Robert Gray (May 10, 1755 – ) was an American merchant sea captain who is known for his achievements in connection with two trading voyages to the northern Pacific coast of North America, between 1787 and 1793, which pioneered the American maritime fur trade in that region. In the course of those voyages, Gray explored portions of that coast and in the year 1790 he completed the first American circumnavigation of the world. He was also noted for coming upon and naming the Columbia River, in 1792, while on his second voyage.

Gray's earlier and later life are both comparatively obscure. He was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, and may have served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. After his two famous voyages, he carried on his career as a sea captain, mainly of merchantmen in the Atlantic. He intended a third voyage to the Northwest Coast, but his ship was captured by French privateers, during the Franco-American Quasi-War. Later in that conflict, Gray commanded an American privateer. He died at sea in 1806, near Charleston, South Carolina, possibly of yellow fever. In his honor, many geographic features along the Oregon and Washington coasts were named for Gray, as were numerous public schools established later in the region.

Early life

Robert Gray was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on May 10, 1755, to William Gray and his wife. Little is known of his early life.

Voyage to the Pacific Northwest coast, 1787–1790

thumb|Medal made for Gray and [[Captain John Kendrick|Kendrick to take on the voyage]]

On September 30, 1787, Robert Gray and Captain John Kendrick left Boston, to trade along the north Pacific coast. Captain Gray commanded and Captain Kendrick commanded . They were sent by Boston merchants including Charles Bulfinch. Bulfinch and the other financial backers came up with the idea of trading pelts from the northwest coast of North America and taking them directly to China after Bulfinch had read about Captain Cook's success in doing the same. Bulfinch had read Cook's "Journals", published in 1784, that in part discussed his success selling sea otter pelts in Canton.

On the voyage of Kendrick and Gray, the ships' cargo included blankets, knives, iron bars, and other trade goods. was killed. Gray named the bay Murderer's Harbor.

Further north along the coast, Gray ran aground attempting to enter a river near 46°N latitude. Here the ship was attacked by natives, with the ship losing one crew member before freeing itself and proceeding north.

thumb|left|Gray's men battling [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans near Tillamook Bay]]

During their trading along the coastlines of what are now British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, Oregon, and California, United States, the two Americans explored many bays and inland waters.

thumb|A royal Hawaiian [[Mahiole, or feathered helmet, collected by Gray in 1789]]

In 1788, Gray had attempted to enter a large river, but was unable due to the tides. Later he named this waterway as the Columbia River. As such, Columbia Rediviva became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe. Accompanying Gray were Hawaiian natives named Atu (Attoo) and Opai (Opie), who had taken passage on Columbia Redivivaand were the first Hawaiians to visit New England. Gray had Atu paraded through the streets of Boston, dressed in traditional Hawaiian war dress. Governor John Hancock held a reception in honor of Gray and his circumnavigation achievement. These purchases occurred while Gray had completed his voyage and since returned. Gray and Kendrick rejoined each other for a time, after Gray's return to the region. The attack was a retaliation for insults he thought he had endured and in response to rumors of a plot against his men conceived by some local natives and a Sandwich Islander of his own crew. The plot may have been real, but might have been a misunderstanding. The village of Opitsaht, which consisted of about 200 houses with much carved work—a "fine village, the Work of Ages", according to Gray's officer John Boit, which was "in a short time totally destroy'd". Fortunately, it was deserted at the time. In 2005, descendants of Gray formally apologized for the destruction of Opitsaht. Gray ordered several other attacks during the 1792 voyage. In May 1792, Gray ordered an attack on a Chicklisaht Nuu-chah-nulth village in Esperanza Inlet or Nasparti Inlet north of Nootka Sound, killing seven and seizing the natives' sea otter furs. The Chicklisaht took their wounded to the Spanish post at Nootka Sound and asked the commandant, Bodega y Quadra, to punish Gray. This attack came after a breakdown in trading negotiations. The price of sea otter furs had increased dramatically since the late 1780s. Gray was one of a number of captains who decided to use force to acquire furs. Once there, they sailed upriver and Gray named this large river Columbia after his ship. and traded items such as nails for pelts, salmon, and animal meat over a nine-day period. In addition to naming the river, Gray also named other landmarks such as Adams Point and Cape Hancock.

Gray's success in entering the river would eventually form part of the basis for U.S. territorial claims to the Oregon Country. On May 20, Gray and crew sailed from the Columbia, heading north to rendezvous with their sloop Adventure before setting sail for China.

