George Dixon (Royal Navy officer)
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Captain George Dixon RN (1755? – 1800) was an English sea captain and explorer. He served under Captain Cook in his third expedition, where he learned about the commercial possibilities along the northwest coast of North America. After the end of Cook's expedition, Dixon became a captain in the Royal Navy.
In 1785 Dixon became a partner in Richard Cadman Etches and Company, commonly called the King George’s Sound Company with the purpose of developing the fur trade in present day Canada. In the autumn of 1785 Dixon commanded the exploration ship Queen Charlotte. In the summers of 1786 and 1787 Dixon explored the shores of present-day British Columbia. He spent the intervening winter in the Hawaiian Islands, where he became the first European to visit the island of Molokai. His chief discoveries were the Queen Charlotte Islands and Queen Charlotte Sound, Port Mulgrave, Norfolk Bay, and the Dixon Entrance.
After visiting China and selling his cargo, he returned to England in 1788 and published, in 1799, A Voyage Round the World, but More Particularly to the North-West Coast of America. The book was a collection of descriptive letters by William Beresford, his cargo officer, and valuable charts and appendices by Dixon.
There was a controversy between Dixon and John Meares, another explorer who had published a book claiming credit for discoveries Dixon thought were made by others. This controversy resulted in three pamphlets by Dixon and Meares denouncing each other. In retrospect, history seems to support Dixon's view that Meares was dishonest in his claims.
There was a George Dixon who taught navigation at Gosport, England and wrote a treatise entitled The Navigator's Assistant in 1791. This may or may not be the same George Dixon.
