The Nootka Crisis, also known as the Spanish Armament, was an international incident and political dispute between Spain and Great Britain triggered by a series of events revolving around sovereignty claims and rights of navigation and trade. It took place during the summer of 1789 at the Spanish outpost of Santa Cruz de Nuca on Vancouver Island. The commander of the outpost, Esteban José Martínez Fernández y Martínez de la Sierra, seized several British merchantmen intending on engaging in the maritime fur trade and building a permanent outpost at Nootka Sound.
A public outcry in Britain led to the mobilization of the Royal Navy, and the possibility of war. Both sides called upon allies. The Dutch joined the side of the British; the Spanish Navy was mobilized in response along with the navy of Spain's ally France, though the French soon announced they would not go to war. Without French help, Spain had little hope against the British and Dutch, resulting in the Spanish seeking a diplomatic solution and making concessions.
The crisis was thus resolved peacefully but with difficulty through a set of three agreements, known collectively as the Nootka Convention. British and Spanish subjects were allowed to trade up to ten leagues (30 miles; 48 km) from parts of the coast already occupied by Spain in northwestern North America by April 1789 and could form trade-related settlements in unoccupied areas. Spain renounced many of its exclusive trade rights and territorial claims in the area, ending a 200-year monopoly on Asian-Pacific trade. The immediate outcome was a success for British mercantile interests.
Background
Northwestern North America (the Pacific Northwest) was little-explored by European ships before the mid-18th century. But by the end of the century, several nations were vying for control of the region, namely Britain, Spain, Russia, and the United States.
For centuries Spain had claimed the entire Pacific coast of North and South America. This claim was based on a number of events. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI had issued the Inter caetera papal bull, dividing the western hemisphere into Spanish and Portuguese zones, based on the discovery of the Americas in 1492, in theory granting nearly the entire New World to Spain. This was further defined in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. More importantly, in 1513 Spanish explorer Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and became the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean from the Americas, formally laying claim to all the shores washed by the Pacific Ocean. As the years went by new criteria for determining sovereignty evolved in European international law, including "prior discovery" and "effective occupation". Spain made claims of prior discovery for the northwest coast of North America through voyages of Cabrillo in 1542, Ferrer in 1543, and Vizcaino in 1602–03. Before the early 17th century, these voyages had not reached north of the 44th parallel, and Spain had no "effective settlement" north of Mexico. Thus when, in the mid-18th century, the Russians began to explore Alaska and establish fur trading posts, Spain responded by building a new naval base at San Blas, Mexico, and using it for sending a series of exploration and reconnaissance voyages to the far northwest. These voyages, intended to ascertain the Russian threat and to establish "prior discovery" claims, were supplemented by the "effective settlement" of Alta California. Starting in 1774, Spanish expeditions were sent to northern Canada and Alaska to reassert Spain's claims and navigation rights in the area. By 1775 Spanish exploration had reached Bucareli Bay including the mouth of the Columbia River between present-day Oregon and Washington, and Sitka Sound.
James Cook of Britain's Royal Navy explored the Pacific Northwest coast, including Nootka Sound, in 1778. His journals were published in 1784 and aroused great interest in the fur trading potential of the region. Even before 1784 unauthorized accounts had already familiarized British merchants with the possible profits to be made. The first British trader to arrive on the northwest coast after Cook was James Hanna, in 1785. News of the large profit Hanna made selling northwest furs in China inspired many other British ventures.
Cook's visit to Nootka Sound, a network of inlets on the west coast of Vancouver Island, would later be used by the British in their claim to the region, even though Cook made no effort to formally claim possession. Spain countered by citing Juan Pérez, who anchored in Nootka Sound in 1774.
By the late 1780s Nootka Sound was the most important anchorage on the northwestern coast. Russia, Britain, and Spain all made moves to occupy it for good.
John Meares was one of the movers behind the early British fur trading effort in the Pacific Northwest. After an ill-fated voyage to Alaska in 1786–87, Meares returned to the region in 1788. He arrived at Nootka Sound in command of the Felice Adventurero, along with the Iphigenia Nubiana under William Douglas. The ships were registered in Macau, a Portuguese colony in China, and used Portuguese flags in order to evade the British East India Company monopoly on trading in the Pacific. Non-British ships were not required to have licences from the East India Company.
Meares later reported that Maquinna, a chief of the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people, sold him some land on the shore of Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound, in exchange for some pistols and trade goods, and that on this land some kind of building was erected. These claims would become a key point in Britain's position during the Nootka Crisis. Spain strongly disputed both claims, and the facts of the matter have never been fully established. The land and building aside, there is no doubt that Meares's men, and a group of Chinese workers they brought, built the sloop North West America. It was launched in September 1788, the first non-indigenous vessel built in the Pacific Northwest. The North West America would also play a role in the Nootka Crisis, being one of the vessels seized by Spain.
At the end of the summer Meares and the three ships left.
During the winter of 1788–89 Meares was in Guangzhou (Canton), China, where he and others including John Henry Cox and Daniel Beale formed a partnership called the Associated Merchants Trading to the Northwest Coast of America. Plans were made for more ships to sail to the Pacific Northwest in 1789, including Princess Royal, under Thomas Hudson, and Argonaut under James Colnett. The consolidation of the fur trading companies of Meares and the Etches (King George's Sound Company) resulted in James Colnett being given the overall command. Colnett's orders in 1789 were to establish a permanent fur trading post at Nootka Sound based on the foothold accomplished by Meares.
