Articles of association and co-partnership were therefore entered into and concluded at New York, in the spring of 1810, between those gentlemen and Mr. Astor, establishing the firm of the Pacific Fur Company, as already noticed; to which firm five other partners, namely, Messrs. Hunt, Crooks, Miller, M‘Lellan, and Clarke, were soon afterwards added.[[8]] The association was not a joint-stock concern; Mr. Astor alone furnished the capital, amounting to 200,000 dollars, divided into 100 shares of 2000 dollars each, with power to increase the capital to 500,000 dollars.
The association was formed for a period of twenty {8} years, but with this proviso, that it was to be dissolved if it proved either unprofitable or impracticable, after a trial of five years; during which trial, however, Mr. Astor, as stockholder, was alone to bear all expenses and losses, the other partners giving only their time and labour. Of the above shares, Mr. Astor held fifty in his own hands; Mr. Hunt, as his representative and chief manager of the business, five; while the other partners, who were to carry on the trade with the Indians, were to have four each, in the event of the business succeeding. The remaining shares were reserved for the clerks, who joined the concern as adventurers, without any other remuneration than their chances of success at the end of the five years’ trial. The only exceptions were Mr. Robert Stuart and myself, who were to have our promotion at the end of the third year. From the proportion of interest, or number of shares in the hands of the stockholder and his representative, it will appear evident that the other partners, however unanimous they might be, could never have gained a majority of votes in any case over those which might have been by proxy appointed to represent Astor.
At the head depôt, or general rendezvous, was to be stationed Mr. Astor’s representative. The person appointed to this important trust was Wilson Price Hunt, a gentleman from New Jersey, who alone, of the whole party, had never been engaged in the Indian trade; yet his active habits, perseverance, and enterprise, soon made good his want of experience, {9} and enabled him to discharge the duties of his station. In him was also vested the chief authority, or, in his absence, in M‘Dougall. It was therefore to either or to both of these gentlemen that all Mr. Astor’s measures were made known, and all his cargoes consigned.
At the time when these novel schemes were first agitated, I was in Upper Canada; and the first intimation I had of them was in a letter from Mr. M‘Kay, the senior partner, requesting an interview with me at Montreal. To Montreal I accordingly went in the month of May; and there, for the first time, I saw the gilded prospectus of the new Company, and, accepting the proposals made to me by Mr. Astor, was the first to join the expedition;—and who at the time would not have joined it, for, although the North-Westerns tried to throw all the cold water of the St. Lawrence on the project, yet they could not extinguish the flame it had spread abroad. The flattering hopes and golden prospects held out to adventurers, so influenced the public mind, that the wonder-stricken believers flocked in from all quarters to share in the wonderful riches of the far west.
It need not be wondered at, if, under the influence of such extravagant expectations, many applicants appeared; but in accordance with Astor’s plan, that the business should be carried on only by persons of well-tested merit and experience, for on their habits of perseverance and enterprise alone rested all hopes {10} of ultimate success, his assistants were selected with more than ordinary care, every poor fellow that engaged being led to believe that his fortune was already made. Here Messrs. Franchère, Pillet, M‘Gillis, Farnham, and M‘Lennan, besides Mr. Stuart and myself, joined the adventurers;[[9]] besides five tradesmen or mechanics, and twenty-four canoe men, the best that could be found of their classes.
Operations were now deemed requisite for the accomplishment of the Company’s views; therefore, while one party, headed by Mr. Hunt, was ordered to make its way across the Continent by land, another party, headed by Mr. M‘Kay, was to proceed by sea in the Tonquin, a ship of 300 tons, and mounting twelve guns. The Tonquin’s course was round Cape Horn, for the north-west coast. The Columbia River was to be the common destination of both parties. The land party at its outset consisted of only seventeen persons, but Mr. Hunt’s object was to augment that number to about eighty as he passed along, by means of American trappers and hunters from the south. Here M‘Kenzie strongly recommended Mr. Hunt to take all his men from Canada, as too much time might probably be lost in collecting them from the south; and besides, Canadians, as he thought, would answer much better; but Mr. Hunt adhered to his first plan.
The arrangement of these two expeditions, in which M‘Kay, whose life had been spent in voyaging through the Indian countries, and who was nowise {11} qualified as a merchant, had resigned the inland voyage to a gentleman, bred to mercantile pursuits, but unacquainted with this new mode of travelling, exhibited such an egregious inversion of the ordinary rules of prudence, as gave rise to much comment.
Matters being so far settled, Mr. Hunt, who was now seconded by Mr. M‘Kenzie, left La Chine, nine miles south of Montreal, with the land expedition, in the beginning of July; and, on the 20th of the same month, the ship party, consisting of three partners, five clerks, Mr. Stuart, and myself, five mechanics, and fourteen canoe men, left Montreal for New York, where we were to embark. Of this number, however, M‘Kay and eight of the most expert voyageurs proceeded in a bark canoe through the States: on all such occasions there is a kind of mutual understanding between both parties, that is, between the canoe men and the canoe, the former undertaking to carry the latter over the land part of the journey, while the latter is bound to carry the others safe over water. The appearance of this unusual kind of craft on the American waters, with the cheerful chantings of its crew, their feathered caps and sylvan appearance, as they approached the gay city of New York, attracted such a crowd of spectators of all classes around them, as left but little space to land; but what was the astonishment, when, in the twinkling of an eye, two of the crew were seen to shoulder their craft, capable of containing {12} two tons weight, and to convey it to a place of safety on terra firma. Mr. Astor, who happened to be present, was so delighted with the vivacity and dexterity of the two men, that he gave them an eagle to drink his health; then turning round, observed to some gentlemen who were standing by, that “six Americans could not do what these two brawny fellows had done,” which observation gave rise to some further remarks, when Mr. M‘Kay, with an air of confidence, challenged the swiftest New York boat for a three mile race, offering to bet ten to one on his canoe men, but, after what had been witnessed, no one appeared disposed to risk his money. It is scarcely necessary in this place to observe, that the Canadian voyageurs are among the most expert and venturesome canoe men in the world.
{13} CHAPTER II[[10]]
The Tonquin sails—Quarrels on board—The captain’s character—Accommodations—A sudden squall—Flying fish—The captain’s harshness—Cape de Verd Islands—Alarm of fire—A suspicious sail—Crossing the line—Springing a leak—Short allowance of water—Immense wave—The Falkland Islands—Rocky passage—Wild fowl—Port Egmont Bay—The party on shore—Mr. Farnham’s gray goose—Old graves renewed—Epitaphs—Party left behind—New dangers—Mr. Robert Stuart’s determined conduct—Feuds on board—Cape Horn doubled—The weather—Pilot fish—Trade winds—Rogues’ mess—Little pilot—Mouna Roa—A man overboard—The mate in irons.