The voyage of the U.S.S. Ontario, 1817-19, is unique in the annals of the American Navy, for she is the only vessel ever dispatched after a war to repossess American territory taken by the enemy. She was the first federal naval vessel to visit the west coast of the present United States, and the second to round Cape Horn and enter the Pacific—the first being the frigate Essex, Captain David Porter. Her arrival at Valparaiso during the war for Chilean independence considerably complicated the duties of her commander, but helped to make her cruise memorable.
The present northwest coast of the United States and southwest coast of Canada, often designated “the Oregon Country,” was claimed, as a whole or in part, by each of four countries, Spain, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. The last-named country based its claim largely upon the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Robert Gray, of Boston, in 1792, and the explorations of Lewis and Clarke in 1804-05. Gray, who is said to have been the first to carry the American flag around the globe, named the river for his vessel Columbia. In the spring of 1811 the Pacific Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor, of New York, was president, established a trading post and fort on the south bank of the Columbia River some 20 miles from its mouth. The establishment was called Astoria. In June, 1812, the Navy Department was planning to send the frigate John Adams, Lieutenant William M. Crane, to succor and protect this outpost. Astor was to furnish supplies, and his ship Enterprise was to accompany the John Adams. The outbreak of the War of 1812 caused the plan to be abandoned.
Unprotected, the settlement on the Columbia readily fell into the hands of the enemy. On December 12, 1813, the British sloop of war Racoon, 26 guns, Commander William Black, arrived at Astoria, and on the following day Black formally took possession of the settlement and the country in the name of Great Britain, renaming the fortification Fort George. He is said to have remarked that he could batter the whole establishment to the ground in 2 hours with a 4-pounder.
Considerable time elapsed before news of the British capture arrived in Washington, and the war was nearing an end when steps contemplating a recapture by force were taken. In November, 1814, Commodore Stephen Decatur assembled at New York a small fleet, with the frigate President as his flagship, for the purpose of making a cruise against British commerce in the China and Java seas. He was also to keep Astoria in mind, as may be seen from the following extract from the orders of the Navy Department:
There is, however, one object which you may possibly embrace with facility and with vast advantages to our territorial and commercial interests. I mean the recapture of our post and settlement at the mouth of Columbia River on the Northwest Coast of America, now in possession of the enemy. This you might accomplish by taking that route and returning home round Cape Horn. You would probably find at that place a large collection of sea otter skins and other valuable furs. It would be of great importance to the United States to be in possession of that settlement at the period when peace shall take place. Perhaps it may be well to have a confidential conversation with John Jacob Astor, Esq., of New York, on this subject before your departure.
On the night of January 14, 1815, Decatur sailed from New York in his flagship President, but failed to elude the British blockading squadron, to which he surrendered after a gallant fight. No further plans to take Astoria by force were made.
The Treaty of Ghent which brought the war to a close provided for the peaceful restoration of captured property. In July, 1815, the British representative in Washington was informed that the President intended immediately to reoccupy Astoria. A year elapsed before active steps were taken. In the summer of 1816 Captain Charles Morris was ordered to command the U.S.S. Congress, then at Boston fitting for sea, to proceed to the Northwest Coast, and to receive Astoria formally from the British. He was to occupy and arm the fort. Before he was ready to sail his destination was changed to the Gulf of Mexico where his presence was more urgently required.
