Seizure at Puget Sound

A Sailing ship in a bottle, from early 1900’s

Well, I have a new problem to figure out: that is, exactly what did happen in the seizure of two HBC ships in Puget Sound in December 1851. 

This is not by any means the first seizure of HBC ships in Puget Sound by the American Customs agents. The first was in April 1850, and it was the direct result of the Colony of Vancouver’s Island Governor, Richard Blanshard, who interfered in the HBC’s business. While he was at Fort Nisqually in March, 1850, Blanshard told US Army Captain Bennett Hill, Commander at Fort Steilacoom, that he [Blanshard] would not return two US Army deserters who had escaped to Fort Victoria on the HBC ship Cadboro. Shortly after that conversation, Dr. W.H. Tolmie, of Fort Nisqually, informed Governor Simpson that “I have hitherto been on excellent terms with the Officers of the U.S. Troops stationed at Steilacoom…although a disagreeable circumstance has lately occurred in the escape by the Cadboro to Victoria of two privates, one of them a Scotchman.”

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So, on April 12, 1850, the Cadboro sailed for Fort Nisqually, arriving on the following day. Tolmie was informed the next day that the ship was at risk of being seized, according to rumours at Fort Vancouver and environs. Tolmie rode toward Fort Steilacoom to learn the truth of these rumors, and he met Lieutenant Dement and his soldiers on their way to arrest the Cadboro. The soldiers seized the Cadboro and turned her over to the Customs Officers. (Lieutenant Dement was later disciplined for that action.)  

Tolmie immediately informed James Douglas at Fort Victoria. Douglas was not free to take action on the seizure in Puget Sound until a month later, on May 23, 1850, when he traveled to Fort Nisqually to deal with the matter. Fortunately, a dinner and discussion with the Collector of Customs for Oregon Territory, General John Adair (who lived at or near Astoria), fixed the problem, and the Cadboro was released and returned home to Fort Victoria. But it took two long months to sort this problem out and to get the ship released: far too long!

So the HBC did not want this to happen again. Nevertheless, it did. On December 20, 1851 (a year and a half later), John Ballenden, who was then in charge of Fort Vancouver, wrote to the London Committee: “Dr. Tolmie has just arrived from Nisqually and I regret to say, confirms the reports for some time circulating of the seizure of the Mary Dare and Steamer.”

So, this is what happened: The two ships arrived at Fort Nisqually on the evening of November 27, carrying as passengers John Work and his wife, and Rose Birnie, who had just disembarked from the London ship Norman Morrison at Fort Victoria, and was on the way to her brother’s home at Cathlamet. (Her brother was James Birnie, my g.g.grandfather.) 

Having discharged her passengers, the two ships continued their journey to Olympia as soon as the Beaver was wooded. (That means, the Fort Nisqually men chopped and loaded enough wood to keep the steamer going for a few days). On her arrival there, they were seized by the US Customs agents on what the HBC men considered “vexatious charges.” Tolmie must have heard of the seizures and reached Olympia on the night of November 28, I thought. As you see below, he was aboard the Beaver when it was seized at Olympia. 

On December 15, Dr. Tolmie “started for Vancouver, whence he goes to consult the law concerning the late seizures.” He spoke to John Ballenden on December 20, and on the 22nd both men (I think) consulted the Company’s lawyer in Portland, a Mr. Simon B. Marye. “I hope to have them [the ships] let free in bond in the course of fourteen days,” Ballenden wrote. “I intend afterwards to bring, by petition, the whole affair before the Territory of the Treasury at Washington.” That letter to the London Committee was written on Christmas Day, 1851. No holidays this year for the gentlemen in command at Forts Vancouver and Nisqually.

The one major difference between what happened in 1850, and what occurred in December 1851, is that Oregon Territory had been divided into two territories: Washington and Oregon, and these new customs agents represented Washington Territory. They had what must have been their new headquarters for Puget Sound at Olympia, in Budd Inlet, at the bottom of the sound itself. 

As far as sources go: the Fort Nisqually Journals are good, but don’t tell us everything. The Fort Victoria journals ended in mid-1850, but the Fort Victoria Letters can still tell us part of the story. The letters that both John Ballenden (who was replacing Peter Skene Ogden at Fort Vancouver), and James Douglas (now Governor of the Colony of Vancouver’s Island), wrote to the HBC’s London Committee will be helpful. In addition to this, in attempting to identify the HBC lawyer, “Mr. Marye,” I ran across a lovely article titled “The Courts and Early Bar of Washington Territory,” by Arthur S. Beardsley and Donald A. McDonald, which also talks about this seizure. So in spite of some important records having disappeared, there is lots to draw on. I just have to make sense of it.

