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named the NORTHWEST AMERICAN for coastal trading. Only one thing marred a British claim by right of possession. Meares had not been able to get a licence •from the London Company, which had been given British rights to trade in the area, He had therefore merged with a merchant in Macao and his ships were sailing under Portuguese colours. In the spring of 1789, Nootka was a hive of activity. An American, Kendrick, was nearby at Mawina, erecting a house and battery. Another American, Gray, had already left Nootka on a trading cruise. Colnet and Hudson, Meares' agents v;ere on their way from Macao, but two other of his agents, Douglas and Funter, had arrived from Hawaii, where they had wintered to get a jump on other traders. Douglas anchored the IFIGENIA in harbour, but Funter stayed only a week and then went furtrading in the NORTHWEST AMERICAN. When Martinez arrived, he asserted Spanish claims, and on the basis of the v;eak-ness of tne Portuguese papers, placed Douglas and the IFIGENIA under arrest. Ironically, Meares' company had consolidated with the London Company, and the subterfuge of Portuguese title was unnecessary - but Douglas did not know. When the NORTHWEST AMERICAN arrived back from trading, it too was taken into custody. On 15 dune, Hudson in the PRINCESS ROYAL arrived, but he carried legitimate British papers, and claimed he entered harbour only to refurbish his ship. For a while, he remained untouched at anchor. Col nett in igent. He the ARGONAUT arrived would not agree that later the same day, but Colnett was more intrans-he was in Spanish waters and claimed Nootka on the basis of Cook's explorations. When two hot-headed men cross words, things go wrong. Martinez arrested Colnet and seized the ARGONAUT. A Spanish observer was to comment: "...the churlish nature of each one precipitated things up to this point." Later, Martinez also seized the PRINCESS ROYAL, much to his disadvantage as he now how four British crews to shelter and feed. Up to the arrest of Colnet, Martinez could not have been faulted as the first two British vessels were sailing under false colours. In arresting the last two, he was at least intemperate and ill-advised. Not that the rectitude of his actions mattered in the least. Meares was prepared to howl to heaven about a Spanish violation of an Englishman's rights, and he found a British parliament that was prepared to support him to the brink of war without regard to the niceties of the situation. The Spanish were caught at a vulnerable moment and were forced to sign the Nootka Convention in 1790. The Convention stated tnat buildings and tracts of land seized by the Spanish should be restored to the British. - the British were restored to Nootka. Both Spanish and British agreed not to obstruct each other's subjects in navigating, fishing, trading and settling. Britain magnanimously agreed to keep its subjects from illicit trading with Spanish settlements. The British interpreted the treaty as giving the British the right to trade or settle anywhere north of the most northern Spanish settlement. Whatever, the northwest coast for the time being became British. The Spaniards in North America, communication being what it was in the days of the sailing ship, did not know for some time that they had lost their supremacy in north-western waters, and continued under a new commander, continued an active program of exploration, a program which brought them into British Columbia waters. And that will be the subject of an essay in a later issue of "History-onics". [Material from W.L. Cook, "Flood Tide of Empire; and Sound Heritage Vol. VII No. 1]