John R. Jewitt
Encyclopedia
John Rodgers Jewitt was an armourer
who entered the historical record with his memoirs about the 28 months he spent as a captive of Maquinna
of the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people on the Pacific Northwest Coast
of what is now Canada
. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes Jewitt as a shrewd observer and the Narrative as a "classic of captivity literature
". The memoir, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
, is a major source of information about the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
.
and trained his eldest son for that trade, intending that John go into one of the learned professions. Accordingly, from the age of 12 he attended an academy at Donnington
that provided an "education superior to that which is to be obtained in a common school" (p. 6). He learned Latin
, higher mathematics, navigation and surveying. After two years his father withdrew him from school in order to apprentice him to a surgeon at Reasby, in the neighbourhood of the great traveller and naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. Jewitt pleaded with his father to be allowed to learn metalwork instead, and eventually he was allowed to do so. He quickly learned his trade. About a year later (c. 1798) the family moved to Hull
, then one of the main ports and trading centres of Britain, where the Jewitt business picked up a lot of custom from the ships.
Jewitt read the voyages of explorers such as Captain Cook and became acquainted with sailors; both of these sources of stories made him wish to travel. In 1802 an American captain, John Salter, invited him to sign on as an armourer to a round-the-world trip on his ship the Boston, out of Boston, Massachusetts. They were to sail in a triangle
: first to the Pacific Northwest
coast of North America
to trade furs
with the indigenous people; then to China
for further trading; and finally to the home port in New England
. Jewitt was offered the chance to settle in the United States
at the end of the voyage if he wished. He and the captain persuaded his father, and he signed on for 30 dollars a month. The ship left English waters in convoy on 3 September 1802. Part of his job while on board was to make hatchets, daggers, and knives "for the Indian trade" (p. 15). A month's sail took them to the Island of St. Catherine on the coast of Brazil
(today's city of Florianopolis
), then around Cape Horn
, and straight to Vancouver Island
, avoiding the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii
). The crew, tired of subsisting on salt meat
, caught porpoises, which they called "herring hogs" (p. 19), and sharks, which they considered fishes. The captain shot an albatross with a wingspan of 15 feet (p. 20).
Ten weeks after passing Cape Horn, the Boston reached Woody Point in Nootka Sound
. Salter decided to stop a few miles from any habitation to get wood and water. The next morning, 13 March 1803, several people from Nootka village, including Maquinna
, came aboard to trade. (Jewitt throughout his memoirs refers to Maquinna as a king
, and those subordinate to him as chief
s.) Because of the frequent English and American trading ships, Maquinna had learned enough English to communicate. Generally there was cordiality and friendliness between his people and the visiting ships, although Captain Salter took the precaution of having them searched for weapons before allowing them to come aboard. Salter gave Maquinna a fowling piece (shotgun) as a present, which got broken, leading to harsh words from the captain and suppressed rage on the part of Maquinna, who decided to take revenge for offences committed by previous European ships over the years.
On 22 March 1803, the day before the Boston intended to set sail, many Nootka came aboard to trade and were given dinner. At a signal, the Nootka attacked, and all but two of the white men were killed. Jewitt suffered a serious head injury but his life was saved by Maquinna, who saw how useful it would be to have an armourer to repair weapons. (One other man -- the Boston's sailmaker, John Thompson -- was in hiding until the next day, when Jewitt pretended to be his son and begged Maquinna to spare his "father".) Maquinna asked Jewitt if he would be his slave and Jewitt assented under duress, as the alternative was immediate death (p. 31). This was the beginning of his three years among the Nootka.
and slave is not clear-cut, but Jewitt lost his liberty and had to work for Maquinna. Jewitt uses the word "slave" to describe his position and asserts that Maquinna had about 50 others, consisting of half his household. Thompson (the sailmaker) and Jewitt were taunted, out of Maquinna's hearing, as "white slaves", with explosive results, including a death.
