May 30, 2023
The China Trade and the Mystery of the First Chinese in the United States
(An Abridged Version of an Article first used by the Chinese American Heroes website in 2015)
By Philip Chin
2015 marks the 230th anniversary of the first known Chinese to enter the United States as well as the start of direct international trading between the United States and China. Four Chinese sailors landed in Baltimore, Maryland on August 9, 1785 aboard the Pallas, the first American ship to sail goods from Guangzhou in Southern China to Baltimore. They followed in the wake of the Empress of China, the first American ship to trade with China that had sailed from New York to Guangzhou, with a cargo of 2,600 animal skins, fine camel cloth, cotton, and a few barrels of pepper, and 30 tons of American ginseng. They'd arrived back in New York on May 11, 1785 with a cargo of tea, nankeen, tableware, silk, and spice, after a trip of 14 months, 24 days. (Information on the Empress of China's trip)
To put 1785 into perspective, this was just four years after the American victory at Yorktown, Virginia and just two years after the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War and led to full international recognition of the United States as an independent country. The financial foundation of the American Republic was intimately tied into the history of China in the late 18th and into the 19th Century.
Before the American Revolution, direct trade had been severely limited by the British government that wanted all international trade to go through England first to make it easier for them to tax it as well as to give advantages to British industries. The British Parliament granted a trade monopoly to the British East India Company to facilitate this task. This restriction on trade as well as the taxes had been among the primary causes of the American Revolution, leading memorably among other things to East India Company tea from China being dumped into Boston Harbor. Trading had been completely disrupted by the Royal Navy's blockade of American shipping during the Revolutionary War. With peace finally agreed in 1783, the United States was just now fully entering into direct international trade with China.
Captain John O’Donnell, the owner of the Pallas, got married and retired from his life at sea after sixteen years of service with the British East India Company in India and China. He sold the ship and its cargo of goods and left his crew stranded. Captain O'Donnell, with his new wife, bought about 2,000 acres on the Baltimore waterfront, where he built an extravagant "oriental" mansion and named it "Canton," the old style name for Guangzhou. Canton is now the name of the historic neighborhood that grew around the mansion.
Among the stranded crew members were four Chinese and thirty-two others that were described as "lascars" a generic European term for sailors originating east of the Cape of Good Hope, generally from what is now India.
A gentleman farmer of Virginia wrote to a friend from his Revolutionary War days, Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman, who lived in Maryland, about the sale of the cargo of the Pallas.
Mount Vernon 17th Augt 1785
Dear Sir,
The Baltimore Advertiser of the 12th Instt announces the arrival of a Ship at that Port, immediately from China—and by an advertisement in the same Paper, I perceive that the Cargo is to be sold by public vendue, on the first of Octr next.
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You will readily perceive, My dear Sir my purchasing, or not, depends entirely upon the prices. If great bargains are to be had, I would supply myself agreeably to the list. If the prices do not fall below a cheap retail Sale, I would decline them altogether, or take such articles only (if cheaper than common) as are marked in the Margin of the Invoice.
A Sett of the best Nankin Table China
Ditto—best Evening China Cups & Saucers
✻ A Set of large blue & White China
Dishes—say half a dozn—more or less
✻ 1 Dozn small bowls—blue & White.
✻ 6 Wash hand Guglets & Basons
6 large Mugs—or 3 Mugs & 3 Jugs.
A Quartr Chest, best Hyson Tea.
A Leagure [Leaguer] of Battavia Arrack if a Leagure is not large
✻ About 13 yds of good bla: Paduasoy
✻ A ps. of fine Muslin—plain
✻ 1 ps. of Silk Handkerchiefs
12 ps. of the best Nankeens.
18 ps. of the Second quality—or
coursest kind—for Servants. G: Washington.
George Washington, Letter to Colonel Tench Tilghman, 17 August 1785
George Washington, just four years away from becoming the first President of the United States in 1789, was like many American shoppers today. He couldn't resist looking for low-cost Chinese bargains. With two exceptions, all the products that Washington wanted were Chinese. Those exceptions were; arrack, an alcohol made in Southeast Asia, in this case from the Dutch colony of Batavia, now the city of Jakarta, Indonesia; muslin was a cloth made in India.
