After being separated from his father in a storm, Thomas sailed a small schooner with a crew of four from the vicinity of China to Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island where he was arrested by the Spanish.
Simon Metcalfe decided to sail to the Pacific Northwest Coast to acquire sea otter furs before returning to China to buy tea.
[3] When one of George Vancouver's officers saw the Fair American, a few years later, he was "Stuck with Surprize, at so small a Vessel having been employ'd on such a Commercial pursuit as she had been, and to have travers'd Such an immense tract of Boisterous Ocean as she had done.
Thomas continued down the Pacific Northwest Coast, acquiring some furs through trade with some Tlingit and Haida villages, before arriving at Nootka Sound.
[3] In the vicinity of Dixon Entrance he encountered and briefly met with John Kendrick, who was sailing Lady Washington to Haida Gwaii.
[8] According to Esteban José Martínez, the Spanish commander at Nootka Sound, Thomas Metcalfe's Fair American arrived with "her mast sprung and her sails split", and that the schooner had no provisions left but only "some casks of water and some 65 otter skins".
In addition, Martínez noted that Thomas Metcalfe had "no written passport or instructions and no papers except his diary", and that his sole compass was broken.
As increasing numbers of trading ships visited Nootka Sound, Spain decided to assert its claim to the Pacific Northwest Coast.
He seized the British merchant ships Argonaut, under James Colnett, Princess Royal, under Thomas Hudson, and North West America, under Robert Funter.
Martínez took the Fair American and her crew to the Spanish naval base at San Blas, Mexico, arriving on 6 December 1789.
In order for the Fair American to make the voyage to San Blas, Martínez provided compasses, cordage, yards, and a new main-mast.
[3] On the way to San Blas a storm forced the Fair American under Juan Kendrick to seek shelter at Monterey, California.
The Spanish viceroy, Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, was worried about the possibility of international crisis sparked by the seizure of three British and one U.S. merchant ships.
After Simon Metcalfe evaded capture at Nootka Sound he traded for sea otter furs in Haida Gwaii before making for Hawaii.
[18] That next ship was the Fair American, captained by Thomas Metcalfe, the son of the very person who had so offended the chief, although nobody was aware of that fact at the time.
At the time no one was aware of the family relation between the captain of the Fair American and Simon Metcalfe, whose Eleanora was anchored at Kealakekua Bay, about 30 miles (50 km) away.
Finally, sensing danger or becoming frustrated, Metcalfe left and set sail for China, not knowing that his son had been killed not far away.
John Young and Isaac Davis were instrumental in Kamehameha's military ventures and his eventual conquest and unification of the Hawaiian Islands.
In 1792 he purchased a small French brig at Port Louis, Isle de France (Mauritius) to serve as a tender to Eleanora.
[21][22][2] In August 1794 Simon Metcalfe visited Houston Stewart Channel, at the southern end of Haida Gwaii, and anchored in Coyah's Sound near the village of Ninstints.