James D. Saules
Based on onomastic information and historical accounts, Kenneth R. Coleman, author of a microhistory about Saules, considers North Carolina or Virginia to be probable.
The United States Exploring Expedition visited the port during July 1839 and hired Saules as a cook for the USS Peacock.
[14] Ro Veidovi was accused participating in the murder of the crew of the American Charles Daggett on Ono Island in 1836.
According to William Reynolds a staged ceremony was held for the visiting Fijians, with Saules a part of the ruse:[16]"[Ro Banuve] was honored with one roll and a half of the drum, instead of three, the black steward of my mess, who flourished the sticks, breaking down in the middle of the second, so that this part of the show terminated in several abortive squeaks of the fife breathed by the Ship’s Cook.
[14] While the American officers promised to not execute him, they insisted on taking Ro Veidovi back to East Coast of the United States.
[20] En route to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, supplies of flour, coffee, tea, and sugar on board the Peacock ran out.
Its personnel were served "worm-infested bread, a daily pound of yams per man, and stinking beef that resembled mahogany.
[28] The beleaguered Peacock crew was given aid by James Birnie and John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company and Clatsop Mission members Joseph H. Frost and Henry W. Kone.
Two other black servicemen, steward Warren Johnson and fellow cook Henry Evans joined Saules in desertion.
[29][30] Saules settled in contemporary Cape Disappointment, Washington state and initially found employment as a maritime pilot.
[10] He "threw his lot in with the colonizers" by participating in the transportation of "the goods and services that were crucial for the expansion of Euro-American economic power in the region.
[34] The problem started when another black pioneer, George Winslow, sold Saules a horse previously promised to a Molala man, Cockstock.
[34] Joseph Meek arrested Saules on 1 May 1844 for allegedly threatening to incite his Chinookan wife's relatives against Charles E. Pickette during an argument.
[35][36] Pickette, a "belligerent and eccentric Southerner... was adamantly pro-slavery, and harbored a notorious aversion to physical labor.
"[37] As the Provisional Government of Oregon denied Saules citizenship it is probable he received no legal representation or a fair trial.
[41] As the Provisional Government was centered in the Willamette Valley, its authority didn't extend north of the Columbia River.
When fur trader James Birnie relocated his family from Fort George to Cathlamet business activity increased for Saules.
[46] Saules "was also facing one of the world's most difficult rivers to navigate..."[47] Commanding officer Lieutenant Neil M. Howison described the subsequent events:"[Saules] ordered the helm put up, head sheets aft, and yards braced, with an air that deceived me into the belief that he was fully competent to conduct the vessel, and he was put in charge of her.
"[3]After the USS Shark freed itself from the shoal it awaited Alexander Lattie, the officer in charge of Fort George.
[48] Unable to secure another pilot, on 10 September the USS Shark attempted to exit the Columbia River but hit another shoal, sinking this time.
"[51]In 2016 Washington state Senator Pramila Jayapal proposed that 36 place names that contained racial slurs be renamed.
Although Senator Jayapal had suggested naming the three locations after Saules, in the end, they were renamed Beare Hill, Brookfield Point, and Harlows Creek.
