M'Tavish for his post in the
interior.
Having arranged all these matters during a sojourn of six days at
Astoria, Mr. Hunt set sail in the Albatross on the 26th of August, and
arrived without accident at the Marquesas. He had not been there long,
when Porter arrived in the frigate Essex, bringing in a number of stout
London whalers as prizes, having made a sweeping cruise in the Pacific.
From Commodore Porter he received the alarming intelligence that the
British frigate Phoebe, with a store-ship mounted with battering pieces,
calculated to attack forts, had arrived at Rio Janeiro, where she had
been joined by the sloops of war Cherub and Raccoon, and that they had
all sailed in company on the 6th of July for the Pacific, bound, as it
was supposed, to Columbia River.
Here, then, was the death-warrant of unfortunate Astoria! The anxious
mind of Mr. Hunt was in greater perplexity than ever. He had been eager
to extricate the property of Mr. Astor from a failing concern with as
little loss as possible; there was now danger that the whole would be
swallowed up. How was it to be snatched from the gulf? It was impossible
to charter a ship for the purpose, now that a British squadron was on
its way to the river. He applied to purchase one of the whale ships
brought in by Commodore Porter.
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