Voyage of the United States Frigate Potomac

In the month of October, 1829, I sailed from the city of NewYork in the brig Annawan, N. B. Palmer captain, to the South Seas and Pacific Ocean. The particulars of this voyage, and the circumstances which led to it, as well as those of my subsequent travels by land through the Republic of Chili, and the Araucanian and Indian Territories to the south, will be given to the public in another volume. Suffice it here, that I was at Valparaiso in October, 1832, just three years from the commencement of my voyage, when Commodore Downes arrived at that place, from the coast of Sumatra and some of the principal ports in the East Indies.

He had been for some time expected on that station; and early in the afternoon on the day of his arrival, it had been announced by telegraph, from the high hill which overlooks the town, that a large ship was in the offing. An hour passed away, and the signal announced a man-of-war, southwest from Playa Ancha, with all sail set, standing directly for the port. The wind was fresh, and she approached rapidly. The stripes and stars were seen waving from the mizzen peak of a stately frigate, which was now pronounced by all to be the Potomac. She entered the harbour late in the afternoon, making several seamanlike tacks against a strong southerly breeze. Crowds gathered upon the beach, and the Americans in port evinced emotions of pleasure, as each one felt that the strong and protecting arm of his government was near him.

On the following day I went on board, with the view of visiting several of the officers with whom I had been previously acquainted. Here I received an invitation from the commodore to join the Potomac as his private secretary, the

gentleman who had previously filled that station having died at sea. This is a pleasant birth on board a flag-ship, and I accepted it, as the stay of the commodore on the station promised me a fine opportunity to improve my knowledge of the institutions, natural capacities, commercial resources, and political condition and prospects of so large a portion of South America, which hitherto I had not been able to visit.

The cruise of the Potomac, thus far, had been one of great interest, and the services performed by her of high importance to our commercial interests in the east. News of her arrival at the Island of Sumatra, and her action with the Malays, reached the United States in the early part of July, 1832, at which time Congress was still in session.

Partial statements relative to the occurrences at Quallah-Battoo had been published in the journals of the day; and those papers had now reached the Pacific. The attention of Congress had been called to the subject. Mr. Dearborn, of the House of Representatives, on the 12th day of July, submitted a resolution calling on the President for the instructions under which Commodore Downes acted, in his attack on the Malays of the Island of Sumatra. The resolution was adopted without objections from any quarter; and before the adjournment of the House on the next day, a communication covering the instructions was received from the President, recommending that these papers should not be made public until a full report of the proceedings at Quallah-Battoo should be received from Commodore Downes; intimating, that the vague rumours and partial statements before the public relative to the transactions at that place, when compared with the instructions under which that officer acted, might create an unfavourable prejudice against him in the public mind, which ought to be guarded against during his absence from the country, and until all the circumstances which influenced his mind should be authentically known.

On the reception of these papers, the House of Representatives referred them to the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and after being examined by that committee, the latter unanimously concurred with the President, that the instructions ought not to be published until official, full, and accurate information was received, as to the manner in which the instructions had been executed.

Without taking any further measures on the subject, Congress adjourned on the 16th of July.

It seemed evident that the public mind, though always just when correctly informed, had, in this instance, been misled by partial statements and publications of irresponsible persons, who attempted to pronounce upon the merits of the proceedings at Quallah-Battoo without knowing, or having it in their power to know, a single motive which had influenced the mind of the commodore during his stay on the Malay coast.

These circumstances, together with the extent and nature of the Potomac's voyage, the direct manner in which the attention of Congress and the country at large had been thus early called to it seemed to require that an authentic record should be prepared; in which not only the incidents of the voyage, but the public considerations which led to it, and the motives which, at different periods of the cruise, had operated on the mind of its commander, in carrying into execution the views and instructions of the government, should be faithfully preserved.

It was at this time, and under these circumstances, and with the express sanction of the commodore himself, that I undertook the task of preparing this record-in the execution of which every facility was offered me. Though more or less indebted to most of the officers of the higher grades for some incidents of the voyage, noted down by them on going below from their watches on deck, yet I feel it my duty especially to acknowledge my obligations to Lieutenant R. Pinkham and Acting-lieutenant S. Godon. The former, an intelligent officer, had kept a copious record, day by day, as the incidents of the voyage passed before him, which notes were placed in my hands. The latter, a young officer of high promise, had been an attentive observer, and recorded what he saw. For days, and weeks, and even months, he was ever ready to pore over the charts with me; and, by a vivid recollection, to recall the rich tints of a tropical sky, the phosphorated gleamings of the ocean, or the mellow hues of the landscape among the "summer isles." The commodore's private journal was also in my hands; while the daily communication and unrestrained intercourse which existed between us, enabled me to speak with knowledge of all the public considerations which guided the movements of the frigate under his command.

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