LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



port without a sick man on board. The most terrible 

 disaster followed. In attempting to cross the bar at the 

 mouth of the Columbia, the Peacock, on the 1 8th of July, 

 struck the shoals, and was beaten by the breakers and 

 completely wrecked. All on board, Dana among them, 

 after great perils, were rescued by the bravery of Captain 

 Hudson and the masterly skill of Lieutenant Emmons. 



After this disaster, Wilkes, who had come from Puget 

 Sound, sent the Vincennes to San Francisco, under Ring- 

 gold, to survey the Sacramento River, while he remained 

 with a large party to survey the Columbia. 



While the vessels were on their way to San Francisco, 

 a party of scientific men, under the leadership of Lieuten- 

 ant Emmons, went up the Willamette River, over the 

 dividing mountains, and past Mount Shasta to the upper 

 waters of the Sacramento, whence they descended to the 

 bay. Dana was one of this party, with Rich and Brack- 

 enridge, Peale and Agate, Eld and Colvocoressis. At 

 Captain Suter's, or " New Helvetia," they were met by 

 the launch of the Vincennes > in which some of the com- 

 pany, Dana among them, went down the river, while the 

 others proceeded by land. 



Not many years after the return of the expedition, the 

 discovery of gold in California led to immigration, as 

 every one knows, and Captain Wilkes was then called 

 upon to prepare a monograph on Western America. His 

 maps of the Pacific coastal regions were introduced with 

 extracts from the observations of the scientific corps, and 

 especially those of the geologist and mineralogist, Dana.* 



Yerba Buena, in the bay of San Francisco, had been 

 fixed for the rendezvous, and here the Vincennes had 

 arrived in the middle of August, 1841. Captain Wilkes 

 at once endeavored to find the authorities, but authorities 

 were scarce. The only magistrate, an alcalde, was 



* Western America. By Charles Wilkes. Philadelphia, 1849. I 3 PP- 

 8vo. 



