66 I. C. Russell — Expedition to Mount St. Elias. 



the observatory of Mulgrave, said mountain bears' N. 38° 50^ W., a distance 

 of 55.1 miles, deduced by means of good observations from the ends of a 

 sufficient base. A quadrant was used to measure the angle of apparent 

 altitude of the mountain, 2° 38^ 6^^, and allowing for terrestrial refraction, 

 which is one-tenth of the distance of 55.1 miles, the true altitude was 

 found to be 2° 34^ 39^^ ; whence its elevation above sea-level was concluded 

 to be 2,793 toises [17,860 feet], and the length of the tangent to the hori- 

 zon, 152 miles, allowance being made for the increase due to terrestrial 

 refraction * * *. 



" Lastly, with the rhumb, or astronomic azimuth, and the distance from 

 the observatory of Mulgrave to Mount St. Elias, it was ascertained that 

 that mountain was 43^ 15^^ to the north and 1° 9^ to the west, whence its 

 latitude is found to be 60° 17^ 35'^ and its longitude 134° 33^ 10'^ Avest of 

 Cadiz." 



Taking the longitude of Cadiz as 6° 19' 07" W. (San Sebastian 

 light-house), the longitude of St. Elias from this determination 

 Avould be 140° 52' 11" W. 



Vancouver, 1794.* 



The next vessels to visit Yakutat bay after Malaspina's voyage, 

 so far as known, were the Discovery and Chatham., under com- 

 mand of Captain George Vancouver. This voyage increased 

 knowledge of the geography of southern Alaska more than any 

 that preceded it, and was also of greater importance than any 

 single expedition of later date to that region. The best maps of 

 southern Alaska published at the present day are based largely 

 on the surveys of Vancouver. 



The Discovery^ under the immediate command of Vancouver, 

 and the Chatham^ in charge of Peter Puget, cruised eastward ' 

 along the southern coast of Alaska in 1794. The Discovery passed 

 the entrance to Yakutat bay without stopping, but the Chatham 

 anchored there, and important surveys were carried on under 

 Puget's directions. 



On June 28, the Discovery was in the vicinity of Icy bay, where 

 the shore of the ocean seemed to be composed of solid ice. East- 

 ward from Icy bay the coast is described as " bordered by low- 

 lands rising -with a gradual and uniform ascent to the foot-hills 

 of lofty mountains, whose summits are but the base from which 

 Mount St. Elias towers magnificently into the regions of j^er- 



*A Voyage of Discovery to the jSTorthern Pacific Ocean and around 

 the World, 1790-95 ; new edition, 6 vols., London, 1801. The citations 

 which follow are from vol. 5, pp. 348-407. 