A year later more elaborate plans were drawn up. It was now decided to send a joint mission to the Columbia River, consisting of John B. Prevost, special agent of the State Department, and Captain James Biddle, of the Navy, commander of the U.S.S. Ontario. Biddle’s duties on reaching the Pacific were specified in his orders from the Navy Department, dated September 30, 1817:
After doubling Cape Horn you will proceed to the port of Valparaiso, and, taking in the necessary provisions and refreshments, make no longer stay than to put the ship in order for prosecuting the cruise northward, and stop at Lima; at each place you will consult with Mr. Prevost as to the period of time proper to continue in port, and then proceed to the Columbia River, with a view to assert, on the part of the United States, the claim to the sovereignty, by some symbolical or appropriate mode adapted to the occasion. In the performance of this duty no force is to be employed, if in the attempt to accomplish the object any unexpected obstructions should occur. This last and important service being executed, you will then proceed on your return to the United States, stopping at Lima to leave Mr. Prevost…
The President of the United States has been pleased to associate you with John B. Prevost, Esquire, in performing the ceremony of taking possession of the territory at the mouth of the Columbia, and in making the formal declaration and record of the fact and circumstances connected therewith.
It is especially recommended to you to show every mark of respect to the existing governments you may visit, with the usual etiquette observed in similar cases by ships of war of a friendly nation, and in order to preserve harmony and to prevent collisions the strictest discipline will be necessary on board your ship while in port, so as to permit no violation of the rights of hospitality.
The Ontario was built in Baltimore in 1813 and named to commemorate the naval operations of that year on Lake Ontario. She was a sloop of war, or corvette, and carried 18 guns on a single deck. Her dimensions were, length 118 feet and beam 31.6 feet—even for that period a small vessel. The commander of the Ontario, Captain James Biddle, was a member of the noted Philadelphia family of Biddles. In 1800 he entered the Navy as a midshipman and during the War of 1812 distinguished himself by the capture of the British sloop of war Penguin.
On October 4, 1817, Biddle sailed from New York, stopped at Rio de Janeiro to deliver dispatches to the American Minister, and on January 24, 1818, arrived in sight of Valparaiso, where he encountered a Spanish blockading squadron. His difficulties are best told in his own words:
I was met by a Spanish Squadron, consisting of two ships and two brigs. The Commander of this squadron hailed and ordered me to send a boat on board, which I acquainted him I should not do; adding that this was the United States ship Ontario, and if he wished any communication he might send his boat on board this ship. He continued several times to order me to send my boat but perceiving I was determined not to do so, he at length sent his own. The boarding officer upon my acquainting him that I was bound into Valparaiso, stated that his Commodore had ordered him to inform me that he was blockading Valparaiso with a Squadron of His Catholic Majesty’s vessels, and that his orders were not to permit even men of war to enter it; that if I was in want of supplies he was instructed by the Vice
King of Peru to offer for that object the port of Lima, or of Talcahuano; and that, if I was in immediate want, he would himself furnish supplies sufficient to carry me to either of these ports. I directed the boarding officer to return and acquaint his Commodore that I had been ordered by my Government to go into Valparaiso, and therefore it was necessary I should go thither. The boarding officer soon came on board again saying that his Commodore had sent him back only to repeat to me that his orders were not to allow any man of war whatever to enter the port of Valparaiso. I now lowered my boat and sent the first lieutenant to inform the Spanish Commodore that my Government had ordered me to touch at Valparaiso on my way to the North West coast of America, and therefore it was necessary I should touch there; that I wished to know whether, as his boarding officer had represented, he undertook to prohibit my entering that port, and that I also wished to know whether he intended to use force to prevent my entrance. The Spanish Commodore disclaimed the intention of using force, but wished me to give his boarding officer a memorandum in writing, saying that I had been notified of the blockade. With this I readily complied, and on the following morning I anchored at Valparaiso.
