John R. Jewitt - Rescue and Later Life

Rescue and Later Life

On 19 July 1805, the brig Lydia arrived in Nootka Sound, Captain Samuel Hill having received one of the 16 letters that Jewitt had written and attempted to get to ships' captains. Maquinna asked Jewitt if it would be safe for him to go aboard, and asked him to write a letter of recommendation to the captain to ensure safe passage. Jewitt wrote a letter of rather different meaning, asking the captain to hold Maquinna securely, and expressing the hope that he and Thompson would then be free within hours. He said he had no fear in doing so, knowing that the captain would not harm the king, and the people would not harm him while their king was captive. The captain put Maquinna in irons, and allowed him to speak to one of his men, who returned to shore. The common people were furious and threatened to chop Jewitt up into little pieces (p. 186), but the chiefs were calmer and asked his advice. He told them that Maquinna was in no danger as long as he and Thompson were well treated, and advised them to let his "father" go to the ship to ensure this. Jewitt and the chiefs then came up with a prisoner exchange scheme.

When Jewitt got on board the Lydia he looked very wild, painted red and black, wrapped in a bear skin and with green leaves through his topknot. Nonetheless, the captain welcomed him as a Christian and asked his advice about what to do with Maquinna. When he heard what exactly had happened to the Boston, he was inclined to execute him, but Jewitt persuaded him of the impolicy of this, because it would lead to further attacks on other ships visiting. Jewitt negotiated for the return of what property remained of the Boston: its cannons, anchors, and remnants of its cargo, and especially the ship's papers, which he had secured in a chest all those years ago. Once these were on board the Lydia, Maquinna was released, and the brig immediately weighed anchor and left Nootka Sound.

Jewitt was not able to return home quickly. The Lydia traded to the north along the coast for four months, eventually going to the Columbia River to obtain timber for spars. They discovered that they had just missed the cross-continental explorers Lewis and Clark by a fortnight. In late November, they returned to Nootka to trade for furs. Jewitt went on shore to meet Maquinna, and they met as old friends. Maquinna promised to raise Jewitt's son (then five months) as his own.

Over a year after his release from slavery, Jewitt left the coast on 11 August 1806. The Lydia took four months to reach China, trading at Macau and Canton, where he met an old acquaintance from Hull who had also taken to the sea. The Lydia left China in February 1807 and 114 days later was in Boston, USA, to Jewitt's huge relief, where he found a letter from his stepmother congratulating him on his escape.

In 1807, Jewitt published his Journal Kept at Nootka Sound. The interest generated by this journal prompted Richard Alsop to interview him extensively. This material, combined with his earlier and more terse Journal, culminated in the 1815 publication of A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners, mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives. Very little of the Journal is left out of the Narrative—e.g. the episode (28 March 1804) of an accidental fatal shooting by a father of his children. The main difference is that in the former Jewitt refers to Maquinna as a chief, and in the latter as a king.

Jewitt spent the later part of his life in New England, and died in Hartford, Connecticut on 7 January 1821 at the age of 37.