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= John_R._Jewitt =
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Introduction
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John Rodgers Jewitt (21 May 1783 - 7 January 1821) was an English
armourer who entered the historical record with his memoirs about the
28 months he spent as an enslaved captive of Maquinna of the
Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people on what is now the British Columbia
Coast. The 'Canadian Encyclopedia' describes Jewitt as a shrewd
observer and his 'Narrative' as a "classic of captivity literature".
The memoir, according to the 'Dictionary of Canadian Biography', is a
major source of information about the indigenous peoples of the
Pacific Northwest Coast.
Early life and voyage
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Jewitt's father was a blacksmith and trained his eldest son for that
trade, intending that his younger son go into one of the learned
professions. Accordingly, from the age of 12, John attended an academy
at Donington in Lincolnshire that provided an "education superior to
that which is to be obtained in a common school" (p. 6). He learned
Latin, higher mathematics, navigation and surveying. After two years,
his father withdrew him from school in order to apprentice him to a
surgeon at Reasby, in the neighbourhood of the great traveller and
naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. Jewitt pleaded with his father to be
allowed to learn metalwork instead, and eventually he was allowed to
do so. He quickly learned his trade. About a year later (c. 1798) the
family moved to Hull, then one of the main ports and trading centres
of Britain, where the Jewitt business picked up a lot of custom from
the ships.
Jewitt read the voyages of explorers such as Captain Cook and became
acquainted with sailors; both of these sources of stories made him
wish to travel. In 1802, an American captain, John Salter, invited him
to sign on as an armourer to a round-the-world trip on his ship
'Boston', out of Boston, Massachusetts. They were to sail in a
triangle: first to the Pacific Northwest coast of North America to
trade furs there; then to China for further trading; and finally to
the home port in New England. Jewitt was offered the chance to settle
in the United States at the end of the voyage if he wished. He and the
captain persuaded his father, and he signed on for thirty dollars
(around $600 in 2020) a month. The ship left British waters in convoy
on 3 September 1802. Part of his job while on board was to make
hatchets, daggers, and knives "for the Indian trade" (p. 15). A
month's sail took them to the Island of St. Catherine on the coast of
Brazil (today's city of Florianópolis), then around Cape Horn, and
straight to Vancouver Island, avoiding the Sandwich Islands (now
Hawaii). The crew, tired of subsisting on salt meat, caught porpoises,
which they called "herring hogs" (p. 19), and sharks, which they
considered fishes. The captain shot an albatross with a wingspan of 15
feet (p. 20).
Ten weeks after passing Cape Horn, 'Boston' reached Woody Point in
Nootka Sound. Salter decided to stop a few miles from any habitation
to get wood and water. The next morning, 13 March 1803, several people
from Nootka village, including Maquinna, came aboard to trade. (Jewitt
throughout his memoirs refers to Maquinna as a king, and those
subordinate to him as chiefs.) Because of the frequent British and
American trading ships, Maquinna had learned enough English to
communicate. Generally, there was cordiality and friendliness between
his people and the visiting ships, although Captain Salter took the
precaution of having them searched for weapons before allowing them to
come aboard. Salter gave Maquinna a fowling piece (shotgun) as a
present, which was somehow broken, leading to harsh words from the
captain and suppressed rage on the part of Maquinna, who decided to
take revenge for offences committed by previous European ships over
the years.
On 22 March 1803, the day before 'Boston' intended to set sail, many
Nootka came aboard to trade and were given dinner. At a signal, the
Nootka attacked, and all but two of the white men were killed. Jewitt
suffered a serious head injury but his life was saved by Maquinna, who
saw how useful it would be to have an armourer to repair weapons. (One
other man--the 'Boston's' sailmaker, John Thompson--was in hiding
until the next day, when Jewitt pretended to be his son and begged
Maquinna to spare his "father".) Maquinna asked Jewitt if he would be
his slave and Jewitt assented under duress, as the alternative was
immediate death (p. 31). This was the beginning of his three years
among the Nootka.
