Butterworth Squadron

The Butterworth Squadron was a British commercial group of three vessels, Butterworth, Jackal, and Prince Lee Boo, that sailed for the Pacific Ocean from London via Cape Horn in late 1791. The principals financing the expedition were Alderman William Curtis, London ship-owner Theophilus Pritzler, and probably John Perry, a Blackwall shipbuilder. The leader of the expedition was Captain William Brown, an established whaling captain from the Greenland whale fishery. Sigismund Bacstrom, a naturalist who had previously sailed as a secretary to Sir Joseph Banks, was the surgeon for the expedition. Bacstrom produced a number of drawings during the first part of the voyage, some of which are still in existence.

The expedition is notable for a violent conflict with the Tla-o-qui-aht People of Vancouver Island and another reported conflict in Formosa. Butterworth, Jackal and Prince Lee Boo are often credited with being the first European vessels to enter Honolulu Harbor.

Jackal and Prince Lee Boo are also notable for taking part in the war between Kalanikupule and his uncle Ka'eokulani on the island of Oahu, for firing the shot that killed John Kendrick aboard Lady Washington, and for participating in an aborted attack on Kamehameha by Kalanikupule.