Log of the "Chatham 237
Royal Navy, first visited the coast on his famous voyage of discovery and passed by bound north within six miles of Cape Disappointment about noon on April 27th. He, too, was familiar with the previous visits of both Heceta and Meares. His course was close to where the outer edge of the bar would now be, and he even recognized the presence of river water around his ship; but the day was showery and the breakers appeared to extend entirely across the entrance to the inlet and he did not care to stop to examine more closely then ; in fact, recorded a positive statement that no nver existed there. Captain Gray, however, later in the year, at Nootka, informed him that a river actually existed here and furnished a rude sketch (the sketch does not appear to have been pre- served for public use) of the channel for a distance of about twenty-five miles inland. To verify this information and to more fully carry out his own instructions, Capt. Vancouver in the Discovery, and Lieut. Broughton in the "armed tender Chatham," arrived off the river on October 20th, 1792. The Discovery is described officially as a sloop-of-war of 340 tons, ship-rigged, carrying 10 four-pounders and 10 swivels, her officers and crew numbering 134. The Chatham was a brig, of 135 tons burden, carrying 4 three-pounders and 6 swivels, with officers and crew numbering 55. The Chatham, there- fore, was considerably smaller and more easily managed than the Columbia, the Felice, or the Santiago.
As Capt Vancouvr, himself, attempted to enter the river with the Discovery, his narrative for each day will be inserted by way of footnotes to the entries of the Log of the Chatham. The log is now confined to the five days preceding the depart- ure of Lieut Broughton in small boats for the further exam- ination of the river. The original log has recently been found in the Public Record Office at London, and has been copied for the writer through the courtesy of Mr. J. F. Parry of the Hydrographic Office of the English Ajdmiralty, at the request of Mr. J. Scott Keltic and Mr. J. B. Tyrrell of the Royal Geo- graphical Society of London.
