On March 22, 1803, while anchored in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Boston was attacked by "friendly" Nootka Indians. Twenty-five of her twenty-seven crewmen were massacred, their heads "arranged in a line" for survivor John R Jewitt to identify. Jewitt and another survivor, John Thompson, became two of some fifty slaves owned by Chief Maquinna. Among other duties, they were forced to carry wood for three miles and fight for Maquinna when he slaughtered a neighbouring tribe. But their worst fear was the realization that slaves could be killed whenever their master chose. Since most of the Nootka wanted the two whites dead, they never knew what would come first- freedom or death. After Jewitt was rescued, he wrote a book of his experiences. It appeared in 1815 and became known as Jewitt"s Narrative. It proved to be so popular that over 185 years later it is still being reprinted. This is a modernized edition publised in B.C., the land where Jewitt spent 28 months in slavery.