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John Meares (c. 1756 – 1809) was an English navigator and explorer, best known for his role in initiating a crisis that led to the Vancouver Expedition establishing Britain's claims to the Northwest coast of America.

In 1771, Meares joined the Royal Navy as a captain's servant and was commissioned a Lieutenant in 1778. In 1783 he joined the merchant service and in 1785, based in India, formed the Northwest America Company for trading otter furs with Russian America, using Portuguese papers to evade Spanish claims to control trade on the West coast of America. He sailed from Calcutta on March 12, 1786, in the Nootka, a vessel of two hundred tons, with which he explored part of the coast of Alaska. He spent the winter of 1786 - 1787 in Prince William Sound with poor provisions; his men suffered from the weather and scurvey, and were saved only by the timely arrival of Captain George Dixon, a trader with proper licenses, in the HMS Queen Charlotte. Meares gave Dixon his bond never to trade in the Northwest again, and returned to China by way of the Sandwich Islands (Hawai'i).

In 1788, Meares started a new expedition with two vessels. He sailed from China on January 22, 1788 and explored the Nootka Sound of present-day British Columbia and the neighboring coasts. He bought some land from the local chief Maquinna and built a trading post. With the aid of some Chinese carpenters he had brought along, he built the ship Northwest America, the first European ship launched in British Columbia. Among others, Meares encountered American Captain Robert Gray.

In June of 1789, the Spanish established a base at Nootka Sound, which they had discovered in 1774, and seized Meares' trading post and some ships. Meares, in China at the time, sent somewhat exaggerated claims to Britain which, read in the House of Commons, touched off the Great Spanish Armament crisis. War was averted with the Nootka Convention, which lead to George Vancouver's historic voyage in HMS Discovery. Spain later withdrew its claims to Nootka Sound in the face of Britain's military superiority.

In 1790, Meares published Voyages in the Years 1788-'9 from China to the Northwest Coast of America in 1790. This caused a controversy; Meares' criticisms of George Dixon lead the latter to publish a pamphlet about Meares' self-aggrandizement and false claims discoveries made by others. Meares' claim that Captain Gray had circumnavigated Vancouver island was disclaimed by Gray himself. The explorations of Captain George Vancouver^[1] disproved a number of Meares' other claims.

Nonetheless, Meares' claims formed a basis for negotiation of British title to Oregon and British Columbia. He was made a Commander in the Royal Navy in 1795.

Cape Meares, in the present United States state of Oregon, is named after Meares. Also named after him is Meares Island, located in the entrance of Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia.

1. ^ Naish, John (1996). The Interwoven Lives of George Vancouver, Archibald Menzies, Joseph Whidbey and Peter Puget: The Vancouver Voyage of 1791-1795. The Edward Mellen Press, Ltd.. ISBN 0-7734-8857-X. 

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online