SPANISH VOYAGES 19! 



boats and twenty-one men who carelessly ventured into 

 the bore at the narrow entrance. About this time inde- 

 pendent fur traders began to visit the coast. James Hanna 

 of Macao traded at Nootka in 1785, and in a few years 

 numbers of ships appeared from various quarters of the 

 globe. Some of these men had a liberal education and 

 made their voyages contribute to geographical and natural 

 science as well as pecuniary profit. Among the better 

 known were Meares, Portlock, Dixon, Berkeley, and Cox, 

 all Englishmen; Ingraham, Gray, Sturgis, Kendrick, and 

 Cleveland from New England. 



The Spanish authorities claimed the sole right to navi- 

 gate the waters of the Northwest coast though they had 

 never utilized any of its resources. To drive away the 

 1 Boston ' and * King George ' men, as the Yankees and 

 Englishmen were called in the trade jargon, they sent, in 

 1788, some armed vessels, under Martinez and Haro, on a 

 voyage of reconnaissance. These extended their investi- 

 gations as far as Kadiak and Unalaska before returning to 

 California. The following May the same officers pro- 

 ceeded to Nootka where they took possession in the 

 name of Spain, built a small fort, and seized three British 

 vessels under Colnett and Hudson which had been sent 

 from Macao by Meares. The American vessels were not 

 molested, and Gray, in the Columbia, after various explor- 

 ations sailed for Canton, where he exchanged his furs for 

 tea, with which he reached Boston, August 10, 1790, hav- 

 ing carried the United States flag around the world for the 

 first time. 



The action of the Spaniards in seizing the British ves- 

 sels did more for the exploration of the coast than all their 

 surveying expeditions. The British government protested 

 against the proceeding and, with the acquiescence of 

 Spain, George Vancouver was sent to the Northwest coast 

 to determine with the aid of a Spanish Commissioner what 



