GLAS, GEORGE (1725-1765), Scottish seaman and mer chant adventurer in West Africa, son of John Glas (q.v.), was born at Dundee in 1725. He commanded a ship which traded between Brazil, the north-west coasts of Africa and the Canary islands. During his voyages he discovered on the Sahara seaboard a river navigable for some distance inland, and here he proposed to found a trading station. The spot is plausibly identified with Gueder, a place in about 29° 10' N., possibly the haven where the Spaniards had in the 15th and i6th centuries a fort called Santa Cruz de Mar Pequena. Glas made an arrangement with the Lords of Trade whereby he was granted f 15,00o if he obtained free cession of the port he had discovered to the British Crown; the proposal was to be laid before parliament in the session of 1765. Having chartered a vessel, Glas, with his wife and daughter, sailed for Africa in 1764, reached his destination, made a treaty with the Moors of the district, and named his settlement Port Hillsborough.
In Nov. 1764 Glas and some companions, leaving his ship be hind, went in the longboat to Lanzarote, intending to buy a small barque. From Lanzarote he forwarded to London the treaty he had concluded for the acquisition of Port Hillsborough. A few days later he was seized by the Spaniards, taken to Teneriffe and imprisoned at Santa Cruz. (See Calendar of Home Office Papers 176o-65.) In March 1765 the ship's company at Port Hills borough was attacked by the natives and several members of it killed. The survivors, including Mrs. and Miss Glas, escaped to Teneriffe. In October following, Glas was released from prison, and, with his wife and child, he set sail for England on board the barque "Earl of Sandwich." On Nov. 3o Spanish and Portuguese members of the crew mutinied, killing the captain and passengers. Glas was stabbed to death, and his wife and daughter thrown over board. (The murderers were afterwards captured and hanged at Dublin.) After the death of Glas the British Government appears to have taken no steps to carry out his project.
In 1764 Glas published in London, The History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands, which he had translated from the ms. of an Andalusian monk named Juan Abreu de Galindo, then recently discovered at Palma. To this Glas added a description of the islands.