King George's men: British ships and sailors in the Pacific Northwest-China trade, 1785--1821

This dissertation analyzes the British Pacific Northwest---Canton fur trade from its inception in 1785 until its end in 1821. It considers the fur market on the Northwest Coast and in China and places the trade in both Pacific Rim and global contexts. It describes how various British fur trading voyages were organized and executed.; Noted Canadian historian Frederic W. Howay proposed that the British trade failed because of the mercantile restrictions imposed by the East India and South Seas companies and the effects of the French Wars. He asserted that the Americans, being more energetic businessmen and not so encumbered, were more successful. The dissertation considers the thirty-nine British voyages for which we possess sufficient data to determine the reasons for success or failure of each. In doing so, it tests Howay's hypotheses.; The analysis shows that the East India and South Seas companies had little negative impact on the trade. In fact, many of the voyages were financed by East India Company officers and supercargoes. Resident supercargoes in China who could more advantageously sell their cargoes thereby giving British traders an advantage over their American counterparts. Twenty-eight percent of the British voyages studied were successful. For the unsuccessful voyages, the principal causes were, in descending order of importance: failure to gather enough furs, economic conditions in China, loss of vessel at sea, capture by foreign nations, poor planning, attack in Hawaii, wrong ship type and damage.; The dissertation concludes that the British trade ended because there were better opportunities for the erstwhile fur trade investors elsewhere. In the Atlantic, freight rates doubled during the period of the French Wars and remained high thereafter, attracting London or Bristol-based investors away from the Northwest Coast. In the East, the opium trade offered more opportunity at less risk to Macao or Calcutta-based investors. A number of fur trade investors were opium traders as well. Rather than failing, the risky British fur trade saw a migration of capital to more lucrative and safer endeavors.