The west shore., February 01, 1887, Page 113, Image 7

OUU INLAND PACIFIC SKA.
113
hundred miles long, and fifteen miles
wide, lying almost due east and weal
The entrance is marked by a light house
(iu Cape Flattery. Tliemj straits bear
the name of a Greek navigator, who
claimed to have discovered them in the
year 1592. The correctness of the claim
has been the subject of much dispute,
and, to say the least, it is very question
able whether such a voyage as De Fuca
is said to have made, ever had an exist
ence in fact. For a number of years the
Dutch and English navigators sought
in vain for a passage leading from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, north of Spain's
possessions in Central America, One of
the points to x gained by finding such
a passage, was the shortening of the
route to India; and another, and, at
times, a most important one, was a means
of reaching the Pacific const colonies of
Spain, in time of war.
The publication of a fictitious account
of a voyage, by which a Portuguese navi
gator claimed to have sailed through
such a passage, which he called the
Straits of Anian, imparted zest to this
vain search for more than two centuries.
Many voyages of exploration were made,
and it was one of these voyages which
De Fuca, whose Greek name was Apos
tolas Valerianus, claimed to have made,
in the interest of Spain, in 1592. He
asserted that, between the latitudes of
forty-seven and forty-eight degrees, he
entered a wide passage, from which arms
branched off in various directions, and
in which were numerous islands; that he
sailed therein twenty days, until he
emerged into the North sea. which was
then supposed to be a distinct ocean
from the South sea, or Pacific. With
the exception that he locate the entrance
one degree too far south not an uncom
mon error in those days of primitite
navigation science this quite accurate
ly describes a voyage through the Strait
of Fuca and Gulf of Georgia, pawing
around the southern and western side
of Vancouver island, and just crossing
the entranco to Pnget sound proper.
The objection to its authenticity is, that
the Spanish archives contain no record
of any such voyage, or any such naviga
tor. The only authority is the unsup
ported narrative of Michael Iock, an
English gentleman, who claimed to have
met De Fuca in Venice, in M and re.
ceived from him an account of this and
other voyages, which the Greek mariner
laid claim to having made. This narra
tive was published in 1025, a third of a
century after tho date of the alleged voy
age, in a geographical ami historical
volume, called "The Pilgrims," edited
by Samuel Purchaa. Its authenticity
remained unquestioned until it became
an issuo between England and the Uni
ted States.
Granting tho correctness of tho Greek
pilot's claim, no practical Iwnefit was do.
rived from his voyage, fur the straits
were not again entered or seen for two
centuries. The first authentic discov
ery of tho straits was that of an English
man, Captain Uarclsy, who, in 17h7, via
itetl the coast in the ship mxriVi
yh tx'longing to the Austrian East In
dia Company, engaged in the far trade.
He observed the entrance while musing,
and marked it on his chart, but mad no
effort to explore it On the twenty-ninth
of June, 17HS, Captain John Mean, an
Englishman, sailed down the coast in the
ship Frlitv A'lvrnturcr, and, observing
the entrance recorded the year !efore,
by Harclay, diiatrhed a boat's crew to
explore it The expedition u gone a
week, and after proceeding thirty mile
up tho strait, was attacked by Indians
and forced to return, every member of
the crew bearing away wound to re
mind him of the conflict and the prowes
of the native. y some hutoriau. it
is claimed that Captain John Kndrirk,
in the hi'ly ll'iuhinglun, sailed througtt