Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 12.djvu/40

32 F. W. How AY debted for much valuable assistance in the preparation of this address, has very kindly worked out for me the daily posi- tions of the Washington from Haswell's observations and state- ments. He informs me that according to Haswell's log, the vessel was, on the 31st March, off Clallam bay, some twenty- five miles east of Cape Flattery ; this marks her most easterly position on the southern shore of the strait. At six o'clock that evening the Washington reached her furthest east point, being in latitude 48 25' N. and longitude 124 10' W. This position may be described as fifteen miles eastward of Port San Juan, or midway between Port San Juan and Sooke harbor. Thus we find by working out Haswell's log reasonable confirmation of Captain Gray's statement to Vancouver. It is not my intention to deal with the work of the Spanish navigators, Quimper in 1790, Elisa in 1791, and Galiano and Valdes in 1792. That can only be adequately done by a person having access to the Archives General of the Indies at Se- ville. Nor do I intend to touch the work of Vancouver. His own monumental volumes contain the fullest information, and Professor Meany's commentary has added the spice of local and personal interest. Taking stock then of the advance of knowledge concerning the strait of Fuca from 1778 to 1789, we find that while Cap- tain Cook discovered Cape Flattery, the strait itself was dis- covered and named, but not entered, by Captain Barkley in 1787; that Meares never entered the strait at all, but that Duffin, in charge of the long boat of the Felice reached Port San Juan in July, 1787; that in August, 1788, Captain Dun- can did the first surveying and trading within the strait, and in January, 1790, he published the first chart of it; that the Washington did not make the voyage Meares tells of, but under Captain Gray traded extensively in the strait, examined both shores to a distance of almost fifty miles, and was the first vessel to really navigate that strait.