LOG OF THE COLUMBIA 289
Washington, 73 of Boston, John Kendrick, master. He had made up his Voyage and was bound for Canton. He appear'd happy in meeting with his old friends.
N. Latt. 49 9*; W. Long. 125 O * . Captain Ken- drick inform'd us that he had had a skirmish, with the Natives at Barretts sound in Queen Charlotte Isles, and was oblig'd to kill upwards of 50 of them before they wou'd desist from the attack. It appear'd to me, from what I cou'd collect that the Indians was the aggressors. 74 This Brig Lady Washington was a Sloop when she left Boston, but Capt. Kendrick had alterd her rig in Canton the year before. I was sorry to find that Kendrick had made no remittances, to the owners, since he had parted with the Columbia the first voyage, although since that period he had made two successful trips 75 from this Coast to Canton. As the Vessells still belong'd to the same owners he was under some mistrust that Capt. Gray was empower'd to seize the Brig, 76 and kept himself always ready against attack. 77 We tarried in this harbour till the 8th Sept.,
73 The consort of the Columbia on the voyage 1787-1790. She was at anchor in Larks Bay when on iath February, 1790. the Columbia passed down the Tigris on her return to Boston. In the interval the latter had made the voyage to New England and back, whilst the former had occupied the same time in dis- posing of her furs, altering her rig from a sloop to a brig, or more likely a brigantine, and returning to the coast. The Washington, as she is usually called, had reached Queen Charlotte Islands on i^th June from China, via Japan; the Columbia had arrived at Clayoquot Sound eight days before, from Boston.
74 Ingraham gives the outlines of the story; but Hoskins, Captain Kendrick's friend, enters into all the details. Summarized the story is that in the fall of 1789, while at Houston Stewart Channel, some clothing was stolen from the Washington. Kendrick seized the two chiefs and, fastening them to a cannon, threatened to kill them if the stolen articles were not forthcoming. The greater part were returned: the remainder he made them pay for in skins, and finally he forced the natives as a condition of releasing the Chiefs to bring all their furs, which he took and paid for at the current rate. He then gave the Chiefs their liberty and sailed away. He did not return until June, 1791, but soon after his arrival, and after trading had gone on as usual, the natives gathered on the ship in large numbers, took possession of the arm chest, and drove the crew below. Kendrick remained on deck, Coyah, one of the Chiefs, taunting him and daring him to tie him to the cannon again. The natives, all armed, only waited the signal to begin a massacre. Coyah and Kendrick got into a scuffle, and at this time the crew returned with arms and, led by Kendrick, who had freed himself from his assailant, cleared the vessel's deck. The Indians retreated precipitately on seeing the firearms; and even the exhortations of a perfect Amazon could not re-form them for attack. The small arms and the cannon were discharged at the fleeing Indians and when they were out of range they were pursued by the armed boats.
75 The journalist is in error here. Kendrick in the Washington did not see the Northwest coast from his departure in the fall of 1789 until i.ith June, 1791.
76 Hoskins, in a letter to Joseph Barrel), dated August 21, 1793, says: Capt. Kendrick when I saw him the last season (referring to the occasion now in nota- tion) offer'd to give up to me (if I would pay his men's wages & a debt he had contracted in Macao of about 4000 dollars) his vessel and cargo which was a thousand sea otter skins. I tola him I had no authority to accept his offer or to demand any payment from him nor did I think any person in the ship hid."
77 This is an exaggeration; both Hoskins' Narrative and Haswell's Log show that the two ship* were on the best of terms, mutual visits were exchanged, and the fullest confidence prevailed.
