CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY

Gray, Robert (1755-1806), U.S. navigator, born near Tiverton,R.I.;Navy officer during Revolution; master of Columbia, first ship to carry U.S.flag around world; sent by Boston merchants to trade for furs with Native Americans on Pacific coast.. Discovered Columbia River..

He is cousin of Ted L Durgan through his wife.The Atkins,the Howlands and the Winslows are all my Cousins

Gray, Robert (1755-1806), American explorer and sea captain, born in Tiverton, Rhode Island. During the American Revolution he served in the navy. In 1787 he sailed from Boston to the Pacific Northwest as commander of the Lady Washington, one of two ships on a fur-trading expedition subsidized by Boston merchants.. After a load of furs was procured from coastal Native Americans, Gray was made head of the expedition and placed in command of the Columbia.

He sailed to China and then westward, arriving in Boston on August 10, 1790, the first American to have circumnavigated the globe. A second voyage to the Pacific Northwest led to his discovery, in 1792, of the mouth of the Columbia River, which he named after his ship.

He completed the trip around the world a second time, arriving in Boston in July 1793. The explorations and discoveries of Gray in the Pacific Northwest gave the United States a basis for claim to the Oregon country.

 Robert GRAY (Capt.)10 May 1755 - 1806

TITLE: Capt.

BIRTH: 10 May 1755, Tiverton RI ..

DEATH: 1806 BURIAL: at sea ..Father: William GRAY ..Mother: Elizabeth

Family 1 : Martha Howland ATKINS:- MARRIAGE: 13 Feb 1794 Martha Howland Atkins

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The house where Robert Gray lived as a boy in Tiverton RI is still standing and wears a plaque donated by the Robert Gray Junior High School of Tacoma, Washington. He served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War, with a commission issued by George Washington to privateer.

He later worked for a Massachusetts trading company. In 1787 a trading company from Massachusetts sent out two ships to trade in sea otter pelts along the Northwest Coast with a cargo of buttons, beads, blue cloth, and other items.

The Columbia was captained by John Kendrick,

The Lady Washington by Robert Gray. In storms by Cape Horn the ships got separated. After a voyage of about 10 months, Gray's ship documented this moment:

On the memorable August 2, 1788, during an forenoon watch, the lookout aloft loudly and excitedly reported "land dead ahead". Soon afterwards, when descried from the deck, joyous shouts went up. Awakened by the heartening cries, the watch below joined in the general thanksgiving. The happy occasion described with some emotion by Second Mate Haswell:

"On the second at 10 a.m. to our inexpressible joy we saw the coast of New Albion ranging from NNE to SSE about 7 Leagues we tried for soundings in a hundred fathems without finding bottom, we sett a pressing rail With the Land." Although the exact location of this historic landfall . . . the first made by a American vessel on the Pacific coast of the New World is not known. It doubtless was a short distance south of today's California-Oregon boundary

A few days later (August 12, 1788) the first landing by North Americans on the Pacific coast of the New World occurred, and it is worthy of remembrance as a noteworthy incident in the United States history. The location of this initial landing, though not definitely known, was probably between Cascade Head and Cape Lookout today's Oregon coast.

At last, on the 16th of August, 1788, the sloop reached its destined haven in Nootka Sound. Two English vessels from Macao, under Portuguese colors, were lying there. The commanders, Captains Meares and Douglas, came out in a boat and offered their assistance to the little stranger. The acquaintance proved to be friendly, although there were evidences, later on, of a disguised jealousy between them.

Three days later the English launched a small schooner, named Northwest America -- the first vessel ever built on the [Pacific Northwest] Coast. It was a gala day, fittingly celebrated by salutes and festivities in which the Americans cordially joined.

The Washington was now hauled up on the ways for graving, and preparations began to be made for collecting furs.

Then, there was the reunion: One day, just a week after their arrival, they saw a sail in the distance, which by their glasses, they soon recognized as the long lost Columbia. Capt. Gray immediately took the long boat and went out to meet her, and shortly before sunset she anchored within 40 yards of the sloop.

It was decided to winter in Friendly Cove, Nootka Sound, and a house was built large enough for the entire crew. They shot an abundance of game, prepared charcoal for their smiths and worked their iron into chisels, which were in good demand among the natives. A large fleet of canoes came in great parade and offered their sea otter skins for one chisel each. Our men readily bought the lot - 200 in number - worth from $6000 to $8000. This was the best bargain they ever made, as they could seldom get a good skin for less than 6 or 10 chisels. An average price was one skin for a blanket, four for a pistol and six for a musket.

