h a complement of 120 men, fore and
aft. Mr. John M'Donald, a partner of the N.W. Company, was a passenger
on the Raccoon, with five _voyageurs_, destined for the Company's
service. He had left England in the frigate _Phoebe_, which had sailed
in company with the _Isaac Todd_ as far as Rio Janeiro; but there
falling in with the British squadron, the admiral changed the
destination of the frigate, despatching the sloops-of-war _Raccoon_ and
_Cherub_ to convoy the Isaac Todd, and sent the Phoebe to search for the
American commodore Porter, who was then on the Pacific, capturing all
the British whalers and other trading vessels he met with. These four
vessels then sailed in company as far as Cape Horn, they parted, after
agreeing on the island of _Juan Fernandez_ as a _rendezvous_. The three
ships-of-war met, in fact, at that island; but after having a long time
waited in vain for the _Isaac Todd_, Commodore Hillier (Hillyer?) who
commanded this little squadron, hearing of the injury inflicted by
Commodore Porter, on the British commerce, and especially on the whalers
who frequent these seas, resolved to go in quest of him in order to give
him combat; and retaining the _Cherub_ to assist him, detailed the
Raccoon to go and destroy the American establishment on the River
Columbia, being assured by Mr. M'Donald that a single sloop-of-war would
be sufficient for that service.

Mr. M'Donald had consequently embarked, with his people, on board the
Raccoon. This gentleman informed us that they had experienced frightful
weather in doubling the Cape, and that he entertained serious
apprehensions for the safety of the Isaac Todd, but that if she was
safe, we might expect her to arrive in the river in two or three weeks.
The signal gun agreed upon, having been fired, for the return of the
barges, Mr. M'Tavish came back to the Port with the furs, and was
overjoyed to learn the arrival of Mr. M'Donald.

On the 1st of December the Raccoon's gig came up to the fort, bringing
Mr. M'Donald (surnamed _Bras Croche_, or crooked arm), and the first
lieutenant, Mr. Sheriff. Both these gentlemen were convalescent from the
effects, of an accident which had happened to them in the passage
between Juan Fernandez and the mouth of the Columbia. The captain
wishing to clean the guns, ordered them to be scaled, that is, fired
off: during this exercise one of the guns hung fire; the sparks fell
into a cartridge tub, and setting fire to the combustible