Cleveland, Richard J.:

$2,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A NARRATIVE OF VOYAGES AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES. Narrative of Richard Cleveland (1773–1860), an intrepid New England sea captain, navigator, ship owner, and merchant who sailed many times around the world and was instrumental in the development of an early triangle fur trade network from coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska to China and the Hawaiian Islands and thence to Britain and the United States. Pelts of sea otter, seal and other animals purchased by Cleveland were sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe, New England and other portions of the United States. During one of his early voyages to California in his ship, the Lelia Byrd (which he owned in partnership with William Shaler) Cleveland brought the first horses into Hawaii from California as royal gifts to King Kamehameha I. According to Armitage, Cleveland, in conjunction with William Shaler, was also responsible for distributing translations of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution among Creoles in Chile and natives in Mexico in 1821 during a time when the Spanish-American authorities had banned the circulation of the Declaration in an attempt to prevent the spread of revolution. Cleveland's accounts of his voyages and the people and places he encountered is fascinating reading for anyone interested in this important period in American maritime history. "In 1799 [Cleveland] visited the northwest coas

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