Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/18



10 LIEUTENANT HOWISON REPORT ON OREGON, 1846

noon, the attempt was made and resulted in the shipwreck of the schooner, as is circumstantially related in my communi cation dated September 21st.

Cast on shore as we were, with nothing besides the clothes we stood in, and those thoroughly saturated, no time was to be lost in seeking new supplies. I left the crew, indifferently shel- tered, at Astoria, and, with the purser in company, pushed up the river to Vancouver, whither news of our disaster had preceded us, and elicited the sympathy and prompt attentions of the factors of the Hudson's Bay Company and of Captain Baillie and the officers of her Britannic Majesty's ship "Mo- deste." These gentlemen had unitedly loaded a launch with such articles of clothing and necessary provisions as we were most likely to need, and added a gratuitous offering of a bag of coffee and 80 pounds of tobacco. I met this boat 25 miles below the fort, and could not but feel extremely grateful for this very friendly and considerate relief. Copies of the let- ters accompanying these supplies are appended to this report, (marked A and B,) as well as an extract from one from Governor Abernethy, and another of the same friendly tenor from Captain Couch, an American trader at Oregon city, agent of Mr. Cushing, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, (the last marked C and D ;) to all of which I made appropriate replies.

At Vancouver my wants of every kind were immediately supplied by the Hudson's Bay Company; and although cash was at Oregon city and with the American merchants worth twelve per cent, more than bills, yet the company furnished all my requisitions, whether for cash or clothing, taking bills on Messrs. Baring & Brothers at par. Upon returning to Astoria, I set about putting up log houses for our accommodation, as there was no vessel in the river, and it was extremely uncer- tain when an opportunity would occur for us to leave. We got two comfortable buildings, of 30 by 24 feet, a story and a half high, well floored and boarded, with kitchen and bake oven, soon ready for occupation and use, and had half completed a frame house for the officers' special accommodation, when the