1774.

54th parallel, and must have been the northwestern part of Queen July 20. Charlotte's Island. After a cursory examination of this coast, he

proceeded towards the south, occasionally seeing the land; and Aug. 9. at length, in the latitude of 491 degrees, he discovered and entered a bay, to which he gave the name of Port San Lorenzo.* Here he traded with the natives, who surrounded his vessel in great numbers, offering the skins of animals in return for articles of iron, with which metal they were already acquainted. From this bay Perez sailed on the 10th of August; and as he arrived at Monterey on the 27th of the same month, it is not probable that he examined very minutely the coast lying between the two places. Martinez, the pilot of the ship, however, in 1789, asserted that a passage extending eastwardly between the 48th and 49th parallels had been found, and entered by his commander soon after quitting Port San Lorenzo; upon the strength of which assertion, Navarrete assigns to Perez the discovery of the arm of the sea now called the Strait of Fuca, and in his map bestows the name of Point Martinez on the cape at the southern side of its entrance.

1775.

From this account of the voyage of Perez, it will be seen that little information was obtained by him with regard to the northwest coast of America. If the latitude of Port San Lorenzo be correctly reported in the accounts of the expedition, (and we have no reason for supposing otherwise,) that bay must have been the same to which Cook, four years afterwards, gave the name of King George's Sound, and which is now known as Nootka Sound. The Spanish Government, however, by concealing all accounts of the voyage of Perez until long after the publication of the journals of Cook, deprived itself of the means of establishing the claims of its subjects to the merit of the discovery, which is almost universally attributed to the British navigator.

Immediately after the return of Perez, the Viceroy of Mexico, Don Antonio Bucareli, ordered that another expedition should be made to the north Pacific, for the purpose of examining the whole shore of the continent, from Cape Mendocino as far, if possible, as the 65th degree of latitude. With this view, the Santiago was placed under the command of Captain Bruno Heceta, Juan Perez going in her as ensign; and she was to be accompanied by the Sonora, a schooner of not more than thirty tons burden, of which Juan de Ayala was the chief officer, and Antonio Maurelle the pilot. From the Journal of Maurelle, as translated into English by the honorable Daines Barrington, and published at London in 1781, nearly all that is known respecting the expedition has been derived. This Journal is confined almost entirely to the occurrences on board of the schooner; concerning the movements of the Santiago, we have only a few indistinct notices, in the Introduction to the Narrative of the Voyage of the Sutil and Mexicana. The most material facts collected from these sources are the following:

*The 10th of August is the day of San Lorenzo, (St. Lawrence,) according to the Roman Catholic Calendar.

1775.

The two vessels having been provisioned for a voyage of a year, sailed together from San Blas, in company with the schooner Mar. 16. San Carlos, which was bound for Monterey. Ere the latter vessel had proceeded far from the land, her captain became delirious; in consequence of which, Juan de Ayala was ordered to take his place, Lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega succeeding to the command of the Sonora. This circumstance is here mentioned, because, in nearly all the accounts of the voyage, Ayala is represented as the principal officer in command, whereas he in fact only accompanied the exploring vessels to the vicinity of Monterey.

The exploring vessels, after parting with the San Carlos, made Cape Mendocino on the 7th of June, and on the 10th cast anchor June 7. in a small cove just beyond that promontory, in the latitude of 41 degrees 3 minutes. At this place, which was named Port Trinidad, the Spaniards remained nine days, employed in refitting their vessels and taking in water. During this time, they held communications with the natives of the country, who appeared to be a mild and tractable race; and on their departure, they erected a cross near the shore, with an inscription setting forth the period of their visit, and the rights of their Sovereign to the surrounding territory, founded upon the discovery. This cross was seen standing by Vancouver, who landed there in 1793; the English navigator did not, however, consider the place as meriting the name of a port.

On leaving Port Trinidad, the Spaniards kept at a distance June 19. from the land, beating against contrary winds, until the 9th of July, when, finding themselves in the latitude in which Juan de Fuca was said to have discovered a strait leading eastward July 9. through the continent, they sailed to the coast in order to ascertain the truth of the account. Proceeding in that direction, they July 11. soon saw the land, which, from its situation as described, must have been the southwest side of the great island of Vancouver and Quadra, at the entrance of the passage now called Fuca's Strait. They were, however, unable to examine this part of the coast, and were driven southward, to within eighty miles of the mouth of the Columbia, where they anchored, between the con- July 13. tinent and a small island. Here they met with a severe misfortune; several of the crew of the schooner, who had been sent on shore in search of water, were surrounded by savages, and murdered immediately on landing; and the vessel was herself ex- July 14.

