96 PUECHASE OF CAMELS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES. 



on the 2d I wrote to Col. Tompkins, at New Orleans, to telegraph 

 you that Lieutenant Porter and Captain Baker thinking it unsafe, 

 under existing circumstances, to attempt to lighter the camels off 

 Indianola, (in which opinion I fully concurred,) I had determined to 

 affect the transfer of them from the Supply to the Fashion inside of 

 the Balize, this being the nearest smooth water for effectually accom- 

 plishing it, and also for making any arrangements that might be 

 necessary for the trip thence in the Fashion to Indianola. I have 

 now the honor to resume in detail the narrative of our proceedings 

 from its discontinuance to date. 



On the 8th and 11th of February last I wrote you from Smyrna 

 that we should sail about the 15th of that month for the Canary 

 islands, to examine the breed of camels used in them, and thence, 

 after a delay of about a week, continue on our way to Indianola. In 

 conformity with this arrangement, we left Smyrna early on the morn- 

 ing of the 15th of February, A rather stormy passage through the 

 Mediterranean brought us to the straits of Gibraltar on the morning 

 of the 5th of March, and running through them we entered upon the 

 Atlantic on the afternoon of the same day. The next morning our 

 course was shaped for the Canaries, but after several days of unsuc- 

 cessful effort to reach them, during which we encountered variable 

 and head winds, and a southwest gale, the attempt to make them 

 was abandoned on the 15th of March^ and the course of the vessel 

 directed towards America. On the 13th of April, Lieutenant Porter 

 put into Kingston, Jamaica, where we remained until the morning of 

 the 19th, when we sailed for Indianola. At 4^ p. m., on the 29th of 

 April, we made Pass Cavallo, and anchored about eight miles from 

 the bar. The next day, the 30th, we had no communication from 

 shore, owing, as we were told afterwards, to the unusual swell of the 

 sea. The next day. May 1st, the Fashion, Captain Baker, came out 

 to us early in the morning ; but Lieutenant Porter and Captain Baker 

 were both of the opinion that, on account of the heavy swell and the 

 rolling of the Supply, it would be unsafe for the Fashion to lie along- 

 side of the ship, the guards being in the way. They thought, how- 

 ever, that the lightering of the camels might be effected into schooners 

 on the next day, as the sea then would apparently be smoother. 

 Going on board the Fashion, I proceeded to Indianola, to see what 

 schooners could be obtained, and also to examine the wharf at which 

 the animals were to be disembarked, that any difficulties there might 

 be obviated, and to see what arrangements had been made for their 

 reception and care at Indianola. Keturning to the Supply in the 

 Fashion, with the only two suitable schooners that could be procured, 

 early in the morning of the 2d instant, one of the schooners was 

 brought alongside the vessel, and an attempt to transfer a camel was 

 commenced. No sooner, however, was the car with a camel raised 

 from the hold and held suspended in mid air, than it became, unfor- 

 tunately, evident that its violent swinging and turning, caused by the 

 rolling of the Supply, would endanger the safety of the animals too 

 much to warrant the attempt of lightering them from the ship in a 

 swell of any kind, and that the transfer could only be made without 

 risk in smooth water. Lieutenant Porter and Captain Baker decided 



