''Beaver'' was a 427-ton merchant ship owned by

John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...

that was in service from 1806 to the middle of the century.

Qing Empire

''Beaver'' was designed for

by Eckford & Beebe, with working being completed in 1805. The ship sailed to the

Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

in 1806 and was captained by

Isaac Chauncey Isaac Chauncey (February 20, 1772 – January 27, 1840) was an American naval officer in the United States Navy who served in the Quasi-War, The Barbary Wars and the War of 1812. In the latter part of his naval career he was President of th ...

. Upon entering the

Bocca Tigris The Humen, also Bocca Tigris or Bogue, is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta that separates Shiziyang in the north and Lingdingyang in the south near Humen Town in China's Guangdong Province. It is the site of the Pearl River's discharge ...

the ''Beaver'' was detained by HMS ''Phaeton''. One of the sailors was forcibly impressed onto the ''Phaeton'' as he was recognised as a British citizen. After this incident the ''Beaver'' entered the port of

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

and "a full load of

Tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

Nankeen Nankeen (also called Nankeen cloth) is a kind of pale yellowish cloth originally made in Nanking (modern Nanjing), China from a yellow variety of cotton, but subsequently manufactured from ordinary cotton that is then dyed.''Oxford English Dic ...

s &

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

" was purchased. Chauncey, Issac
"To James Madison from Com. Isaac Chauncey, 9 June 1807."
Founders Online, National Archives. Accessed 29 January 2015. Shortly after leaving the Bocc Tigris another

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

ship, HMS ''Lion'', ordered the ship to stop. Tensions arose when Chauncey refused to allow any further impressment of his crew. However that evening the ''Beaver'' was allowed to depart back to New York City. The voyage was a success and brought Astor a sizable profit.

Pacific Northwest

Eventually the ''Beaver'' was planned as an additional supply ship for Astor's developing

Pacific Fur Company The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...

(PFC). Along with the '' Tonquin'', the ''Beaver'' was a critical part of Astor's plans in expanding operations in the

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 ex ...

. The ship sailed from New York City to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

on 10 October 1811 with Cornelius Sowle as its captain. Ross, Alexander
''Adventures of the first settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River.''
London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1849, pp. 233-235. The additional company employees brought included

Ross Cox Ross Cox (1793–1853) was an Irish clerk in the Pacific Fur Company and the North West Company, later writing of his experiences. Life Ross Cox was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1793, the son of Samuel Cox and Margaret Thorpe. He emigrated to Amer ...

and Alfred Seton.

Fort Astoria Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the '' Tonquin'', while another party traveled overland from St. Louis. ...

was reached on 9 May 1812 after crossing the

Columbia Bar The Columbia Bar, also frequently called the Graveyard of the Pacific, is a system of bar (landform), bars and shoals at the mouth of the Columbia River spanning the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It is known as one of th ...

. At Astoria news about the destruction of the ''Tonquin'' by members of the Tla-o-qui-aht nation was confirmed. After unloading necessary supplies to the Fort, directives from Astor dictated that the ''Beaver'' was to then go north to

Russian America Russian America (russian: Русская Америка, Russkaya Amerika) was the name for the Russian Empire's colonial possessions in North America from 1799 to 1867. It consisted mostly of present-day Alaska in the United States, but a ...

to purchase additional furs.Greenhow, Robert
''The History of Oregon and California and the Other Territories on the North-west Coast of North America''.
Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown. 1844, p. 44. The manager of PFC operations,

W. Price Hunt Wilson Price Hunt (March 20, 1783 – April 13, 1842) was an early American pioneer, pioneer and explorer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Employed as an agent in the fur trade under John Jacob Astor, Hunt organized ...

, joined Sowle and the crew during this voyage and acted the negotiator with Russian governor

Alexander Andreyevich Baranov Alexander Andreyevich Baranov (russian: Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Бара́нов; 1747 – 1819), sometimes spelled Aleksandr or Alexandr and Baranof, was a Russian trader and merchant, who worked for some time in Siberia. He ...

. The ''Beaver'' arrived at

New Archangel russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

on 19 August.Pierce, Richard A. ''Russian America: A Biographical Dictionary.'' Kingston, ON: Limestone Press. 1990, p. 479. The cargo was purchased by the Russians amounted to

₽ The ruble sign, , is the currency sign used for the Russian ruble, the official currency of Russia. Its form is a Cyrillic letter Р with an additional horizontal stroke. The design was approved on 11 December 2013 after a public poll that took ...

124,000 in value, with payment in seal skins.Tikhmenev, P. A. ''A History of the Russian-American Company.'' Translated by Richard A. Pierce and Alton S. Donnelly. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1978, p. 118. The purchased furs were located at the

Russian-American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс� ...

station on Saint Paul Island though bad weather prevented them being loaded until November. Additional orders from Astor called for the ''Beaver'' to return to the Columbia River after completing trade with the Russians. Despite this, Sowle and Hunt found the ship in poor repair and sailed for the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

instead. Hunt was left there as the ''Beaver'' went west to the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

. While at

, Sowle learned of the eruption of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

and remained at the port for the remainder of the conflict. The ''Beaver'' then proceeded to New York City and entered the city harbor on 22 March 1816.Howay, F. W
"Captain Cornelius Sowle on the Pacific."
''Washington Historical Quarterly 24'', No. 4 (1933): 243-249.

References

{{authority control Napoleonic-era ships Ships built in New York City 1805 ships Fur trade