Enslavement
=============
Jewitt remained a captive of Maquinna until 1805, during which time he
became immersed in the Nootka culture and was forced to marry. Through
the years, Jewitt and Macquinna became very close, like brothers. The
distinction between prisoner of war and slave is not clear-cut, but
Jewitt lost his liberty and had to work for Maquinna. Jewitt uses the
word "slave" to describe his position and asserts that Maquinna had
about 50 others, consisting of half his household. Thompson (the
sailmaker) and Jewitt were taunted, out of Maquinna's hearing, as
"white slaves", with explosive results, including a death.
Slaves were the Nootkas' most valuable property (p. 88), and might be
killed if they tried to run away. Jewitt says that slaves ate with the
family, the same food in different dishes (p. 71), and were generally
well-treated but had to work hard (p. 88); often the king's household
would run short of food, so he would beg elsewhere (p. 59). Maquinna
allowed Jewitt to undertake other work when not employed by him, and
he used this privilege to make bracelets, fish-hooks, and so on, to
trade with the chiefs of the village and other visitors. Other chiefs
or kings, including the king Wickaninnish of the Tla-o-qui-aht
(Clayoquot), attempted to buy Jewitt, but Maquinna declined (p. 151).
Machee Ulatilla, king of the Klaizzarts, wished to buy him, promising
to release him to any European ship that passed, and in the end it was
through his help that deliverance came.
Their Christian beliefs were a source of strength to Jewitt and
Thompson. They were permitted to keep the Sabbath, by withdrawing on
Sundays to bathe, read and pray. The men even made an effort to cook
and eat a special Christmas dinner and often gave thanks for their
continued existence.
The women, including Maquinna's nine wives, expressed compassion
towards Jewitt, but the 500 warriors wanted him to be killed (p. 34).
Maquinna repeatedly protected him and refused to allow his death.
Jewitt adopted a conciliatory approach and made an effort to learn the
language.
Descriptions of the natives' lives
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Jewitt describes in some detail the physical appearance, clothing and
hats, jewellery, and face and body painting of the Nootka. He explains
the household implements (baskets, bags), simple furniture (wooden
boxes, tubs, trays) and food, describing it as constantly either
feasting or fasting. Herring spawn, dried fish, clams, oysters, sea
mammal blubber and "train oil" (whale oil) were staples of the diet
(the oil was even added to strawberries). Venison and bear meat were
eaten fresh, but fish was often fermented; a delicacy was salmon roe.
Jewitt had metal cooking pots from the ship, but was forbidden from
preparing his own food--Maquinna insisted that his captives lived and
ate as the Nootka did (p. 51), i.e. boiling and steaming their food
(p. 69). The Nootka did not eat salted food or add salt to anything,
and Maquinna forbade his captives to make salt (p. 51). Jewitt found a
box of chocolate and a case of port wine (p. 47) from the ship's
stores, which gave him much comfort, as the Nootka did not like these
delicacies, although they did appreciate molasses, rum, and other
spirits. The men became completely intoxicated when they had access to
alcohol, but the women drank only water (p. 48), and Jewitt feared for
his safety when his captors were drunk.
Pages of the memoir are devoted to descriptions of activities such as
music, dance, and song (which was used to keep time in their ocean
paddling); hospitality and gift-giving (the famous potlatch); their
customs regarding sex, cleanliness, illness, healing, and death;
system of government and punishments; religious beliefs and ceremonies
(including the treatment of the parents of twins); and even the manner
of sitting and eating. Other tribes, often tributaries, are listed,
described, and their warriors numbered; Jewitt's transliteration does
not always match modern renderings of the names. Jewitt mentions the
class structure and says that women were excluded from most feasting.
Women in general were very modest, but female slaves were used for
sex. Jewitt describes their methods of fishing, trapping bears, and
trading (including slave trading). He writes about their weapons, and
how they made and managed their huge dugout canoes. Jewitt introduced
a new sort of harpoon, enabling more successful whale hunts, and
various other weapons and implements that Maquinna reserved to himself
as king.
