He Looked In Vain For The Annual Ship In The Spring.
Month After Month Passed By, And Still She Did Not Make Her
Appearance.
He, too, proved the danger of departing from orders.
Had he returned from St. Paul's to Astoria, all the anxiety and
despondency about his fate, and about the whole course of the
undertaking, would have been obviated.
The Beaver would have
received the furs collected at the factory and taken them to
Canton, and great gains, instead of great losses, would have been
the result. The greatest blunder, however, was that committed by
Captain Sowle.
At length, about the 20th of June, the ship Albatross, Captain
Smith, arrived from China, and brought the first tidings of the
war to the Sandwich Islands. Mr. Hunt was no longer in doubt and
perplexity as to the reason of the non-appearance of the annual
ship. His first thoughts were for the welfare of Astoria, and,
concluding that the inhabitants would probably be in want of
provisions, he chartered the Albatross for two thousand dollars,
to land him, with some supplies, at the mouth of the Columbia,
where he arrived, as we have seen, on the 20th of August, after a
year's seafaring that might have furnished a chapter in the
wanderings of Sinbad.
CHAPTER LVIII.
Arrangements Among the Partners- Mr. Hunt Sails in the Albatross.
- Arrives at the Marquesas- News of the Frigate Phoebe.- Mr. Hunt
Proceeds to the Sandwich Islands.- Voyage of the Lark.- Her
Shipwreck.- Transactions With the Natives of the Sandwich Islands
- Conduct of Tamaahmaah.
MR. HUNT was overwhelmed with surprise when he learnt the
resolution taken by the partners to abandon Astoria. He soon
found, however, that matters had gone too far, and the minds of
his colleagues had become too firmly bent upon the measure, to
render any opposition of avail. He was beset, too, with the same
disparaging accounts of the interior trade, and of the whole
concerns and prospects of the company that had been rendered to
Mr. Astor. His own experience had been full of perplexities and
discouragements. He had a conscientious anxiety for the interests
of Mr. Astor, and, not comprehending the extended views of that
gentleman, and his habit of operating with great amounts, he had
from the first been daunted by the enormous expenses required,
and had become disheartened by the subsequent losses sustained,
which appeared to him to be ruinous in their magnitude. By
degrees, therefore, he was brought to acquiesce in the step taken
by his colleagues, as perhaps advisable in the exigencies of the
case; his only care was to wind up the business with as little
further loss as possible to Mr. Astor.
A large stock of valuable furs was collected at the factory,
which it was necessary to get to a market. There were twenty-five
Sandwich Islanders also in the employ of the company, whom they
were bound, by express agreement, to restore to their native
country. For these purposes a ship was necessary.
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