ement.

On the 16th of March they ran into another storm, of such violence that
they were forced to strike their {268} topgallant masts and scud under
double-reefed foresail. As they were nearing the coast, the ship was
hove to at night. Early on the morning of the 22nd of March, they
sighted land, one hundred and ninety-five days and twenty thousand
miles from Sandy Hook. The weather was still very severe, the wind
blowing in heavy squalls and the sea running high, and the captain did
not think it prudent to approach the shore nearer than three miles.
His navigation had been excellent, however, for before them lay the
mouth of the Columbia River, the object of their long voyage. They
could see the waves breaking over the bar with tremendous force as they
beat to and fro along the coast.

Thorn, ignorant of the channel, did not dare take the ship in under
such conditions. He therefore ordered First-Mate Ebenezer Fox to take
Sailmaker Martin and three Canadians into a boat and find the channel.
It was a hazardous undertaking, and the despatch of the small boat
under such circumstances was a serious error in judgment.

There had been bad blood between the captain and the mate, and Fox did
not wish to go. If he had to go, he begged that his boat might be
manned with seamen instead of Canadians. The captain refused to change
his orders. Fox appealed to the partners. They remonstrated with the
captain, but they could not alter his determination. The boat was
pulled away and was lost to sight in the breakers. Neither the boat
nor any member of the crew was ever seen or heard of again. The boat
was ill-found and ill-manned. She was undoubtedly caught in the
breakers and foundered.

The next day the wind increased in violence, and they cruised off the
shore looking for the boat. Every one on board, including the captain,
stern and {269} ruthless though he was, was very much disturbed at her
loss.

On the 24th the weather moderated somewhat, and running nearer to the
shore, they anchored just outside Cape Disappointment, near the north
shore of the river mouth. The wind subsiding, Mumford, the second
mate, with another boat, was sent to search for the passage, but
finding the surf still too heavy, he returned about noon, after a
terrible struggle with the breakers.

In the afternoon McKay and Stuart offered to take a boat and try to get
ashore to seek for Fox and the missing men. They made the endeavor,
b