414 LOSS OF THE PEACOCK. [184 J . 



upon sent a party ashore under Lieutenant Walker, who 

 drove the savages from the beach, killing twelve of their num- 

 ber, and set fire to and destroyed the town. 



The survey of the Kingsmill Group was not completed till 

 the close of the month of April, and the American vessels 

 then steered to the north. On arriving among the Radack, 

 or Mulgrave Islands, Captain Hudson found that the time 

 specified for his absence from the rest of the Squadron was 

 fast drawing to a close. He therefore bore away for the 

 Sandwich Islands, and on the 14th of June arrived off the 

 port of Honolulu. On the 21st instant, he sailed for the Co- 

 lumbia river. Cape Disappointment was made by the Pea- 

 cock on the afternoon of the 17th of July, and on the follow- 

 ing day Captain Hudson attempted to enter the mouth of the 

 river, being governed by the directions obtained from the 

 commander of a merchant vessel by Captain Wilkes, which 

 were supposed to be reliable but unfortunately proved decep- 

 tive. The Flying Fish entered in safety, but the Peacock, 

 which preceded it, struck on the bar, amid the raging breakers, 

 shortly after she commenced standing in, and in a few hours 

 was made a complete wreck, — the officers and crew, with the 

 ship's papers and other light articles, being with great diffi- 

 culty saved in the small boats, and landed at Astoria. Hav- 

 ing completed his examinations in northern Oregon, Captain 

 Wilkes joined Captain Hudson early in August. The Vin- 

 cennes was now dispatched to San Francisco to survey the 

 Sacramento river, and the officers and crew of the Peacock 

 were transferred to an American merchant brig, purchased 

 for the occasion, to which the name of " Oregon" was given. 

 After surveying and examining the Columbia river and valley 

 as critically as time would permit, Captain Wilkes proceeded 

 down the coast with the other vessels of the Squadron, and 

 on the 19th of October anchored beside the Yincennes in the 

 Bay of San Francisco. 



