commanded by Captain Metcalf. In this vessel he had sailed in 1789,
on one of those casual expeditions to the northwest coast, in quest of
furs. In the course of the voyage, the captain left a small schooner,
named the Fair American, at Nootka, with a crew of five men, commanded
by his son, a youth of eighteen. She was to follow on in the track of
the Eleanor.

In February, 1790, Captain Metcalf touched at the island of Mowee, one
of the Sandwich group. While anchored here, a boat which was astern
of the Eleanor was stolen, and a seaman who was in it was killed. The
natives, generally, disclaimed the outrage, and brought the shattered
remains of the boat and the dead body of the seaman to the ship.
Supposing that they had thus appeased the anger of the captain, they
thronged, as usual, in great numbers about the vessel, to trade. Captain
Metcalf, however, determined on a bloody revenge. The Eleanor mounted
ten guns. All these he ordered to be loaded with musket-balls, nails,
and pieces of old iron, and then fired them, and the small arms of the
ship, among the natives. The havoc was dreadful; more than a hundred,
according to Young's account, were slain.

After this signal act of vengeance, Captain Metcalf sailed from Mowee,
and made for the island of Owyhee, where he was well received by
Tamaahmaah. The fortunes of this warlike chief were at that time on the
rise. He had originally been of inferior rank, ruling over only one or
two districts of Owyhee, but had gradually made himself sovereign of his
native island.

The Eleanor remained some few days at anchor here, and an apparently
friendly intercourse was kept up with the inhabitants. On the 17th
March, John Young obtained permission to pass the night on shore. On the