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decided to take the boats along the west coast, being anxious to see the cave which swallowed up the ill-fated General Grant, moreover I desired to ascertain whether any portion of the wreck was yet visible. We started at daybreak with the two whale boats, five oars in each; an officer in charge of one, Captain Gilroy and myself in the other, and upon rounding the N.W. Cape were met by both more wind and sea than we had expected, the wind from the S.E. sweeping down the gullies with fearful violence, lashing the water into spray, and at times almost turning the boats round. We pulled along at the foot of the cliffs down to the entrance of the straits, never further from the rocks than three hundred yards and occasionally, when doubling a point, only fifty or sixty, scanning carefully every gully and every cave, but we saw nothing even approximating to the description given by the General Grant’s people of the cavern into which their ship drew. At a point on the coast from which Disappointment Island bore N.W., we observed lying on a shelf of rocks and on a beach at the foot of the cliffs, some spars and fragments of wreck. Near these places a little to the south is a gulch, formed by two great masses of rock jutting out into the sea, (like buttresses) between which we believed the ship to have jammed herself in. Whether our imaginations helped us or not I can’t say, but we fancied the rocks above appeared marked by the vessel’s masts; some fractures looking fresh. Moreover the water shoaled here. It would be, however, almost impossible for any save those who escaped from the ship, to point to the exact place where she drove in, their being so many of these gulches and all so much alike in appearance. I made as faithful a sketch as I possibly could of this portion of the coast; the motion of the boat, and the blinding spray, rendering it rather a difficult task. No wreck was seen further than what I have already mentioned, and prudence forbade our lingering to make a closer search, the hour being late, and the weather looking ‘dirty.’ We noticed several places where a landing could be effected in tolerably fine weather; one spot, indeed, where even a boat might be hauled up (by practised hands). What can I say of this coast but that I have seen nothing to surpass, or even equal, the grandeur, the savage majesty of its grim storm-beaten sea walls; standing up bold and defiant, sullenly challenging old Ocean to a trial of strength. There are portions of it where the cliffs rise perpendicularly to a height of nearly 500 feet, their sides presenting a perfectly plane surface, at their feet a small shelf of rocks, or a long, low cavern; the sea breaking over the one, and driving into the other with a noise as of distant thunder. Entering the Straits, the toiling crew pulled through the narrow passage at Monumental Island, through which the tide sweeps with great speed, and entering Sea Devil Cove, we camped for the night, having been fourteen hours in the boat, the men woefully disappointed at not having discovered a cave large enough to take in a fifty gun frigate with royals masts standing. On our way next morning to Carnley Harbor we found the cutter Fanny at anchor in Camp Cove, and going on board, through the courtesy of Captain Ackers, I was enabled to take a tracing of Perseverance Harbor (Campbell Island) from a chart in his possession. A few

miles further and we land opposite Musgrave’s hut, in Carnley Harbor; in front of which, not twenty yards from the beach, lies the wreck of the schooner Grafton, with her bulwarks cut away and three or four holes in her bottom; her hull otherwise, in wonderfully good condition. Finding the roof of the hut fallen in, we set about securing it, which was promptly and effectually done, by shoring up from both sides with planks taken out of the Grafton; fresh thatch laid on the top made all snug. We next took the spar, twenty-four feet long, which Capt. Musgrave had fashioned into a keel, charred its heel, and nailing firmly two boards (each eight feet long, lettered as at Enderby) on its top, at right angles, like the arms of a semaphore, we planted it six feet in the ground and shored well up. It stands in front of the hut, facing the harbor. Case No. 2 we placed in the hut; with it a spade and a small box of books. As this hut is likely to be used occasionally by sealers I painted on the door—‘Be careful with fire.’ I left a letter in a bottle fixed to the mast by a band of copper. The following morning we took the Grafton’s bowsprit in tow, and pulled down to the Peninsular. Here, close to Musgrave’s old signal, we erected our spar, which stands twenty feet above ground, and is firmly secured; two white boards fixed to its top, one with a hand carved on it, the index finger extended, pointing up Carnley Harbor, and the words ‘Depot, &c., in the hut, six miles distant;’ the other board facing the entrance of the Straits. I left here, also, a letter. In each instance where a depot has been made, and a signal mast erected, I have taken a sketch of its position and surroundings, which, coupled with the description I give, will enable your Honor to form a very correct idea of what has been effected. The wind being too strong to admit of our starting for the north, we returned to the hut, and, having nothing better to do, prospected the creek, but were unable to bottom. In washing out several pans we found rather coarse black sand. We arrived at Port Ross on the afternoon of the following day, having returned by the East Coast, which is deeply indented with bays and inlets, in all of which vessels may find anchorage and shelter from the prevailing westerly winds. I took bearings of all the headlands, and ascertained the position of the reefs and shoals off Dundas Island; also of a large bed of kelp, extending for a mile to the south of this island, which vessels should avoid.

On Friday, 7th Feb., was erected the Port Ross signal mast, a fine spar, perfectly sound, forty-five feet long, one foot in diameter, which we found on a beach, having apparently formed a portion of the old jetty. It is placed in the position formerly occupied by Mr Enderby’s flagstaff, stands thirty-eight feet above ground, and is properly set up with shrouds. On its top is a small barrel; below it appears three boards, each eleven feet long (lettered), in the shape of an equilateral triangle. The whole painted white presents a very conspicuous and sightly object, which can be seen from all the neighboring hills, and from the entrance of the harbor. At its foot is a small, weatherboarded shed, closed in, containing the case, a spade, and a small box of books. Fixed to the mast by a band of copper is a bottle, holding a letter. The next day being fine, I went down the East Coast, with one of the officers and a boat’s crew, and made the fourth and last depot.