At Nootka Sound

On July 22, 1792, Gray sailed Columbia Rediviva into the Nootka Sound accompanied by Hope under Ingraham. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was present as the commandant of the Spanish settlement there. Bodega was awaiting the arrival of George Vancouver so the two could implement the first Nootka Convention. Bodega had intended to turn over the entire establishment to Vancouver, but while waiting for Vancouver, he began to change his mind. Over the summer, Bodega had begun to realize that John Meares had not only greatly exaggerated his losses during the Nootka Crisis, but also had operated British trading ships under the flag of Portugal in violation of East India Company regulations. When Gray and Ingraham arrived at Nootka, Vancouver was still en route. Bodega took the opportunity to ask the Americans if they would give him their account of the events of 1789 that led to the Nootka Crisis. Ingraham answered Bodega's letter at length. He wrote, "as I knew every circumstance, Captain Gray desired I would answer and he would sign it jointly."

According to the letter signed by Ingraham and Gray, Meares had made many false claims about the events of 1789. The Portuguese ships, Ingraham said, were definitely British ships flying Portuguese flags. The "house" that Meares said he built at Nootka Sound, and which was explicitly mentioned in the Nootka Convention, was only a "rough hut", built and torn down in 1788. By 1789, when the Spanish arrived, "there was no vestige of any house remaining". The Nootka Convention said that Spain had seized buildings and that these must be restored to Britain. Further, Ingraham wrote that Meares had not purchased any land from Maquinna, as claimed. About the arrest of James Colnett by Esteban José Martínez, Ingraham and Gray wrote that Colnett had insulted and threatened Martínez, and that Colnett had drawn his sword on Martínez, justifying Colnett's arrest. The letter closed with a statement of friendship: "We sincerely hope, sir, when things are represented with truth, it will rescue our friend Don Estevan J. Martínez from censure... As to the treatment of the Americans by Don Estevan, we have ever testified to it in terms due to such hospitality, and we are again happy to have it in our power to do what we deem justice to his conduct." The Americans were not a neutral party; the United States had only gained its independence from Britain through war a few years before. Also, the Americans were in direct competition with the British, but not the Spanish, for the fur trade of the Northwest coast. It was in their interest to support the Spanish case.

Return to Boston

In Canton, Gray again traded his cargo for tea, and then sailed west towards the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Gray returned to Boston in July 1793, after again circumnavigating the globe.

On September 10, 1798, Gray set sail from Salem in command of the bark Alert, on another trading voyage bound for the Northwest Coast, where he was meant to spend a season or two fur-trading, and thence for Canton and home again, as before. This voyage was cut short while yet outbound, though, by the capture of Gray's ship in the South Atlantic by a French privateer. Alert was taken by La Republicaine on November 17, about east of Rio de Janeiro, then sailed by a prize crew (though under Gray's command) to the Spanish port of Montevideo, on the Río de la Plata, arriving on December 14. There, Alert and its cargo were sold as prizes of the French ship. Alert left port on January 11, with a Spanish crew under the Spanish flag, bound for the Pacific. Gray returned to the United States and went on with his sailing career. Captain Vancouver did publish Gray's discoveries in England, along with his own explorations, and gave Gray credit.[https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/gray_robert/] At the time, these discoveries by Gray did not gain him any renown nor were thought to be important. However, the trading opportunities Gray pioneered (in regard to Americans) were soon followed up by other New England merchants, with the result that the Indians of the Northwest Coast came to call Americans "Boston men". Moreover, Gray's priority in entering of the Columbia was later used by the United States in support of its territorial claims to what Americans called the Oregon Country. The rival British claimants called the more southerly portion of this disputed area the Columbia District, which they derived from the river-name chosen by Gray. When that colony joined Canada in 1871, it became the existing province of British Columbia.

Namesakes

thumb|Map of [[Grays Harbor in Washington]]

  • Grays Harbor and Grays Harbor County, in Washington
  • Grays Bay, on the north shore of the Columbia River estuary
  • Grays Point, at the west of Grays Bay
  • Grays River, a tributary of the Columbia River, flowing into Grays Bay
  • Grays River, Washington, a small, unincorporated rural village on the river of the same name
  • The Robert Gray Neighborhood Tiverton, Rhode Island
  • Robert Gray Avenue in Tiverton, Rhode Island
  • Robert Gray Middle School in Portland, Oregon
  • Robert Gray Middle School in Tacoma, Washington
  • Captain Robert Gray Elementary in Astoria, Oregon
  • Robert Gray Elementary School in Aberdeen, Washington
  • Robert Gray Elementary School in Longview, Washington
  • Robert Gray Baptist Church in Longview, Washington
  • Captain Gray Elementary School in Pasco, Washington
  • Grayland, WA a small unincorporated area on the Washington Coast between Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay

See also

  • History of the west coast of North America

References

Books

Journal articles

Websites

Further reading

  • The Oregon History Project: Winter Quarters
  • The Oregon History Project: The Coming of Robert Gray