sloop drops out of sea-faring annals.

What is Gray's place among pathfinders and naval {239} heroes? Where
does his life's record leave him? It was not spectacular work. It was
not work backed by a government, like Bering's or Cook's. It was the
work of an individual adventurer, like Radisson east of the Rockies.
Gray was a man who did much and said little. He was not accompanied by
a host of scientists to herald his fame to the world. Judged solely by
results, what did he accomplish? The same for the United States that
Cook did for England. He led the way for the American flag around the
world. Measuring purely by distance, his ship's log would compare well
with Cook's or Vancouver's. The same part of the Pacific coast which
they {240} explored, he explored, except that he did not go to northern
Alaska; and he compensated for that by discovering the great river,
which they both said had no existence. And yet, who that knows of Cook
and Vancouver, knows as much of Gray? Authentic histories are still
written that speak of Gray's discovery doubtfully. Gray did much, but
said little; and the world is prone to take a man at his own valuation.
Yet if the world places Cook and Vancouver in the niches of naval
heroes, Gray must be placed between them.

There is a curious human side to the story of these glory seekers, too.
Bulfinch was so delighted over the discovery of the Columbia, that he
had his daughter christened "Columbia," to which the young lady
objected in later years, so that the name was dropped. In
commemoration of Don Quadra's kindness in repairing the ship
_Columbia_, Gray named one of his children Quadra. The curios brought
back by Ingraham on the first voyage were donated to Harvard.
Descendants of Gray still have the pictures drawn by Davidson and
Haswell on the second voyage. The sea chest carried round the world by
Gray now rests in the keeping of an historical society in Portland; and
the feather cloak worn up the street by the boy Atto, when he marched
in the procession with Gray, is treasured in Boston.[1]

[1] Much concerning Gray's voyages can be found in the accounts of
contemporary navigators like Meares and Vancouver; but the essential
facts of the voyages are obtainable from the records of Gray's
log-book, and of diaries kept by his officers. {241} Gray's log-book
itself seems to have passed into the hands of the Bulfinch family.
From a copy of the original, Thomas Bulfi