George Dixon (Royal Navy officer)

Captain George Dixon RN (1755? – 1800) was an English sea captain and explorer. He served under Captain Cook in his third expedition, where he learned about the commercial possibilities along the northwest coast of North America. After the end of Cook's expedition, Dixon became a captain in the Royal Navy. History has not served Dixon well; for he is the least known of those who served and or were taught by Captain Cook and is only rarely mentioned in history books and when he is; he is relegated to a minor figure who is overshadowed by Bligh and Cook. Bligh is not only well known for the Mutiny but also members of his crew got the American Revolution underway by firing the first shots at Lexington and Bligh himself became a Governor of Australia.

In 1782 George Dixon was engaged by William Bolts, and the Wiener Zeitung of 29 June 1782 carried a report from Fiume that, “in the early days of this month, Mr. von Bolts, Director of the Triestine East India Company, together with the English captain, Mr. Digson, arrived in this city”. George Dixon wrote in the introduction to his account of the voyage he made for the Etches Company to the North West Coast in 1785-1788:

So early as 1781, William Bolts, Esq; fitted out the Cobenzell, an armed ship of 700 tons, for the North-West Coast of America. She was to have sailed from Trieste (accompanied by a tender of forty-five tons) under Imperial colours, and was equally fitted out for trade or discovery: men of eminence in every department of science were engaged on board; all the maritime Courts of Europe were written to, in order to secure a good reception for these vessels, at their respective ports, and favourable answers were returned; yet, after all, this expedition, so exceedingly promising in every point of view, was overcome by a set of interested men, then in power in Vienna.

The Triestine Society sent the Cobenzell in September 1783 on a commercial voyage to the Malabar Coast and China by way of the Cape of Good Hope. After leaving Trieste, she proceeded to Marseilles, where she took in the principal part of her cargo and departed that port in December. Apparently, Bolts still wished to carry out his North West Coast venture in connection with this voyage, and asked George Dixon to participate. However, Dixon went back to England, where he attempted to interest Sir Joseph Banks and English merchants in the North West Coast fur trade. This resulted in the formation of the Etches consortium, of which Dixon became a member with appointment as captain of the Queen Charlotte. The similarity is notable between the plan of the consortium and that elaborated by Bolts, which was apparently communicated to them by Dixon.

In 1785 Dixon became a partner in Richard Cadman Etches and Company, commonly called the King George’s Sound Company with the purpose of developing the fur trade in present day Canada. In the autumn of 1785 Dixon commanded the exploration ship "Queen Charlotte". In the summers of 1786 and 1787 Dixon explored the shores of present-day British Columbia. He spent the intervening winter in the Hawaiian Islands, where he became the first European to visit the island of Molokai. His chief areas of exploration were the Queen Charlotte Islands and Queen Charlotte Sound, Port Mulgrave, Norfolk Bay, and the Dixon Entrance. While not the first European to explore the region of the Queen Charlotte Islands, he was the first to realize they were islands and not part of the mainland. [cite book |last= Hayes |first= Derek |title= Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery |year= 1999 |publisher= Sasquatch Books |isbn= 1-57061-215-3 |pages= p. 57]

After visiting China and selling his cargo, he returned to England in 1788 and published, in 1799, "A Voyage Round the World, but More Particularly to the North-West Coast of America". The book was a collection of descriptive letters by William Beresford, his cargo officer, and valuable charts and appendices by Dixon.

There was a controversy between Dixon and John Meares, another explorer who had published a book claiming credit for discoveries Dixon thought were made by others. This controversy resulted in three pamphlets by Dixon and Meares denouncing each other. In retrospect, history seems to support Dixon's view that Meares was dishonest in his claims.

There was a George Dixon who taught navigation at Gosport, England and wrote a treatise entitled "The Navigator's Assistant" in 1791. This may or may not be the same George Dixon.

Notes

References

* George Dixon, "A Voyage Round the World", London, 1789, p.xx. "Wiener Zeitung", 15 and 18 January 1783
* Sir Richard Temple, “Austria’s Commercial Venture in India in the Eighteenth Century”, "Indian Antiquary", vol. XLVII, April 1918, pp.85-92
* Fulvio Babudieri, "Trieste e gli Interessi austriaci in Asia nei Secoli XVIII e XIX", Padova, CEDAM, 1966, doc.26, “Certificato azionario della Société Triestine”. "The Universal Daily Register", 10 October 1785
* Dixon to Banks, 27 August 1784 and Banks to Dixon, 29 August 1784, British Museum (Natural History), "Dawson Turner Transcripts of Banks Correspondence", vol. IV, ff.47-49; cited in David Mackay, "In the Wake of Cook: Exploration, Science & Empire", 1780 1801, Wellington (NZ), Victoria UP, 1985, pp.60-61
* George Dixon (Johann Reinhold Forster übersetzt), "Der Kapitaine Portlock’s und Dixon’s Reise um die Welt", Berlin, Voss, 1790, "Vorrede des Uebersetzers", p.11; V.T. Harlow, "The Founding of the Second British Empire", Vol.2, London, Longmans, 1964, p.420
* Instructions to Portlock and Dixon, September 1785; quoted in [John Etches] , "A Continuation of an Authentic Statement of All the Facts Relative to Nootka Sound", London, Fores, 1790, pp.18-29
* The Etches consortium scheme is discussed in Robert J. King, "'A regular and reciprocal System of Commerce'—Botany Bay, Nootka Sound, and the isles of Japan", "The Great Circle" (Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History) vol.19, no.1, 1997, pp.1-29.

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=1855 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]