some disaster on our voyage and I dropped the
subject with a "pooh pooh."

As soon as we reached the open sea, the captain ordered the ship
headed to the westward and the pressure of steam to be reduced, as
with topsails set we sailed along to a light easterly breeze. It was
his intention, he stated, to come within sight of Ocean Island about
daylight and to verify its location by steaming around it before
heading away for San Francisco.

It should be noted that it is in the direct line of a naval
commander's duty, when he is in the neighborhood of such dangers to
navigation, to confirm by observation their position on the charts as
well as to rescue any unfortunate persons that fate may have cast away
upon them. Our own subsequent situation gives proof of the wisdom of
such a regulation.

Ocean Island is about fifty miles to the westward of the Midway
Islands, is of similar formation, and is the last one (so far as our
chart shows) in the chain of ocean dangers that I have referred to as
extending more than a thousand miles to the westward from the Sandwich
Islands. It was on this reef that the British ship Gledstanes was
wrecked in 1837, and the American ship Parker in September, 1842, the
crew of the latter vessel remaining there until May, 1843, when they
were taken off.

[Illustration: OCEAN ISLAND AND REEF]

The "Hawaiian Spectator" for July, 1838, gives the following account
of the loss of the Gledstanes, captain, J.R. Brown:--

The vessel was wrecked July 9, 1837, at midnight. One of the
crew only was lost, he having jumped overboard in a state of
intoxication. Captain Brown remained on the island over five
months, when, with his chief mate and eight seamen, he embarked
for these islands in a schooner which had been constructed from
the fragments of the wreck. The other officers and men, who
remained on the island several months longer, endured great
suffering and were finally brought off in a vessel sent for them
by H.B.M. Consul. Captain Brown gave the following description
of the island. "The island is in latitude 28 deg. 22' North, and
longitude 178 deg. 30' West, and is about three miles in
circumference. It is composed of broken coral and shells and is
covered near the shore by low bushes. In the season it abounds
with sea birds and at times there are considerable numbers of
hair seals. The highest part of the island is not more than t