John Kendrick (American sea captain)
Encyclopedia
John Kendrick was an American
sea captain, both during the American Revolutionary War
and the exploration and maritime fur trading
of the Pacific Northwest
alongside his partner Robert Gray.
(now Orleans, Massachusetts
), according to official town records in Orleans, his last name was originally Kenrick, but later adopted the "d". John Kendrick came from a long family line of seamen. Solomon Kenrick, his father, was a humble seaman and this fact gave young John the ambition of becoming a sea captain. He had a common education, like most people at the time. At age 20, he joined a whaling
crew, working on a schooner
owned by Captain Bangs.
John Kendrick later joined Captain Jabez Snow's company during the French and Indian War
in 1762. Like most Cape Codders of the time, he served for only eight months and did not re-enlist. All that is known about him between 1762 and the 1770s is that he owned a few merchant ships and married Huldah Pease of Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.
on December 16, 1773. He was an ardent Patriot
, going on to serve as Commander of a privateer called the Fanny, the beginning of what became the Continental Navy
during the American Revolution
. He was commissioned May 26, 1777.
The Fanny had a crew of 100 and 18 guns on her as she captured a few British ships, gaining some money on the side and taking possession of items needed by the Americans defending themselves from the British. Some items also helped build Kendrick's house in Wareham, Massachusetts
. HMS Brutus and HMS Little Brutus captured John in November, 1779. He was soon traded in a prisoner exchange
. Upon release, he commanded a sixteen-gun-armed, hundred-man-crewed brigantine
named the Count d’Estang in 1780. Then, he commanded another brigantine called the Marianne later that same year.
When the war ended in 1783, Kendrick returned to whaling and coastal shipping until he became commander of the first American ships of discovery.
’s end and his voyage to the Pacific Northwest
. A syndicate led by Boston
merchant
Joseph Barrell
financed the Columbia Expedition in 1787. The vessels that were to sail there were the Columbia Rediviva
and the Lady Washington
.
The command of the larger Columbia was given to Captain Kendrick, then 47 years old, and 32-year-old one-eyed Robert Gray was given Lady Washington. The combined crews of the two ships numbered about 50 men, one of them being 19-year-old Robert Haswell
, the only one in the crew who kept an account of the voyage that survives today and who came to dislike Kendrick. Another crew member was 25-year-old Joseph Ingraham
, a claimed navy veteran of the Revolution, later Captain of the Hope
that sailed in 1790 to compete in the fur trade, and admirer of Kendrick. The oldest man on the voyage was Simeon Woodruff, who had sailed with James Cook
aboard the HMS Resolution
on his famous third voyage around the world.
The Columbia Expedition set sail from Boston on the morning of October 1, 1787, after a brief party with family and friends. The ships reached the Cape Verde Islands on November 9, where Simeon Woodruff, after a fight with Kendrick, left the Columbia and went onto the islands with all his baggage. A Spanish captain passing by the islands offered to take Woodruff to Madeira
and the old man, bitter at Kendrick’s treatment of him, accepted. He eventually returned to America and lived in Connecticut
most of the remainder of his life.
Kendrick continued the journey on December 21 and reached Brett's Harbor on the western side of the Falkland Islands
on February 16, 1788. While at sea, an argument between Kendrick and Haswell, a friend of the dismissed Woodruff, had arisen over the disciplining of a seaman. It was agreed that Haswell would take passage on a European- or American-bound ship at the Falklands, but none being present he agreed to transfer to the Washington, a demotion that he attributed to Kendrick's desire to promote his own son to Haswell's place as second mate of Columbia. Kendrick considered wintering in the Atlantic, but was convinced to leave the islands on February 28, heading around Cape Horn
instead of through the Strait of Magellan
, and into the Pacific Ocean
. On April 1 the two ships were separated by a storm, but the men aboard the Lady Washington reveled at having finally gotten free of Kendrick.
Kendrick had survived the storm and stopped at the Juan Fernández Islands
with two men dead and some others sick with scurvy. The Columbia continued sailing north and eventually settled down at Marvinas Bay. Kenrick decided to stay there for the winter on October 1, 1788, one year to the day since the two Boston vessels left on their maiden voyage. The ships were eventually reunited, but not one man on either ship celebrated.