Part of researching is finding the important parts of the story, and resisting spending time on the unimportant. Still, sometimes the supposedly “unimportant” becomes the “important,” and sometimes the reverse is also true. So, from the above mentioned article, published in 1942: 

The January (1852) term, however, was marked by important litigation known as the Mary Dare Case. The facts of this controversy are briefly as follows:  

A few days after Simpson P. Moses and Elwood Evans had arrived in Olympia (November 10, 1851) as the first collector and assistant collector of customs respectively, the steamer “Beaver” with the brigantine “Mary Dare” appeared in Budd Inlet and dropped anchor about two miles off shore, which was probably as near as Captain Charles E. Stuart felt that he dared to come. Both boats belonged to the Hudson’s Bay Company and before going to Olympia had been anchored off Fort Nisqually for fifteen hours. During this time small boats continuously had made trips between the vessels and the shore, and six passengers and their baggage had been landed without permit.

The “Beaver” had reported her arrival as being in ballast, although, except for a little coal, she carried none; but she did have a quantity of goods for trading with the Indians valued at about $500.00. The “Mary Dare” had unloaded all of her supplies for Fort Nisqually except one 250-pound sack of sugar, which Elwood Evans upon behalf of the Government, seized. Both boats were then placed under bond to await decision of the court on libel actions for violation of the revenue laws. That night the master of the “Beaver” abandoned his ship and fled the jurisdiction of the court, finally arriving in Victoria; and thereafter, he was ever careful not to return to the United States.

As you can guess from the above, much of the “shaving away” was done almost immediately. The authors also said that “The “Beaver” was a small boat which could cruise along the shores of Puget Sound and trade at any point.” She was actually a steamboat, more than 100 feet long. “She could easily evade the laws when outside the view of the settlements, and doubtless had been doing so regularly.” The Beaver didn’t trade along the shores of Puget Sound: she traded for furs at places like Lynn Canal, Taku Inlet, McLoughlin Bay, Beaver Harbour, Stikine River, Cape Mudge, and many other places well outside the jurisdiction of the Customs Agents of Washington Territory. But looking at the date of this article’s publication (1942), I can see why the authors did not understand what the Beaver‘s work involved: they had no access to the Hudson’s Bay Company records.  

So, from the Fort Nisqually journals, this is what happened when: 

 November 1, 1851: “There is only one Canadian here. All Saints Day was not observed as a holiday — an unprecendent departure from custom.” [This is nothing to do with the seizure of the ships: I am just happy to have found it here! Tolmie wrote it, as Huggins was sick.] 

November 27, 1851: “In the evening arrived and anchored at landing the Mary Dare, Capt. [Mowat] & Beaver, steamer, Captain Stuart. The Mary Dare brings a good supply of goods for the Post. Passengers: Mr., Mrs., Miss & Master Work & Miss Burnie [Birnie] who is on her way to her brother’s, Mr. [James] Burney [Birnie] at Cowlitz.” [Cathamet, actually]. 

November 28: “About eleven this forenoon the Steamer and Brig left for Olympia to settle the customs business. Dr. Tolmie & Mr. Work have gone in Steamboat.” That’s what I wanted to know!

December 2: “At the request of the Ladies, dispatched a canoe off to Olympia to enquire as to the detention of the vessels.” They were at Fort Nisqually, but their luggage was still aboard the Mary Dare, and they only enough clothing for a day or two.

December 3: “Received a letter from Dr. Tolmie this morning stating that both the Company vessels had been seized up at Olympia by the Americans. The Mary Dare was seized because the cask sugar on board did not among in lbs. weight which would have been required to have in a single package. The steamer Beaver has been seized as she was entered in ballast & had no ballast on board.” Cask Sugar could have been “Crash Sugar.”

December 5: “Late last night Dr. Tolmie & Mr. Work arrived from Olympia, both vessels at present in the hands of the Americans, but steamer it is expected will be allowed to take her departure, there being no positive reasons for her detention. Dr. Tolmie accompanied by Miss Burney & Mrs. Work this evening set off for Olympia. The Ladies being required there, before they can obtain possession of their luggage.”

December 6: “Dispatched a canoe off to Olympia to bring back Mrs. Work & Miss Burney. The canoe they went up in yesterday having been hired by Dr. Tolmie at Newmarket (or Olympia).”

December 7: “Mr. Anderson of Fort Colvile arrived with the express from the other side of the mountains also some few packs of furs. Evening, Dr. Tolmie returned from Olympia. The Customs Officer, Mr. Moses, has seized the Beaver steamer on the grounds before mentioned. Capt. Stuart arrived with Dr. Tolmie.” The writers of the article above said that Capt. Charles E. Stuart “abandoned his ship and fled the jurisdiction of the court, finally arriving in Victoria; and thereafter, he was ever careful not to return to the United States.” He did not. 

December 9: “Dr. Tolmie & Captain Stuart busy all day writing dispatches to Victoria giving an account of the late proceedings at Olympia, regarding Mary Dare & Beaver. Late in the evening dispatched canoe off to Victoria with a packet in charge of Cootie.” It would take two days or so for this packet to arrive at Fort Victoria, and as you see below, it reached Fort Victoria on or before December 15.

