Remembering Astor’s ship, the Tonquin, 215 years after it exploded
By Kristian Foden-Vencil (OPB)
The Tonquin helped settle Astoria and was the key to John Jacob Astor’s effort to build a worldwide fur-trading empire. But in 1811, the ship exploded, killing an untold number of tribal members and putting an end to Astor’s northward expansion.
