16 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Bengal viii Malacca aud Canton, after trading at Tetro- 

 paulovsk in Kamtchatka, sailed for Copper Island with 

 the supposed purpose, as alleged, of obtaining a cargo of 

 copper there. She was wrecked on the Commander 

 Islands. 

 In the same year, 1780, Portlock and Dixon, and Meares, 

 arrived upon the American coast, and traded and 



17 explored far to the northward. These voyages are 

 important, because detailed accounts of both were 



published, in 1789 and 1790 respectively, while the voy- 

 ages of other traders have generally not been recorded. 

 A Voyage Portlock and Dixon, who had sailed from London in 

 &c",' London! 1785 '" ^^^^ "King George" and "Queen Charlotte," in 

 i^**^- 1780, first visited Cook Inlet, where they found a party of 



Russians encamped, but with no fixed establishment. 

 Trade was carried on with the natives there, and subse- 

 quently at various other places on what is now the Alaskan 

 coast, and several harbours were surveyed. In the follow- 

 ing year, Portlock and Dixon returned to the vicinity of 

 Prince William Sound, where they found Meares, who had 

 spent the previous winter there. They subsequently 

 called at a number of places on the Alaskan coast, as 

 well as at ports now included in the coast line of British 

 Columbia, making very substantial additions to geograph 

 ical knowledge. 

 Meares' voy Meares Sailing from Bengal in the "Nootka" early in 



a ii' t' 9 1790 See o o i' 



ai.so,' " Annual the year, reached the Islands of Atka and Amlia of the 

 voTxxx'ii p^2*87^'*^^^^''^"^ chain, staying tw^) days at the last-named island, 

 and holding communication with the natives and Itussians 

 found there. He then proceeded eastward along the 

 Aleutian Islands, and was piloted into Unalaska by a 

 Russian who came oft" to the ship. He describes the Rus- 

 sian establishment as consisting of underground huts like 

 those occupied by the natives; but being anxious to leave 

 the vicinity of the Russian traders, he continued his voy- 

 age eastward to Cook Inlet and eventually wintered in 

 Prince William Sound, as above stated. 



Meares' later voyage, in 1788 and 1789. which is better 

 known than his first venture, was directed to tiiat i)art of 

 the coast lying to the southward of the limits afterwards 

 included by the Ukase of 1799. In 1788, Meares built at 

 Nootka, in the northern part of Vancouver Island, the 

 first vessel ever constructed on the coast of the north- 

 western part of America. Slie was intended for use in the 

 fur trade, and was ai)propriately named the " North-w^est 

 America." 

 Alaska, 1). 2-)5 Also iu 1780, La Perouse, on his voyage round the world, 

 under instructions of the French Government, first 



18 made the American land near Mount St. Elias. 

 Thence he sailed eastward and southward, calling at 



Alaska, p. 24X jHaccs Oil thc A hiskau coast. At Lituya Bay he obtained 

 in trade 1,000 sea otter skins. 



Ibid., PI.. i»2- In the same year the Russian Pribyloff" discovered the 

 ^''"'^ islands in Bchring Sea, now known by his name. 



_ibid., pp. jTd- 111 178S, a Si)anish expedition, in the vessels " Princesa'" 

 ^'^ and " San Carh>s," uiuler Martinez and Haro, set out. It 