Slaves were the Nootkas' most valuable property (p. 88), and might be killed if they tried to run away. Jewitt says that slaves ate with the family, the same food in different dishes (p. 71), and were generally well treated but had to work hard (p. 88); often the king's household would run short of food, so he would beg elsewhere (p. 59). Maquinna allowed Jewitt to undertake other work when not employed by him, and he used this privilege to make bracelets, fish-hooks, and so on, to trade with the chiefs of the village and other visitors. Other chiefs or kings, including the king Wickaninnish
of the Tla-o-qui-aht (Clayoquot), attempted to buy Jewitt, but Maquinna declined (p. 151). Machee Ulatilla, king of the Klaizzarts, wished to buy him, promising to release him to any European ship that passed, and in the end it was through his help that deliverance came.
Their Christian
beliefs were a source of strength to Jewitt and Thompson. They were permitted to keep the Sabbath, by withdrawing on Sundays to bathe, read and pray. The men even made an effort to cook and eat a special Christmas dinner
and often gave thanks for their continued existence.
The women, including Maquinna's nine wives
, expressed compassion towards Jewitt, but the 500 warriors wanted him to be killed (p. 34). Maquinna repeatedly protected him and refused to allow his death. Jewitt adopted a conciliatory approach and made an effort to learn the language.
) were staples of the diet (the oil was even added to strawberries). Venison and bear meat were eaten fresh, but fish was often fermented; a delicacy was salmon roe
. Jewitt had metal cooking pots from the ship, but was forbidden from preparing his own food -- Maquinna insisted that his captives lived and ate as the Nootka did (p. 51), i.e. boiling and steaming their food (p. 69). The Nootka did not eat salted food or add salt to anything, and Maquinna forbade his captives to make salt (p. 51). Jewitt found a box of chocolate
and a case of port wine
(p. 47) from the ship's stores, which gave him much comfort, as the Nootka did not like these delicacies, although they did appreciate molasses
, rum
, and other spirits. The men became completely intoxicated when they had access to alcohol, but the women drank only water (p. 48), and Jewitt feared for his safety when his captors were drunk.
Pages of the memoir are devoted to descriptions of activities such as music, dance, and song (which was used to keep time in their ocean paddling); hospitality and gift-giving (the famous potlatch
); their customs around sex, cleanliness, illness, healing, and death; system of government and punishments; religious beliefs and ceremonies (including the treatment of the parents of twin
s); and even the manner of sitting and eating. Other tribes, often tributaries, are listed, described, and their warriors numbered; Jewitt's transliteration
does not always match modern renderings of the names. Jewitt mentions the class structure and says that women were excluded from most feasting. Women in general were very modest, but female slaves were used for sex. Jewitt describes their methods of fishing
, trapping bears, and trading (including slave trading). He writes about their weapons, and how they made and managed their huge canoe
s. Jewitt introduced a new sort of harpoon
, enabling more successful whale hunts
, and various other weapons and implements that Maquinna reserved to himself as king.
. With the Nootka Convention
s of the 1790s, an agreement signed in Europe and of which the indigenous people knew nothing, the Spanish left and the Nootka returned to their village. The foundations of the church and the governor's house and the remnants of the kitchen garden were visible during Jewitt's time there.
Jewitt spent the spring and summer at that village, the autumn (beginning of September to end of December) at Tashees
, ideally situated for the salmon, and the midwinter months at Coopte, 15 miles nearer Nootka, for herring and sprat fishing. This annual nomad
ism involved packing up everything, even the planks on the outside of their longhouses, to transport in their canoes.
Jewitt counted the Nootka people (only those in the town of Yoquot) at about 1500 inhabitants, of whom 500 were warriors.
He was allegedly ordered to marry, because the council of chiefs thought that a wife and family would reconcile him to staying with the Nootka for life. He was reportedly given a choice between forced marriage
for himself and capital punishment
for both him and his "father". "Reduced to this sad extremity, with death on the one side, and matrimony on the other, I thought proper to choose what appeared to me the least of the two evils" (p. 154). However, Jewitt's story of forced marriage has also been questioned. Both Captain Barclay and a later British ethnologist in the mid-19th century reported meeting older witnesses who said Jewitt had been involved in a very passionate love affair with the daughter of a neighbouring chief. It has been speculated that Jewitt created the "forced marriage" story in accordance with the mores of the time. Jewitt's account does confirm he married the seventeen-year-old daughter of a neighbouring chief.
