American Voyages of the Eighteenth Century

The United States had not developed sufficiently in the eighteenth century to engage in Pacific expeditions in the cause of pure science. However, their interest in commercial enterprise and the development of the fur trade on the northwest American coast led to trade with Canton and, hence, to some interesting crossings of the Pacific.

The first American ships to enter the trade were evidently the Columbia Rediviva and the Lady Washington owned in Boston and sent out in 1788. Boston practically monopolized American trade, but many of the fur traders went out from Stonington, Connecticut. The New England merchants obtained furs, as exchange material to purchase Chinese goods in Canton for sale in New England.

The three most interesting voyages of the early American traders, as regards Polynesia, were the following:

Date	Leader	Ship	Islands Visited
1790-1791	Joseph Ingraham	Hope	Marquesas (Washington group)
1792-1793	Josiah Roberts	Jefferson	Marquesas
1797-1799	Edmund Fanning	Betsey	Marquesas, Equatorial Islands