Kingfisher (sloop) explained
Kingfisher was a
sloop engaged in merchant trading out of
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to
First Nations peoples around
Vancouver Island and adjoining waters. During trading with the
Ahousaht Nation, a part of the
Nuu-chah-nulth in
Clayoquot Sound late in 1864 the vessel was attacked and its captain, a Captain Stephenson, and three crew members were massacred., a small gunboat, was dispatched to the scene but due to overwhelming superiority of Ahousaht forces waited for reinforcements, which came in the form of the
screw frigate and its fifty guns. Holding offshore from
Marktosis, one of the main Ahousaht communities,
Admiral Denman, commander of the vessel, demanded the surrender of Chapchah, who had masterminded the killings. When the residents refused, Denman opened fire on the village, destroying it. Subsequently, the village of Moyat and others were destroyed by shellfire and incendiary rockets from
Sutlej.
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