194 SEIZURE OF THE NORTH-WEST AMERICA. [1789. 



(including, of course, the twelve bars before mentioned) was ex- 

 changed for furs. 



Before taking leave of the Iphigenia, it may be added, in evi- 

 dence of her true character, that Douglas quitted her immediately 

 on her arrival in China ; after which she continued to trade under 

 the command of Viana, and under the flag of Portugal. 



On the 8th of June, after the departure of the Iphigenia, the 

 schooner North-West America returned from her voyage along the 

 southern coasts, in which she had collected about two hundred sea 

 otter skins, and was immediately seized by Martinez, in consequence, 

 as he at first said, of an agreement to that effect between himself 

 and the captain of the Iphigenia. This agreement is expressly de- 

 nied by Douglas, who declares that both promises and threats had 

 been used in vain to induce him to sell the small vessel at a price 

 far below her real value ; and, in proof, he cites a letter given by 

 him to Martinez, addressed to the captain of the North-West Amer- 

 ica, in which he merely tells the latter to act as he may think best 

 for the interest of the owners. Meares, in his Memorial, however, 

 admits that the letter did not contain what Martinez understood to be 

 its purport when he received it, and that advantage had been taken 

 by Douglas of the Spaniard's ignorance of the English language ; 

 from which circumstances it is most probable that the agreement, 

 whether voluntary on the part of the captain of the Iphigenia, or 

 unjustly extorted from him, was actually made as asserted by Marti- 

 nez. A few days afterwards, the sloop Princess Royal, one of the 

 vessels sent from Macao by the associated companies, entered the 

 sound under the command of William Hudson, bringing infor- 

 mation of the failure of Cavallo, the Portuguese merchant, upon 

 whom, as owner of the Iphigenia, the bills in payment for the sup- 

 plies furnished to that vessel, were drawn. Upon learning this, 

 Martinez announced his determination to hold the North-West 

 America in satisfaction for the amount of those bills : she was 

 thereupon immediately equipped for a trading voyage, and sent out 

 under the command of one of the mates of the Columbia ; but her 

 officers and men were at the same time liberated, and nearly all the 

 skins collected by her were placed on board the Princess Royal, for 

 the benefit of the owners in China. 



The Princess Royal remained at Nootka until the 2d of July, 

 during which period she was undisturbed, and her officers and 

 men were treated with perfect civility and respect by the Span- 



