Page 30 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

16.

If a vessel had a full cargo, it sailed directly to Canton�

Usually though, the season's trade did not bring enough furs

to fill a vessel's hold. Prohibited from southern ports in

Spanish California by Imperial Spanish law, Americans had to

sail their vessels to the Sandwich Islands to escape the bitter

Northwest winters. A respite at the Islands was a welcome

change for the crews. For a few months they could enjoy

fresh food, friendly natives, warm weather and women.

In the spring the vessels returned to the Coast to

resume trading for furs. Up to three seasons of trade were

required to fill a vessel with pelts. When the vessel had

completed its cargo, it sailed to Canton to trade for teas,

silks and nankins (nankeens). The return voyage from Canton

18
to the United States was via the Cape of Good Hope. If a
fur-trading adventure reached Canton without too many losses

and in a relatively short time, the result was a huge profit

for the merchant-owner. But the average voyage lasted from
three to five years and often incurred at least some misfortune.

The speculative nature of the trade nevertheless did not pro­
hibit its growth.

As Americans trading on the Northwest Coast increased,

they faced another problem besides savage Indians. Two other

nations, England and Russia, already had established themselves

in the fur trade. Unlike the Americans, they did not trade from

18
washington Irving, Astoria or Anecdotes of an Enter­
prise Beyond the Rocky Mountains, ed. by Edgeley W. Todd
(Norman, Oklahoma, 1964), pp. 22-23. Latourette, 11 Early
Relations between the United States and Chiria, 11 p. 35.