Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/98

 and all hands having set to work, they providentially succeeded in extricating themselves from their perilous situation, and worked the ship into Baker's Bay, inside Cape Disappointment, where they found a safe asylum. It blew a perfect gale the remainder of the night.

On the morning of the 26th, some of the natives came on board. They appeared to be very friendly, and betrayed no symptoms of fear or distrust. Parties were immediately despatched towards the northern shore, and round the cape, in order to ascertain, if possible, the fate of the two boats.

Shortly after one of them returned accompanied by Weekes, who gave the following account of his miraculous escape from a watery grave. "When we passed the vessel, the boat, owing to the want of a rudder, became quite unmanageable, and notwithstanding all our exertions, we were carried into the northern edge of the great chain of breakers. The tide and current however were setting out so strongly, that we were absolutely carried through the reef without sustaining any injury, but immediately on the outer edge a heavy sea struck us, and the boat was upset. Messrs. Aikin and Coles disappeared at once, and I never saw them afterwards. On