![]() The larger vessel, the Felice, was commanded by Meares and was to proceed directly to Nootka, arriving as early as possible and remaining the entire season at Nootka and in the neighborhood. During the summer of 1788 it is this vessel and the operations of its commander that furnish the center of interest. The second vessel, the Iphigenia, commanded by Captain Douglas, subject to Meares’s orders, was to spend most of the trading season on the coast of Alaska in Cooks River and Prince William Sound. When trade should slacken she was to move southward, endeavoring to reach Nootka Sound by September 1, where the two vessels were to meet.[14] During the first season the voyage of the Iphigenia is unimportant, but on its return to Nootka from the Sandwich Islands in 1789 it furnishes for a time the chief interest .
It is well to notice at the outset the double instructions and the double national character of the expedition, though the importance of the fact will become more evident later. As far as the instructions to Meares are concerned, or his repetition of them to Douglas, the ships were purely English in character, Daniel Beale, of Canton, China, being the ostensible agent. But later, when one of them came into conflict with the Spaniards, it was just as purely Portuguese to all external appearances. It was flying Portuguese colors and was commanded by a Portuguese captain, with instructions in his own language, given by a merchant[289] of the same nationality living at Macao, China.[15] In these papers the real commanders appeared .
In Meares’s narrative of the voyage no mention is made of the deception, but later, in his memorial to the British Government, he said that it was “to evade the excessive high port charges demanded by the Chinese from all other European nations excepting the Portuguese.”[16] Dixon, in one of his pamphlets, says that the principal motive in using the Portuguese colors was to evade the South Sea Company’s license.[17] Bancroft mentions both of these motives and suggests that the trick is not permissible unless directed against a hostile nation in time of war.[18] It seems to have been expected that it would enable them to avoid some anticipated danger or difficulty. However, as will be seen, this very double nationality was the first thing to arouse suspicion and get the Iphigenia into trouble nuskin hong kong.
The vessels sailed from China in the latter part of 1788. Besides the regular crew, each carried a number of European artisans and Chinese smiths and carpenters. The latter, Meares says, were shipped on this occasion as an experiment because of their reputed hardiness, industry, and ingenuity, and also because of their simple manner of life and the low wages demanded. He observes that “during the whole of the voyage there was every reason to be satisfied with their services,” and adds: “If hereafter trading posts should be established on the American coast, a colony of these men would be a very important acquisition.” Of the 90 men on the two ships 50 were Chinese.
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