Geography and historical background
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Jewitt gives a thorough description of the village of Nootka in
Friendly Cove, the appearance and construction of the longhouses, and
the geography of the surrounding terrain (starting p. 59). The Spanish
had occupied the area a generation before, forced the people to
migrate a few miles away, and built a garrison called Fort San Miguel.
With the Nootka Conventions of the 1790s, an agreement signed in
Europe and of which the indigenous people knew nothing, the Spanish
left and the Nootka returned to their village. The foundations of the
church and the governor's house and the remnants of the kitchen garden
were visible during Jewitt's time there.
Jewitt spent the spring and summer at that village, the autumn
(beginning of September to end of December) at Tashees, ideally
situated for the salmon, and the midwinter months at Coopte, 15 mi
nearer Nootka, for herring and sprat fishing. This annual nomadism
involved packing up everything, even the planks on the outside of
their longhouses, to transport in their canoes.
Jewitt counted the Nootka people (only those in the town of Yuquot) at
about 1500 inhabitants, of whom 500 were warriors.
Compulsion
============
Jewitt wrote in the 'Narrative' that he was ordered to participate in
a night-time raid on a village identified as A-y-chart. He said he
took four captives, which Maquinna allowed him to keep as his own "as
a favour", while Thompson killed seven (p. 150). All of the
inhabitants were either killed or enslaved. However, some doubt Jewitt
and Thompson really participated in any such attack. While the story
appears in the 'Narrative', there is no mention of any such occurrence
in the original diary and no mention of the four slaves. Contemporary
maritime historical accounts support the possibility that Jewitt was
recounting the story of a Wickaninnish attack that he heard about;
this may be because he wished to dramatize his story for his readers.
He was allegedly ordered to marry, because the council of chiefs
thought that a wife and family would reconcile him to staying with the
Nootka for life. He was reportedly given a choice between forced
marriage for himself and capital punishment for both him and his
"father". "Reduced to this sad extremity, with death on the one side,
and matrimony on the other, I thought proper to choose what appeared
to me the least of the two evils" (p. 154). However, Jewitt's story of
forced marriage has also been questioned. Both Captain Barclay and a
later British ethnologist in the mid-19th century reported meeting
older witnesses who said Jewitt had been involved in a very passionate
love affair with the daughter of a neighbouring chief. It has been
speculated that Jewitt created the "forced marriage" story in
accordance with the mores of the time. Jewitt's account does confirm
he married the seventeen-year-old daughter of a neighbouring chief.
Maquinna took him to a neighbouring village and paid a bride price for
Jewitt's selection, who was indeed the young daughter of the chief.
Jewitt then set up his own home in Maquinna's longhouse, building beds
so as to not sleep on the dirt floor, and insisting on cleanliness for
both his wife and Maquinna's twelve-year-old son, who chose to live
with them. Jewitt viewed the marriage as a chain binding him to "this
savage land" (p. 161).
Maquinna and the chiefs then decided that Jewitt must now be
"considered one of them, and conform to their customs", especially the
wearing of Nootka clothing (p. 161). Jewitt resented the imposition of
this dress code, finding the loose, untailored garments very cold, and
attributed to them a subsequent illness of which he almost died. He
was not allowed to cut his hair, and had to paint his face and body as
a Nootka would.
Jewitt was asked to file the teeth of the king's elder brother. He did
so without understanding why, but found out it was to enable the chief
to bite off the nose of a new wife who refused to sleep with him.
Jewitt unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade him from carrying out this
traditional punishment (p. 207).
