Haswell, Robert, 1768-1801

Robert Haswell was born on November 24, 1768, near Hull, Massachusetts, and died in 1801 at sea. He was the eldest son of Lieutenant William Haswell, a Royal Navy Customs officer, and Rachel Woodward. Haswell married Mary Cordis on October 10, 1801, in Reading, Massachusetts. They had two daughters. Haswell joined the Columbia Rediviva (a privately-owned American ship) as third mate in Boston on September 30, 1787, and had prior experience at sea. He kept a log during the voyage, which remains as the only surviving contemporary account of Boston’s pioneering experience in the sea otter trade. Haswell rose to second officer during the voyage southward through the Atlantic. In the Falkland Islands, after a dispute with the ship’s captain, he was transferred to the Lady Washington as the second officer, a position he held upon arrival in Nootka Sound (British Columbia) in September 1788. In the spring of 1789, Haswell sailed on the sloop while the Columbia remained anchored in Nootka Sound, where he met the Nootka leaders named Callicum and Muquinna, and gained enough knowledge to compile a vocabulary of their language. In July, the Columbia sailed back to Boston via the Hawaiian Islands and Canton (People’s Republic of China), and with Haswell aboard as second officer, arrived at her homeport in August 1790. The Columbia was the first American vessel to have circumnavigated the globe. Six weeks later, Haswell set sail in the Columbia for the northwest coast again, this time as first officer. On June 5, 1791, the ship reached Clayoquot Sound (British Columbia), where it remained for the summer’s trading season. The expedition wintered at Adventure Cove (Lemmens Inlet, Meares Island), where the 45-ton sloop, Adventure, was constructed. In March 1792, Haswell was placed in command of the Adventure, and set sail in April in search of trade to the Queen Charlotte Islands and the adjacent coast. In June, Haswell delivered sea otter skins and other pelts he had acquired to Captain Robert Gray of the Columbia in Nasparti Inlet (British Columbia). There, Haswell returned to the Columbia as first mate and sailed for Boston, via China, arriving there in July 1793. In the following five years, he made two voyages to the East Indies. On March 4, 1799, Haswell entered the United States Navy as a lieutenant during the Quasi-War and remained in service until 1801. Shortly after getting married, he set sail from Massachusetts for the same route to the northwest coast to trade, but Louisa, his vessel, got lost at sea.

Revised on June 12, 2024, by Leah Louttit-Bunker

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/haswell_robert_5E.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Haswell