Maquinna took him to a neighbouring village and paid a bride price
for Jewitt's selection, who was indeed the young daughter of the chief. Jewitt then set up his own home in Maquinna's longhouse, building beds so as to not sleep on the dirt floor, and insisting on cleanliness for both his wife and Maquinna's twelve-year-old son, who chose to live with them. Jewitt viewed the marriage as a chain binding him to "this savage land" (p. 161).
Maquinna and the chiefs then decided that Jewitt must now be "considered one of them, and conform to their customs", especially the wearing of Nootka clothing (p. 161). Jewitt resented the imposition of this dress code, finding the loose, untailored garments very cold, and attributed to them a subsequent illness of which he almost died. He was not allowed to cut his hair, and had to paint his face and body as a Nootka would.
Jewitt was asked to file the teeth of the king's elder brother. He did so without understanding why, but found out it was to enable the chief to bite off the nose of a new wife who refused to sleep with him. Jewitt unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade him from carrying out this traditional punishment (p. 207).
Lydia arrived in Nootka Sound, Captain Samuel Hill having received one of the 16 letters that Jewitt had written and attempted to get to ships' captains. Maquinna asked Jewitt if it would be safe for him to go aboard, and asked him to write a letter of recommendation to the captain to ensure safe passage
. Jewitt wrote a letter of rather different meaning, asking the captain to hold Maquinna securely, and expressing the hope that he and Thompson would then be free within hours. He said he had no fear in doing so, knowing that the captain would not harm the king, and the people would not harm him while their king was captive. The captain put Maquinna in irons, and allowed him to speak to one of his men, who returned to shore. The common people were furious and threatened to chop Jewitt up into little pieces (p. 186), but the chiefs were calmer and asked his advice. He told them that Maquinna was in no danger as long as he and Thompson were well treated, and advised them to let his "father" go to the ship to ensure this. Jewitt and the chiefs then came up with a prisoner exchange
scheme.
When Jewitt got on board the Lydia he looked very wild, painted red and black, wrapped in a bear skin and with green leaves through his topknot. Nonetheless, the captain welcomed him as a Christian and asked his advice about what to do with Maquinna. When he heard what exactly had happened to the Boston, he was inclined to execute him, but Jewitt persuaded him of the impolicy of this, because it would lead to further attacks on other ships visiting. Jewitt negotiated for the return of what property remained of the Boston: its cannons, anchors, and remnants of its cargo, and especially the ship's papers, which he had secured in a chest all those years ago. Once these were on board the Lydia, Maquinna was released, and the brig immediately weighed anchor and left Nootka Sound.
Jewitt was not able to return home quickly. The Lydia traded to the north along the coast for four months, eventually going to the Columbia River
to obtain timber for spars. They discovered that they had just missed the cross-continental explorers Lewis and Clark by a fortnight. In late November, they returned to Nootka to trade for furs
. Jewitt went on shore to meet Maquinna, and they met as old friends. Maquinna promised to raise Jewitt's son (then five months) as his own.
Over a year after his release from slavery, Jewitt left the coast on 11 August 1806. The Lydia took four months to reach China
, trading at Macau
and Canton
, where he met an old acquaintance from Hull who had also taken to the sea. The Lydia left China in February 1807 and 114 days later was in Boston, USA, to Jewitt's huge relief, where he found a letter from his stepmother congratulating him on his escape.
In 1807, Jewitt published his Journal Kept at Nootka Sound. The interest generated by this journal prompted Richard Alsop
to interview him extensively. This material, combined with his earlier and more terse Journal, culminated in the 1815 publication of A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners, mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives. Very little of the Journal is left out of the Narrative -- e.g. the episode (28 March 1804) of an accidental fatal shooting by a father of his children. The main difference is that in the former Jewitt refers to Maquinna as a chief, and in the latter as a king.
Jewitt spent the later part of his life in New England
, and died in Hartford, Connecticut
on 7 January 1821.
Armorer
An armourer or armorer is a member of a military or police force who maintains and repairs small arms and weapons systems, with some duties resembling those of a civilian gunsmith....
who entered the historical record with his memoirs about the 28 months he spent as a captive of Maquinna
Maquinna
Maquinna was the chief of the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Nootka Sound, during the heyday of the maritime fur trade in the 1780s and 1790s on the Pacific Northwest Coast...
of the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people on the Pacific Northwest Coast
British Columbia Coast
The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....
of what is now Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes Jewitt as a shrewd observer and the Narrative as a "classic of captivity literature
Captivity narrative
Captivity narratives are stories of people captured by "uncivilized" enemies. The narratives often include a theme of redemption by faith in the face of the threats and temptations of an alien way of life. Barbary captivity narratives, stories of Englishmen captured by Barbary pirates, were popular...
