, Coast Survey charts of 1850 and 1853. Cape Lookout is about ten miles south of Cape Meares and is much more prominent, which is doubtless the reason for the change. Having once become attached to the new cape it was deemed inadvisable to attempt to restore the name to the old location and as a result George Davidson applied Meares' name to the feature that Meares called Cape Lookout. For further information on this point, see the entry for CAPE MEARES and also refer to United States Coast Pilot for 1869.
CAPE MEARES, Tillamook County. Cape Meares is just south of Tillamook Bay, and bears the name of the most interesting of all the early explorers of the north Pacific Coast. Meares is well described in the following words by Professor Edmond S. Meany in his History of the State of Washington, page 25: "John Meares, a retired lieutenant of the British Navy, was the most unconventional and interesting personality of all those figuring in these early marine annals. He sailed under double colors, he succeeded as fur hunter and geographer, he was the pioneer of two great industries, he sought to plant a colony of Chinese men with Kanaka wives, he wrote a book, he precipitated a quarrel between England and Spain which came near embroiling also the new republic of the United States in a serious war. There was nothing dull about John Meares. In 1786, he sailed from Bengal with two vessels, the Nootka and Sea-otter, names redolent of furs and adventure. Little is known of this voyage except that it was confined to the shores of Alaska. In 1787 English merchants in India fitted out two ships, the Felice Adventurer and the Iphigenia Nubiana, and placed them in command of John Meares and William Douglas. To avoid excessive port charges in China and to evade licenses from the South Sea and East Indian monopolies, a Portuguese partner was taken in, who procured from the governor at Macao, Portuguese flags, papers and captains. In case of need the real masters would appear as clerks or super-cargoes. While little use was made of this scheme, the trick of double colors is condemned as a cheat, closely akin to piracy. In May, 1788, Meares in the Felice arrived at Nootka, and for two pistols bought some land from Chief Maquina. He at once erected a little fort, and began an important enterprise. He had brought the framework of a schooner. His ship's company included fifty men, crew and artisans, part of each group being Chinamen. This little schooner, the North West America, was the first vessel built in this part of the world and this also was the first introduction of Chinese labor on the Pacific Coast." While Meares' organization was engaged in these activities, he himself set sail on an exploring expedition along the coast. He passed the mouth of the Columbia River on July 6, 1788, but he failed to identify it as a river. By nightfall of that same day he had discovered and named three important features, the first of which he referred to as Cape Grenville, and the next Quicksand Bay, the third feature he christened Cape Lookout, and the volume containing the story of his travels has a very fine plate showing this cape together with the remarkable rocks a little to the southwest. Having failed to discover the new river he was seeking, he returned to Nootka. For further information about the history of Nootka and the controversy between England and Spain over Mearesenterprise, see Meany's History. It is not easy at this time to identify Cape Grenville. George Davidson supposes it to be Cape Falcon. Quicksand Bay seems to be what is now known as Tillamook Bay. Meares' descrip