* Barrington's Miscellanies, which contains the translation of Maurelle's Journal, is a rare work; and the notices of this expedition, contained in the various memoirs, reports, and reviews, concerning the northwest coasts of America, are nearly alí taken directly or at second-hand from the abstracts of the Journal by Fleurieu, in the Introduction to the Narrative of Marchand's Voyage around the World, and in the instructions to La Pérouse. In these papers, Fleurieu has displayed much geographical knowledge, yet he has committed numberless errors; and his contempt for the Spaniards has led him, whenever an opportunity presented itself, or could be contrived, to disparage their proceedings. His accounts and criticisms with regard to the expedition, described by Maurelle, are filled with inaccuracies, and with unjust or illiberal charges against the Spaniards. Of his mistakes, the least important is his assignment of the command to Ayala.

1

1775. posed to danger from the attacks of the barbarians, who appeared in great numbers in canoes, and were with difficulty prevented from boarding her. In commemoration of this event, the island was called Isla de Dolores, (Isle of Grief.) Twelve years afterwards it received from the commander of the Austrian ship Imperial Eagle the name of Destruction Island, in consequence of the massacre of some of his men near the spot where the Spaniards had been cut off.

July 15.

After the occurrence of this disaster, as many of the crews of both vessels were moreover disabled by sickness, it was debated among the officers whether they should endeavor to proceed to the north, or return to Monterey. The commander, Heceta, was anxious to return; Bodega and Maurelle, however, notwithstanding the miserable condition of their little schooner and crew, insisted that they should persevere in their efforts to reach a higher latitude; and their opinion having been unwillingly adopted by their superior, the voyage was resumed on the 20th of July. On Aug. 4. the 4th of August the vessels were separated, and Heceta seized the opportunity of going to Monterey, while the schooner continued her course towards the north.

Aug. 14.

Ten days after leaving the schooner, Heceta, while sailing along the coast of the continent towards the south, discovered a promontory, called by him Cape San Roque, and immediately south of it, under the parallel of 46 degrees 16 minutes, an opening in the land, which appeared to be a harbor or the mouth of some river. This opening, represented in Spanish charts printed before 1788 by the names of Entrada de Heceta, Entrada de Asuncion, and Rio de San Roque,† was, without doubt, the mouth of the Columbia river, which was thus, for the first time, seen by the natives of a civilized country.

Bodega and Maurelle, in their schooner, after parting with HeAug. 18. ceta, proceeded towards the north as far as the latitude of 57 degrees, before they again saw the land. Under that parallel they discovered a lofty mountain in the form of a beautiful cone, rising from the ocean, and occupying nearly the whole of what appeared to be a peninsula, projecting westward from the coast of an extensive territory. In the angles between the supposed peninsula and the main land, were two bays, the northernmost of which was called Port Remedios, and that on the southern side Port Guadalupe, in honor of the two most celebrated places of pilgrimage in Mexico, situated near the capital. The mountain overhanging these bays received the name of San Jacinto, the saint on whose day it was discovered; and the appellation of Cape Engaño (Deception) was bestowed on its western extremity. There is no difficulty in identifying these spots, from the descriptions given by Maurelle, although they are distinguished on our English maps by other names; they are on the western side of the

* Journal of the Sutil and Mexicana, page 153; and Introduction to the same, page 94.

The 15th of August is the day of the Assumption; and the 16th is St. Roque's (or St. Roch's) day, according to the Roman Catholic Calendar....

largest island of King George the Third's group, a little northward of the place where the Russian navigator, Tschirikof, saw the land, and where his men were lost in 1741. Mount San Jacinto is now generally known as Mount Edgecumb, and Cape Engaño as Cape Edgecumb; Port Remedios is the Bay of Islands; and Port Guadalupe is Norfolk Sound, called also by the Russians the Gulf of Sitca. These two bays communicate with each other by a narrow passage behind the mountain, which is thus completely insulated.

1775.