Gray set out to trade furs in May 1789. On June 24, Kendrick made an odd choice: he gave Gray command of the Columbia and he took command of the Lady Washington. It was as though Kendrick was giving Gray full command. The reason for this exchange remains unknown, but one reason could be that Kenrick thought the Washington was easier to handle because she was smaller. Whatever the reason, Gray returned to Boston via Canton, later taking a second expedition in the Columbia that would enter the Columbia River on the modern Washington-Oregon
border, and result in its naming for the ship. Kendrick remained on the coast.
Kendrick sailed up the coast of Vancouver Island
at the end of June. He traded with the Haida and their chief
, Coyah, on the Queen Charlotte Islands
. One day, some clothes were stolen from the ship. Kendrick had Coyah locked up until the clothes were returned. Coyah was released at the stolen clothes’ return, but he was deeply bitter about the incident. This incident has been cited as the basis for the hatred of the Indians of the "Boston Men" as all American traders were then called. An account of the incident has it that Kendrick had clamped two chiefs to the base of a cannon and threatened to kill them both unless the Indians let him have all of their skins for the price that Kenrick set on the pretext that laundry had been stolen. Two years later, when Kendrick returned, the Haida had not forgotten this treatment and a battle ensued. The natives captured the arms chest of the Washington. Kendrick and his crew had to retreat below decks. He and his officers fought off the attack. Kendrick, seeking revenge, killed a native woman who had encouraged the attack in the water after her arm had been severed by a cutlass and killed many other natives with cannon and small arms fire as they retreated.
Kendrick met with Esteban José Martínez, whom he and Gray had met with earlier that June, in a Spanish
fort on San Miguel Island
. Martínez had asked both captains when they first met why they were there and the captains did not say anything about trading furs, but rather said that they were looking for barrel staves, telling of their loss of fifteen water casks previously. Gray also told Martínez that they were only guests there. Their meeting ended in a friendship.
(now Hawaii) and then he reached Macau
in January, 1790. He eventually left Macau in March, 1791, along with Captain William Douglas
’ ship, the Grace. Kendrick and Douglas reached Japan
on May 6, probably becoming the first official Americans to meet the Japanese. The next day a typhoon came and forced Kendrick’s ship northeast to Kashinoura Harbor. Kendrick soon ran into trouble with the Japanese, who kept some samurai
to make sure things did not get out of hand. Kendrick finally left on May 17. He and Douglas parted ways at a group of islands that they called the Water Islands.
Kendrick landed on the shores of the Haida village, Ce-uda’o Inagai, again on June 13. Kendrick began trading with about 50 Haida aboard his ship, half of whom were women, and another 100 in canoes alongside the Lady Washington. It was when Kenrick had a fight with a crew member that Coyah’s grudge against Kenrick that had smoldered for two years was revealed.
The Haida seized the arms chests and overran the decks of the ship. One of Coyah’s men held a fierce-looking weapon at Kendrick’s face, ready to kill when the order was given. As the men were taken to the hold, they quietly and secretly grabbed any weapons left in unnoticeable places. Kendrick found an iron bar and when Coyah came into sight, he leaped on top of the Haida chief, who non-fatally slashed the captain’s belly with his knife. The chief fled when he saw the other Americans armed as well. Kendrick and his men charged the Haida, shooting at them and grabbing whatever weapons were around. One Haida woman tried to urge the fight on, even though she had lost an arm and had a few other wounds. She was the last one to retreat, jumping into the water and trying to swim away. A crewman shot her as she swam towards the shore. About 40 Haida were killed that day, including Coyah’s wife and two children. Coyah was wounded as well as his two brothers and another chief named Schulkinanse.
Coyah was soon removed from chief to ahliko. The Haida decreased in numbers and they became dirty, their faces painted black and their hair cut short. They would, in later months or years, have some successful ship captures along with human slaughters.
Kendrick left immediately and arrived in Marvinas Bay on July 12. Martínez had been replaced by Francisco de Eliza
, but that didn’t cause any real problems. Kendrick built a small fort called Fort Washington
in Clayoquot Sound
in late August. By this time Gray had returned to the Northwest Coast, and built his own winter quarters on the sound, Fort Defiance
. He continued trading furs, returning to Macau in December. The Chinese
refused to buy his furs that year because of a quarrel with the Russians
. Kenrick eventually found someone who would buy his furs in March 1792. Problems with the weather forced him to remain in Macau until the Spring of 1793. He sailed back and forth between the Sandwich Islands and Clayoquot Sound until October, 1794, after a brief reunion with his son John Kendrick, Jr., who commanded a Spanish ship called the Aranzazú.