December 10: “Early this morning Dr. Tolmie accompanied by Mr. Anderson & Captain Stuart left by canoe for the vessels at Olympia.” So Captain Stuart, after running away from his ship, returned to Olympia? 

December 12: “Late evening Dr. Tolmie & Mr. Anderson returned from Olympia.” 

December 13: “Mr. Sinclair, 1st Mate of the Mary Dare arrived with a boat load of goods, part of the consignment for this place.”

December 15: “This morning Dr. Tolmie started for Vancouver, whence he goes to consult the Law concerning the late seizures.” (Anderson left Fort Nisqually the next day, taking Rose Birnie to Cathlamet to join her brother.)

This, from the Fort Victoria Letters:

On December 16, 1851, James Douglas at Fort Victoria wrote to the Right Honorable Earl Grey, Secretary of State for Great Britain, that: “We have very lately received intelligence that the Hudson’s Bay Company’s steam vessel Beaver and one of their coasting vessels are detained at Nesqually by the Officers of the United States Customs upon frivolous pretences; a circumstance which has caused an intense excitement among the people of this Colony, and I had some difficulty in preventing a forcible demonstration, on their part, for the rescue of the vessels…” He is writing as Governor of the Colony.

But also, on December 15, he wrote to the London Committee, that: “An express canoe has just arrived from Nesqually, Puget’s Sound, with letters from Chief Factor Work, Chief Trader Tolmie, Charles Stuart and William A. Mowat, the two last named respectively Masters of the Honble Company’s Steamer Beaver, and Brigantine Mary Dare, reporting the seizure of those vessels on the 1st day of December last by the Revenue Officers of the District of Olympia, for an alledged [sic] infringement of the Revenue Laws of the United States, and containing the particulars of those scandalous proceedings… [As a result of the 1850 seizure, the HBC had been using American ships to transfer supplies from Fort Victoria to Fort Langley, at some expense to themselves.]

“In the month of May last it was officially announced that Olympia, in Puget Sound, was declared a U.S. Port of entry,  and in the month of September following I proceeded thither with the Company’s Schooner Cadboro and found that the Revenue Officers appointed at Washington [DC] to superintend the receipts of Customs had not arrived, and in consequence Goods could not be landed, and I had to return to this place without accomplishing the object of my voyage. Last month a letter from Chief Trader Tolmie communicated the arrival of Collector General [Simpson P.] Moses appointed to superintend the Revenue District of Olympia, and I soon after despatched the Steamer with the Mary Dare in tow, to convey supplies of Goods to the Company’s Posts in Puget Sound, and with orders to return as soon as possible with the exports from the Puget’s Sound Company’s Farms — and yet as you will observe by the letters herewith transmitted, our two vessels have been seized, and are at present detained under the authorities of the Officers of the United States Customs. [By some order issued in 1799, no one was supposed to enter “Crash Sugar” or refined lump or loaf sugar, and that is the part of the law the Customs Officers enforced, according to Tolmie.]…

“You will observe further by the letters of Chief Trader Tolmie and Captain Stuart, that no case had been prepared against the Steam vessel, so that the vessel is absolutely seized without any known cause. 

“It is impossible to say how these troubles may end, but even should they only result in a temporary detention of the vessels, they will prove a serious detriment to our business…The excitement here [at Fort Victoria] in regard to those seizures is intense, and I had some trouble in restraining a forcible demonstration for the recovery of the vessels. God only knows what would otherwise have been the result…

So, It seems the colonists at Fort Victoria were ready to go to war with the Americans over this seizure at Puget Sound. Additionally, Captain Stuart clearly did not abandon his ship, but traveled to Fort Nisqually to write his reports. You will see that he also returned to the Beaver while it was still “seized” at Olympia. To continue with the Fort Nisqually records:

December 22: “Captain Stuart arrived for a supply of fresh beef.” 

December 23: “This morning, the canoe which was sent off to Victoria in charge of Cootie returned with a packet of letters…” from James Douglas. Dr. Tolmie had already set off for Fort Vancouver, of course. You can go to the top of this page to discover when he arrived at Fort Vancouver and what he and John Ballenden did there. 

December 24. “Captain Stuart left for Olympia.” 

December 25: “In the evening arrived from Olympia J. Swanson, J. Sinclair & Watson, officers from the Beaver & Mary Dare.”

December 28: “Mr. Watson, 2nd Engineer to steamer Beaver left this evening by canoe for Victoria. He is to proceed to England by Norman Morrison, he having procured his discharge. Messrs. Sinclair & Swanson also left to rejoin their vessels at Olympia.”

Other stuff I learned was that the Beaver had been sent to Fort Nisqually to pick up and deliver cattle to the Colony at Fort Victoria. 

There is nothing more in the Fort Nisqually journals in 1851, and I know this issue, the seizure of the HBC ships in Puget Sound, lasted for months and months. So, it looks like two blogposts on this subject are in order, and when the second one is published, I will include it here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/two-seized-ships/ 

Copyright, Nancy Marguerite Anderson, 2025. All rights reserved. 

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