The son Thomas and most of his crew were killed about 1789-1790 in an attack by Hawaiian warriors, which the father never learned about.

[4] Metcalfe found employment as a surveyor and worked on the survey of the Fort Stanwix Treaty line in about 1769 in the western part of the province.

[4] In 1771, Governor Dunmore of New York granted 30,000 acres (120 km2) of land to Simon Metcalfe and his wife.

[5] With his family settled on this land, Metcalfe established a fur trading post at the mouth of the Missisquoi River.

In early August 1781 their son George arrived with the fleet from England to join the family in Montreal, shortly before Simon and Thomas escaped.

[4] In the 1780s, Metcalfe took a consignment of seal furs from the Falkland Islands, which were being stored in New York City for trading.

[9] In command of the Eleanora, he may have been on the Northwest Coast in 1787 or 1788, perhaps before the arrival of American captains Robert Gray and John Kendrick in August and September 1788.

Major European powers were competing with the new United States and each other to establish control over trading in this area.

Although the events at Nootka were mainly directed toward British merchant vessels, the Spanish naval officer Esteban José Martínez seized Thomas Metcalfe's small schooner, the Fair American.

After being released, Thomas Metcalfe sailed the Fair American to Hawaii, hoping to join his father.

[14] Because Hawaiians considered Olowalu a pu'u honua, or place of refuge, this attack had profound and long-lasting consequences, ultimately undermining the site's cultural stability.

[12]Meanwhile, his son Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe, then 19 years old, arrived near Kawaihae Bay, in the Fair American.

By coincidence the Fair American was the next ship to visit the territory of chief Kameʻeiamoku, who was eager for revenge.

At the time the Hawaiians did not realize that the late captain of the Fair American was the son of Simon Metcalfe, whose Eleanora was anchored at Kealakekua Bay, about 30 miles (48 km) away.

Finally, sensing danger or becoming frustrated, Metcalfe left and set sail for China, not knowing that his son had been killed nearby.

In 1792 he purchased a small French brig at Port Louis, Isle of France (now known as Mauritius), to serve as a tender to Eleanora.

[18][19] In 1794, Metcalfe visited Houston Stewart Channel, at the southern end of the Haida Gwaii, and anchored in Coyah's Sound, in the area now known as British Columbia.

[20] Within a few minutes, the natives had killed nearly every man on board, including Simon Metcalfe, save one who fled into the rigging.

There he told the story to John Young, who passed it on to other captains who visited the northwest Pacific islands.

[21] In 1794, the Haida also captured the schooner Resolution, tender to the Boston ship Jefferson under captain Josiah Roberts.