(now Honolulu) on December 3. There were also two other British
vessels: the Jackal
under Captain William Brown and the Prince Lee Boo under a Captain Gordon.
This was coincidentally when a Hawaiian
chief named Kaeo
invaded Oahu
, meeting little resistance from Chief Kalanikupule
. Brown sent eight men and a mate to aid Kalanikupule’s forces. Kendrick also probably sent some of his men to help the Hawaiian chief in what was later called the Battle of Kalauao. The muskets of the sailors drove Kaeo’s warriors into some hills that overshadowed Fairhaven. They finally retreated into a little ravine. Kaeo tried to escape, but Brown’s men and Kenrick’s men saw his 'ahu 'ula, his scarlet coat with yellow feathers, and fired at the enemy chief from their boats in the harbor to show his position to Kalanikupule’s men. The Oahu warriors killed Kaeo along with his wives and chiefs. The battle ended with Kalanikupule as the victor.
At 10:00 the next morning, December 12, 1794, Kendrick’s brig fired a thirteen-gun salute, to which the Jackal answered with a salute back. One of the cannons was loaded with real grapeshot
, though, and the shot smashed into the Lady Washington, killing Captain Kenrick at his table on deck along with several other men. Kendrick’s body and the bodies of his dead men were taken ashore and buried on the beach in a hidden grove of palm trees. John Howel, Kendrick’s clerk, read the prayer book for the captain’s funeral. The Hawaiians thought it an act of sorcery and stole Kenrdick’s winding-sheet (shroud that the body is wrapped in) that night. He was 55 years old.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sea captain, both during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and the exploration and maritime fur trading
Maritime Fur Trade
The Maritime Fur Trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain, and other Chinese...
of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
alongside his partner Robert Gray.
Early life
Born about 1740 in what was then part of the Town of Harwich, MassachusettsHarwich, Massachusetts
Harwich is a New England town on Cape Cod, in Barnstable County in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The town is a popular vacation spot, located near the Cape Cod National Seashore. Harwich's beaches are on "the Sound side" of Cape...
(now Orleans, Massachusetts
Orleans, Massachusetts
Orleans is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,890 at the 2010 census....
), according to official town records in Orleans, his last name was originally Kenrick, but later adopted the "d". John Kendrick came from a long family line of seamen. Solomon Kenrick, his father, was a humble seaman and this fact gave young John the ambition of becoming a sea captain. He had a common education, like most people at the time. At age 20, he joined a whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
crew, working on a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
owned by Captain Bangs.
John Kendrick later joined Captain Jabez Snow's company during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
in 1762. Like most Cape Codders of the time, he served for only eight months and did not re-enlist. All that is known about him between 1762 and the 1770s is that he owned a few merchant ships and married Huldah Pease of Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.
American Revolution
John was one of the men who participated in the Boston Tea PartyBoston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
on December 16, 1773. He was an ardent Patriot
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
, going on to serve as Commander of a privateer called the Fanny, the beginning of what became the Continental Navy
Continental Navy
The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War, and was formed in 1775. Through the efforts of the Continental Navy's patron, John Adams and vigorous Congressional support in the face of stiff opposition, the fleet cumulatively became relatively...
during the American Revolution
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. He was commissioned May 26, 1777.
The Fanny had a crew of 100 and 18 guns on her as she captured a few British ships, gaining some money on the side and taking possession of items needed by the Americans defending themselves from the British. Some items also helped build Kendrick's house in Wareham, Massachusetts
Wareham, Massachusetts
Wareham is a town located in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 20,335, with an estimated 2008 population of 21,221....
. HMS Brutus and HMS Little Brutus captured John in November, 1779. He was soon traded in a prisoner exchange
Prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners. These may be prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc...
. Upon release, he commanded a sixteen-gun-armed, hundred-man-crewed brigantine
Brigantine
In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...
named the Count d’Estang in 1780. Then, he commanded another brigantine called the Marianne later that same year.