On entering the port, Biddle found that the American shipmasters had much need for his services. Their rights as neutrals were disregarded by both patriots and royalists, the two parties in the war. Through his active efforts he saved the shipmasters upwards of a million dollars’ worth of property, prevented the imprisonment of officers and crews, and obtained the return of deserting seamen. These duties occupied him until April 12, when he sailed for Lima, seat of the Spanish viceroy and center of royalist power. Here he found that the viceroy was exceedingly desirous of sending a commissioner to Valparaiso to effect a conciliatory arrangement with the Chileans, who had won the war, and to bring about an exchange of prisoners. Biddle acceded to the wishes of the viceroy and conveyed the Spanish commissioner to Valparaiso. While in this port he had a misunderstanding with Prevost, and when the Ontario sailed northward the special agent remained in Chile. Let us return to the Captain’s narrative:
Leaving Valparaiso on the 14th June, I proceeded back to Lima and landed there the Commissioner of the Vice King, four Spanish officers liberated in exchange for the like number of Patriot officers I had carried to Chili, and several Spaniards captured in merchant vessels, who had been released upon the condition of my affording them a passage. I also landed at Lima, Mr. Jeremy Robinson, who appeared to be in the service of the Department of State, and obtained of the Vice King permission for him to remain in Lima until my return from the North West Coast. I remained only part of a day in Lima, and the Vice King expressed to me in the most flattering manner his thanks for the part I had acted in endeavoring to effect an exchange of prisoners, assuring me his sense of obligation to me was not the less strong because the negotiation had failed of success. At Lima was the master of the ship Beaver and the supercargo of the brig Canton; two American vessels which had been seized and condemned in the port of Talcahuano, and whose cases by appeal were still pending here. From each of these gentlemen I received a letter requesting of me to stop at Lima on my return from the North West Coast, and expressing the opinion that my doing so and making known my intention of doing so previous to sailing would have great influence in producing a decision favorable to their claims. This opinion accorded with my own, and therefore in a letter which I had occasion to write to the Vice King respecting the Beaver I mentioned that as it was important to the Government of the United States to be informed as early as possible of the decision respecting the Beaver and Canton, I should touch at Lima on my way from the North West Coast for the purpose of obtaining the information and conveying it home with me.
Biddle next sailed for the Northwest Coast, arriving at the mouth of the Columbia River on August 19, 1818. For his movements here his narrative is the best source:
The entrance of this River is rendered difficult to vessels so large as the Ontario by the shoalness of water on its bar, by its sinuous channel, and by the strength and irregularity of its tides. As it was not indispensable to the service I had to perform that the ship should enter the River,
I anchored outside the Bar and proceeded in with three boats well armed and manned with more than fifty officers and seamen. I landed at a small cove within Cape Disappointment on the north side of the River; and here, in the presence of several of the Natives, displaying the flag of the United States, turning up a sod of soil, and giving three cheers, I nailed up against a tree, a leaden plate, in which were cut the following words: “Taken possession of in the name of, and on behalf of the United States by Captain James Biddle, commanding the United States ship Ontario, Columbia River, August, 1818.” While this was passing on shore, the ship fired a salute. When this ceremony was concluded I proceeded up to Chenoake village and visited its Chief, thence crossed the River and visited the settlement which is twenty miles from Cape Disappointment, and on my way down the River I landed on its south side near point George, and took possession. I anchored with the boats for the night off Chenoake point, and on the following morning I recrossed the Bar and returned on board.
Biddle merely notes that he visited the “settlement,” that is, Astoria. Respecting this visit, one of his lieutenants, John H. Aulick, gives some details:
From Chinnook village we stood across the river for the establishment founded here by Mr. Astor, of New York, and now in the possession of the English N. W. Company. As we approached it I had the mortification to see the British flag run up, and to know that Captain Biddle was not authorized by his instructions to haul it down and place in its stead the American standard. The establishment consists of one large two-story, and four or five small dwelling-houses, two or three stores, and other outhouses, round the whole of which there is a strong and high picket. There is at this time but three guns mounted, although they have five or six more without carriages. Twenty-five whites, and the same number of Sandwich Islanders, constitute the present force of the settlement. The place is commanded by James Keith, a Scotchman. On our way back we landed at Port George and took formal possession of the country on that side of the river, in the name and on the behalf of the United States, nailed up a board, on one side of which was painted the American coat of arms, and on the other an inscription, the same as that on the lead put up at Cape Disappointment.
