As one of the early maritime fur traders he rescued John R. Jewitt, who had been enslaved by the Nuu-chah-nulth chief Maquinna. Hill was the first American to live in Japan, almost met Lewis and Clark near Fort Clatsop and received a letter from them, entertained King Kamehameha of the Hawaiian Kingdom on his ship, was involved in the Chilean War of Independence, was imprisoned by the British during the War of 1812, rescued victims of Malayan pirates, and much else. He was also a rapist and murderer. Accounts of Hill by officers serving under him and by other captains consistently describe him as a vicious and unstable tyrant.