1813.] ASTORIA SOLD TO THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY. 303 



Woahoo, from China, bringing information of the war between the 

 United States and Great Britain, and also that the Beaver was 

 blockaded by a British ship at Canton ; on learning which, Mr. 

 Hunt chartered the Albatross, and proceeded in her to the Colum- 

 bia, where he arrived on the 4th of August. 



Mr. Hunt was astounded on learning the resolution adopted by 

 the other partners at Astoria during his absence, which he endeav- 

 ored to induce them to change ; but, finding them determined, he 

 reluctantly acceded to it himself, and, after a few days, he re- 

 embarked in the Albatross, for the Sandwich Islands, in search of 

 some vessel to convey the property of the Pacific Company to a 

 place of safety. At the Sandwich Islands no vessel could be found ; 

 and Hunt accordingly continued in the Albatross until she arrived 

 at Nooahevah, (one of the Washington Islands, discovered by 

 Ingraham, in 1791,) where he learned from Commodore David 

 Porter, who was lying there in the American frigate Essex, that a 

 large British squadron, under Commodore Hillyar, was on its way 

 to the Columbia. This news caused Hunt to hasten back to the 

 Sandwich Islands, which he reached in December, soon after the 

 wreck of the Lark ; and, having there chartered a small brig, called 

 the Pedler, he sailed in her to Astoria, where he arrived in 

 February, 1814. 



The fate of the Pacific Company, and its establishments in North- 

 West America, had, however, been decided some time before the 

 Pedler reached Astoria. 



Soon after the departure of Hunt, Mr. Mactavish and his followers 

 of the North- West Company again appeared at Astoria, where they 

 expected to meet a ship called the Isaac Todd, which had sailed 

 from London in March, laden with goods, and under convoy of a 

 British squadron, charged " to take and destroy every thing Amer- 

 ican on the north-west coast." They were received as before, 

 and allowed to pitch their camp unmolested near the factory ; and 

 private conferences were held between Mactavish and Macdougal, 

 the results of which were, after some days, communicated to the 

 other partners, and then to the clerks of the Pacific Company. 

 These results were set forth in an agreement, signed on the 

 16th of October, 1813, between Messrs. Mactavish and Alexander 

 Stuart, on the one part, and Messrs. Macdougal, Mackenzie, and 

 Clarke, on the other; by which all the "establishments, furs, and 

 stock in hand," of the Pacific Company, in the country of the 



