440 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [G. 



continent for the Columbia River. At the same time, I fitted out the 

 ship Tonquin, carrying twenty guns and sixty men, commanded by the 

 late Captain Thorn, lieutenant in the United States navy. The ship 

 sailed in September, 1810, having on board the means for making an 

 establishment at Columbia, where she arrived on the 22d of March, 1811. 

 They landed, found the natives friendly, and built a fort, erected a house, 

 store, &c. This being accomplished, Captain Thorn left thirty men in 

 possession of the place, to await the party who were to make the voyage 

 over land ; these, also, happily arrived, though not till several months after. 

 On or about the 1st of June, Captain Thorn left Columbia River, with a 

 view to make some trade on the coast, and then to return to the river ; 

 but, unfortunately, Thorn never returned. At about two hundred miles 

 north of Columbia, he put in a bay to trade with the natives. Not at- 

 tending to the precautions necessary, as he had been instructed to do, to 

 guard against an attack, he suffered a whole tribe of Indians to come on 

 board and about his ship. An attack was made ; he was overpowered : 

 fire was communicated to the magazine, the ship was blown up, and every 

 soul on board or near her perished. 



In 1811, I fitted out another ship, the Beaver, carrying twenty guns, 

 with a duplicate cargo to the ship Tonquin, and sixty or seventy men. 

 The Captain [Sowles] was instructed to sail for the Columbia River, and 

 in search of the men who were sent across the continent, as also of the 

 Tonquin. The Beaver sailed from this in October, 1811, arrived at Co- 

 lumbia in May following, found the establishment, and landed such men, 

 goods, provisions, &,c, as the establishment was in need of. My instruc- 

 tions to the captain were, that, after supplying the establishment, he should 

 proceed to Chatka,* a Russian settlement, for the purpose of trade, and 

 then return to Columbia, take what furs we had, and proceed to Canton, 

 and thence to New York. He accordingly left Columbia, (and, most 

 unfortunately, Mr. Hunt, of Trenton, New Jersey, my chief agent, left 

 the river with him,) sailed, as directed, for the Russian settlement, and 

 effected their object; but, instead of following instructions to return to 

 Columbia, he sailed direct for Canton, leaving Mr. Hunt at one of the 

 Sandwich Islands, to await the arrival of another ship, which I had prom- 

 ised to send from this in 1812. The ship Beaver arrived at Canton, and 

 received there the news of the war. I had sent orders to the captain to 

 return to Astoria; but he was fearful of being captured, and remained 

 safely at Canton till the war was over, when he came home. In conse- 

 quence of the war, I found it inconvenient to send a ship in 1812, but I 

 did send one, the Lark, early in 1813, with directions to the captain to 

 sail for Columbia River, and to stop at the Sandwich Islands for informa- 

 tion. Being within a few days' sail of those islands, the ship, in a squall 

 of wind, was upset, and finally drifted on the beach of one of those 

 islands, a wreck, — ship and cargo totally lost. Here was met Mr. Hunt, 

 who, after all the information he received, and my great desire to protect 

 the establishment at Columbia River, procured an American vessel, took 

 some provisions, sailed, and arrived in Columbia River. He there learned 

 that Mr. McDougal had transferred all my property to the North-West 

 Company, who were in possession of it by a sale, as he called it, for the 

 sum of about fifty-eight thousand dollars, of which he retained fourteen 



* Sitka, or New Archangel, the chief establishment in Russian America. 



