Imperial Eagle, originally named Loudoun (also spelled Louden, Loudin, and Lowden), was a 400-ton (bm) British merchant ship, launched in 1774 at Liverpool. By 1780 her master was S. Rains, her owner Robertson, and her trade a transport out of London. In 1786 she underwent refitting at Shadwell Dock, Thames, London. She then sailed on maritime fur trading ventures in the late 1780s. She was under the command of Captain Charles William Barkley until confiscated in India.
Although some sources, such as Miller,Capt. Barkley in IMPERIAL EAGLE in Barkley Sound , The Maritime Paintings of Gordon Miller state that Loudon was a former East Indiaman, Hardy and Hardy do not list her under any of the alternative spellings of her name, among the vessels that performed voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). The National Archives's guide to East India Company records in the "British Library: Asian and African Studies (previously Oriental and India Office Library)" also has no record of any vessel bearing her name, in any of its alternative spellings.National Archives: Lord Melville (1) to Maitland - accessed 24 November 2014.
As Imperial Eagle, she was among the first ships used in the trading system that developed in the 1780s, in which traders collected sea otter pelts on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America, through trade with the indigenous peoples, and then sold them in Guangzhou (Canton) or Macau, China. The Hawaiian Islands, only recently discovered, were a key way station, with many trading vessels spending the winter there. This maritime fur trading system had originated from the voyages of James Cook, which unexpectedly had revealed the value of sea otter pelts in China.
Austrian East India Company Although Imperial Eagle was British-owned and operated, the ship masqueraded as a vessel of the fictitious Austrian East India Company, and sailed under the flag of Austria. In fact the ship was owned by various British supercargoes, including some in China and several East India Company directors in England. They called their partnership the Austrian East India Company.BARKLEY, CHARLES WILLIAM, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online John Reid and Daniel Beale were two of the supercargoes.A. R. Williamson, "John Henry Cox: the Founder of EWO", in idem, Eastern Traders: Some Men and Ships of Jardine Matheson & Company and their Contemporaries in the East India Company's Maritime Service, Ipswich (England), Jardine Matheson, , pp.1-35; Louis Dermigny, La Chine et L’Occident, Paris, SEVPEN, 1964, tome III, p.1141. Beale, operating out of Canton, acted as the Prussian agent in that port.Barry M. Gough and Robert J. King, "William Bolts: An Eighteenth Century Merchant Adventurer", Archives: the Journal of the British Records Association, vol.xxxi, no.112, April 2005, pp.8-28.Sea Otter fur traders on the Northwest Coast of North America , John Robson
The real Austrian East India Company, also called the Ostend Company, which had existed from 1722 to 1731,The Ostend East-India Company, Paulus Swaen Old Maps and Prints had nothing to do with Imperial Eagle. In 1775 the Austrian East India Company was briefly revived when Maria Theresa of Austria granted a charter to William Bolts to establish "Imperial Company of Trieste", which operated until 1785, when it went bankrupt.Franz von Pollack-Parnau, "Eine österreich-ostindische Handelskompanie, 1775-1785: Beitrag zur österreichische Wirtschaftsgeschichte unter Maria Theresia und Joseph II", Vierteljahrsschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgesichte, Beiheft 12, Stuttgart, 1927; H.H. Dodwell (ed.), The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Vol.IV, British India, 1497-1858,Cambridge, 1929, p.116. John Reid was the agent of his company in Canton; he was also one of the owners of Imperial Eagle.W. Kaye Lamb, "Barkley Papers", The British Columbia Historical Quarterly, no.6, 1942, pp.49-50.
The ship's owners changed her name from Loudoun to Imperial Eagle as an attempt to evade paying for trading licenses from the East India Company and the South Sea Company, which together held a monopoly on all British trade in the Far East and Pacific. The East India Company controlled British trade in Asia and the South Sea Company controlled the Pacific trade on the west coast of the Americas.BARKLEY, Frances, ABCBookWorld British traders wanting to work within the companies' domains were legally bound to acquire licenses. The cost was exorbitantly expensive.Washington State Place Names, p. 64 In the late 18th century a number of independent British traders, notably John Meares, sailed under false flags in order to evade paying for the required licenses. It was akin to flying a flag of convenience but due to the company monopolies, it was illegal for British traders to do so.
Description Imperial Eagle was a "fine vessel" of 400 tons, ship-rigged and mounting twenty guns.The Mystery of Mrs. Barkley's Diary. Notes on the Voyage of the Imperial Eagle, 1786-87 , British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. VI. No. 1. Victoria, B.C., January, 1942. It was very large for its intended use. Its real name is usually spelled Loudoun, but Frances Barkley spelled it Louden and Loudin, and James Colnett spelled it Lowden.
Voyage of 1786-1788 There are only a few printed sources that describe the 1787 voyage of Imperial Eagle or Loudoun. The most thorough is the diary kept by Frances Barkley. George Dixon wrote briefly but vaguely about the ship. John Meares wrote about it in his Voyages, but his account is full of inaccuracies and most of the references to Imperial Eagle are deliberately misleading. Meares, who had acquired Barkley journal and logbook, published maps he claimed to have made himself, based on his own voyages, but which he copied from Barkley's charts. Another source is the journal of James Colnett.