". The memoir, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Canada. The DCB, which was initiated in 1959, is a collaboration between the University of Toronto and Université Laval...
, is a major source of information about the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. They are now situated within the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S...
.
Early life and voyage
Jewitt's father was a blacksmithBlacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
and trained his eldest son for that trade, intending that John go into one of the learned professions. Accordingly, from the age of 12 he attended an academy at Donnington
Donnington
Donnington may refer to:*Donnington, Berkshire**Donnington Castle*Donnington, Gloucestershire*Donnington, Herefordshire*Donnington, Oxfordshire**Donnington Bridge*Donnington, Shropshire, in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington...
that provided an "education superior to that which is to be obtained in a common school" (p. 6). He learned Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, higher mathematics, navigation and surveying. After two years his father withdrew him from school in order to apprentice him to a surgeon at Reasby, in the neighbourhood of the great traveller and naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. Jewitt pleaded with his father to be allowed to learn metalwork instead, and eventually he was allowed to do so. He quickly learned his trade. About a year later (c. 1798) the family moved to Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, then one of the main ports and trading centres of Britain, where the Jewitt business picked up a lot of custom from the ships.
Jewitt read the voyages of explorers such as Captain Cook and became acquainted with sailors; both of these sources of stories made him wish to travel. In 1802 an American captain, John Salter, invited him to sign on as an armourer to a round-the-world trip on his ship the Boston, out of Boston, Massachusetts. They were to sail in a triangle
Triangular trade
Triangular trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come...
: first 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...
coast of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to trade furs
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
with the indigenous people; then to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
for further trading; and finally to the home port in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. Jewitt was offered the chance to settle in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the end of the voyage if he wished. He and the captain persuaded his father, and he signed on for 30 dollars a month. The ship left English waters in convoy on 3 September 1802. Part of his job while on board was to make hatchets, daggers, and knives "for the Indian trade" (p. 15). A month's sail took them to the Island of St. Catherine on the coast of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(today's city of Florianopolis
Florianópolis
-Climate:Florianópolis experiences a warm humid subtropical climate, falling just short of a true tropical climate. The seasons of the year are distinct, with a well-defined summer and winter, and characteristic weather for autumn and spring. Frost is infrequent, but occurs occasionally in the winter...
), then 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...
, and straight to 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...
, avoiding the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
). The crew, tired of subsisting on salt meat
Salt-cured meat
Salt-cured meat or salted meat, for example bacon and kippered herring, is meat or fish preserved or cured with salt. Salting, either with dry salt or brine, was the only widely available method of preserving meat until the 19th century...
, caught porpoises, which they called "herring hogs" (p. 19), and sharks, which they considered fishes. The captain shot an albatross with a wingspan of 15 feet (p. 20).
Ten weeks after passing Cape Horn, the Boston reached Woody Point in Nootka Sound
Nootka Sound
Nootka Sound is a complex inlet or sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Historically also known as King George's Sound, as a strait it separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island.-History:The inlet is part of the...
. Salter decided to stop a few miles from any habitation to get wood and water. The next morning, 13 March 1803, several people from Nootka village, including Maquinna
Maquinna
Maquinna was the chief of the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Nootka Sound, during the heyday of the maritime fur trade in the 1780s and 1790s on the Pacific Northwest Coast...
, came aboard to trade. (Jewitt throughout his memoirs refers to Maquinna as a king
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
, and those subordinate to him as 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 ...
s.) Because of the frequent English and American trading ships, Maquinna had learned enough English to communicate. Generally there was cordiality and friendliness between his people and the visiting ships, although Captain Salter took the precaution of having them searched for weapons before allowing them to come aboard. Salter gave Maquinna a fowling piece (shotgun) as a present, which got broken, leading to harsh words from the captain and suppressed rage on the part of Maquinna, who decided to take revenge for offences committed by previous European ships over the years.
