Here is one of the most famous men in NorthCoast history. Christened Alfred Edward, after the future king of England, this 1878 Dawson photograph is said to be already a man in his fifties. Europeans sought him out either as a merchant, a skilled pilot or a powerful man. So today we can still glean his story from the nineteenth century with relative ease.

(There are many similarities between the Edenshaw and the Legaic lineages of the Haida and Tsimshian respectively. Both seemed to thrive on trade based upon canoe travel. Both reached their apogee in the 1860s and then declined.)

AE Edenshaw had the better luck by passing on his Haida name and privileges to "Charlie" Edenshaw. A man whose name and art works are still known and discussed today.

And Charles' daughter, Florence Edenshaw Davidson, brings the story down into the 1990s.

Still it's AE who seems the real transition figure. While his photo looks as it could have been taken yesterday, contrast it with Bacstrom's 1793 portrait of Cuneah (taken from MacDonald Haida Monumental Art).

Cuneah who was the powerful Haida chief at Kiusta (near present day Langara Island) who first interacted with the sea otter traders. Edenshaw (AE's uncle) claimed relationship and acquired the village and then passed them on to AE around 1849. (Stories differ depending on sources.)

Probably the capture by "Masset Haida" of the American merchant ship Susan Sturges, its burning, and the subsequent ransom of the crew to the Hudson Bay Company at Port Simpson has been the historical making of "AE Edenshaw". The ship had sought out AE as coastal pilot, and their salvation by ransom was said to be owing to AE, otherwise their fate was to be killed.

Accounts vary as to what his real role was, and I will leave it at that.

We do know that by July 1853 the British Navy had taken an interest in talking with Edenshaw and sent the HMS Virago as the first instance of gunboat diplomacy in coastal BC. (The site of Edenshaw's old village is on what is now called Virago Sound). The officer in charge was Captain (later Admiral) JC Prevost. This is the man who would later be instrumental in having the Christian Missionary Society send William Duncan to Port Simpson (arrives Oct1st 1857).

Note this is the Crimean War era and the Navy is worried about the Russians in Alaska. Plus the discovery of gold (some stories credit AE Edenshaw for discovering it) meant "Americans" were making bold to perhaps occupy the Islands. So the commander of the Pacific fleet Moresby sent another ship the HMS Trincomalee to show the flag and question AE again. (September 1853). Just in case Edenshaw wasn’t impressed the ship put on a display of how much damage their armaments could do. We are talking explosives not cannon balls.

Tricomalee on the Web This ship, built in India of teak is still floating Here is the best short history and a chronology with picture Here is map of where she's presently tied up. A tourist and educational attraction

Even before I knew about the gunboats the image I had of AE was that of Collison In the Wake of the War Canoe. Charles Lillard, who edited and annotated the recent edition (1981) of the work first published in 1915, has captured the image in his cover (which I have colored). "The fleet consisted of some forty large canoes, each with two snow white sails ---which made them to appear as immense birds or butterflies" p 54.

Collison claims to have made 17 passages to that Charlottes in these "war canoes". We meet him with Edenshaw as his steersman on the books first crossing. Made via Alaskan shore to avoid the open water so far as possible.

Here is a BC Archives photo of Collison in a Haida sea going canoe. And here is only picture I came across of NorthCoast cedar canoe under sail. This one on the Skeena River near Hazelton. (Source BC Archives)

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