Gray, Robert 1755-1806
Explorer; born in Tiverton, R. I., in 1755; was captain of the Washington, which was sent in 1787 to [145] the northwest coast to trade with the Indians by a number of Boston merchants. In 1790 he returned by way of the Pacific Ocean on board the Columbia, which vessel had accompanied the Washington, and was thus the first to sail around the world under the American flag. Later he made a second trip to the Northwest, and on May 11, 1791, discovered the mouth of the great river, which he named Columbia. He died in Charleston, S. C., in 1806.