On 22 March 1803, the day before the Boston intended to set sail, many Nootka came aboard to trade and were given dinner. At a signal, the Nootka attacked, and all but two of the white men were killed. Jewitt suffered a serious head injury but his life was saved by Maquinna, who saw how useful it would be to have an armourer to repair weapons. (One other man -- the Boston's sailmaker, John Thompson -- was in hiding until the next day, when Jewitt pretended to be his son and begged Maquinna to spare his "father".) Maquinna asked Jewitt if he would be his slave and Jewitt assented under duress, as the alternative was immediate death (p. 31). This was the beginning of his three years among the Nootka.
Enslavement
Jewitt remained a captive of Maquinna until 1805, during which time he became immersed in the Nootka culture and was forced to marry. The distinction between prisoner of warPrisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
and slave is not clear-cut, but Jewitt lost his liberty and had to work for Maquinna. Jewitt uses the word "slave" to describe his position and asserts that Maquinna had about 50 others, consisting of half his household. Thompson (the sailmaker) and Jewitt were taunted, out of Maquinna's hearing, as "white slaves", with explosive results, including a death.
Slaves were the Nootkas' most valuable property (p. 88), and might be killed if they tried to run away. Jewitt says that slaves ate with the family, the same food in different dishes (p. 71), and were generally well treated but had to work hard (p. 88); often the king's household would run short of food, so he would beg elsewhere (p. 59). Maquinna allowed Jewitt to undertake other work when not employed by him, and he used this privilege to make bracelets, fish-hooks, and so on, to trade with the chiefs of the village and other visitors. Other chiefs or kings, including the king Wickaninnish
Wickaninnish
Wickaninnish was a chief of the Tla-o-qui-aht people of Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada during the opening period of European contact with the Pacific Northwest Coast cultures in the 1780s and 1790s...
of the Tla-o-qui-aht (Clayoquot), attempted to buy Jewitt, but Maquinna declined (p. 151). Machee Ulatilla, king of the Klaizzarts, wished to buy him, promising to release him to any European ship that passed, and in the end it was through his help that deliverance came.
Their Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
beliefs were a source of strength to Jewitt and Thompson. They were permitted to keep the Sabbath, by withdrawing on Sundays to bathe, read and pray. The men even made an effort to cook and eat a special Christmas dinner
Christmas dinner
Christmas dinner is the primary meal traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In many ways the meal is similar to a standard Sunday dinner. Christmas feasts have traditionally been luxurious and abundant...
and often gave thanks for their continued existence.
The women, including Maquinna's nine wives
Polygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
, expressed compassion towards Jewitt, but the 500 warriors wanted him to be killed (p. 34). Maquinna repeatedly protected him and refused to allow his death. Jewitt adopted a conciliatory approach and made an effort to learn the language.
Descriptions of the natives' lives
Jewitt describes in some detail the physical appearance, clothing and hats, jewellery, and face and body painting of the Nootka. He explains the household implements (baskets, bags), simple furniture (wooden boxes, tubs, trays) and food, describing it as constantly either feasting or fasting. Herring spawn, dried fish, clams, oysters, sea mammal blubber and "train oil" (whale oilWhale oil
Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
) were staples of the diet (the oil was even added to strawberries). Venison and bear meat were eaten fresh, but fish was often fermented; a delicacy was salmon roe
Roe
Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins...
. Jewitt had metal cooking pots from the ship, but was forbidden from preparing his own food -- Maquinna insisted that his captives lived and ate as the Nootka did (p. 51), i.e. boiling and steaming their food (p. 69). The Nootka did not eat salted food or add salt to anything, and Maquinna forbade his captives to make salt (p. 51). Jewitt found a box of chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
and a case of port wine
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
(p. 47) from the ship's stores, which gave him much comfort, as the Nootka did not like these delicacies, although they did appreciate molasses
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
, rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
, and other spirits. The men became completely intoxicated when they had access to alcohol, but the women drank only water (p. 48), and Jewitt feared for his safety when his captors were drunk.
