There can be no doubt that the locality of the bay which Meares reconnoitred was the locality of the Ensenada de Heceta; and on the other hand it cannot be gainsayed, that Meares was right in concluding that there was no such river as that of St. Roque, as laid down in the Spanish charts, for the context of Meares’ narrative explains the meaning of the word “such.” Meares states beforehand, that they were in expectation that the distant land beyond the promontory would prove to be “the Cape St. Roque of the Spaniards, near which they were said to have found a good port.” The river, then, of St. Roque, such as it was laid down in Spanish charts, was a river “near which was a good port,” and the disappointment which Meares handed down to posterity by the name which he gave to the promontory, was that of not obtaining a place of shelter for his vessel. Meares, it must be remembered, was not in search of the Straits of Anian. He had already in the previous month of June ascertained the existence of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, which he supposed might be one of the passages into Hudson’s Bay: but he was in search of some harbour or port, where the ship could remain in safety, while the boats might be employed in exploring the coast. (Voyage, p. 166.) Such a harbour indeed Deception Bay most assuredly does not supply, and though Baker’s Bay within the bar of the river affords on the north side a good and secure anchorage, yet, as Lieut. Broughton subsequently ascertained, “the heavy and confused swell that rolls in over the shallow entrance, and breaks in three fathoms water, renders the place between Baker’s Bay and Chinock Point a very indifferent roadstead.”
Mr. Greenhow, (p. 177,) in his observations on Meares’ voyage, writes thus: “Yet, strange though it may appear, the commissioners appointed by the British Government in 1826, to treat with the plenipotentiary of the United States at London, on the subject of the claims of the respective parties to territories on the northwest side of America, insisted that Meares on this occasion discovered the Great River Columbia, which actually enters the Pacific at Deception Bay, and cite, in proof of their assertion, the very parts of the narrative above extracted,” the substance of which has just been referred to. Mr. Greenhow, however, has attached rather too great an extent to the statement of the British commissioners, which is annexed to the protocol of the sixth conference, held at London, Dec. 16th, 1826. The documents relative to this negotiation have not as yet been published by the British Government, but they were made known to the Congress of the United States, with the message of President Adams, on Dec. 12, 1827, and Mr. Greenhow has annexed the British statement in his Appendix.
“Great Britain,” it is there said, “can show that in 1788, that is, four years before Gray entered the mouth of the Columbia river, Mr. Meares, a lieutenant of the Royal Navy, who had been sent by the East India Company on a trading expedition to the northwest coast of America, had already minutely explored the coast from the 49th to the 45th degree of north latitude; had taken formal possession of the Straits of De Fuca in the name of his sovereign; had purchased land, trafficked and formed treaties with the natives; and had actually entered the bay of the Columbia, to the north headland of which he gave the name of Cape Disappointment, a name which it bears to this day.”
The language of this statement, it will be seen, is carefully worded, so as not to go beyond the actual facts narrated in Meares’ Voyage; and further, on referring to the maps of the coasts and harbours which he visited, it continues, “in which every part of the coast in question, including the Bay of the Columbia (into which the log expressly states that Meares entered,) is minutely laid down, its delineation tallying in almost every particular with Vancouver’s subsequent survey, and with the description found in all the best maps of that part of the world adopted at this moment.”
The entry in Meares’ log-book is as follows: “July 6, lat. 46° 10′; long. 235° 24′; northerly; strong gales, a great sea. Passed Cape Disappointment, into Deception Bay, and hauled out again, and passed Quicksand Bay, Cape Grenville, and Cape Look-out.”
There is, therefore, nothing strange in the view which the British Commissioners really insisted upon, though it is strange that Mr. Greenhow should have misconstrued their statement, particularly as, in a paragraph almost immediately following, which will be referred to in full in its proper place, they readily admit that Mr. Gray, four years afterwards, “was the first to ascertain that this bay formed the outlet of a great river.”
The further examination of these coasts by British subjects was suspended for a short time, as already seen, by the interference of the Spanish authorities. After, however, that Spain had definitively abandoned her pretensions to exclusive rights along the entire northwest coast of America, as far as Prince William’s Sound, and agreed, by the third article of the Convention of 1790, that occupation should be the test of territorial title, the British Government judged it expedient “to ascertain with as much precision as possible the number, extent, and situation of any settlement which had been made within the limits of 60° and 30° north latitude by any European nation, and the time when such settlement was made. With this object, amongst others more immediately connected with the execution of the first article of the Convention, Captain George Vancouver was despatched from Deptford with two vessels on January 6, 1791, and having wintered at the Sandwich Islands, where he was instructed to wait for further orders in reference to the restoration of the buildings and tracts of land, of which British subjects had been dispossessed at Nootka, he arrived off the coast of America on April 17, 1792, in about 39° 30′. He had received special instructions to ascertain the direction and extent of all such considerable inlets, whether made by arms of the sea, or by the mouths of great rivers, which might be likely to lead to, or facilitate in any considerable degree, an intercourse, for the purposes of commerce, between the northwest coast and the country upon the opposite side of the continent, which are inhabited or occupied by his Majesty’s subjects;” but he was expressly required and directed “not to pursue any inlet or river further than it should appear to be navigable by vessels of such burden as might safely navigate the Pacific Ocean.” (Introduction to Vancouver’s Voyage, p. xix.)