Capt. Kendrick concluded to put the ship's property on board the sloop Washington and take her on a cruise in her himself while Gray should take the Columbia to the Sandwich Islands [Hawaii] and get provisions for the voyage to China and there dispose of the skins.

And so the two vessels parted company. After a pleasant trip to resupply, Gray landed in China.

After having traded extensively that spring, Gray was made head of the expedition and placed in command of the Columbia. Sailing on to the Orient, they sold pelts and bought tea and possibly silk and spices. It was an unfavorable season for trade and their thousand sea otter skins had to be sold at a sacrifice. The ship was repaired at great expense and made ready for a cargo of teas. To complete the voyage, he sailed west, arriving in Boston on August 10, 1790, and became the first American to have circumnavigated the globe during his 35 month voyage.

Gray's most notable achievement came on his second voyage to the Oregon coast in 1792. Although he did not make much profit, being unexperienced in the Chinese trade, the Boston merchants for whom he worked were happy with the markets he had opened. Only one month later he left for a new voyage to Oregon. Because he had instructions of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson not to enter any Spanish port, and Nootka at the time was being disputed between the English and Spanish, he did not trade in Nootka itself, but at various points along the coast of present-day British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.

In the winter, spent at Vancouver Island, he built a new ship, the Adventure, and in the next spring (1792), he himself went south, while the Adventure went north. It was on this voyage that he found a river, already seen by Hezeta in 1775, but having been sought for in vain since. Not being able to enter it, he sailed north, where he met Vancouver, to whom he denied claims that he had circumnavigated Vancouver Island, and entered Grays Harbour, in the present state of Washington. However, he was still intrigued by the river he had found, went back. He noted a flow of muddy water fanning from the shore and decided to explore his belief that it was the "Great River of the West." In desperate need to find a harbor for fresh water and fresh greens to treat the crew of scurvy,

Captain Gray entered the mouth of the Columbia River, "where the water churned and rolled upon itself so far and high that the ship rolled so much I thought we roll over and sink" ..Gray crossed the treacherous sand bar and named the river after his ship, the "Columbia Rediviva" (83 feet long, 212 ton burden, 15 ft draft).

After nine days Captain Gray was fascinated by the river he had found then set sail 25 miles up the river. On May 20th, 1792 Gray logged his discovery and named the river.

At the end of the trading season he left Oregon for China, and returned in Boston the next year (1793). He once again circumnavigated the globe. He spent the remainder of his career commanding merchant vessels along the Atlantic Coast.

Gray took a wife, Martha Howland Atkins, A cousin of Ted L Durgan, on February 13, 1794 and had four daughters, and possibly a son. The death of Captain Gray remains unknown. They think he might have died of yellow fever during an 1806 voyage and was buried at sea.

Gray's discovery of the Columbia River gave the United States a strong claim to the Oregon Country. This discovery prompted Thomas Jefferson in 1804 to send the exploring team of Lewis and Clark overland to gain more knowledge of the region and to find out if there was a northwest passage. They found that the passage did not exist, but laid claim to the territory. Their expedition, along with Captain Gray's trip, gave the United States a strong stake in the land. It encouraged other American fur traders, who used the Columbia River as a winter haven. By the end of the century these traders controlled the sea otter trade and the presence of the United States was firmly established in the Pacific Northwest, a presence on which the United States would later base its claim to possession.

.The Columbia River first appeared on European maps in the early 17th century as "River of the West," when a Spanish maritime explorer Martin de Auguilar located a major river near the 42nd parallel. Cartographers often labeled the "River of the West" as an estuary to the mythical Straits of Anian, or the Northwest Passage and located it anywhere from the 42nd to the 50th parallel. In 1765, British Major Robert Rogers called the river "Ouragon" -- later spelled "Oregon" by Jonathan Carver in 1778 -- as a derivative name referring to the "ouisconsink" river in present-day Wisconsin. The first confirmation of its location came in 1775 when Bruno de Hezeta described a river estuary at the Columbia's correct latitude. In May 1792,

American trader Captain Robert Gray sailed across the bar in the first documented Euroamerican visit to the river. British explorer George Vancouver sent Lt. William Broughton up the river more than 100 miles in October 1792, and Broughton produced the first detailed map of the lower river. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explored the river in 1805-1806 for the United States. Northwest Company fur trader David Thompson made the first map of the full river in 1811-1812. After the War of 1812, England and the United States jointly occupied the Columbia River Basin territory.