Robert Stuart (explorer)
| Robert Stuart | |
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| Born | February 19, 1785 |
| Died | October 28, 1848 (aged 63) |
Robert Stuart, (February 19, 1785 – October 28, 1848) was an American fur trader. He was a member of the North West Company (NWC) until recruited by John Jacob Astor to develop the new Pacific Fur Company. The venture was intended by Astor to develop a continent wide fur commercial empire.
Family history states that Robert Stuart was born in Strathyre, in the historic parish of Balquhidder, but grew up in Callander. Both towns are in Perthshire, being 15 and 20 miles northwest of Stirling, Scotland. Around 1807, he joined an uncle, David Stuart, in Montreal to work as a clerk in the fur trade. Then he and his uncle were recruited for Astor's Pacific Fur Company.
Stuart was age 25 when he sailed aboard the Pacific Fur Company ship, the Tonquin, on its voyage to the Falkland Islands. He held a pistol to the head of the ship's captain, Jonathan Thorn, when he attempted to leave the Falkland Islands without Stuart's uncle David, another of Astor's partners. They sailed around Cape Horn and up the West coast of North America to the Columbia River. The Tonquin crossed the Columbia Bar and established Fort Astoria (located in modern Astoria, Oregon) in May 1811. After leaving supplies and traders in the newly created outpost on the Columbia, the ship and crew traveled north to Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island. The Tonquin crew engaged in commercial negotiations with members of the Tla-o-qui-aht nation in June. An altercation arose, with the entire crew killed besides a hired translator and the ship destroyed. After the incident, the traders had to make arrangements to communicate with Astor, since they had no idea when a ship might call at the Fort.
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