Let us return again to Biddle’s narrative:
As it was impracticable to bring wood and water in our boats to the ship without the Bar, it became necessary to go into some neighboring port for a supply of these articles. The want also of fresh provisions, which cannot be procured at the Columbia River, and which it was not prudent the crew should longer be without, rendered it advisable to enter a port in the vicinity. I therefore sailed for Monterey, where I arrived on the 25th of August. At this port I met the Russian sloop of war Kutusofi. This ship had sailed from Europe in Sept., 1816, and upon the principle that the object of her voyage was discovery, she was furnished with passports from the European Governments to secure her from every molestation in the event of a war. Yet her Commander was acting, and had been since his arrival in this sea, as Governor of all the Russian American settlements, and the object of his visit to Monterey was to take on board a cargo of wheat for the supply of the settlement at Sitchka, where he himself was to pass the ensuing winter, as he had done the preceding winter and spring. The Commander of the Kutusofi expected to be relieved in the government of the settlements by the Commander of the Kamschatka. This Russian sloop of war I met at Rio de Janeiro in November, 1817, and she also was furnished with passports, granted because she was engaged in a voyage of discovery. From the Commander of the Kutusofi, as also from the Governor of Monterey, I learnt that the Russians had formed a settlement on the coast of California, in the neighborhood of St. Francisco. Francisco is nearly nine degrees of latitude south of Columbia River. I had read in the English newspapers that Russia had taken possession of one of the Sandwich Islands and fortified it. The Commander of the Kutusofi assured me it was not the case, and as I was desirous of ascertaining this point as satisfactorily as I was able, I directed some of my officers to make the enquiry of some of the officers of the Kutusofi, and they also stated that there was no Russian establishment among the Sandwich Islands. I incline to think that the Russians had left some seamen upon one of these Islands with a view of remaining, and that they had been driven away by the Natives. I mention these circumstances respecting the Russians, thinking it might be interesting to our government to know them.
Having completed wooding and watering I sailed from Monterey on the 30th of August, and arrived on the 22nd of October at Lima. Here I found the cases of the Beaver and Canton still undecided, nor had any progress been made towards a decision. I had several conversations with the Vice King respecting these vessels . . . At length the cases of the Beaver and Canton were taken up for trial, and it resulted in the acquittal of both vessels. From my own opportunities of observing, as also from what I could learn from others, I am of opinion that the acquittal of these vessels is to be attributed to the presence of a public vessel of the United States.
The Beaver belonged to John Jacob Astor and was commanded by Richard J. Cleveland, a noted sea captain.
At Valparaiso Biddle and Lord Cochrane, Commander in Chief of the Chilean Navy, had a sharp interchange of notes over the giving of salutes. Fearing an attack when he sailed for home, he cleared his ship for action. Two of the Chilean ships assumed menacing positions, but permitted his departure. On touching at Rio de Janeiro for provisions and water, he learned that 7 American seamen were imprisoned at Pernambuco. He therefore made a call at that port. His memorable voyage ended with his arrival at Annapolis on April 26, 1819.
The conduct of Biddle was criticized by some of the Chileans and also by Prevost, his fellow commissioner. It, however, won the approval of John Quincy Adams, the American Secretary of State, who said that the South Americans were hard to please. Prevost was one of their dupes, if not worse. Biddle on the other hand, while stretching the laws of neutrality, acted in the interest of his countrymen. His services in conveying the Spanish commissioner to Valparaiso were much appreciated by the viceroy, who presented him with a sword; and the King of Spain thanked him for his exalted and gallant conduct.
Author’s Note.—The chief sources of information for this paper are the manuscript materials in the naval and other archives in Washington. The extracts from Biddle’s narrative are from the Log of the Ontario and were made more than 30 years ago. This appears to be no longer accessible. Prevost’s correspondence is now found in the National Archives. The extract from Aulick’s account is taken from an article in the American Historical Record (1874), vol. Ill, p. 292.