Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/39



THE LOG OF THE PRINCESA 29

harbor. He begged off, saying that he could not give it unless he should first see his commander. . . He said furthermore that he had a good crew to defend it, with the guns loaded, and with orders that if they say any boats approaching, to fire on them without letting them draw close.

"I was cognizant of the order which he had given, and knew that there was no way to make him do as I had commanded, in spite of the fact that I had given him to understand that he was as much my prisoner as were those of the packet. I accordingly ordered the pilot Mondofia, in the presence of Hudson, to arm the launches and . . . bring the sloop in- side. I commanded him that [if the crew fired] he should . . . seize her by force, putting the crew to the sword without quarter. I also gave Hudson to understand . . . that if the crew offered resistance I would have him hanged at the yard arm. . . . He [then] wrote out an order to his men to surrender." ... He requested me that before the launches should leave, I should send his own boat with my men and one of his own, to give the countersign and warn them not to fire. When once on board, they would hand over the letter. Then, when the launches should arrive, his men would surrender without resistance." This was done, and the launches took the sloop on the 13th, without resistance.

The remainder of the log subsequent to the seizures, is con- cerned with the details of the Spanish occupation, and with contributions to the ethnography and topography of the region, gathered from the log of Ingraham and from observation. There is, so far as I know, no disagreement as to these features of the Nootka occupation. Nor does the log shed any light on further happenings in Mexico pursuant to the arrival of the seized vessels there. A discrepancy is found between the log and published account of Dr. Manning, taken from the report of Revilla-Gigedo to Valdez, Mexico, p. 212, to the effect that upon his departure for San Bias Martinez seized two American vessels and took them with him. The account of the log is