Pages of the memoir are devoted to descriptions of activities such as music, dance, and song (which was used to keep time in their ocean paddling); hospitality and gift-giving (the famous potlatch
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
); their customs around sex, cleanliness, illness, healing, and death; system of government and punishments; religious beliefs and ceremonies (including the treatment of the parents of twin
Twin
A twin is one of two offspring produced in the same pregnancy. Twins can either be monozygotic , meaning that they develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, or dizygotic because they develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm.In contrast, a fetus...
s); and even the manner of sitting and eating. Other tribes, often tributaries, are listed, described, and their warriors numbered; Jewitt's transliteration
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
does not always match modern renderings of the names. Jewitt mentions the class structure and says that women were excluded from most feasting. Women in general were very modest, but female slaves were used for sex. Jewitt describes their methods of fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, trapping bears, and trading (including slave trading). He writes about their weapons, and how they made and managed their huge canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s. Jewitt introduced a new sort of harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
, enabling more successful whale hunts
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...
, and various other weapons and implements that Maquinna reserved to himself as king.
Geography and historical background
Jewitt gives a thorough description of the village of Nootka in Friendly Cove, the appearance and construction of the longhouses, and the geography of the surrounding terrain (starting p. 59). The Spanish had occupied the area a generation before, forced the people to migrate a few miles away, and built a garrison called Fort San MiguelFort San Miguel
For Angola fort, see Fortaleza de São MiguelFort San Miguel was a Spanish fortification at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound , Vancouver Island....
. With the Nootka Convention
Nootka Convention
The Nootka Conventions were a series of three agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Great Britain, signed in the 1790s which averted a war between the two empires over overlapping claims to portions of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America.The claims of Spain dated back...
s of the 1790s, an agreement signed in Europe and of which the indigenous people knew nothing, the Spanish left and the Nootka returned to their village. The foundations of the church and the governor's house and the remnants of the kitchen garden were visible during Jewitt's time there.
Jewitt spent the spring and summer at that village, the autumn (beginning of September to end of December) at Tashees
Tahsis, British Columbia
Tahsis is a village on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, about 300 km northwest of the provincial capital Victoria at . It has 300 residents and used to be dependent on forestry, although now the economy is moving towards outdoor recreation and tourism.The village is...
, ideally situated for the salmon, and the midwinter months at Coopte, 15 miles nearer Nootka, for herring and sprat fishing. This annual nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ism involved packing up everything, even the planks on the outside of their longhouses, to transport in their canoes.
Jewitt counted the Nootka people (only those in the town of Yoquot) at about 1500 inhabitants, of whom 500 were warriors.
Compulsion
Jewitt wrote in the Narrative that he was ordered to participate in a night-time raid on a village identified as A-y-chart. He said he took four captives, which Maquinna allowed him to keep as his own "as a favour", while Thompson killed seven (p. 150). All of the inhabitants were either killed or enslaved. However, some doubt Jewitt and Thompson really participated in any such attack. While the story appears in the Narrative, there is no mention of any such occurrence in the original diary and no mention of the four slaves. Contemporary maritime historical accounts support the possibility that Jewitt was recounting the story of a Wickaninnish attack that he heard about; this may be because he wished to dramatize his story for his readers.He was allegedly ordered to marry, because the council of chiefs thought that a wife and family would reconcile him to staying with the Nootka for life. He was reportedly given a choice between forced marriage
Forced marriage
Forced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will...
for himself and capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for both him and his "father". "Reduced to this sad extremity, with death on the one side, and matrimony on the other, I thought proper to choose what appeared to me the least of the two evils" (p. 154). However, Jewitt's story of forced marriage has also been questioned. Both Captain Barclay and a later British ethnologist in the mid-19th century reported meeting older witnesses who said Jewitt had been involved in a very passionate love affair with the daughter of a neighbouring chief. It has been speculated that Jewitt created the "forced marriage" story in accordance with the mores of the time. Jewitt's account does confirm he married the seventeen-year-old daughter of a neighbouring chief.
Maquinna took him to a neighbouring village and paid a bride price
Bride price
Bride price, also known as bride wealth, is an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom...
for Jewitt's selection, who was indeed the young daughter of the chief. Jewitt then set up his own home in Maquinna's longhouse, building beds so as to not sleep on the dirt floor, and insisting on cleanliness for both his wife and Maquinna's twelve-year-old son, who chose to live with them. Jewitt viewed the marriage as a chain binding him to "this savage land" (p. 161).