When the war ended in 1783, Kendrick returned to whaling and coastal shipping until he became commander of the first American ships of discovery.
The Columbia Expedition
Not much is known about what happened to John Kendrick between the RevolutionAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
’s end and his voyage to the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. A syndicate led by Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
Joseph Barrell
Joseph Barrell (merchant)
Joseph Barrell was a merchant in Boston, Massachusetts in the 18th century. During the American Revolution he owned ships commissioned as privateers, such as the Vengeance, ca.1779. In 1792 Barrell was "elected to the board" of Massachusetts branch of the newly established Bank of the United...
financed the Columbia Expedition in 1787. The vessels that were to sail there were the Columbia Rediviva
USS Columbia
Nine United States Navy ships have been named USS Columbia, after the personification of the United States, also after the city of Columbia, South Carolina....
and the Lady Washington
Lady Washington
Lady Washington is a ship name that is shared by at least 4 different small wooden merchant sailing vessels during two different time periods. They should not be confused with USS Lady Washington. The original sailed for about 10 years in the 18th century. A somewhat updated modern replica was...
.
The command of the larger Columbia was given to Captain Kendrick, then 47 years old, and 32-year-old one-eyed Robert Gray was given Lady Washington. The combined crews of the two ships numbered about 50 men, one of them being 19-year-old Robert Haswell
Robert Haswell
Robert Haswell was an early American maritime fur trader to the Pacific Northwest of North America. His journals of these voyages are the main records of Captain Robert Gray's circumnavigation of the globe...
, the only one in the crew who kept an account of the voyage that survives today and who came to dislike Kendrick. Another crew member was 25-year-old Joseph Ingraham
Joseph Ingraham
Joseph Ingraham was an American sailor and Maritime Fur Trader who discovered several islands of the Marquesas Islands while on his way to trade along the West Coast of North America...
, a claimed navy veteran of the Revolution, later Captain of the Hope
Hope (ship)
The Hope was an American brig class merchant ship involved in the Maritime Fur Trade along the northwest coast of North America and discovery in the Pacific Ocean...
that sailed in 1790 to compete in the fur trade, and admirer of Kendrick. The oldest man on the voyage was Simeon Woodruff, who had sailed with James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
aboard the HMS Resolution
HMS Resolution (Cook)
HMS Resolution was a sloop of the Royal Navy, and the ship in which Captain James Cook made his second and third voyages of exploration in the Pacific...
on his famous third voyage around the world.
The Columbia Expedition set sail from Boston on the morning of October 1, 1787, after a brief party with family and friends. The ships reached the Cape Verde Islands on November 9, where Simeon Woodruff, after a fight with Kendrick, left the Columbia and went onto the islands with all his baggage. A Spanish captain passing by the islands offered to take Woodruff to Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
and the old man, bitter at Kendrick’s treatment of him, accepted. He eventually returned to America and lived in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
most of the remainder of his life.
Kendrick continued the journey on December 21 and reached Brett's Harbor on the western side of the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
on February 16, 1788. While at sea, an argument between Kendrick and Haswell, a friend of the dismissed Woodruff, had arisen over the disciplining of a seaman. It was agreed that Haswell would take passage on a European- or American-bound ship at the Falklands, but none being present he agreed to transfer to the Washington, a demotion that he attributed to Kendrick's desire to promote his own son to Haswell's place as second mate of Columbia. Kendrick considered wintering in the Atlantic, but was convinced to leave the islands on February 28, heading around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
instead of through the Strait of Magellan
Strait of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...
, and into the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. On April 1 the two ships were separated by a storm, but the men aboard the Lady Washington reveled at having finally gotten free of Kendrick.
Kendrick had survived the storm and stopped at the Juan Fernández Islands
Juan Fernández Islands
The Juan Fernández Islands are a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about off the coast of Chile, and is composed of three main volcanic islands; Robinson Crusoe Island, Alejandro Selkirk Island and Santa Clara Island, the first...
with two men dead and some others sick with scurvy. The Columbia continued sailing north and eventually settled down at Marvinas Bay. Kenrick decided to stay there for the winter on October 1, 1788, one year to the day since the two Boston vessels left on their maiden voyage. The ships were eventually reunited, but not one man on either ship celebrated.
