The Tla-o-qui-aht warriors of Vancouver Island's west coast defended their territorial waters against American commercial expansion in June 1811 when they attacked the trading vessel Tonquin in Clayoquot Sound. The ship belonged to John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company and had sailed north from Fort Astoria to trade for valuable sea otter pelts with Indigenous peoples along the coast. The conflict began when Captain Jonathan Thorn insulted the Tla-o-qui-aht elder Nookamis during price negotiati