LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



TO CAPTAIN WILKES 

 Shipwreck 



* ( Loss of the ' Peacock ' on the Bar of the Columbia River, 

 July 18, 184.1 



" In reply to your orders of July 3Oth, requesting a 

 statement of the facts relative to the loss of the Peacock 

 and the causes of the same, I make the following report 

 under my personal observations. 



I stood by Captain Hudson when, after two unsuc- 

 cessful attempts to find a clear passage through the 

 breakers, he again put the ship's head about and steered 

 for the river. The officers at the masthead reported an 

 open passage, a little to the northward of our previous 

 position, and approaching it. There were no breakers 

 to deter us from proceeding. As this was the only place 

 we had seen thus clear, I felt fully assured that this was 

 the passage across the bar, and was gratified when Cap- 

 tain Hudson gave orders to head in, confidently expect- 

 ing that in another hour we should be at our anchorage. 

 The first intimation we had of shallow water was the 

 striking of the ship. Till then the sea had not broken 

 on this part of the bar. Soon after we were surrounded 

 by heavy breakers, and the ship, which refused to obey 

 her helm, continued forging farther on the bar, striking 

 with great violence. The afternoon of Sunday and the 

 following night the destruction of the ship was hourly 

 expected, and before morning the working of the pumps 

 was insufficient to keep the water from gaining in her 

 hold. On Monday morning, preparations were early 

 made for landing the crew on the adjoining shore, Baker's 

 Bay, about two miles distant. The violence of the 

 breakers had somewhat abated at low tide, and when the 

 tide changed, the boats were rapidly dispatched. A 

 canoe arrived alongside just before starting the boats and 

 afforded us a pilot to the shore. The scientific corps and 

 the public documents were sent in the first three boats 

 and the canoe ; and the boats, returning, continued to take 

 off the crew till the height of the tide again made heavy 

 breakers upon the bar and rendered it unsafe. One boat 

 was capsized, and the crew, who narrowly escaped drown- 



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