06/04/2026
The first U.S. citizens to have a role in the Pacific Northwest were John Kendrick and Robert Gray, captains of the Lady Washington and Columbia Rediviva. Kendrick was one of the 'Sons of Liberty' who took part on the Boston Tea Party, and served as a privateer in the American Revolutionary War. The pair were the only trade ships to over-winter in Nootka (and Clayoquot) during the fur trade there in 1780s and early 1790s, and took to Macau, China, the crew from the 'North West America,' the English ship the Spanish had seized at Nootka, allowing news of the seizure of English ships by the Spanish to reach Europe. That news fueled the 'Nootka Controversy' that eventually pushed England and Spain to the brink of war over Nootka Sound. The two captains had to fight off several raids by local clans during their years trading for furs, but Gray took his revenge by burning down Opitsat, the winter home of Wickaninnish in Clayoquot Sound. The village was described as "a work of ages" in a journal fragment by the fifth mate on that voyage. You can read about Kendrick and Gray as well as the early Spanish and English explorers to Nootka in the late 18th century in the new 'Wolves of Nootka' trilogy, available on Kindle, Amazon, bookstores and from the publisher: https://www.wildcoast.ca/collections/the-wolves-of-nootka