300 DESTRUCTION OF THE TONQUIN BY SAVAGES. [1812. 



i 



the Sandwich Islands, who were engaged as seamen or laborers. 

 The Beaver, moreover, brought from Owyhee a letter which had 

 been left there by Captain Ebbets, of the ship Enterprise, contain- 

 ing positive information of the destruction of the Tonquin and her 

 crew by the savages on the coast near the Strait of Fuca; the 

 particulars of this melancholy affair were not, however, learned 

 until August of the following year, when they were communicated 

 at Astoria by the Indian who had gone in the Tonquin as inter- 

 preter, and was the only survivor of those on board the ill-fated ship. 



According to this interpreter's account, the Tonquin, after quit- 

 ting the river, sailed northward along the coast of the continent, 

 and anchored, in the middle of June, 1811, opposite a village on 

 the Bay of Clyoquot, near the entrance of the Strait of Fuca. She 

 was there immediately surrounded by crowds of Indians in canoes, 

 who continued for some days to trade in the most peaceable manner, 

 so as to disarm Captain Thorne and Mr. M c Kay of all suspicions. 

 At length, either in consequence of an affront given to a chief by 

 the captain, or with the view of plundering the vessel, the natives 

 embraced an opportunity when the men were dispersed on or below 

 the decks, in the performance of their duties, and in a moment put 

 to death every one of the crew and passengers, except the inter- 

 preter, who leaped into a canoe, and was saved by some women, and 

 the clerk, Mr. Lewis, who retreated, with a few sailors, to the cabin. 

 The survivors of the crew, by the employment of their fire-arms, 

 succeeded in driving the savages from the ship ; and, in the night, 

 four of them quitted her in a boat, leaving on board Mr. Lewis and 

 some others, who were severely wounded. On the following day, 

 the natives again crowded around and on board the Tonquin ; and 

 while they were engaged in rifling her, she was blown up, most 

 probably by the wounded men left below deck. The seamen who 

 had endeavored to escape in the boat were soon retaken, and put 

 to death in the most cruel manner, by the Indians ; the interpreter 

 was preserved, and remained in slavery two years, at the end of 

 which time he was suffered to depart. 



The loss of this ship was a severe blow to the Pacific Company ; 

 but the partners at Astoria were consoled by the reflections, that 

 their chief could bear pecuniary damages to a far greater extent 

 without injury to his credit, and that, if their enterprise should prove 

 successful, ample indemnification would soon be obtained. It was 

 therefore determined that Mr. Hunt should embark in the Beaver, 

 to superintend the trade along the northern coasts, and visit the 



