Robert Gray
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- For the Australian poet, see Robert Gray (poet)
Robert Gray (May 10, 1755 - Summer, 1806). Born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, he was the first American to circumnavigate the globe, in 1790.
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Robert Gray is thought by some to have served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolution, but this is unsubstantiated. Other than this guess about his early service, and his known service in the South Carolina trade aboard the Pacific, not much is known of Gray’s early life.In 1791, he sailed a ship named Columbia Rediviva on the Northwest coast. In 1792, he sailed up and named the Columbia River in Oregon, and claimed it for the United States. Grays Point on the Columbia River, Grays Harbor and Grays Harbor County in Washington are named after him. Robert Gray and Captain John Kendrick started out in two ships to trade along the Northwest Coast in 1787. Gray captained the Lady Washington and Kendrick captained the Columbia. Later, Gray sailed the Columbia.
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