Having made a headland, which he supposed to be Cape Mendocino, Vancouver directed his course northward, examining carefully the line of coast, and taking soundings as he proceeded. In about latitude 42° 52′, longitude 235° 35′, he remarked a low projecting headland, apparently composed of black craggy rocks in the space between the woods and the wash of the sea, and covered with wood nearly to the edge of the surf, which, as forming a very conspicuous point, he distinguished by the name of Cape Orford. Mr. Greenhow has allowed his antipathy to Vancouver to lead him into an erroneous statement in respect to this headland. Vancouver (Vol. i., p. 205, April 25, 1792) writes: “Some of us were of opinion that this was the Cape Blanco of Martin d’Aguilar; its latitude, however, differed greatly from that in which Cape Blanco is placed by that navigator; and its dark appearance, which might probably be occasioned by the haziness of the weather, did not seem to entitle it to the appellation of Cape Blanco.” He afterwards goes on to say, that at noon, when Cape Orford was visible astern, nearly in the horizon, they had a projecting headland in sight on the westward, which he considered to be Cape Blanco. He here ranged along the coast, at the distance of about a league, in hope of discovering the asserted river of D’Aguilar. “About three in the afternoon, we passed within a league of the cape above mentioned, and at about half that distance from some breakers that lie to the westward of it. This cape, though not so projecting a point as Cape Orford, is nevertheless a conspicuous one, particularly when seen from the north, being formed by a round hill, on high perpendicular cliffs, some of which are white, a considerable height from the level of the sea.” It appeared to Vancouver to correspond in several of its features with Captain Cook’s description of Cape Gregory, though its latitude, which he determined to be 43° 23′, did not agree with that assigned by Captain Cook to that headland; but he again states, that there was a “probability of its being also the Cape Blanco of D’Aguilar, if land hereabouts the latter ever saw;” and that “a compact white sandy beach commenced, where the rocky cliffs composing it terminate.”
Mr. Greenhow remarks: “Near the 43d degree of latitude, they sought in vain for the river, which Martin d’Aguilar was said to have seen, entering the Pacific thereabouts, in 1603: and they appeared inclined to admit as identical with the Cape Blanco of that navigator, a high, whitish promontory, in the latitude of 42° 52′, to which, however, they did not scruple to assign the name of Cape Orford.” Had these observations been made in reference to Cape Gregory, the high cliffs of which are described by Vancouver as white, they would have been intelligible; but, directed as they are by Mr. Greenhow against a headland which Vancouver expressly describes as a “wedge-like, low, perpendicular cliff; composed of black craggy rock, with breakers upon sunken rocks about four miles distant, in soundings of forty-five fathoms, black sandy bottom,” they expose Mr. Greenhow himself to the charge of not being sufficiently scrupulous when assailing a writer, towards whom he confesses that he feels considerable animosity.
Having reached Cape Lookout, in 45° 32′ N. L., Vancouver examined with attention the portion of coast which Meares had seen. About ten leagues to the north of this headland, the mountainous inland country descends suddenly to a moderate height, and were it not covered with lofty timber, might be deemed low land. Noon, “on the 27th of April, brought them in sight of a conspicuous point of land, composed of a cluster of hummocks, moderately high, and projecting into the sea from the low land above mentioned. The hummocks are barren, and steep near the sea, but their tops thinly covered with wood. On the south side of this promontory was the appearance of an inlet, or small river, the land behind not indicating it to be of any great extent; nor did it seem accessible to vessels of our burden, as the breakers extended from the above point two or three miles into the ocean, until they joined those on the beach, three or four leagues further south. On reference to Mr. Meares’ description of the coast south of this promontory, I was at first induced to believe it to be Cape Shoalwater; but on ascertaining its localities, I presumed it to be that which he calls Cape Disappointment, and the opening south of it Deception Bay. This cape was found to be in latitude of 46° 19′, longitude 236° 6′ east. The sea had now changed from its natural to river-coloured water, the probable consequence of some streams falling into the bay, or into the opening north of it, through the low land. Not considering this opening worthy of our attention, I continued our pursuit to the northwest, being desirous to embrace the advantages of the now-prevailing breeze and pleasant weather, so favourable to our examination of the coasts.”