Joseph Ingraham Joseph Ingraham ( 1762 – 1800 ) was an American sailor and Maritime Fur Trade r who discovered several islands of the Marquesas Islands while on his way to trade along the West Coast of North America . He was also a prisoner in the American Revolutionary War and an officer in the United States Navy . Early life . During the War of Independence Joseph Ingraham was a sailor captured by the British . He spent part of the war on a prison ship . In 1787 , he served as second mate aboard the " Columbia Rediviva " under the command of John Kendrick when it sailed to the Pacific Northwest to engage in the fur trade . Pacific voyages . On September 16 , 1790 , Ingraham set sail from Boston as captain of the brig " Hope " . The ship and venture was paid for by George Perkins . Ingraham ' s destination was a return to the northwest coast to partake in the fur trade . Ingraham and his ship sailed around Cape Horn , passing by the southern tip of South America on January 26 , 1791 . Their next stop was at Port Madre de Dios on the island of Dominica , part of the Marquesas Islands chain on April 14 . While in this Spanish port they took on some provisions before sailing north again . A few days later on April 19 , 1792 , Ingraham discovered a small uncharted island group . These islands were situated roughly nine degrees south of the equator . Captain Ingraham named the group Washington Islands , and named many of the individual islands : Washington Island for the president , Adams Island for the vice president , Federal Island , Franklin Island , Knox Island , and lastly Lincoln Island for a general . The island are approximately at 9° 20 ' south of the Equator and 140° 54 ' west of London . These islands are part of the Marquesas chain . Upon sailing from the Marquesas archipelago Ingraham sailed north to the Sandwich Islands before sailing on to the Queen Charlotte Islands on the northwest coast of North America . After arriving off the coast of North America , Captain Ingraham set about trading for the fur pelts he was sent to bargain for from the natives . On September 26 , 1792 , Ingraham encountered his former captain , Captain Robert Gray , captain of the " Columbia " , in Neah Bay off Cape Flattery . Gray was there to sell his small craft " Adventure " to the Spanish . The " Adventure " was under the command of Ingraham ’ s former shipmate Robert Haswell . The next day Ingraham and the " Hope " set sail with the Spanish vessel " Princesa " that was sailing north to Nootka Sound to deliver Spain ’ s new administrator to that outpost . After spending the summer trading for fur pelts from the natives along the coast , Ingraham then sailed to China via the Sandwich Islands , and then back to Boston . On the journey to the Chinese mainland the ship log shows the crew passing by the island of Formosa . This voyage was a commercial failure . Later life . During the United States ’ undeclared Quasi - War with France in the late 1790s Ingraham served as a naval officer . There he was a lieutenant , last appearing on Navy Department records on June 14 , 1799 . Joseph Ingraham was lost at sea in the fall of 1800 while serving on the USS " Pickering " . Legacy . Ingraham Bay and Ingraham Point , in Alaska , are named for Joseph Ingraham .