia River, 1798
77. Vancouver's Great Map of the Coast, 1798
78. The Public Humiliation of George Vancouver, 1795–1798
Chapter 9: Robert Gray, First American Commercial Northwest Coast Voyages, 1787–1793
79. The Partners' Instructions for the First Voyage, 1787
80. Kendrick's Sailing Instructions, 1788
81. At Murderers Harbor, 1788
82. Gray Takes Command of the Columbia, 1789
83. The Partners' Instructions for the Second Voyage, 1790
84. At Clayoquot Sound, 1792
85. Conflict at Gray's Harbor, 1792
86. Gray on the Columbia River, 1792
87. Gray's Columbia River Sketch, May 1792
Chapter 10: Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, Exploration of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 1792
88. In Search of Spanish Dominion in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 1792
89. Search for the Northwest Passage, 1792
90. Malaspina's and Revillagigedo's Orders to Galiano, 1791, 1792
91. Tetacus, Native of Vancouver Island, June 1792
92. Ship Manifests and Technology, 1792
93. The Importance to the Viceroy of Place-Names on Maps, 1793
94. Perils in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, July 1792
95. Exchange of Information between Galiano and Vancouver, June–July 1792
96. The Placement and Replacement of Place-Names, 1795
97. Coastal Map of Vizcaíno's Voyage, 1802
Selected Bibliography
Index
