It is claimed that the American whaling ship the Resource was the first American ship to visit Guam. That was in the year 1799, when the United States flag had sixteen stars, as seen above, for the sixteen states that made up the country at the time.
If this claim is accurate, then perhaps the sixteen-starred flag is the first American flag seen by Chamorros, assuming any were down in Apra Harbor at the time the Resource sailed in.
The Resource was not the first American ship to visit the Marianas. That distinction goes to the Betsey which reached Tinian on July 14, 1798. But the only people living on Tinian at the time were a shipwrecked crew, who were rescued and taken away. This was followed the very same year in November by another commercial American ship, the Ann and Hope.. But that ship did not meet any Chamorros nor Spaniards on Tinian either. The island was deserted, except for one shipwreck survivor who was from India or thereabouts.
The Resource did not make much of a splash while it was here on Guam. All that is said is that the ship took on supplies and allowed the crew some shore time for relaxation. Much more valuable for history's sake was the visit of the next American ship, the Lydia, in 1802. A member of that crew wrote many pages of what he observed on Guam when he was here and we still have that account.
I have found, so far, only one American ship called the Resource during the same period it supposedly came to Guam. It was not described as a whaling ship but it was a commercial ship, transporting goods. It is also on record for having made foreign journeys on business. So, conceivably, this is the same Resource that visited Guam. It was owned by a J. Sanford Barker in Charleston, South Carolina. But, for all we know, this could have been another ship by the same name, though that is rare.
Love this. What was said in the account from the Lydia in 1802?
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