Name Resolution Laid down 1792 Captured 1794, Columbia River Construction started 1792 | Owner Josiah Roberts Out of service 1794 Tons burthen 90 (bm) Launched 8 February 1793 | |
Resolution was a small American schooner, built on the bank of the Columbia River in 1793 and the fourth European vessel to enter that waterway. After several brief voyages she was captured and destroyed by Haida chief Cumshewa and his followers in 1794.
Construction
The wooden frame for Resolution's hull was prefabricated in Boston in 1790 and transported to the Pacific Ocean aboard the fur trading vessel Jefferson in a voyage commencing in November 1791. After a year at sea, Jefferson anchored in Resolution Bay on Santa Christina Island in the Marquesas shortly before Christmas in 1792. Her captain Josiah Roberts ordered the frame to be unloaded and built into a small schooner that he named Resolution in honour of the Bay in which it was assembled.
The newly built Resolution was launched on February 8, 1793. Sea trials showed that she sailed well and fast, and would be capable of making the voyage from the Marquesas to the North American mainland. Roberts selected 12 men from Jefferson to be her crew and appointed one, a Mr Burling, as captain. Her first mate was Solomon Kendrick, who had previously visited the Pacific Northwest as part of his father John Kendrick's 1788 expedition to Nootka Sound.