have sensed his tenure in Brooklyn would not improve his prospects..." Pacific Fur Company In 1810, he was granted a two-year furlough to command the Pacific Fur Company's sailing bark, the Tonquin, owned by John Jacob Astor. The Tonquin was to sail to the Pacific Northwest to establish a fur trading post. The Tonquin left New York City on 8 September 1810, sailing around Cape Horn on Christmas Day. The crew stopped off in the Kingdom of Hawaii to gather additional labor and resources, arriving at the mouth of the Columbia River on 22 March 1811. Two days later and at the cost of eight lives, the Tonquin crossed the bar. Thorn and his crew spent 65 days near the mouth of the river, where they built Fort Astoria on the south side of the river, in present-day Astoria. On 5 June, the ship crossed the bar and headed north along the coast to trade for furs. Thorn anchored off Clayoquot Sound (now in British Columbia) around 15 June, having traveled along the west side of Vancouver Island. He soon tried to trade with the local Tla-o-qui-aht people. Mutually satisfactory terms couldn't be settled upon and Thorn slapped the elder appointed to represent the indigenous interests with a fur in the face. Insulted by this behavior, the natives soon attacked and killed the majority of the crew. The last five men drove off the Tla-o-qui-aht. Later four men escaped from the ship, but three were found ashore and killed. The next day, natives returned to plunder the ship; James Lewis, the last surviving crew member on board, feigned a truce to lure them on the ship, then lit the gunpowder magazine and blew it up, sacrificing his life to prevent it from being used by the Tla-o-qui-aht. The only known crew survivor was Joseachal, an interpreter from the Quinault nation who had relatives among the Tla-o-qui-aht. Leadership Thorn's behavior has been sharply criticized by fur traders who had to sail with him. In particular Gabriel Franchère stated that: He was a strict disciplinarian, of a quick and passionate temper, accustomed to exact obedience, considering nothing but duty, and giving himself no trouble about the murmurs of his crew, taking council of nobody, and following Mr. Astor's instructions to the letter. Such was the man who had been selected to command our ship. His haughty manners, his rough and overbearing disposition,