Fort Defiance (British Columbia)

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Fort Defiance with Columbia in background and Adventure in forground
Fort Defiance with Columbia in background and Adventure in forground

Fort Defiance was a small outpost built by the crew of the Columbia Rediviva during the winter of 1791-1792. The crew under the command of American merchant Captain Robert Gray built the establishment on Meares Island in present day British Columbia, Canada.

In early August, 1791, John Kendrick had arrived in Clayoquot Sound and bought land from Wickaninnish in exchange for firearms. The land purchased was near the village of Opitsaht. By the time Gray arrived in late August Kendrick had fortified a small island and given it the name Fort Washington. Kendrick soon left for China while Gray remained for the winter. For most of the winter relations with Wickaninnish and his people were good. On Christmas Day Wickaninnish and a number of other chiefs dined aboard the Columbia, and on New Year's Day the Americans were entertained onshore by the natives.[1]

Contents

[edit] Location

This winter quarters for the crew was built on Disappointment Inlet (now Lemmens Inlet) on Meares Island.[2] The island is in Clayoquot Sound off Vancouver Island.[3] At the inlet, Fort Defiance was on the eastern side where the geography could provide natural defenses against attacks.[4] Gray named the cove Adventure Cove.[5]

[edit] Construction

The men of the Columbia began building their winter quarters on September 21, 1791.[6] They were done building the main building by September 30.[7] This main building measured 36 feet long by 18 feet wide and was two stories tall.[8] Fort Defiance also had a brick fireplace, as the traders had brought with them 5,470 bricks from Boston.[9] The main building had two cannons mounted and musket loop holes for defending against any native attacks.[10] Additionally, other buildings constructed included a blacksmith shop, two sawpits for cutting logs, cabins, and a boat builder's shed.[11][12] Once the fort was complete, four cannons, 40 muskets, and various other weapons were transferred from the Columbia and Robert Haswell was placed in charge of the base and ten men.[13] At this point the focus of Fort Defiance became the construction of the ship Adventure, whose skeleton had been brought aboard the Columbia.[14]

[edit] Use

On October 3 the keel was laid for the ship.[15] Over the winter the ship slowly began to take shape.[16] On February 23, 1792, the ship was launched, making it the first American built vessel in the Pacific Northwest.[17][18] Once the ship then sailed in March, the fort was abandoned.[19] However, Gray desired to leave nothing of use to the natives and had Haswell remove anything of value.[20]

[edit] Destruction of Opitsaht

When Gray left these winter quarters at Clayoquot Sound, as revenge for a foiled attack against his men conceived by the Tla-o-qui-aht people and a Sandwich Islander of his own crew, Gray ordered the destruction of 200 homes in the local village of "Opitsitah" (Opitsaht),[21] an act that the keeper of his own ship's log considered having let his passions go too far.[22]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pethick, Derek (1980). The Nootka Connection: Europe and the Northwest Coast 1790-1795. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, pp. 67-69. ISBN 0-88894-279-6. 
  2. ^ Howay, Frederic W. Voyages of the Columbia to the Northwest Coast. Boston: The Massachusetts Historical Society (1941), p. 247
  3. ^ Clayoquot Sound
  4. ^ Howay. p. 247
  5. ^ Scofield, John. Hail, Columbia: Robert Gray, John Kendrick and the Pacific Fur Trade. Oregon Historical Society Press. 1993. p. 242
  6. ^ Howay. p. 247
  7. ^ Howay. p. 247
  8. ^ Howay. p. 247
  9. ^ Scofield. p. 242
  10. ^ Howay. p. 382
  11. ^ Scofield. p. 242
  12. ^ Howay. p. 305
  13. ^ Howay. p. 248, 305, 382
  14. ^ Scofield, John. p. 241
  15. ^ Howay. p. 248
  16. ^ Howay, Frederic W., p. 227
  17. ^ Howay. p. 313-314, 276
  18. ^ Carey, Charles Henry. History of Oregon. Vol. 1: Pioneer Historical Publishing Co.:Chicago. 1922. p. 139
  19. ^ Howay, Frederic W., p. 314
  20. ^ Scofield, John. p. 252.
  21. ^ within territory of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations (formerly referred to as the Clayoquot), one of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations
  22. ^ Morton, Arthur S; (Lewis G Thomas) [1939] (1973). A History of the Canadian West to 1870-71, 2nd ed, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 404. ISBN 0-8020-4033-0.