Maquinna and the chiefs then decided that Jewitt must now be "considered one of them, and conform to their customs", especially the wearing of Nootka clothing (p. 161). Jewitt resented the imposition of this dress code, finding the loose, untailored garments very cold, and attributed to them a subsequent illness of which he almost died. He was not allowed to cut his hair, and had to paint his face and body as a Nootka would.
Jewitt was asked to file the teeth of the king's elder brother. He did so without understanding why, but found out it was to enable the chief to bite off the nose of a new wife who refused to sleep with him. Jewitt unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade him from carrying out this traditional punishment (p. 207).
Rescue and later life
On 19 July 1805, the brigBrig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Lydia arrived in Nootka Sound, Captain Samuel Hill having received one of the 16 letters that Jewitt had written and attempted to get to ships' captains. Maquinna asked Jewitt if it would be safe for him to go aboard, and asked him to write a letter of recommendation to the captain to ensure safe passage
Safe Passage
Safe Passage could refer to several topics:*Safe Passage - a non-profit organization based in Yarmouth, Maine supporting families in Guatemala City*Safe Passage - a 1994 film starring Susan Sarandon...
. Jewitt wrote a letter of rather different meaning, asking the captain to hold Maquinna securely, and expressing the hope that he and Thompson would then be free within hours. He said he had no fear in doing so, knowing that the captain would not harm the king, and the people would not harm him while their king was captive. The captain put Maquinna in irons, and allowed him to speak to one of his men, who returned to shore. The common people were furious and threatened to chop Jewitt up into little pieces (p. 186), but the chiefs were calmer and asked his advice. He told them that Maquinna was in no danger as long as he and Thompson were well treated, and advised them to let his "father" go to the ship to ensure this. Jewitt and the chiefs then came up with 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...
scheme.
When Jewitt got on board the Lydia he looked very wild, painted red and black, wrapped in a bear skin and with green leaves through his topknot. Nonetheless, the captain welcomed him as a Christian and asked his advice about what to do with Maquinna. When he heard what exactly had happened to the Boston, he was inclined to execute him, but Jewitt persuaded him of the impolicy of this, because it would lead to further attacks on other ships visiting. Jewitt negotiated for the return of what property remained of the Boston: its cannons, anchors, and remnants of its cargo, and especially the ship's papers, which he had secured in a chest all those years ago. Once these were on board the Lydia, Maquinna was released, and the brig immediately weighed anchor and left Nootka Sound.
Jewitt was not able to return home quickly. The Lydia traded to the north along the coast for four months, eventually going to the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
to obtain timber for spars. They discovered that they had just missed the cross-continental explorers Lewis and Clark by a fortnight. In late November, they returned to Nootka to trade for furs
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
. Jewitt went on shore to meet Maquinna, and they met as old friends. Maquinna promised to raise Jewitt's son (then five months) as his own.
Over a year after his release from slavery, Jewitt left the coast on 11 August 1806. The Lydia took four months to reach China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, trading at 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...
and Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, where he met an old acquaintance from Hull who had also taken to the sea. The Lydia left China in February 1807 and 114 days later was in Boston, USA, to Jewitt's huge relief, where he found a letter from his stepmother congratulating him on his escape.
In 1807, Jewitt published his Journal Kept at Nootka Sound. The interest generated by this journal prompted Richard Alsop
Richard Alsop
Richard Alsop was an American merchant and author.Richard Alsop was born January 23, 1761. His father was also named Richard Alsop...
to interview him extensively. This material, combined with his earlier and more terse Journal, culminated in the 1815 publication of A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners, mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives. Very little of the Journal is left out of the Narrative -- e.g. the episode (28 March 1804) of an accidental fatal shooting by a father of his children. The main difference is that in the former Jewitt refers to Maquinna as a chief, and in the latter as a king.
Jewitt spent the later part of his life in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, and died in Hartford, 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...
on 7 January 1821.
Further reading
- Alsop, Richard. (2007) The Captive of Nootka or the Adventures of John R. Jewett (1841) [sic], Kessinger Publishing ISBN 978-0548748237
- An abbreviated version of Jewitt's account was published in Captured By The Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870, edited by Frederick Drimmer, Dover Press ISBN 0486249018