If you enjoy reading this, then I would also recommend a fiction series based on this true story by Lance and James Morcan: ‘Into the Americas’ Mind you, they killed just about everyone else on the ship, so being a slave for a couple of years was better than being killed. However, when the ship was attacked by a tribe of Indians at Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island, he suddenly found himself a slave. Sailing on a ship was certainly different from being on land, and an adventure was exactly what John was looking for. He was in luck when a position became available onboard The Boston, to assist in the armoury. After hearing about their travels around the world, he knew that’s exactly what he wanted to do. Working down the docks as a blacksmith sure opened John Jewitt’s eyes, especially when he started talking to the sailors. It’s been well written, and it certainly captured my attention. I really enjoyed reading this story, and it really hit home what he went through. What started out as an adventure for him, quickly turned into a nightmare. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to go through what John Jewitt experience for almost 3 years. It proved so popular that it is still being reprinted today. It appeared in 1815 and became known as Jewitt's Narrative. Since most of the Mowachaht wanted the two whites dead, they never knew what would come first-freedom or death.Īfter Jewitt was rescued, following 28 months in captivity, he wrote a book of his experiences. But their worst fear came from knowing that slaves could be killed whenever their master chose. Among other duties, they were forced to carry wood for three miles and fight for Maquinna when he slaughtered a neighbouring tribe. Jewitt and another survivor, John Thompson, became 2 of some 50 slaves owned by the chief known as Maquinna. Twenty-five of her 27 crewmen were massacred, their heads "arranged in a line" for survivor John R. On March 22, 1803, while anchored in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Boston was attacked by a group of Mowachaht warriors. Jewitt's story of being captured and enslaved by Maquinna, the great chief of the Mowachaht people, is both an adventure tale of survival and an unusual perspective on the First Nations of the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.
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