gellan; and attempted it at New Year's Harbour, Staten Land. At that place I left a factory in my firſt voyage, in 1786; but the ſhip which was ſent to carry them ſupplies being caſt away, they quitted it in boats. Another body of Engliſh merchants, engaged in a ſimilar eſtabliſhment, and was there, when the Spaniards arrived, which induced the latter to abandon their deſign, and, by a violent gale from the Eaſtward on the night after their arrival, their ſhip was either wrecked or driven to ſea between the New Year's Iſles.
This was not the only political manœuvre of the Spaniards; for they intimated to Lord Saint Helens, as his Lordſhip informed me, that their ſettlements in the Californias, extended a long way to the North of Port St. Franciſco. This circumſtance, I repreſented to his Lordſhip to be altogether untrue, as my long-boat had coaſted from Saint Franciſco to Nootka, and ſaw no ſettlements. I have no doubt, nevertheleſs, of its being their deſign to ſettle the intermediate ſpace, as well as the Sandwich Iſles, for which they had made every preparation, at the time I was releaſed from their naval port of Saint Blas, in the Gulf of California. Indeed, while I was on my preſent voyage, they ſettled the Port of Sir Francis Drake, where I wooded and watered, in my preceding voyage. But it is probable that Captain Vancouver, whoſe voyages are now preparing for publication, will give a more particular account of this ſettlement.
