Scowell, Chief
Scowell, Chief of the Chatsina Tribe, along with John Winnet and Edenshaw, provided a statement to Commander Prevost of the HMS Virago on 18 June 1853 about the capture and destruction of the Susan Sturges.1
Edenshaw in his statement said that Captain Rooney of the Susan Sturges told him Scowell was the first to cut open the deck by which an opening was made into [Rooney's] sleeping cabain, which Rooney was locked in while the plunder of the ship occured. In Edenshaw's statement, he said that Scowell was not on the ship at the start of the plunder but when he did arrive, Scowell found and stole four or five barrels of gunpowder and a toolbox.2
The statement given by Scowell himself agreed with Edenshaw's statement that Scowell had not been on board when the plunder began. When Scowell saw the Susan Sturges adrift he went to investigate and found the vessel in an uproar. He took this opportunity to take Captain Rooney to shore in his canoe without anyone noticing.3
The reports from the event conflicted and in his investigation Commander Prevost was unable to determine the true instigator of the conflict, although Scowell stated he suspected that Edenshaw was the culprit.4
  • 1. Douglas to Newcastle, 26 July 1853, 9498, CO 305/4, 61.
  • 2. Various, Account of the Plunder of the 'Susan Sturges,' American schooner, burnt at Queen Charlotte Islands, The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle for 1854 (1854): 209-217.
  • 3. Ibid.
  • 4. Douglas to Newcastle, 26 July 1853, 9498, CO 305/4, 61; Various, Account of the Plunder of the 'Susan Sturges,' American schooner, burnt at Queen Charlotte Islands, The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle for 1854 (1854): 209-217.
Mentions of this person in the documents