An edition of Ranald MacDonald (1997)

Ranald MacDonald

Pacific Rim adventurer

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 11, 2024 | History
An edition of Ranald MacDonald (1997)

Ranald MacDonald

Pacific Rim adventurer

  • 1 Want to read

Ranald MacDonald, a solitary venturer, entered secretive Japan in 1848, risking certain imprisonment, if not death, in the closed kingdom. Born at Astoria on the banks of the Columbia River, MacDonald (1824-94) was the son of a high-ranking Chinook woman and a Hudson's Bay Company official. He became fascinated with stories about the little-known Japanese while a youngster at the HBC's Ft. Vancouver and Red River schools.

In 1848, 24-year-old MacDonald arranged with the captain of an American whaling ship to be cast off in a rowboat on the cold, northern Japanese coast. Interned but escaping execution, MacDonald was sent by high-ranking Japanese officials to more populous parts of the country and ordered to teach English to Japanese translators. After nearly a year in captivity, he was released along with a small group of other American sailors stranded on the forbidden coast.

In the 1850s, several of MacDonald's Japanese interpreters served in key roles when Commodore Perry of the U.S. Navy forced a not entirely unwilling Japan to open its doors to the outside world.

MacDonald's wandering spirit led him throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and eastern Canada, before returning to the Pacific Northwest in 1858, where he lived for the rest of his life, but not without further adventures. He joined a difficult exploration of Vancouver Island, and, for many years, participated in the gold excitement of Canada's Fraser and Cariboo districts.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
256

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Ranald MacDonald
Ranald MacDonald: Pacific Rim adventurer
1997, Washington State University Press
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. [239]-248) and index.

Published in
Pullman, Wash

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
979.7
Library of Congress
F853 .R65 1997, F853.R65 1997

The Physical Object

Pagination
viii, 256 p. :
Number of pages
256

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL656925M
Internet Archive
ranaldmacdonaldp0000roej
ISBN 10
0874221471, 0874221463
LCCN
97002019
OCLC/WorldCat
36225568
Library Thing
2998017
Goodreads
4373487
440726

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
July 11, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 17, 2024 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 4, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Added subjects from MARC records.
April 28, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Linked existing covers to the work.
December 10, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page