Joseph Ingraham (explorer)

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Joseph Ingraham

Joseph Ingraham ( baptized April 4, 1762 in Boston , Province of Massachusetts Bay ; † 1800 , lost at sea) was an American merchant captain and officer in the United States Navy who discovered several islands in the Marquesas .

Early years

Joseph Ingraham was born in Boston, Massachusetts. The exact date of birth is not known, he was baptized on April 4, 1762.

During the American Revolutionary War , he served on a ship of the American colonists, was captured by the British and imprisoned on a prison ship. In 1787 he sailed during the Columbia expedition as a mate on the three-master Columbia Rediviva , the first American ship to orbit the earth under Robert Gray . After his return to Boston in August 1790, he took over command of the shipowner and fur trader Thomas H. Perkins' brig Hope for the Pacific trade .

Travel to the Pacific and discoveries

The Hope circled Cape Horn on January 26, 1791, sailed into the Pacific, passed the Desventuradas Islands , reached the island of Hiva Oa and stayed there until April 18, 1791 to replenish supplies and make necessary repairs. On April 19, Ingraham sailed north-northwest and at 4:00 p.m. he sighted two islands, which he called Washington's Island ( Ua Huka ) and Adams's Island ( Ua Pou ), but initially he did not go ashore. An hour later he saw two more islands, which he named Lincoln's Island ( Motu One ) and Federal Island ( Nuku Hiva ). The ship spent the night in front of Ua Huka because Ingraham could not find a suitable landing place. The next morning there was an encounter with a three-man canoe at the eastern end of the island. On April 20th, at 6:00 p.m., Ingraham sighted a small, rocky island he named Franklin's Island. It was the now uninhabited island of Motu Iti , but Ingraham saw fire from the indigenous people. The following day, April 21, two more islands came into view: Knox Island ( Eiao ) and Hancock Island ( Hatutu ). Ingraham did not land on these islands either.

In May 1791 the Hope reached Hawaii , crossed the Pacific and anchored in Macau . Ingraham fell ill there and was cared for by the ship's doctor of all people , Étienne Marchand's ship . Marchand claimed for himself the discovery of the same Marquesas Islands, but had now to discover that Ingraham had come before him by two months. In July 1792 the Hope reached the Queen Charlotte Islands and Nootka Sound to pick up furs and returned to Boston via China and Hawaii in early 1793. Ingraham went on another trade trip to Hawaii.

Late years and death

During the Undeclared War between France and the United States from 1798 to 1800, Ingraham served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy on the schooner USS Pickering . The ship sailed from New Castle, Delaware , on August 20, 1800 and was never seen again.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b John Dunmore: Who´s who in Pacific Navigation , Honolulu 1991, p. 134
  2. ↑ http://www.usmm.org/revdead.html#anchor267267
  3. ^ Papers of Joseph Ingraham, 1790-1792: Journal of the Voyage of the Brigantine "Hope" from Boston to the North-West Coast of America . 1790-1800. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  4. ^ A b Peter H. Buck : Explorers of the Pacific: European and American Discoveries in Polynesia , Honolulu 1953, pp. 63-64
  5. ^ Account of a recent discovery of Seven Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, by. Joseph Ingraham, Citizen of Boston, and Commander of the Brigantine Hope. . . ; in: Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society For the Year 1793. Vol. II., Boston 1793, pp. 20 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Ingraham, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American captain and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH baptized April 4, 1762
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH 1800