Adventure (ship)

Launch of the Adventure with Fort Defiance and Columbia in background. Painting by George Davidson, who served as an artist on the Columbia
History
United States
Name:	Adventure
Laid down:	1791
Launched:	February 23, 1792 Meares Island, British Columbia, Canada
Fate:	Sold to Spain
Notes:	First US ship built in the Pacific NW
Spain
Name:	Orcacitas
Acquired:	1792
General characteristics
Class and type:	sloop
Displacement:	45 tons
Length:	50 ft (15 m)
Propulsion:	sail
Complement:	12

The Adventure was a sloop maritime fur trade ship built by the crew of Captain Robert Gray on his second voyage to the Northwest Coast of North America. The 45-ton sloop was built to allow the trading venture to access smaller inlets the Columbia could not reach. At the end of his second voyage Gray sold the ship to the Spanish Navy. It was renamed Orcacitas (also spelled Orcasitas or Horcasitas) and served the Naval Department of San Blas for some years.

The skeleton of the craft was brought with the Columbia when it sailed from Boston in 1790. At Clayoquot Sound the crew of the Columbia built the winter quarters that were named Fort Defiance and also began construction of the Adventure. The keel was laid on October 3, 1791 on Meares Island. Over the winter the ship slowly began to take shape. Then on February 23, 1792, the ship was launched, but not without first getting stuck halfway down the ramp. Thus the first American built vessel on the Pacific was launched. The first non-indigenous vessel built on the Pacific Northwest coast was the North West America, constructed in 1788 by Chinese labourers employed by British captain John Meares. Spain had been building ships on the Pacific coast of Mexico since the 16th century.

On Monday, April 2, 1792, the Adventure set sail for its maiden voyage. The captain was Robert Haswell, the First Mate of the Columbia. Also assigned to the small ship was Abraham Waters, who became the mate on the Adventure. He had been Fourth Mate on the Columbia. Ten others were assigned, giving the ship a total crew of twelve men.

Only a few weeks after departing from the Columbia, the Adventure rendezvoused on April 17 and transferred 500 skins to the larger ship before separating again. After this the 45-ton ship sailed northward. In July they reached as far north as Sitka Sound in Russian-America. After continued trading, including stops in the Queen Charlotte Islands, the Adventure and crew re-joined Gray and the Columbia near Port Montgomery on September 3, 1792.