1832.] 
PACIFIC STATION 
437 
December ; and after a passage of thirteen days, arrived at Callao 
on the fifteenth, where the sloop-of-war Falmouth, Master-com- 
mandant F. H. Gregory, just from Guayaquil and the intermedi- 
ate ports, was awaiting our arrival. The Falmouth had sailed' 
from the United States on the fifth of July, eighteen hundred and 
thirty-ong, and arrived at Valparaiso on the twenty-ninth of Oc- 
tober. This sloop, and the schooner Dolphin, Lieutenant-com- 
mandant Long, were the only vessels we had on the coast from 
that period to the arrival of the Potomac. 
Long before we made the anchorage, the Dolphin got under 
way and stood out to meet us ; and as the broad pennant was 
recognised by her and the Falmouth, each saluted the commo- 
dore, and was answered by the Potomac, as she rounded the 
Island of San Lorenzo, and stood slowly in to the anchorage. 
The Island of San Lorenzo, four or five leagues in circumfer- 
ence, may be said to form the harbour on the west, while the 
shores of Boca Negra and Lancon are on the southeast ; beyond, 
the high lands which form the ridges and mountains rise one above 
another, until lost to the sight. This bay is from fourteen to six- 
teen leagues in circuit, formed by the island into the shape of a 
horseshoe, whose centre affords one of the safest anchorages in 
the world; and where, at any hour of the day or night, vessels 
may enter or depart without apprehension of danger of any kind. 
When vessels are once at anchor, they remain without being ex- 
posed to storms, or hurricanes, or winds to molest them, being 
under cover of the island ; so that some have remained at anchor 
for five, or six, or more years, with weak cables. The north 
winds are felt sometimes in June and November, but without 
violence. 
The most favourable circumstance of this port, perhaps unique 
in its kind, is that the sailing of vessels can be fixed for a certain 
day with the utmost certainty, as the wind regularly blows from 
the south ; and it is very seldom that there is not a sufficient 
breeze for this purpose. So that when the day of sailing is an- 
nounced, even the hour and minute can be stated, without the risk 
of disappointment. To this advantage is added, that vessels may 
enter the bay and leave it with the same wind, facilitated by the 
ample space afforded them for manoeuvring, and the safe depend- 
ance to be placed on the bottom. 
