The Voyage of the Columbia

在革命结束时，美国商人可以自由地直接与中国进行贸易. 美国人第一次前往东方的航行遵循传统的欧洲路线，绕过好望角，穿越印度洋, but in September 1787, the ships Columbia-Rediviva and Lady Washington (commonly the Columbia and Washington)从波士顿启航，开辟了一条绕过合恩角到达西北海岸的航线. 他们在那里交易海獭的皮毛，然后经由桑威奇群岛(夏威夷)航行到广州。, the residence of foreign merchants in China. When the Columbia 穿过印度洋，绕过好望角，回到波士顿, it became the first ship to circumnavigate flying the American flag. Six weeks after the Columbia 返回后，它开始了前往中国的第二次航行，还是通过西北海岸. 在第二次航行中，船员们发现并命名了哥伦比亚河. The investors in the expedition "on the Pacific" struck a medal to commemorate it以及作为交换品送到船上的锡制副本.

Robert Haswell

罗伯特·哈斯韦尔出生于1768年，是威廉和雷切尔·伍德沃德·哈斯韦尔的长子. 罗伯特的父亲是一名皇家海军军官，在马萨诸塞州担任海关官员. 我们对罗伯特的早年生活知之甚少，这只是因为他的继妹, Susanna Haswell Rowson, became a famous actress, author, and educator. 哈斯威尔中尉和他的家人在独立战争开始时被拘留，并于1778年被驱逐出境, first to Canada and then on to England. 罗伯特·哈斯韦尔第二次出现是在1787年，当时他18岁，被任命为三副 Columbia on its first voyage. Haswell's log of the voyage continues only until the Columbia departed North American waters for China in July 1789, 但它包含了与印第安人进行毛皮贸易的详细信息, 以及英国船只和西班牙当局在西北海岸的外交僵局. There also was drama aboard the Columbia, 约翰·肯德里克上尉设法疏远了包括哈斯威尔在内的许多下属, who transferred to the Washington, and then back to the Columbia 当肯德里克与较小的那艘船的指挥官罗伯特·格雷交换命令时，他再次感到震惊.

The Columbia returned to Boston in August 1790 (the Washington remained in the Pacific). 尽管第一次航行在商业上是失败的(船上的茶叶在回程的长途航行中受损), the Columbia sailed for China again only six weeks later. Robert Gray remained in command with Robert Haswell as first mate. His log of the second voyage, August 1791-December 1792, covers Columbia's time on the Northwest Coast and its second trans-Pacific passage. On the second voyage, the Columbia 携带的框架用于建造一艘小型船只在西北海岸，命名为 Adventure, which became Haswell's first command. In the Adventure, Haswell explored and traded along the coast, 但他的独立指挥意味着当格雷发现并以他的船命名为“哥伦比亚河”时，他不在.

After the Columbia 完成了它的第二次环球航行，哈斯韦尔连续指挥 Hannah and then the John Jay 在1793年至1798年间航行到东印度群岛的巴达维亚(雅加达). Somehow, during all this time at sea, 年轻的哈斯韦尔上尉设法找时间向雷丁的玛丽·考迪斯求爱并赢得了她的芳心, Massachusetts (and to have his portrait painted). Robert and Mary were married in 1798 and had two daughters. 哈斯韦尔在波士顿商人中很受欢迎，约翰·亚当斯总统也认识他. 在与法国的准战争(1798-1800)期间，他被任命为护卫舰的中尉 Boston, a naval vessel built by public subscription in Boston. Haswell brought a valuable prize, Les Deux Anges (the "Coffee Ship") to Boston early in 1800. He distinguished himself by getting the battered prize, Le Berceau, safely to Boston when the Boston 在“战争”中两次重要的海战之一中俘获了法国轻型护卫舰," although that capture occurred after a peace treaty had been signed.

When newly-elected President Thomas Jefferson reduced the U.S. 1801年，美国海军(也许是因为当时的动乱困扰着美国海军)的指挥 Boston), Haswell went back to merchant service as the captain of the Louisa, a ship bound for the Northwest Coast and China. The Louisa sailed from Boston on 10 August 1801, and disappeared. Robert Haswell was thirty-two.

James Sharples

这幅罗伯特·哈斯韦尔的蜡笔肖像是1963年马里昂·莫尔豪斯·卡明斯送给马萨诸塞州历史学会的礼物. Her husband Edward Estlin Cummings—better known as poet E. E. Cummings—inherited it from his mother, Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings, a descendant of Robert Haswell. The painting has been attributed to James Sharples, an English portrait painter whose first stay in the United States, 1794-1801, 与罗伯特·哈斯韦尔在他的长途航行之间“在海滩上”的短暂时间相吻合, but there is no record of Sharples painting a portrait of Haswell, 也不知道哈斯韦尔住在费城和纽约，沙普勒斯在那里生活和工作. 夏普斯以他为杰出的美国人画的粉彩肖像(通常是侧面)而闻名, especially George and Martha Washington, 这一时期许多未署名的肖像都被认为是他的作品. Complicating the question further, Sharples's wife, Ellen Wallace Sharples, also was an artist and painted portraits during this period. James Sharples returned to the United States in 1809, years after Haswell disappeared at sea, and died in New York City in 1811.