17S9.] SEIZURE OF THE ARGONAUT AT NOOTKA. 195 



iards. As she was leaving the sound on that day, her consort, the 

 ship Argonaut, came in from Macao, under Captain Colnett, who, as 

 already mentioned, had been charged by the associated companies 

 with the direction of their affairs on the American coasts, and the 

 establishment of a factory and fort for their benefit. What followed 

 with regard to this ship has been represented under various colors ; 

 but the principal facts, as generally admitted, were these : — 



As soon as the Argonaut appeared at the entrance of the sound, 

 she was boarded by Martinez, who presented to Colnett a letter 

 from the captain of the Princess Royal, and pressed him earnestly 

 to enter the sound, and supply the Spanish vessels with some arti- 

 cles of which they were much in want. Several of the officers of 

 the North- West America and the Columbia also came on board the 

 Argonaut, and communicated what had occurred respecting the 

 Iphigenia and the small vessel to Colnett, who, in consequence, hes- 

 itated as to entering the sound ; but he was finally induced, by the 

 assurances of Martinez, to do so, and before midnight his ship 

 was anchored in Friendly Cove, between the Princesa and the San 

 Carlos. 



On the following day, Colnett, having supplied the Spanish ships 

 with some articles, was preparing, as he states, to leave the sound, 

 when he received an invitation to go on board the commandant's 

 ship and exhibit his papers. He accordingly went, in uniform, and 

 with his sword by his side, into the cabin of the Princesa, where he 

 displayed his papers, and informed Martinez of his intention to take 

 possession of Nootka, and erect a fort there under the British flag. 

 The commandant replied, that this could not be done, as the place 

 was already occupied by the forces and in the name of his Catholic 

 majesty ; and an altercation ensued, the results of which were the 

 arrest and confinement of Colnett, and the seizure of the Argonaut 

 by the Spaniards. From the moment of his arrest, Colnett became 

 insane or delirious, and continued in this state for several weeks, 

 during which Duffin, the mate of his vessel, acted as the representa- 

 tive of the proprietors : in the mean time, her cargo had been all 

 placed on board the Spanish ships of war ; and, on the 13th of 

 July, she sailed, with her officers and nearly the whole of her crew as 

 prisoners, under the command of a Spanish lieutenant, for San Bias. 



If the accounts of these transactions, presented by Meares in his 

 Memorial, and by Colnett in the narrative which he afterwards 

 published, be admitted as conveying a full and correct view of the 