In London, under the name Loudoun, the ship was outfitted for a trading voyage to the Pacific. Charles Barkley was persuaded to resign his position with the East India Company in order to command the ship for its private fur trading venture. Serving under Captain Barkley was Chief Officer Henry Folger, Second Officer William Miller, and Purser John Beale.
Loudoun left the Thames on 6 September 1786 and sailed to Ostend, which was then under Austrian control and today is part of Belgium. There, more supplies were picked up. While at Ostend the ship was renamed Imperial Eagle and began to fly the Austrian flag. Austrian papers were supplied and the ship was registered under its false name. Also while at Ostend, Captain Barkley met Frances Hornby Trevor. They were married in Ostend on 27 October 1786. Frances Barkley accompanied her husband on two voyages lasting over eight years, circumnavigating the globe twice. Frances was the first European woman to visit the Hawaiian Islands. She was the first woman known to have sailed, openly as a woman, around the world.
Imperial Eagle sailed from Ostend on 24 November 1786, first to the Cape Verde Islands, then Bahia, Brazil. After rounding Cape Horn Barkley sailed to the Hawaiian Islands. In Hawaii Frances Barkley met a young Native Hawaiian named Winée, who was taken on as a maidservant. Imperial Eagle left Hawaii on 25 May.
Nootka Sound In March 1787 Barkley anchored Imperial Eagle in Nootka Sound, a port commonly used by fur trading vessels. Frances Barkley became the first European woman, and Winée the first Hawaiian, or Kanaka, known to have visited the Pacific Northwest.Washington State Place Names, pp. 111-112 Imperial Eagle was the largest ship to have ever entered Friendly Cove, the main anchorage in Nootka Sound. It was also the first fur trading vessel to arrive at Nootka Sound that year. As a result, Barkley was able to acquire all of the available furs. At Nootka, Dr. John Mackay was found living with the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth. Mackey had been the surgeon of the fur trading brig Captain Cook, under Captain James Strange, who had left Mackay at Nootka in July 1786, with the intention that Mackay befriend the indigenous people, learn their customs, and collect sea otter pelts for trade when Strange returned. But Strange did not return. Mackay was overjoyed to join the crew of Imperial Eagle.Washington State Place Names, p. 111 Mackay taught Barkley much about the indigenous peoples and how to trade with them. He also provided valuable geographical information about the waters south of Nootka Sound, which gave Barkley an advantage over other traders such as James Colnett, who arrived shortly after Barkley. Barkley stayed at Nootka Sound for some time and acquired about 700 prime sea otter pelts and many more of inferior quality. Frances Barkley wrote about chief Maquinna. She was impressed with his management of the fur trade. Some time after Barkley's arrival, two more fur trading ships entered Nootka Sound—Prince of Wales under James Colnett, and under Charles Duncan, both owned by the King George's Sound Company. To their chagrin they found that Barkley had already acquired all the furs available at Nootka Sound.
Colnett's journal provides additional information about Imperial Eagle. Colnett always referred to the ship as Lowden and was not fooled by the Austrian flag. He knew the ship was sailing under a false flag without the proper licenses—licenses which Colnett had taken the time to acquire. In his journal Colnett wrote that the time Barkley saved in not acquiring the licenses allowed him to arrive at Nootka Sound first. As a result, "he engrossed the whole trade & ruined ours". Colnett believed that Barkley was "not Ignorant he had no right here", and sent Barkley a letter requesting to see "his Authority for trading in the Southsea Company's limits", but Barkley evaded the issue. Colnett wrote that he would take up the matter when he returned to England.
When Barkley left Nootka Sound and took Imperial Eagle south, trading in Clayoquot Sound, which he named Wickinninish Sound in honor of chief Wickaninnish. Farther south he entered a large sound and named after himself, Barkley Sound. He named one of the channels in the sound after his ship, Imperial Eagle Channel.
Discovery of the Strait of Juan de Fuca In July, continuing south in clear weather, Barkley found the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He did not explore it, but gave it its present name honouring Juan de Fuca. Juan de Fuca claimed to have discovered and sailed up a large strait at this location in 1592. Barkley thought the strait he found matched the description Juan de Fuca had given and that it was in fact Juan de Fuca's strait. The veracity of Juan de Fuca's claim had long been scoffed at by geographers and is doubted by most historians to the present day. Captain Barkley was probably the first non-indigenous person to find the strait. He was surprised to find it at all because Captain James Cook had previously explored the area and not seen it. Cook had emphatically stated that Juan de Fuca's strait did not exist. Frances Barkley wrote about the discovery in her diary: "In the afternoon, to our great astonishment, we arrived off a large opening extending to the eastward, the entrance of which appeared to be about four leagues wide, and remained about that width as far as the eye could see, with a clear easterly horizon, which my husband immediately recognized as the long lost strait of Juan de Fuca, and to which he gave the name of the original discoverer, my husband placing it on his chart."Early European Coastal Exploration , Historic Resource Study, Olympic National Park. By Gail H.E. Evans, 1983; National Park Service Barkley perhaps thought Tatoosh Island was the pinnacle reported by Juan de Fuca as located at the entrance to the strait. Fellow fur-trader Charles Duncan, who learned about the strait from Barkley, assumed the island was Juan de Fuca's pillar.
Destruction Island