# Narrative of a Voyage Round the World (Belcher)/Volume 1

An annotated version of this text is available.
City of Panama, from Caledonia Hill.
London, Henry Colburn, Great Marlbro' St. 1843.
NARRATIVE
OF A
VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD
PERFORMED IN
HER MAJESTY'S SHIP SULPHUR
DURING THE YEARS 1836—1842.
INCLUDING DETAILS OF THE
NAVAL OPERATIONS IN CHINA,
FROM DEC. 1840, TO NOV. 1841.
Published under the Authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
BY
CAPTAIN SIR EDWARD BELCHER, R. N.
C.B., F.R.A.S., &c.
COMMANDER OF THE EXPEDITION.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1843.
LONDON :
printed by g. j. palmer, savoy street, strand.
to
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF HADDINGTON,
first lord commissioner for executing the office
of lord high admiral of great britain and
ireland, &c., &c., &c.,
THESE VOLUMES,
containing
THE NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD,
are, by his lordship's permission,
inscribed,
with the greatest respect,
by
his lordship's
very obedient servant,
EDWARD BELCHER
PREFACE.
Voyages undertaken for the express purposes of Maritime Discovery have always been received with so much favour by the British public, and especially when made (as in the present instance) by British officers, and under the direction of the British Government, that the writer of the present Narrative of a Voyage Round the World confidently trusts he will not be denied that indulgence which has been uniformly accorded to those who have preceded him. He hopes for such indulgence the rather that, although the practical results of his labours have been necessarily less fertile of novelty, and therefore of popular interest, than those of his more distinguished predecessors, they have not been less arduous or onerous to the individuals engaged in them.
In order that the scope and extent of the objects contemplated and attained, in this Voyage Round the World, may be judged of, it may be well to precede the narrative by a brief outline of its contents
Her Majesty's ship Sulphur was commissioned in September, 1835, by Captain Beechey, and, accompanied ​by her consort the Starling, Lieut. Commander Kellett, quitted England in the following December. Captain Beechey invalided at Valparaiso, and was succeeded by Acting Commander Kellett, who was again superseded by the author of the present narrative, who took the command at Panama, in February, 1837, having crossed the Isthmus of Darien for that purpose, and retained it till the conclusion of her protracted voyage. After some little delay in completing certain necessary operations, the two vessels proceeded northerly, touching at Realejo and Libertad in Central America, and reached San Blas in June, 1837, whence she sailed for the Sandwich Islands, which she reached the following month.
Port Etches, in King William's Sound, in 60° 30′ N. was the next destination of the Expedition. Point Riou and Port Mulgrave were chosen as base stations for determining the position of Mount St. Elias, and further settling the question of longitude between Cook and Vancouver. The Sulphur then proceeded to Sitka or New Archangel, in Norfolk Sound, where the officers received very courteous treatment from Captain Koupreanoff, the Russian governor. She next visited Friendly Cove, in Nootka Sound, and thence sailed to San Francisco, when the examination of the river Sacramento, one hundred and fifty-six miles from her anchorage, occupied the party in open boats for thirty-one days. Thence the Sulphur successively visited Monterey, San Blas, Acapulco, and Libertad, on her way to Realejo, where the author, for the recovery of his health, undertook a land survey of the principal mountains overlooking his future ground in the ​Gulf of Papagayo, and fixed the principal features of the Lake of Managua, to its fall into that of Nicaragua, at Tepitapa. After surveying the Gulf of Papagayo and Port Culebra, the Sulphur quitted Central America, touched at, and fixed, Cocos Island, and reached Callao in June, 1838, for the purpose of refit, and the completion of stores and provisions. Having examined the coast betwen Cerro Azul and Callao, (about sixty miles,) she left Callao in August, calling at Paita and Guayaquil, and returned to Panama in the following October.
Here may be said to have ended her first cruize; but between October and March a survey was made of the Gulfs of Fonseca and Nicoya, Pueblo Nueva, and Baia Honda, after which the ship moved northerly, repeating her cruize of 1837. She was detained at the Columbia River till September; Bodega, the Russian position near San Fransisco, was then surveyed, and subsequently San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Pedro, San Juan, San Diego, San Quentin, San Bartolomè, the Gulf of Magdalena, and Cape San Lucas. The Sulphur then proceeded to San Blas and Mazatlan, where orders for a westerly return awaited her. Having shipped supplies for fourteen months, from a transport which had been sent to meet her, she commenced her homeward voyage in January, 1840; en route the author landed on the islands of Socorro and Clarion, and secured their positions. She reached the Marquesas the same month, and after a short visit to Port Anna Maria, Nuhuhiva, moved on to Bow Island, where the operation was performed of boring for the volcanic foundation on which these coral ​islands are suspected to stand. She then visited Tahiti, Huaheine, Raratonga, Vavao, (Tonga group,) Nukulau, (Feejees,) Tanna, (New Hebrides,) Port Carteret, (New Ireland,) Britannia Island, New Guinea, coasting that island to Arimoa and as far as Jobie, where she remained to rate and survey; then to Amsterdam, Pigeon Island, (Dampier's Straits,) Bouro and Amboina, moving thence to Macassar, Great Solombo, and Pulo Kumpal, off the Borneo coast; reaching Singapore in October of the same year.
Orders here awaited her to proceed instantly to China, where she was detained, and took an active part in the operations against the Chinese, till nearly the close of the year 1841, when she sailed for England. After leaving Singapore, and touching at Malacca, Penang, Acheen, Sumatra, Point de Galle, (Ceylon,) Séchelles, Madagascar, Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, and Ascension, she at last returned to Spithead. The account of the voyage has been carefully drawn up from the author's own memoranda, made when the places and incidents they describe were under his observation, and the illustrations are faithfully given from existing scenes and objects.
In conclusion, the author desires to acknowledge his obligation to Mr. Hinds, the Surgeon to the Expedition, for his valuable and interesting account of the vegetable regions, which will be found appended to the second volume of the narrative.
E. B.
CONTENTS
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
IN THE HYDROGRAPHIC INSTRUCTIONS: Page xxiv. line 6, for which read winch.
ILLUSTRATIONS
TO THE FIRST VOLUME.
MAPS.
| Map of the Author's route. | $\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \end{matrix}}\right\$ | Loose in Pocket. |
| Map, showing the track of ground searched. | $\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \end{matrix}}\right\$ | Loose in Pocket. |
| Map of Canton River. | $\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \end{matrix}}\right\$ | Loose in Pocket. |
ENGRAVINGS.
| City of Panama, from Caledonia Hill | (Frontispiece.) |
| City of Panama from the sea | Page 23 |
| Port of Honululu, Island of Oahu, Sandwich Islands | 60 |
| Mount St. Elias | 78 |
| View of the Arsenal and Lighthouse, Sitka, New Archangel | 96 |
| Volcano of Conseguina — Gulf of Fonseca | 242 |
| Fort George, Astoria | 289 |
| Port Anna Maria, Nuhuhiva, Marquesas | 353 |
VIGNETTES.
| Appearance of Ice | 76 |
| Native Chief of Port Mulgrave | 84 |
| Woman with Mouth-piece | 86 |
| Native Chief of Sitka | 102 |
| Castanet | 103 |
| Tomb | 104 |
| Macquilla | 108 |
| Burial Canoe | 292 |
| Cradles | 307 |
| Slate Pipes of North-west America | 309 |
| Indian Skull | 311 |