Rescue and return journey
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On 19 July 1805, the brig 'Lydia' arrived in Nootka Sound, Captain
Samuel Hill having received one of the 16 letters that Jewitt had
written and attempted to get to ships' captains. Maquinna asked Jewitt
if it would be safe for him to go aboard, and asked him to write a
letter of recommendation to the captain to ensure safe passage. Jewitt
wrote a letter of rather different meaning, asking the captain to hold
Maquinna securely, and expressing the hope that he and Thompson would
then be free within hours. He said he had no fear in doing so, knowing
that the captain would not harm the king, and the people would not
harm him while their king was captive. The captain put Maquinna in
irons, and allowed him to speak to one of his men, who returned to
shore. The common people were furious and threatened to chop Jewitt
up into little pieces (p. 186), but the chiefs were calmer and asked
his advice. He told them that Maquinna was in no danger as long as he
and Thompson were well treated, and advised them to let his "father"
go to the ship to ensure this. Jewitt and the chiefs then came up with
a prisoner exchange scheme.
When Jewitt got on board the 'Lydia' he looked very wild, painted red
and black, wrapped in a bear skin and with green leaves through his
topknot. Nonetheless, the captain welcomed him as a Christian and
asked his advice about what to do with Maquinna. When he heard what
exactly had happened to the 'Boston', he was inclined to execute him,
but Jewitt persuaded him of the impolicy of this, because it would
lead to further attacks on other ships visiting. Jewitt negotiated for
the return of what property remained of the 'Boston': its cannons,
anchors, and remnants of its cargo, and especially the ship's papers,
which he had secured in a chest all those years ago. Once these were
on board the 'Lydia', Maquinna was released, and the brig immediately
weighed anchor and left Nootka Sound.
Jewitt was not able to return home quickly. The 'Lydia' traded along
the Pacific coast for four months, eventually going to the Columbia
River to obtain timber for spars. They discovered that they had just
missed the cross-continental explorers Lewis and Clark by a fortnight.
In late November, they returned to Nootka to trade for furs. Jewitt
went on shore to meet Maquinna, and they met as old friends. Maquinna
promised to raise Jewitt's son (then five months) as his own.
Over a year after his release from slavery, Jewitt left the coast on
11 August 1806. The 'Lydia' took four months to reach China, trading
at Macau and Canton, where he met an old acquaintance from Hull who
had also taken to the sea. The 'Lydia' left China in February 1807 and
114 days later was in Boston, USA, to Jewitt's huge relief, where he
found a letter from his stepmother congratulating him on his escape.
Later life
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In 1807, Jewitt published his 'Journal Kept at Nootka Sound'. The
interest generated by this journal prompted Richard Alsop to interview
him extensively. This material, combined with his earlier and more
terse 'Journal', culminated in the 1815 publication of 'A Narrative of
the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the
crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years
among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners,
mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives'. Very little of
the 'Journal' is left out of the 'Narrative'--e.g. the episode (28
March 1804) of an accidental fatal shooting by a father of his
children. The main difference is that in the former Jewitt refers to
Maquinna as a chief, and in the latter as a king.
Jewitt spent the later part of his life in New England, and died in
Hartford, Connecticut on 7 January 1821 at the age of 37.
Bibliography
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*'The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt : Captive of
Maquinna' by Hilary Stewart (1987)
Further reading
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* Alsop, Richard. (2007) 'The Captive of Nootka or the Adventures of
John R. Jewett (1841)' [sic], Kessinger Publishing
* An abbreviated version of Jewitt's account was published in
'Captured by the Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870', edited by
Frederick Drimmer, Dover Press
* For some commentary about Jewitt, see 'The adventures of John Jewitt
: only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston during a captivity of
nearly three years among the Indians of Nootka Sound in Vancouver
Island (1896)' reprint with notes and a 30-page introduction by the
journalist, explorer and botanist Robert Brown at
[
https://archive.org/stream/adventuresofjohn00jewiuoft Internet
Archive].
External links
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*[
https://web.archive.org/web/20090409132245/http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&ArticleId=A0004133
Entry for Jewitt in the 'Canadian Encyclopedia']
*[
http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2935
Biography at the 'Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online']
*
*
*
* [
http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/mtq?id=328920feff&doc=90038
Digitized version of 'A journal kept at Nootka Sound']
* [
http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/mtq?id=328920feff&doc=29581
Digitized version of the 'Narrative']
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Jewitt
