Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/120



BOUT the middle of May, the Columbia took a cargo to Owhyhee. Captain Jennings went in her to give her up to the King, leaving me to take care of the wood while he was Owhyhee. Several American ships called here from the coast of Chili, bound to Canton, in which most of our crew got off; at this time a aa [sic] canoe arrived from Owhyhee, with an account of a large fighting ship having come to Owhyhee full of men, but of what country they could not tell. A few days after May 20th, 1818, one of the King's vessels made her appearance from that island, and informed us that a patriot ship, called the Santa Rosa, had arrived from the coast of Peru, under the command of Captain Turner, from whom Tameameah had purchased the ship and cargo, for 6000 piculs of sandal wood. It struck me very forcibly, that she must be some ship with which the crew had run away, or they could not afford to sell her for 6000 piculs, as she had a very valuable cargo of dry goods on board, and a great deal of money, which was, however, shared among the crew. The people were on