Ranald MacDonald

In 1848, Ranald MacDonald--son of a Hudson's Bay Company official and a Chincook Indian princess--convinced the captain of an American whaling ship to cast him adrift in a rowboat off the northern Japanese coast. Held captive for nearly a year, MacDonald taught English to Japanese interpreters, some of whom interpreted for Commodore Perry when the U.S. Navy forced Japan to open its doors to outsiders in the 1850s. After his release, MacDonald traveled the world before returning to the Pacific Northwest to join in the British Columbia gold rush.