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[[preprinted]] CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
GOLDEN GATE PARK
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
TELEPHONE BAYVIEW 5100

[[top right corner]] F. M. MAC FARLAND,
President of the Academy and Acting
Director of the Museum and of the 
Steinhart Aquarium.

[[top left corner]]
WM. H. CROCKER,
President Board of Trustees
SUSIE M. PEERS,
Secretary Board of Trustees
[[/preprinted]]

down towards the beach just to the northward of the north point of James Bay and this one with the inscriptions is the largest of them. You no doubt can get a chart at the Hydrographic Office giving the detail of the James Island anchorage and this will give you the correct location. You will no doubt find the name of the Schooner ACADEMY there too. Possibly the weather has worn some of the names by this time, but you will no doubt find several old New Bedford whalers. You might keep your eye open for the name of the Frigate ESSEX. That would be quite a find. I do not remember seeing it and it may not be there. However, it would be well to be on the lookout for it. I have tried to find out something about the location of Lieutenant Cowans grave at James Bay, but there does not seem to be any mention as to the exact location. I got Mr.Parker, of the British Museum, to look at the Log of the Frigate" Briton", which is on file at the Admiralty Offices, to see if he made any mention of it as he was the party who discovered it during the cruise of the British Frigate BRITON in 1817. The data regarding the stop at James Bay is very meagre and mentions only the fact that a landing party went ashore and brought off some tortoises. Most of the entries in the Log for that day seem to be concerning the stores issued. Our own Navy Department has no record of it either, but if you go there it would be a good thing to see if there was any signs of a grave in back of the beach opposite the landing. I should think there would be some sign of a circle of lava blocks or some such sign. I couldn'timagine it being disturbed to any extent even at this late date. The original log of the ESSEX was lost no doubt, but Porter in his Journal of a Cruise to the Pacific mentions the fact that the duel between Cowan and a brother officer took place and that Cowan was buried where he fell at James Bay. Porter's letters back to the Navy Department mention the death of Cowan, but only in a list of deaths on board the frigate ,and his name was listed according to rank. I got this information from the Captain in charge of historical documents at the Navy Department.  I think it would be quite a thing to discover this grave.  Should you do so it would be nice to photograph it, or even see if there were any remains left of the casket made by the ship's carpenter.  It would be well to photograph the ships names if you locate them in the gulley north of James Bay.  I was thinking it would be a great event in thecruise of the VELERO to bring the remains, should they be discovered, back to Arlington for interment.