The Spaniards landed on the shore of Port Remedios, where Aug. 19. they took possession of the country for their Sovereign with religious formalities, obtained some fresh water, and fought and traded with the natives, who appeared to have very distinct ideas of their own rights of property in the soil. The voyage was then continued towards the north, as far as the 58th degree. When the vessel had reached that latitude, nearly the whole of her crew Aug. 22. were incapable of duty, while the increasing violence of the winds rendered additional exertions absolutely necessary. Under such circumstances, the officers found that it would be imprudent to persevere in their endeavors to advance, and they accordingly turned towards the south, resolving, however, to explore the coasts minutely in that direction.

This

Having taken this course, they searched along the shores as they went, for the passage or strait called the Rio de los Reyes, through which Admiral Fonté was said to have sailed into the Atlantic in 1640. "With this intent," writes Maurelle, "we searched every bay and recess of the coast, and sailed around every headland, lying to during the night, in order that we might not lose sight of this entrance; after which exertions, we may safely pronounce that no such strait is to be found." conclusion was certainly correct, yet it was as certainly not established by the discoveries of the Spaniards in 1775. On that occasion, the search was confined to the part of the coast north of the 55th parallel; whereas, according to the account of Fonté's voyage, the Rio de los Reyes entered the Pacific under the 53d. Moreover, had the observations been as minute as Maurelle represents them, several passages would have been found leading towards the north and east, for the examination of any one of which more time would have been required than was devoted by the Spaniards to the whole search.

In the course of this examination, a bay, affording excellent harbors, and well secured against the ocean by islands, was discovered in the latitude of 55 degrees, which, in compliment to the Viceroy of Mexico, was called Port Bucareli. It is situated Aug. 24. on the southwestern side of the largest of the Prince of Wales's Islands, and is one of the few places on the northwest coast of America which still retain on our maps the names originally bestowed by their Spanish discoverers. From Port Bucareli the schooner sailed slowly southward, along the shores of the great islands which border the American continent, and were long after supposed to form part of it; and on the 19th of Sep- Sept. 19. tember she reached the spot where her men had been murdered

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1775.

two months before by the savages. Thence her voyage was conSept. 19. tinued, at some distance from the land, past the mouth of the Columbia; a little south of which she again approached the continent, and her officers endeavored to find the entrance of the great river said to have been seen by Martin de Aguilar, the pilot of one of Vizcaino's vessels, in 1603. The examinations with this view were commenced near a promontory, "resembling in form a round table," which received the appellation of Cape Mezari, situated about thirty miles from the mouth of the Columbia; and were prosecuted to the vicinity of Cape Mendocino, without success. The Spaniards then bore away for the bay of San Francisco; and, while looking for it, they entered a smaller bay, situated farther north, to which Captain Bodega thought proper to give his own name. There they remained long enough to survey the shores; after which, they took their departure, and arOct. 7. rived at Monterey on the 7th of October.

1777.

The expeditions of the Spaniards in the north Pacific, during the years 1774 and 1775, have been made the subjects of severe reflections and sarcasms by French and English writers; especially by Fleurieu, in his Introduction to the Account of Marchand's Voyage around the World, and his Notes to the Instructions given to La Pérouse. It must be acknowledged that little exact information respecting the northwestern side of America was derived by means of these expeditions; yet their results might have been important, by affording useful hints for the organization and conduct of future voyages. The great questions of the extension of the continent towards the north and west were left unsettled, and the delineation of the coasts, founded upon the journals and tables of the navigators, was imperfect and inaccurate; on the other hand, the eastern boundaries of the Pacific were approximately ascertained, as far north as the 58th degree of latitude; and several harbors were found, the positions of which were determined with tolerable precision. Perez and Heceta, indeed, displayed a cautiousness of disposition approaching to pusillanimity; but Bodega and Maurelle certainly vindicated the character of their nation for courage and perseverance, by their struggles to advance under the most appalling difficulties.

In order to complete the examination of the northwest coast of America, the Viceroy, Bucareli, obtained from his Government the use of two small corvettes, which he was anxious to despatch in 1777; the funds required for their equipment were, however, so slowly collected that they were not ready for sea until two 1778. years afterwards. In the mean time, that coast had been visited by Captain James Cook, whose discoveries now claim our attention. Before proceeding to consider them, it should be observed that the Spanish Government carefully concealed from the world every circumstance relating to its establishments and researches

* This promontory is minutely described by Captain Clarke, who ascended it in January, 1806. See Lewis and Clarke's Travels, chapter 22.