Strange, James Charles Stuart
b. 1753-08-08
d. 1840
Traders such as James Charles Stuart Strange were inspired to form expeditions of their own after Captain King published the report of Captain Cook’s third Northwest Coast trading expedition in 1784.1 Strange was tempted by the seemingly effortless and lucrative business, and he enlisted the help of David Scott, an independent merchant in India.2
Strange and Scott fitted two ships, Captain Cook and Experiment, and sailed out of India for for the northwest Pacific coast in 1785; their journey was ill-fated.3
They were unable to purchase many of the goods that they had intended to sell, the Experiment was holed and needed to stop for repairs, and many of the crew members came down with scurvy.4 Strange fell far behind schedule, and did not arrive in Nootka Sound until June of 1786.5
Strange had arrived too late in the season to acquire many furs, and he soon realized that he was working with with wise and seasoned traders who would not easily part with their pelts.6 The expedition, clearly a financial failure, also failed to contribute much in the way of exploration or knowledge.7
Strange eventually retired to Scotland, where he died in 1840.8
  • 1. Robin A. Fisher, Strange, James Charles Stuart, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
  • 2. Barry M. Gough, Distant Dominion: Britain and the Northwest Coast of North America, 1579-1809 (Canada: University of British Columbia, 1980), 57.
  • 3. Robin A. Fisher, Strange, James Charles Stuart, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. Ibid.
  • 6. Ibid.
  • 7. Barry M. Gough, Distant Dominion: Britain and the Northwest Coast of North America, 1579-1809 (Canada: University of British Columbia, 1980), 58.
  • 8. Robin A. Fisher, Strange, James Charles Stuart, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
Mentions of this person in the documents
People in this document

Cook, Captain James

Scott, David

Vessels in this document

Captain Cook

Experiment

Places in this document

Nootka Sound

The Colonial Despatches Team. Strange, James Charles Stuart. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/strange.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)