A Voyage Round the World
A Voyage Round the World Onboard the Ship Columbia-Rediviva and Sloop Washington, by Robert Haswell, September 1787-June 1789
This title page of Robert Haswell's manuscript log features a sketch of the ship Columbia Rediviva and the sloop Lady Washington. The Columbia's voyage to Canton, China marked the birth of the highly profitable triangular Boston-Northwest Coast-Canton trade. Boston merchants acquired sea otter furs in Canton and then traded those furs in China for tea, silks, and porcelain. Robert Gray, captain of the Columbia on her second voyage, discovered and christened the Columbia River, which became the basis for American claims to Oregon Country. The Columbia was also the first American-flagged ship to circumnavigate the globe. Historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote of the Columbia, "On her first voyage, [she] solved the riddle to the China trade. On her second, empire followed in the wake."
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