Hyson tea is a green tea that comes from China's Anhui Province. Paduasoy is a type of Chinese silk cloth. Nankeen is a type of yellow cotton cloth, originally from Nanjing that was often used for making trousers during the American colonial period.
In his reply of August 25, 1785, Colonel Tilghman responded positively to Washington's letter and promised to look into purchasing the requested goods. He also added,
The Crew of this Ship are all Natives of India—most of them from the Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, and are much of the Countenance and Complexion of your old Groom Wormely—There are four Chinese on Board, who are exactly the Indians of North America, in Colour, Feature—Hair and every external Mark.
Tench Tilghman, Letter to George Washington, 25 August 1785
George Washington's interest in foreign trade led him at some point to meet in person with Captain O'Donnell in 1785, then again at a later date to talk about American trade with China and India. President Washington was extremely interested in establishing further American trade links with China. In 1790, Captain O'Donnell wrote to President Washington, with an amusing gift that showed Washington was like some fashionable Americans of today,
ODonnell presents his most respectful Compts to the President of the United States—intreats his Acceptance of the accompanying Indian Apparatus for Smoaking called “a Hooka” which He took the Liberty to mention to Him, when He had the Honor to visit Him sometime since at New York. The Bearer will shew the President’s Servant it’s use, and the Manner of preparing the Tobacco for Smoaking.
John O’Donnell, Letter to George Washington, 9 September 1790
It was no accident that during Washington's first presidential administration, by 1790, …“it was estimated that trade with China accounted for about one seventh of US imported goods. By 1792, the value of the American trade with China had surpassed that of Holland, France and Denmark, and was second only to Great Britain…” (source: foundingfathersandchina.blogspot.com)
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While it is fascinating to see the great sweep of history and trade and tragedy that swept the globe, let's return to our concern about the minor players at the beginning of these great changes. What happened to the Chinese and Indian sailors stranded in the United States by Captain O'Donnell's sudden retirement? Not only were these the first Chinese documented in the United States as a country, but possibly also the first Indian Hindus and/or Indian Muslims as well.
The next we hear of the sailors is the response at the end of 1785 to a petition submitted to the Continental Congress asking for the money to help transport them to China.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1785.
Congress assembled. Present as before.
The committee [consisting of Mr. Rufus King, Mr. William Samuel Johnson and Mr. Nathan Danel to whom was referred the instruction of the commonwealth of Pensylvania to their Delegates in Congress, on the subject of Sic Keesar and other natives of India and China praying for a support while within the U. S. and a passage at the public Expence to China report--
That from the facts stated by the memoralists it would be inexpedient for Congress to comply with their request.
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, Volume 29, p911, United States Continental Congress (source: memory.loc.gov)
Given the chronic inability of the Continental Congress to pay for much of anything under the Articles of Confederation, it probably isn't a surprise that the request was turned down. One of the major reforms of the United States Constitution of 1789 was giving the United States Congress the power to tax, rather than just relying on the goodness of less than generous state governments to voluntarily contribute money to the central government.
This leaves us with several historical mysteries that readers might answer.
What was the ultimate fate of these sailors?
What happened to them between the time they landed in Baltimore in August 1785 and the refusal of the Continental Congress to help them in December 1785?
Why were these sailors still in the United States at the end of December 1785? Couldn't they have signed aboard to crew a ship going back to Asia?
What inspired them to petition the Continental Congress for money?
Why were the Continental Congress delegates of Pennsylvania petitioning on their behalf on instructions from their state government? Why wasn't Maryland involved, the state where the sailors had originally landed?
Sic Keesar, the only name mentioned in the Continental Congress entry, doesn't resemble any known Chinese name. Who was he?
What documents exist in the Pennsylvania state archives regarding this exchange with the Continental Congress? What records exist about the Pennsylvania petition in the archives of the Continental Congress? Do those papers include more personal details about the sailors?
The challenge is there for someone with the resources and time to take up and discover. Somewhere in an archive covering August 1785 to December 1785 are some answers.
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