Suggest an Edit Enter your suggested edit(s) to this article in the form field below Cancel Citation MLA 8TH EDITION Gough, Barry M.. "Tonquin". The Canadian Encyclopedia , 16 December 2013, Historica Canada . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tonquin. Accessed 31 May 2024. Copy APA 6TH EDITION Gough, B. (2013). Tonquin. In The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tonquin Copy CHICAGO 17TH EDITION Gough, Barry M.. "Tonquin." The Canadian Encyclopedia . Historica Canada. Article published February 07, 2006; Last Edited December 16, 2013. Copy TURABIAN 8TH EDITION The Canadian Encyclopedia , s.v. "Tonquin," by Barry M. Gough, Accessed May 31, 2024, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tonquin Copy Share Share on Facebook Share on X Share by Email Share on Google Classroom Thank you for your submission Our team will be reviewing your submission and get back to you with any further questions. Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia. Close Article Tonquin Article by Barry M. Gough Published Online February 7, 2006 Last Edited December 16, 2013 The Tonquin was a ship of 269 tons built in New York in 1807 and purchased 23 August 1810 by New York fur merchant and entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. Tonquin The Tonquin was a ship of 269 tons built in New York in 1807 and purchased 23 August 1810 by New York fur merchant and entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. She sailed from New York on 6 September 1810, bound for the mouth of the Columbia River , where Astor's Pacific Fur Company intended to found a post and develop trade in opposition to the North West Company . The Tonquin 's captain, Jonathan Thorn, was a brutal disciplinarian and had little use for Astor's traders. Clerk Gabriel Franchere's journal describes the captain's tyranny and disregard for human life, especially evident when the ship arrived on 22 March 1811 at the Columbia River mouth, where 8 sailors drowned attempting to take soundings. On June 5 the Tonquin sailed on a trading cruise from the new fort, Astoria. About June 15, evidently near Echatchet village, Templar Channel, Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, she was seized by local Nootka Indians and most of those on board were slain. The next day, the ship either blew up or was blown up, perhaps by surviving crew to prevent her from falling into the hands of Indians, who had returned to attack the ship. The tremendous explosion sank the Tonquin , and with her went Thorn and Astor's hopes for dominance in the Northwest Coast trade.