![]() ![]() The captain insulted the chief of the local band of Nootka Indians (the politically correct name is now Nuu-chah-nulth), whose name was Maquinna, who had been insulted and robbed by white sailors before. In March 1803 it stopped at Nootka Sound, a harbor on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In 1802, a trading ship left Boston, England, with the intent of buying furs from the natives of the Pacific coast of North America and selling them in China. If you enjoy reading this, then I would also recommend a fiction series based on this true story by Lance and James Morcan: ‘Into the Americas’ Mind you, they killed just about everyone else on the ship, so being a slave for a couple of years was better than being killed. However, when the ship was attacked by a tribe of Indians at Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island, he suddenly found himself a slave. Sailing on a ship was certainly different from being on land, and an adventure was exactly what John was looking for. He was in luck when a position became available onboard The Boston, to assist in the armoury. After hearing about their travels around the world, he knew that’s exactly what he wanted to do. Working down the docks as a blacksmith sure opened John Jewitt’s eyes, especially when he started talking to the sailors. It’s been well written, and it certainly captured my attention. I really enjoyed reading this story, and it really hit home what he went through. What started out as an adventure for him, quickly turned into a nightmare. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to go through what John Jewitt experience for almost 3 years. The book also has 10 original illustrations.Īs the book’s title suggests, Jewitt’s adventures were the inspiration for the bestselling novel Into the Americas by father-and-son writing team Lance & James Morcan. How Jewitt eventually engineered his freedom makes for entertaining reading.Īll this, and more, will become evident as you read The Adventures of John Jewitt (The true story that inspired Into the Americas). Such was his eye for detail, John Jewitt leaves the reader with a clear understanding of the Mowachahts’ customs, language, daily work habits, hygiene, trading, hunting, whaling and fishing techniques, diet and food preparation, potlatches, housing (they lived in lodges left by Spanish visitors), tree-felling and canoe-making, toolmaking and weapons, worship, feuds and settlement of intertribal disputes. (Georgian era attitudes perhaps dissuaded him from revealing more). He even married a local maiden who bore him a son – though he makes little mention of this in his writings other than admitting his wife was very pleasing on the eye. In his self-effacing way, a modest Jewitt explains how his work ethic, his friendly nature and his willingness to accept the native peoples as his equal endeared him to many of his captors. His account is made all the more extraordinary by virtue of the fact that such interaction between whites and the tribes of the Pacific Northwest was virtually unheard of and certainly never before (and seldom since) written about in such detail. Thanks to Jewitt’s fondness for the written word and his diligence in maintaining his diary entries throughout his captivity, we have been left with an intriguing insight into his life, and into the lives of First Nations people. However, he also refers to the kindness and generosity of his captors and their love of family, and we note the examples he gives far outweigh references to their cruelty. There’s no denying the Mowachahts could be cruel at times. History shows that the abuse ranged from unfair trades to the frequent rape of indigenous women and all too often to murder. Unfortunately, his description of the events leading up to the massacre doesn’t tell the full story, which is that the Mowachahts – like most or all the tribes of the Pacific Northwest – had put up with many, many years of abuse by successive Spanish, English and American traders. He and his fellow survivor had to endure more than two years as slaves of the First Nations people of Nootka.Īccording to Jewitt’s diary entries, the Mowachahts’ slaughter of his crewmates was quite premeditated. Jewitt was one of only two survivors when fierce Mowachaht warriors slaughtered twenty-five crew members aboard the brig. When the nineteen-year-old blacksmith boarded the brigantine The Boston in his home port of Hull, England, in 1802, he couldn’t have envisaged what awaited him upon arrival in Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, off the west coast of the country now known as Canada. ![]() ![]() His book is also a tale of two vastly different cultures – indigenous North American and European civilization – colliding head on. John Jewitt’s adventures in the Pacific Northwest must surely rank as one of history’s greatest wilderness survival stories. ![]()
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