Colonial Despatches

Heirim Weirs was a passenger on the Royal Charlie schooner, a trading vessel that was attacked by a group of Haida First Nations on 28 June 1860 as it left Victoria's harbour.1 In this despatch from 7 July 1860, James Douglas recounts that the master and passengers of the Royal Charley made a complaint, and that several shots had been fired…as the vessel was passing the Hydah Camp.2 The H.M.S. Ganges and its crew gave further naval assistance in disarming the Indigenous group.3 In an earlier despatch, Captain John Jenkins and various passengers ask Judge Pemberton to take this matter in hand as the Indians are situated in a location dangerous to settlers…either leaving or entering Victoria.4 Weirs and five other passengers signed this report to Judge Pemberton on 28 June 1860.5 Following the altercation, Indigenous peoples who had fired on the Royal Charley were publicly whipped…and afterwards conveyed to jail for a term of imprisonment, with hard labour.6

• 1. Barry M. Gough, Gunboat Frontier: British Maritime Authority and Northwest Coast Indians, 1846-1890, (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1984), 70.
• 2. James Douglas to Pelham, Clinton, Henry Pelham Fiennes, 7 July 1860, CO 305:14, no. 8319, 328.
• 3. Barry M. Gough, Gunboat Frontier: British Maritime Authority and Northwest Coast Indians, 1846-1890, (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1984), 70.
• 4. Romaine, William Govett to Rogers, Frederic 28 August 1860, CO 305:15, no. 8509, 59.
• 5. Ibid.
• 6. James Douglas to Pelham, Clinton, Henry Pelham Fiennes, 7 July 1860, CO 305:14, no. 8319, 328.

Biographical information is not yet available for this person.