Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/96

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
78
ARRIVE AT PORT TRINIDAD.

We now stood along shore toward Cape Orford, sounding occasionally in from 30 to 70 fathoms; sandy bottom from four to six miles from shore; the wind increasing from N. W. stood off from the land under easy sail for the night. Next morning we ran in, and lay-to off an Indian village, to the southward of Cape Orford; saw many natives on the shore, but it blew too hard for them to launch their canoes; we intended to have anchored here, there being, apparently, a snug, well-sheltered bay, from all but the S. W., but it was too rough to send the boat from the ship to sound it; we therefore filled and ran along shore, at the distance of three miles. The land had a very fine appearance, the hills well wooded, and the plains covered with Indian huts. Towards night, the gale increased so much, that we were obliged to haul off under a close reefed main top-sail and fore-sail, and, before morning, had to lay-to under bare poles. On the 19th of July, the gale broke; we again stood in for the land, and were becalmed for three days, within six miles of the shore, where we saw many smokes. We were driven fast to the southward by the current; on the 24th a breeze sprang up, and we made sail for Port Trinidad, in latitude 41° 3′, longitude 123° 54′ west; hauled into a small sandy bay, where we moored, sheltered from all winds, a few ships' lengths from the shore, in nine fathoms sandy bottom. This bay is full of high rocks, which are always covered with birds, and round it are scattered many Indian villages. We had scarcely time to moor before we were surrounded