Amid salvos of cannon from the _Lady
Washington_, the new fur vessel was launched from her skids; and in her
honor September 19 was observed as a holiday, Meares and Douglas, the
two English captains, entertaining Gray and his officers. Meares had
come from China in {224} January, and during the summer had been up the
Straits of Fuca, where another English captain, Barclay, had preceded
him. Then Meares had gone south past Flattery, seeking in vain for the
River of the West. Gales and breakers had driven him off the coast,
and the very headland which hid the mouth of the Columbia, he had named
Cape Disappointment, because he was so sure--in his own words--"that
the river on the Spanish charts did not exist." He had also been down
the coast to that Tillamook, or Cape Meares, where Gray's valet had
been murdered. This was in July, a month before the assault on Gray;
and if Haswell's report of Meares's cruelty be accepted--taking furs by
force of arms--that may have explained the hostility to the Americans.
Meares was short of provisions to go to China, and Gray supplied them.
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