Robert Gray (sea captain)
Robert Gray was an American merchant sea captain who is known for his achievements in connection with two trading voyages to the northern Pacific coast of North America, between 1790 and 1793, which pioneered the American maritime fur trade in that region. In the course of those voyages, Gray explored portions of that coast and in the year 1790 he completed the first American circumnavigation of the world. He was also noted for coming upon and naming the Columbia River, in 1792, while on his second voyage.
Captain Gray (Not showing his lack of one eye)
Medal made for Gray and Kendrick to take on the voyage
A royal Hawaiian Mahiole, or feathered helmet, collected by Gray in 1789
Martha Gray's petition to Congress
The maritime fur trade, a ship-based fur trade system, focused largely on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. Entrepreneurs also exploited fur-bearing skins from the wider Pacific and from the Southern Ocean.
The settlement of Grigory Shelikhov on Kodiak Island
Captain James Cook
The launch of the North-West America at Nootka Sound, 1788
Old Sitka