Gray set out to trade furs in May 1789. On June 24, Kendrick made an odd choice: he gave Gray command of the Columbia and he took command of the Lady Washington. It was as though Kendrick was giving Gray full command. The reason for this exchange remains unknown, but one reason could be that Kenrick thought the Washington was easier to handle because she was smaller. Whatever the reason, Gray returned to Boston via Canton, later taking a second expedition in the Columbia that would enter the Columbia River on the modern Washington-Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
border, and result in its naming for the ship. Kendrick remained on the coast.
Kendrick sailed up the coast of Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
at the end of June. He traded with the Haida and their chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
, Coyah, on the Queen Charlotte Islands
Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
. One day, some clothes were stolen from the ship. Kendrick had Coyah locked up until the clothes were returned. Coyah was released at the stolen clothes’ return, but he was deeply bitter about the incident. This incident has been cited as the basis for the hatred of the Indians of the "Boston Men" as all American traders were then called. An account of the incident has it that Kendrick had clamped two chiefs to the base of a cannon and threatened to kill them both unless the Indians let him have all of their skins for the price that Kenrick set on the pretext that laundry had been stolen. Two years later, when Kendrick returned, the Haida had not forgotten this treatment and a battle ensued. The natives captured the arms chest of the Washington. Kendrick and his crew had to retreat below decks. He and his officers fought off the attack. Kendrick, seeking revenge, killed a native woman who had encouraged the attack in the water after her arm had been severed by a cutlass and killed many other natives with cannon and small arms fire as they retreated.
Kendrick met with Esteban José Martínez, whom he and Gray had met with earlier that June, in a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
fort on San Miguel Island
San Miguel Island
San Miguel Island is the westernmost of California's Channel Islands, located across the Santa Barbara Channel in the Pacific Ocean, within Santa Barbara County, California. San Miguel is the sixth-largest of the eight Channel Islands at , including offshore islands and rocks. Prince Island, off...
. Martínez had asked both captains when they first met why they were there and the captains did not say anything about trading furs, but rather said that they were looking for barrel staves, telling of their loss of fifteen water casks previously. Gray also told Martínez that they were only guests there. Their meeting ended in a friendship.
Trading in East Asia
Kendrick went to the Sandwich IslandsHawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
(now Hawaii) and then he reached Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
in January, 1790. He eventually left Macau in March, 1791, along with Captain William Douglas
William Douglas
-of Douglas:*William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas *William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas *William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas -of Angus:*William Douglas, 2nd Earl of Angus -of Douglas:*William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas (c. 1327–1384)*William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas (1425–1440)*William...
’ ship, the Grace. Kendrick and Douglas reached Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on May 6, probably becoming the first official Americans to meet the Japanese. The next day a typhoon came and forced Kendrick’s ship northeast to Kashinoura Harbor. Kendrick soon ran into trouble with the Japanese, who kept some samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
to make sure things did not get out of hand. Kendrick finally left on May 17. He and Douglas parted ways at a group of islands that they called the Water Islands.
Kendrick landed on the shores of the Haida village, Ce-uda’o Inagai, again on June 13. Kendrick began trading with about 50 Haida aboard his ship, half of whom were women, and another 100 in canoes alongside the Lady Washington. It was when Kenrick had a fight with a crew member that Coyah’s grudge against Kenrick that had smoldered for two years was revealed.
The Haida seized the arms chests and overran the decks of the ship. One of Coyah’s men held a fierce-looking weapon at Kendrick’s face, ready to kill when the order was given. As the men were taken to the hold, they quietly and secretly grabbed any weapons left in unnoticeable places. Kendrick found an iron bar and when Coyah came into sight, he leaped on top of the Haida chief, who non-fatally slashed the captain’s belly with his knife. The chief fled when he saw the other Americans armed as well. Kendrick and his men charged the Haida, shooting at them and grabbing whatever weapons were around. One Haida woman tried to urge the fight on, even though she had lost an arm and had a few other wounds. She was the last one to retreat, jumping into the water and trying to swim away. A crewman shot her as she swam towards the shore. About 40 Haida were killed that day, including Coyah’s wife and two children. Coyah was wounded as well as his two brothers and another chief named Schulkinanse.
