VERBATIM HEADING: '1792 Set. 9. San Fran.co / Hermenegildo Sal. Comand.te ^[al Ten.te de Gobernador Arrillaga] - Movim.to de buque sospechoso.' (the bracketed phrase is an interlineation with a caret). GLOSS: Sal to the lieutenant-governor Arrillaga, on the movements of a suspicious vessel. SUBSTANCE: on the 7th at one in the afternoon a small two-masted vessel was sighted at the Punta de Almejas, about 4 leagues from this port; as soon as she saw herself near land she turned out to sea as if to work up and take the port, having it to leeward; that same night she anchored a league above that point, keeping her lantern lit all night. On the morning of the 8th she made sail, and the sentry Sal had posted on the plaza fired 4 shots and she answered none, being at very short distance from land and standing for the port. Informed by the report, Sal ordered the two cannon taken to the mouth of the port and entrenched at the 'cantil blanco (que llamamos)', less than half a league from the presidio; and to see whether those cannon would carry their shot to the opposite shore he fired both pieces with ball, and although they are 4-pounders one of the two balls 'entráron (sic)'. The vessel did not answer even when well near the mouth, and was not made out by us, but was by Padre Fr. Martin de Landaeta and his escort coming from las Almejas. That same night he kept a guard with fire at the mouth of the port, and at dawn on the 9th she fired a piece, answered by another from the trench; but the thickness of the fog prevented seeing her, and he is closely watching all her tacks. VERBATIM: 'Soy de parecer que la espresada embarcacion no es de las del Dept.o de San Blas, y sí estrangera y quiera hacer alguna estorsion en algun establecim.to de la costa; si ella entra en este puerto, ha de manifestarme, siendo estrangera, su pasaporte, rumbo, ó derrota que lleva, ó defenderme hasta perder la vida.' With the same date he notifies frigate-captain Don Alonso de Torres y Guerra, Comandante of the Santa Gertrudis lying at Monterey.
| Date | 1792-09-09 (exact) |
|---|---|
| From | Hermenegildo Sal, Comandante of San Francisco |
| To | Ten.te de Gobernador José Joaquín de Arrillaga |
| Place | San Francisco |
| Series | State Papers, Sacramento |
| Tomo | I |
| Original tomo page | pp. 393-5 |
| Savage copy page | 70–72 |
| Scan leaf | n69–n71 |
| Document type | verbatim transcription |
| Source | verbatim transcription |
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Hermenegildo Sal, Comandante of San Francisco to Ten.te de Gobernador José Joaquín de Arrillaga, San Francisco, 1792-09-09, State Papers, Sacramento, I, pp. 393-5, Archives of California, C-A 54, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.Cite the document by series, tomo and original tomo page, as the literature does; the C-A number locates it in the repository. To cite this catalogue entry itself, use https://archivesofcalifornia.com/record/ca54/ca54-d275.html