John Weddell

John Weddell was an English merchant and navigator known as the first official English visitor to the China coast in 1637. He led a flotilla of four British ships on behalf of the Courbeen Association. It was a new company that received a royal charter from King Charles with the object of promoting trade with China and Japan. His negotiations with the Chinese mandarins were hampered by the interference of the Portuguese. In the end, Weddell used force to achieve his goal. Although he returned with a cargo of cloves and silk and fifity-three tubs of porcelain, he didn’t managed to open the Canton trade to regular trade.