CATEGORY: SAILING

When Bob and I were in Friday Harbor, we often spent time exploring San Juan Island. We could walk across the Island to Lime Kiln Point, where we saw killer whales, their can-opener fins slicing through the water.  We could walk north to Roche Harbor where once we spent the night in its antique hotel and saw John Wayne’s huge yacht anchored in the bay.  We could also walk to the charming English Army Camp built in 1859 on a lovely little bay south of Roche Harbor, or to the American Army Camp built in 1859 on the barren, wind-swept south end of the island.  Why were there both British and American military camps built on the same small island at the same time in this remote corner of the world?  It was because, in true Gilbert and Sullivan tradition, a pig almost started a war between those two countries in that year.  It was called The Pig War.

In 1859, the boundary between the United States and Canada from the continental mainland to Vancouver Island had not yet been established.  The San Juan Islands had not even been mapped. There were only some squiggly islandesque lines drawn on a chart by Captain Vancouver indicating Haro Straight on the west next to Vancouver Island, and Rosario Straight on the east next to the U. S. mainland.  It is not hard to figure out which country favored what boundary.

The Hudson Bay Company, the British trading company with which we are all familiar, had set up a sheep farm on San Juan Island.  The company claimed the whole island, so they thought it unnecessary to build fences.  At the same time, American settlers had arrived claiming land through the Dominion Land Claim, one of the many homesteading allotments of that era.  They didn’t build fences either, wire being a difficult commodity to acquire on an island in the far west, and poles for rail fences also being scarce, since the island was not heavily forested.  The man in charge of the sheep farm was Charles Griffin.  Lyman Cutlar was a homesteader who had built a cabin and started a garden.  

Besides sheep, Griffin had several pigs which were allowed free run on the island.  One of them would periodically root in Cutlar’s garden and eat his potatoes.  Cutlar went to Griffin to complain about the pig.  The story goes that he said to Griffin, “It is your duty to keep your pig out of my potato patch.”  To which Griffin replied, “It is your duty to keep your potatoes out of my pig!”  Cutlar threatened to shoot the pig if it came back.  Did it come back?  Yes!  Did he shoot it?  Yes!  

Then he dumped The Pig in Griffins front yard.  I think this was a magnanimous gesture on his part since the logical thing would have been for him to eat the pig himself; in which case, the pig murder might have gone un-noticed.  However he was stalwart, forthright and honest, just as we have been told in our school books about westering Americans of the nineteenth century.  Griffen threatened to call in British troops to arrest Cutlar.  His other intent was to rid HIS island of all American settlers.

The upshot (excuse pun) was that, at the request of the settlers, the American army sent in 500 troops–with CANNON! (or CANNONS!, depending on whether one is English or American) which they installed on both sides of the pointed south tip of the island so they would have control of the shipping lanes on either side.  They tenaciously dug underground quarters between the rows of armaments.  Whereupon, the English sent a fleet of ships with over 2000 men and built their own camp as afore mentioned.  

The English Admiral in charge of the fleet was ordered by the governor of Vancouver Island to fire on the Americans.  He refused.  He said if England and America went to war because of a squabble over a pig, they would be the laughing stock of the world.  Both sides were ordered by their military superiors not to fire the first shot, so they expressed their animosity by taunting each other in hopes that the other side would fire.  I can visualize them now: “Nyah, nyah nyah, nyah! Can’t even fire a gun! Sissy britches”!

When the top honchos of both countries heard what was happening in their far outer reaches, they ordered that the number of men on both sides be reduced to 100, and they ordered the men to stay in their respective camps until the matter was settled at the highest levels.  It took the highest levels twelve years to settle, and then they had to turn to the Kaiser of Germany and a German committee to mediate.  The Kaiser and his committee chose in favor of the Yanks, outwardly because there were more Americans in the islands than English, but inwardly because they thought England had already overstepped her boundaries around the world.

Meanwhile, back at the Island: both sides did not stay in their respective camps.  Soon the two camps began fraternizing–first a little with athletic contests, and then a lot with celebratory feasts of pork and leg of lamb.  The English liked to kick back and have a good time (a trait that probably caused them to lose the Revolutionary War) and the Americans were tired of living underground.  Compared to the American camp, the English camp was luxurious.  It had extensive lawns, big sheltering oak trees, calm sparkling waters in a beach-bordered bay just meant for swimming and fishing.  It had buildings made of milled wood: barracks, a mess hall and an assembly hall large enough for dancing.  Another small detail was that the Brits had access to alcoholic beverages.  The Americans barely had enough to eat because most federal funds were being spent on the Civil War.  

A bright spot was that the American settlers had daughters.  It didn’t seem prudent to the “Hail-Fellows-Well-Met” Englishmen to invite the American girls to parties and dances in their assembly hall without inviting the American army.  And so it all began: the longest on-going party ever enjoyed between contending armies: a party that lasted twelve years.

When it was finally over, neither side wanted to leave.  Perhaps their descendants are still living there today.  What a missed opportunity for a musical comedy!  See what I mean about Gilbert and Sullivan?