Note 143 — OREGON MISSIONS AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF OREGON TERRITORY AND ITS MISSIONS

Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877) of the British navy was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, entered the navy in 1812, and was commissioned a lieutenant in 1818. He became an expert in surveying and charting, and was thus employed (1825-28) in the Pacific Ocean on H. M. S. “Blossom.” In 1836 he was appointed to the command of the man-of-war “Sulphur,” which was sent to the Pacific on a surveying expedition, and incidentally on account of the British difficulties with the Russian settlements of Alaska. In 1839 (not 1840) he surveyed the coast from San Francisco Bay to the Columbia, entering the latter with two men-of-war, “Sulphur” and “Starling,” and surveying as far as Fort Vancouver. Belcher’s relations with the Hudson’s Bay official in charge were not cordial, and he criticized both the unmilitary appearance of Fort Vancouver and Dr. McLoughlin’s attitude toward the American missionary colonists. On the return journey, Belcher’s ships were detained on the coast of China by the war in those parts. An account of the voyage was published in London (1843), and the same year Belcher was knighted. He cruised in Oriental waters from 1842-47. In 1852-54 he commanded an Arctic expedition searching for Sir John Franklin.—Ed.