How did the Kanakaas start being in involved in the Fur Trade ?
If you do a study on the Fur Trade with the native Amer.s & the Europeans in the NW & esp. in the Pacific NW, it is important to understand that it did not start as a Land based enterprise. This trade started as a Sea based endeavor(s) { referred to as The Maritime Fur Trade, or"North West Coast trade" or "North West Trade") { I will skip a Major Player in the MFT. = The Russians, because it was different ( + they did not impact the Sandwich Islanders) -----
A Trader would load a ship with "Indian" trade goods & cruise the Coast looking to trade his items for furs pelts & the pelts he wanted Most were those of the Sea Otter. These pelts were highly sought after by Chinese cust.s (think $$$$.)
Once the Trade got his pelts set sail for Asia to sell them.
Enter the Hawaiian connection. ***
On the passage from the NW coast to China, most of the Trade ships stopped in the Sandwich Islands. (to do repairs, take on water & fresh food etc. & the same going back.) {ca 2,000 mi PNW to HI then over 5,000 mi further to China} Also they found the Hawaiian men made good sailors (not afraid of the sea + they could swim & most Europeans could not)+ they could be hired "cheaply".
The initial Kanakas to hired by a Land based Fur Co were those hired by the Pacific Fur Company (Astor's Co) as help handling sm. boats & temp seamen for their new post @ Astoria ( 24 men) { 3yr contract clothing, food, board, $ 100.00 & free trip home. When the PFC sold to the NWC (after only 3 years in operation ), the NWC continued to hire Kanakas, just the PFC had) the HBC was doing the same & as we have seen they increased the #s as well as the Kanaka's job types.
ALOHA for now.
Topic: Kanakas --- part 2 (Read 62 times)