While the British fur traders were getting organized, the Spanish were continuing their effort to secure the Pacific Northwest. At first the Spanish were responding mainly to Russian activity in Alaska. On a 1788 voyage to Alaska, Esteban José Martínez had learned that the Russians were intending to establish a fortified outpost at Nootka Sound. This, in addition to the increasing use of Nootka Sound by British fur traders, resulted in the Spanish decision to assert sovereignty on the northwest coast once and for all. Plans were laid for Nootka Sound to be colonized. Spain hoped to establish and maintain sovereignty on the entire coast as far north as the Russian posts in Prince William Sound.
The Viceroy of New Spain, Manuel Antonio Flórez, instructed Martínez to occupy Nootka Sound, build a settlement and fort, and to make it clear that Spain was setting up a formal establishment.
In early 1789 the Spanish expedition under Martínez arrived at Nootka Sound. The force consisted of the warship La Princesa, commanded by Martínez, and the supply ship San Carlos, under Gonzalo López de Haro. The expedition built British Columbia's first European settlement Santa Cruz de Nuca on Nootka Sound, including houses, a hospital, and Fort San Miguel.
Crisis
Nootka Incident
Martínez arrived at Nootka Sound on May 5, 1789. He found three ships already there. Two were American, Columbia Rediviva and Lady Washington, under John Kendrick and Robert Gray, which had wintered at Nootka Sound. The British ship was Iphigenia. It was seized and its captain, William Douglas, was arrested. After a few days Martínez released Douglas and his ship and ordered him to leave and not return. Douglas heeded the warning.
On June 8, the North West America, under Robert Funter, arrived at Nootka Sound and was seized by Martínez. The sloop was renamed Santa Gertrudis la Magna and used for exploring the region. José María Narváez was given command and sailed far into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Martínez later claimed that Funter had abandoned the vessel. Martínez had given supplies to Iphigenia and claimed his seizure of the North West America was for the purpose of holding the vessel as a security for the money owed by Meares's company for the supplies.
On June 24, in front of the British and Americans present at Nootka Sound, Martínez performed a formal act of sovereignty, taking possession of the entire northwest coast for Spain.
On July 2, the British ships Princess Royal and Argonaut arrived. The Princess Royal was first, and Martínez ordered its captain, Thomas Hudson to abandon the area and return to China, based on Spain's territorial and navigation rights. Later in the day the Argonaut arrived and Martínez seized the ship and arrested Colnett, his crew, and the Chinese workers Colnett had brought. In addition to the Chinese workers, the Argonaut carried a considerable amount of equipment. Colnett said that he was intending to build a settlement at Nootka Sound, which was considered a violation of Spanish sovereignty. After a hot-tempered argument Martínez arrested Colnett.
Later, Martínez used the Chinese workforce to build Fort San Miguel and otherwise improve the Spanish post. The Argonaut also carried materials for the construction of a new ship. After Narváez returned in the Santa Gertrudis la Magna (the seized and renamed North West America), the materials from the Argonaut were used to improve the vessel. By the end of 1789 the Santa Gertrudis la Magna was in San Blas, where it was dismantled. The pieces were taken back to Nootka Sound in 1790 by Francisco de Eliza and used to build a schooner, christened Santa Saturnina. This vessel, the third incarnation of the North West America, was used by Narváez during his 1791 exploration of the Strait of Georgia.
On July 12, Hudson returned to Nootka Sound with the Princess Royal. He did not intend to enter, but was becalmed. This was seen as a provocation and he was seized by the Spanish.
The Nuu-chah-nulth tribes of the region spoke as many as thirteen distinct dialects. On July 13, one of the Nuu-chah-nulth leaders, Callicum, the brother of Maquinna, went to meet with Martínez, who was on board the newly captured Princess Royal. Callicum's attitude and angry calls alarmed the Spanish and somehow Callicum ended up shot dead. Sources differ over exactly how this happened. Some say that Martínez fired a warning shot and a nearby Spanish sailor, thinking Martínez meant to kill and missed, fired as well and killed Callicum. Another source says that Martínez aimed to hit Callicum but his musket misfired and another sailor fired his musket and killed Callicum. Sources also differ over what Callicum was angry about, whether it was the seizing of ships, or something else. In any case the event caused a rift between the Spanish and the Nuu-chah-nulth. Maquinna, in fear of his life, fled to Clayoquot Sound and moved with his people from Yuquot to Aoxsha.
On July 14 the Argonaut set sail for San Blas, with a Spanish crew and Colnett and his crew as prisoners. Two weeks later the Princess Royal followed, with the San Carlos as an escort.
The American ships Columbia Rediviva and Lady Washington, also fur trading, were in the area all summer, sometimes anchored in Friendly Cove (Yuquot). Martínez left them alone even though his instructions were to prevent ships of any nation from trading at Nootka Sound. The captured crew of the North West America was sent to the Columbia before the Americans set sail for China.
Despite the ongoing conflict and the warnings, two other American ships arrived at Nootka Sound late in the season. As a result, the first of these ships, the Fair American, under Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe, was captured by the forces of Martínez upon arrival. Its sister ship, the Eleanora, under Humphrey's father, Simon Metcalfe, was nearly captured but escaped.
On July 29, 1789 the Spanish supply ship Aranzazu arrived from San Blas with orders from Viceroy Flores to evacuate Nootka Sound by the end of the year. By the end of October the Spanish had completely abandoned Nootka Sound. They returned to San Blas with the Princess Royal and the Argonaut, with their captains and crews as prisoners, as well as the Fair American. The captured North West America, renamed Santa Gertrudis la Magna, returned to San Blas separately. The Fair American was released in early 1790 without much notice.