SUMMARY OF THE NEWS OF THE PORT OF MONTEREY,OF THE MISSION AND PRESIDIO WHICH HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED THERE UNDER THE NAME OF SAN CARLOS, AND OF THE RESULT OF THE TWO EXPEDITIONS BY SEA AND LAND WHICH WERE SENT OUT FOR THAT PURPOSE LAST YEAR, 1769.
After the repeated and costly expeditions which were made by the crown of Spain during the last two centuries for the exploration of the western coast of the Californias by way of the southern ocean, and for the occupation of the important Port of Monterey, this undertaking has now been happily accomplished by the two expeditions by sea and land, which in consequence of the royal commandant and by disposition of this this superior government, were sent out from Cape San Lucas and the Presidio of Loreto in the months of January, February and March of last year.
In June of 1769 the two expeditions united at the Port of San Diego, situated in latitude 32º 30’ [north], and the decision being made that the packet San Antonio should return to the Port of San Blas to reenforce her crew, and procure fresh provisions, the flag-packet San Carlos remained at anchor in the Port of San Diego, for want of the sailors who had died of scurvy. And the mission and guard being established there, the land-expedition continued its journey through the interior of the country as far as latitude 37º 45’, in search of Monterey. But not having found it by the indications given in the old voyages and sailing-directions, and fearing a scarcity of provisions, the expedition returned to San Diego, where, owing to the fortunate arrival of the packet San Antonio of this year (1770), the commanders by land and sea took the opportune resolution to renew the enterprise, in accordance with the instructions which they possessed for its accomplishments.
In fact the two expeditions set out from San Diego on the 16th and 17th days of April of the current year, and on this second journey the land-expedition had the good fortune to find the Port of Monterey, and to reach it on the 16th of May. The expedition by sea likewise arrived at the same place on the 31st of that month, without mishap or other loss than that of a sick calker.
The port being thus occupied by sea and land ,with the particular goodwill of the innumerable heathen Indians who inhabit all the country explored and reconnoitered on the two journeys, possession was solemnized the 3rd day of June, with an official document which the commander-in-chief, Don Gaspar de Portolá. Drew up, and which the others officers of both expeditions certified, all affirming this to be the same Port of Monterey, with the identical landmarks described in the old reports of General Don Sebastian Vizcayno, and the sailing-directions of Don Joseph Cabrera Bueno, chief pilot of the ships of the Philippines.
On the 14th day of the above mentioned month of June last , the commander, Son Gaspar de Portolá, despatched a courier by land to the Presidio of Loreto with the welcome intelligence of the occupation of Monterey, and the establishment there of the Mission and Presidio of San Carlos. Owing, however, to the great distance, this superior government has not yet received those letters; but on the 10th of this Month )August) there arrived at this capital from the Port of San Blas the despatches which were sent by Portolá, the engineer Don Miguel Costansó, and Captain Don Juan Perez, commander of the aforesaid packed San Antonio, otherwise called El Principe, which sailed on the 9th of July from Monterey, and, notwithstanding eight days of calm, made its long voyage with such fortunate speed that on the first day of this month it cast anchor at San Blas.
In the new Presidio and Mission of San Carlos de Monterey there were left abundants utensils and provisions, and stores for one year, for the purpose of establishing another mission at a suitable distance under the protection of San Buenaventura. And Don Pedro Fages, the lieutemant of Catalans Volunteers, having also remained as military commander of those new establishment with more than thirty men, it is to be presumed that by this date the captain of the Presidio of Loreto, Don Fernando de Rivera, will have joined him, with nineteen soldiers more, and the drovers and muleteers who took two hundred head of cattle, and rations, from the new Mission of San Fernando de Vellicatá, situated beyond the frontier of California as formerly defined, inasmuch as he left that the place on the 14th of April last bound for the aforesaid Port on San Diego and Monterey.
Notwithstanding the fact that at the latter port, on the departure of the packet San Antonio, the warehouses already constructed for the new presidio and mission were left abundantly provided, and that in the Port of San Diego lie anchored the other two packets of His Majesty, the San Carlos and San Joseph, this superior governments directs that in the latter part of October next the San Antonio shall return and make a third voyage from the Port of San Blas, and take fresh stores and thirty missionaries from the College of San Fernando of the last company that came from Spain, in order that in the vast and fertile country, explorer by the land-expedition, extending from the former frontier of California as far as the Port of San Francisco, a short distance from and to the north of the Port of Monterey, new missions may be established, and that advantage may be taken of the fortunate opportunity presented by the peaceableness and good disposition of the innumerable heathen Indians that inhabit Northern California.
In proof of the kindly nature which characterizes that vast and most docile body of heathen, the commander, Don Gaspar de Portolá, declares, and in this the other officers and the missionary fathers concur, that our Spaniard are as free from danger in Monterey as if they were in the midst of this capital, although the new presidio has been left sufficiently equipped with artillery, troops, and ample munitions of war. And the Reverent Father President of the Mission (Serra), assigned to the charge of Monterey, mentions, in detail and with particular satisfaction, the affability of the Indians, and the promise which they had already made him, to instrust their children to him to instruct them in the mysteries of our holy Catholic religion. The Pattern and zealous minister of our religion adding a minute account of the solemn masses which had been celebrated from the arrival of the two expeditions to the departure of the packed San Antonio, and of the solemn procession of the most holy sacrament, which took place on the day of Corpus Christi, the 14th of June, with other noteworthy events that prove the special providence with which God has deigned to favor the successful issue of these expeditions, as a reward, doubtless, for the fervent zeal of our august sovereign, whose incomparable piety acknowledges as the highest obligation of his royal crown in these vast dominions, the extension of the faith of Jesus Christ, and the welfare of the wretched heathen, who being without knowledge of the gospel, groan under the tyrannical bondage of the common enemy.
That there may be no delay in giving out this most important intelligence, the present account has been drawn up in condensed form, without waiting for the first despatches sent by land from Monterey, inasmuch as with them, and the diaries of the voyages by sea and land, and the rest of the documents, there can be given in due time a complete account of both expeditions.
Mexico, 16th of August, 1770.
By permission and command of his excellency, the viceroy.
In the printing-office of the superior government.