The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-03-29
HAWAIIAN CONSULATE,

HAWAIIAN CONSULATE,
PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. Feb. %, '90.l
SIR: l have the honor to respectfully
ask your attention to historical incident
which think may be of interest to YOU
In the Hawaiian Annual, which l re-
ceived from the Foreign Office, read
with interest Mr.. Alexander's article,
p. 81, on ''Early Visitors to the Hawaiian
Islands"
The published voyages OF Cook, Van
couver, Meares, Portlock, Dixon, and
other navigatOrs, afford easy means OF
reference, but the unpublished voyages
of early American navigators, who have
done so much to bring about the friendly
intercourse between Hawaii and the
United States, are not SO readily access
ible; hence when any we'll authenticated
narrative of interest can be ascertained,
it is we'll to have it perpetuated in the
published records of events worthy of
mention.
In 1888, 1 was boy, employed as
clerk by Captain Matthew w. Green,
wharfinger of Lewis Wharf, Boston.
Captain Green had been in the employ
of James Hunnewell, a merchant OF
Honolulu, then in business in Boston on
Commercial Wharf with Henry A. PIERCE.
Captain Green, while in command of
the brig John Gi!pin, had sailed from
Honolulu to the Northwest Coast, and
while at Queen Charlotte's Islands had
lumber sawed by his men with whip
saw, which he used to construct small
frame house, and claimed the credit OF
erecting the first framed building on
those islands.
When l first went as clerk with Capt.
Green, the bark Don Quixote, Captain
John Patty, was fitting out for Honolulu.
Among other merchants of Boston, who
were interested in the trade of the
Northwest Coast, was the venerable
Timothy Dodd, fur dealer in Milk street,
between Broad and India streets. Mr..
Dodd, as one of the firm of Dodd &
Parker, dealers in ship stores on Long
Wharf in 1887, had fitted out the ship
Columbia and the sloop Washington, for
their voyages to the Northwest Coast for
their owners, Messrs. Bulfnch, Banell,
Pintard, Darby and others, and had the
store, where | saw them in 1857.
l came to California in 1850, and went
to Boston on a visit in 1857. While there,
Mr.. Dodd showed me an old number OF
the Boston Courier, published by Joseph
L. Buckingham, in which was the fol-
lowing account of Gray's first voyage in
the Columbia, and OF his bringing to
Boston the Crown Prince, son of Kame-
hameha l., which l copy.
The Columbia under Captain John
Kendrick, and the Washington under
Captain Robert Gray, sailed from Boston
on the 3Oth of September, 1887, bound
to the Northwest Coast of North Amer.
lea, to trade with the natives for furs
This was the first expedition ever fitted
out by Americans for the Northwest
Coast.
They did not reach the Coast till
August OF 1888, when Gray discovered
the opening Of the Columbia, and in at.
tempting to enter it, the sloop struck on
the bar and came near being lost. He
then proceeded to Nootka Sound, where
he remained all winter.
Early in 1899, Gray was placed in
charge of the Columbia to take the furs
which both vessels had collected, to Can
ton, while Captain Kendrick remained
on the coast in the sloop Washington
''The Columbia, under Captain Gray
says the narrative. proceeded to the
Sandwich Islands, where Captain Gray
was received with respect, and most
Hospitality treated. Such was the conf
dence of both King and people in him
that he was permitted to take as pas
senger, the Crown Prince on visit tt
Boston, full reliance being placed in
Gray's promise to return him home
again.
The ship proceeded from the Sandwich
Islands to Canton, where she arrived or
the 9th of December, 1889, and having
exchanged her furs for a cargo of teas
sailed for Boston, where she arrived OF
the 10th of August, 1870, having carried
the flag of the United States for the first
time around the world.
An eyewitness of the return of the
Columbia thus describes the scene. He
writes -
"The ship had been absent upward.
of three years, and had not been hearc
from for large portion of the time
when in the summer OF 1890, on fine
afternoon, strange ship bearing the
stars and stripes arrived abreast of the
castle, and fired national salute, which
was promptly returned by the guns o
the fort.
The firing was distinctly seen and
heard in Boston, but no one could ina
CINE what ship it was bearing our com
try's flag, and doing and receiving such
honor. The inhabitants were all in mo
ton, crowding Long Wharf by thous
ands. When it was known that the
Columbia had returned, the artillery
were ordered out, and when the shiI
came TO anchor off the end of the wharf
the delighted multitude rent the air with
iovful acclamations, while salvos 0
artillery shook the neighboring hills
and the astonished people hurryied int
the city to join the general joy The
ship having returned the salute OF the
city, the Custom House barge was man
ned, and the venerable Gen. Lincoln
Collector of the Port, with the owners o
the Columbia, repaired on board, ant
after bidding Capt. Gray and his pas
senger hearty welcome, they returned
| to the wharf togethek when the air ran.