&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Tonquin_(1807).png) Tonquin being boarded by Tla-o-qui-aht
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Owner | Edmund Fanning |
| Operator | Edmund Fanning |
| Builder | Adam and Noah Brown |
| Laid down | 1 March 1807[1] |
| Launched | 26 May 1807[1] |
| Acquired | 1807 |
| Fate | Sold to the Pacific Fur Company |
| United States | |
| Owner | John Jacob Astor |
| Operator | Jonathan Thorn |
| Acquired | 23 August 1810 |
| Fate | Blown up 16 June 1811 at Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island |
| Sunk | 1811 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Bark |
| Tons burthen | 269 or 290 bm[2] |
| Length | 96 ft (29 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail, three-masted |
| Armament | 10 guns, fitted for 22[1] |
Tonquin was a 290-ton American merchant ship initially operated by Fanning & Coles and later by the Pacific Fur Company (PFC), a subsidiary of the American Fur Company (AFC). Its first commander was Edmund Fanning, who sailed to the Qing Empire for valuable Chinese trade goods in 1807. The vessel was outfitted for another journey to China and then was sold to German-American entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. Included within his intricate plans to assume control over portions of the lucrative North American fur trade, the ship was intended to establish and supply trading outposts on the Pacific Northwest coast. Valuable animal furs purchased and trapped in the region would then be shipped to China, where consumer demand was high for particular pelts.
Tonquin began its journey to the Columbia River in late 1810, departing New York City and heading south through the Atlantic Ocean. In December, it reached the Falkland Islands, where Captain Jonathan Thorn briefly marooned eight PFC employees.[3][4] After passing Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, Tonquin visited the Kingdom of Hawaii in February 1811, where the ship restocked and hired 24 Native Hawaiian Kanakas after negotiations with Kamehameha I and Kalanimoku. Tonquin finally reached the Columbia River on 22 March 1811. Eight crewmen died before the ship found a safe route over the Columbia Bar.
Work began in May 1811 on the sole trading post founded by Tonquin, Fort Astoria, on the present-day Oregon coast. After construction was completed, the ship departed with a majority of the trade goods and general provisions from the fort, intending to trade them with indigenous tribes on the coast of Vancouver Island. When the crew began bartering with Tla-o-qui-aht natives at Clayoquot Sound in June, a dispute arose due to Captain Thorn's poor treatment of an elder.[5] All but four members of the crew were killed by armed Tla-o-qui-aht led by chief Wickaninnish. The survivors intentionally detonated the ship's powder magazine, and Tonquin was destroyed and sunk. Joseachal, a Quinault interpreter previously hired by Thorn, was the sole crew member to survive the entire incident and return to Fort Astoria. While there, he held several conversations with Duncan McDougall and gave the only detailed account of how Tonquin was destroyed.
- ^ a b c Fanning 1838, p. 84.
- ^ Irving (1836), p. 58
- ^ Franchère 1854, pp. 47–49.
- ^ Ross 1849, pp. 25–26.
- ^ Jones 1997, p. 300.