Demise
After leaving the newly created outpost on the Columbia, the ship and crew traveled north to Nootka Sound. Here, off Vancouver Island at a place named Woody Point in Clayoquot Sound, the Tonquin engaged in the fur trade in June 1811. While trading with the local inhabitants, Captain Thorn tossed some otter pelts at a local chief that was on board the ship trading. This insult led to the locals returning to the ship the next day to seek revenge. Under the guise of seeking further trading opportunities, these natives attacked the crew on board. Only five of the crew were able to survive this onslaught and eventually drive the attackers from the ship. The next day four of the five remaining crew abandoned ship in a canoe in an attempt to flee, but three were later killed on shore. The last crew member on board, James Lewis, who was injured, was somehow able to light the gunpowder magazine on fire and blow up the Tonquin, himself, as well as numerous locals that had returned to pillage the ship. The only known survivor was a half Chinook and half British individual named Lamazu (also known as George Ramsay) who served as a pilot on the ship.
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