How many white men were
victims of this plot--to die by the assassin's knife or waiting for the
ransom that never came--is not a part of this record. It was becoming
a common thing to find white men living in a state of quasi-slavery
among the {284} islanders, each white held as hostage for the security
of the others not escaping. Within three years three ships had been
attacked, one Spanish, one American, one English--the store ship
_Daedalus_ on the way out to Nootka with supplies for Vancouver. Two
officers, Hergest and Gooch of the _Daedalus_, had been seized,
stripped naked, forced at the point of spears up a hill to the native
village, and cut to pieces. Vancouver determined to put a stop to such
attacks. Arriving at the islands, he trained his cannon ashore,
demanded that the murderers of the _Daedalus's_ officers be
surrendered, tried the culprits with all the solemnity and speed of
English court-martial, sentenced them to death, had them tied up to the
mast poles and executed. That is the blot against Vancouver; for the
islanders had put up a trick.
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