Coyah was soon removed from chief to ahliko. The Haida decreased in numbers and they became dirty, their faces painted black and their hair cut short. They would, in later months or years, have some successful ship captures along with human slaughters.
Kendrick left immediately and arrived in Marvinas Bay on July 12. Martínez had been replaced by Francisco de Eliza
Francisco de Eliza
Francisco de Eliza y Reventa was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest...
, but that didn’t cause any real problems. Kendrick built a small fort called Fort Washington
Fort Washington
Fort Washington may refer to:In the United States:* In California:** Fort Washington, California, census-designated place* In Maryland:** Fort Washington, Maryland, census-designated place...
in Clayoquot Sound
Clayoquot Sound
Clayoquot Sound is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is bordered by the Esowista Peninsula to the south, and the Hesquiaht Peninsula to the North. It is a body of water with many inlets and islands. Major inlets include Sydney Inlet,...
in late August. By this time Gray had returned to the Northwest Coast, and built his own winter quarters on the sound, Fort Defiance
Fort Defiance (British Columbia)
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 and maritime fur trader Captain Robert Gray built the establishment on Meares Island in present day British Columbia, Canada.-History:In early...
. He continued trading furs, returning to Macau in December. The Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
refused to buy his furs that year because of a quarrel with the Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
. Kenrick eventually found someone who would buy his furs in March 1792. Problems with the weather forced him to remain in Macau until the Spring of 1793. He sailed back and forth between the Sandwich Islands and Clayoquot Sound until October, 1794, after a brief reunion with his son John Kendrick, Jr., who commanded a Spanish ship called the Aranzazú.
The Sandwich Islands & Death
Kendrick arrived in FairhavenHonolulu Harbor
Honolulu Harbor, also called Kulolia and Ke Awa O Kou, is the principal seaport of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii in the United States. It is from Honolulu Harbor, located on Mamala Bay, that the City & County of Honolulu was developed and urbanized, in an outward fashion, over the course of the...
(now Honolulu) on December 3. There were also two other British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
vessels: the Jackal
Jackal
Although the word jackal has been historically used to refer to many small- to medium-sized species of the wolf genus of mammals, Canis, today it most properly and commonly refers to three species: the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal of...
under Captain William Brown and the Prince Lee Boo under a Captain Gordon.
This was coincidentally when a Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
chief named Kaeo
Kaeo
The township of Kaeo lies some 22 km northwest of Kerikeri in Northland, New Zealand. The town takes its name from the unique shellfish found in the nearby Whangaroa Harbour....
invaded Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, meeting little resistance from Chief Kalanikupule
Kalanikupule
Kalanikūpule was the 27th Mōī of Maui and King of Oahu. He was the last king to physically fight with Kamehameha I over the Hawaiian Islands. Kalanikūpule was the last of the longest line of Alii Aimoku in the Hawaiian Islands.- Early life :...
. Brown sent eight men and a mate to aid Kalanikupule’s forces. Kendrick also probably sent some of his men to help the Hawaiian chief in what was later called the Battle of Kalauao. The muskets of the sailors drove Kaeo’s warriors into some hills that overshadowed Fairhaven. They finally retreated into a little ravine. Kaeo tried to escape, but Brown’s men and Kenrick’s men saw his 'ahu 'ula, his scarlet coat with yellow feathers, and fired at the enemy chief from their boats in the harbor to show his position to Kalanikupule’s men. The Oahu warriors killed Kaeo along with his wives and chiefs. The battle ended with Kalanikupule as the victor.
At 10:00 the next morning, December 12, 1794, Kendrick’s brig fired a thirteen-gun salute, to which the Jackal answered with a salute back. One of the cannons was loaded with real grapeshot
Grapeshot
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of shot that is not a one solid element, but a mass of small metal balls or slugs packed tightly into a canvas bag. It was used both in land and naval warfare. When assembled, the balls resembled a cluster of grapes, hence the name...
, though, and the shot smashed into the Lady Washington, killing Captain Kenrick at his table on deck along with several other men. Kendrick’s body and the bodies of his dead men were taken ashore and buried on the beach in a hidden grove of palm trees. John Howel, Kendrick’s clerk, read the prayer book for the captain’s funeral. The Hawaiians thought it an act of sorcery and stole Kenrdick’s winding-sheet (shroud that the body is wrapped in) that night. He was 55 years old.