NAUTICAL REMARKS. 425 



nearer than to bring the fort in one with Yerba Buena 

 Island. 



In the entrance it is particularly necessary to attend to 

 the sails, in consequence of the eddy tides and the flaws of 

 wind that come off the land. The boats should also be ready 

 for lowering down on the instant, as the entrance is very nar- 

 row, and the tides running strong and in eddies, are apt to 

 sweep a ship over upon one side or the other, and the water 

 is in general too deep for anchorage ; besides, the wind may 

 fail when most required. The strongest tides and the deepest 

 water lie over on the north shore. Should a ship be swept 

 into the sandy bay west of the fort, she will find good anchor- 

 age on a sandy bottom in ten and fifteen fathoms out of the 

 tide ; or in the event of meeting the ebb at the entrance, she 

 might haul in, and diere await the change. There is no 

 danger off the fort at a greater distance than a hundred 

 yards. 



As soon as a ship passes the fort, she enters a large sheet 

 of water, in which are several islands, two rocks above water, 

 and one under, exceedingly dangerous to shipping, of which 

 I shall speak hereafter. One branch of the harbour extends 

 in a S.E. by S. direction exactly thirty miles, between two 

 ridges of hills, one of which extends along the coast towards 

 the Bay of Monterey, and the other from San Pablo, close at 

 the back of San Jose to San Juan Baptista, where it unites 

 with the former. This arm terminates in several little wind- 

 ing creeks, leading up to the Missions of Santa Clara and San 

 Jose. The other great branch takes a northerly direction, 

 passes the Puntas San Pablo and San Pedro, opens out into 

 a spacious basin ten miles in width, and then converging 

 to a second strait, again expands, and is connected with three 

 rivers, one of which is said to take its rise in the rocky moun- 

 tains near the source of the Columbia. 



As a general rule in San Francisco, the deepest water will 

 be found where the tide is die strongest ; and out of the cur- 

 rent there is always a difficulty in landing at low water. All 

 the bays, except such as are swept by the tide, have a muddy 



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