Navy Lieutenant William P. McArthur was 34 years old when he received orders in 1848 to command the hydrographic party sent to make the first major survey of the West Coast for the U.S. Coast Survey. With the acquisition of the vast western portion of the continent, the United States faced the problem of protecting its greatly increased shoreline. The Pacific Squadron was small and hard-pressed to meet its commitment as a fleet; as late as 1855 it comprised only the frigate Independence, the sloops St. Mary’s, John Adams, and Decatur, and the steamer Massachusetts.
The U.S. Coast Survey recognized the need for a more detailed survey of the entire West Coast to promote safe navigation and to encourage transportation. The wooden topsail schooner Ewing, with her crew of 32, was designated for Lieutenant McArthur’s use. She departed New York in January 1849 for the nine-month-long trip around the tip of South America to San Francisco.
Lieutenant McArthur was chosen to lead the hydrographic survey team because of his experience surveying the Atlantic Coast and the Florida Everglades. He left New York on one of the new Aspinwall steamers, sailing down the East Coast to the Chagres River in Panama, across the Isthmus, then up the West Coast to San Francisco. After a perilous journey, he arrived in San Francisco in August—one month before the Ewing. Upon assuming command, McArthur prepared the schooner for survey duty.
In his letters McArthur mentioned his inability to get men to carry on the survey, which was greatly delayed. The high wages and allure of the gold fields kept most good men from entering government service— which offered only a few dollars a month—and such men as could be secured for the Coast Survey’s vessels were generally worthless. In fact, shortly after McArthur set sail on the Ewing, part of his crew mutinied.
While the schooner was lying in San Pablo Bay, Passed Midshipman Gibson was ordered ashore. He took five men with him in the boat. When the men thought themselves out of sight of the Ewing, they seized Gibson, threw him overboard, and made for the nearest shore in their determination to get to the gold mines. Fortunately, McArthur saw the whole incident through his glasses and dispatched a boat to rescue Gibson. The deserters were overtaken, captured, and subsequently tried by court martial. One was reprieved and four were hanged, one on board the Ewing.
In addition to commanding the Ewing, Lieutenant McArthur agreed to perform a special hydrographic survey. In a letter dated 23 September 1849, he wrote his father-in-law:
The Joint Commission for the selection of sites for Fortifications, Navy Yards, Docks, etc. etc., are all here on board the MASSACHUSETTS. They have borrowed some men from the Commodore [Thomas Ap Catesby Jones] to enable them to run over to the Sandwich Islands and ship a crew. ... I hope seamen may be had there, as I may be compelled to recruit there myself.
On 26 October he wrote:
This country is truly one of the greatest wonders of any age. The increase in population is truly wonderful. Let us estimate San Francisco at 100,000 souls, Sacramento City 40,000, and Stockton 35,000 or nearly. Eighteen months ago there was [sic] scarcely 100 people in all three. There [are] many other places springing up into importance, and I am now making a survey of a place where great improvements must take place. But as it is an island, it will probably be reserved by Government, and I presume to think that it will be the site for the Navy Yard.
The following day he reported:
Today I commence work investigating the conveniences and inconveniences of Mare Island . . . with a view of ascertaining whether it would be a suitable place for a Navy Yard. I sincerely believe it to be the only good place in the whole bay. The weather is still warm and pleasant—much more so than in August. Thousands of geese and brandts cover the hills in every direction, eating the wild oats, and the Coyotl, a small animal resembling a Fox ... is also very abundant.
I am very much surprised to find so few fish here. We have not caught the first one, and yet they are very abundant further up the Rivers.
On 28 November McArthur wrote to Colonel John T. Smith, Senior Member of the Commission of Fortifications, Navy Yards, U.S. Pacific Coast:
Your note dated Sept. 24th, 1849, having for its object a survey of Mare Island Straits, was received and I immediately conceived that it would be proper to survey it, and as ‘the commission deemed it important to obtain information on this point,’ I have made, by the assistance of CAPT J. S. Williams and LT Blunt, USN, with the hydrographical party under my command, a survey of Mare Island Strait, and submit the result to you. ... I [will] keep a copy which shall in due season be transmitted to the Superintendent, U.S. Coast Survey.
In the spring of 1850 the Ewing sailed out of the Golden Gate for a reconnaissance of the northern coast, where they “completed a very correct outline of the coast, its Headlands, Bays, Rivers, and indentations.”
Late in August 1850 McArthur wrote:
On our way from the Columbia River we were successful enough to make a good reconnaissance of the whole coast from Cape Disappointment to [San Francisco] and the limits of error may be estimated at one mile in longitude and 1/2 mile in latitude. This I consider quite a triumph. My fame (if any be merited) will rest upon this reconnaissance.
McArthur’s many charts were taken to Washington, D.C., in October 1850 by Lieutenant W. A. Bartlett. Among them was the sketch of Mare Island Strait made in November 1849, which formed part of the basis for the recommendation of the Sloat Commission to purchase it.
McArthur apparently became convinced that Mare Island would be purchased by the U.S. government. Perhaps he had advance knowledge that on 6 November 1850 President Millard Fillmore would proclaim Mare Island for public use. Regardless of how he got his information, Lieutenant McArthur purchased 1/16 interest in the island from John Frisbee and Mr. Simmons on 1 August 1850 for $468.75. Other details of the transaction are not available, but in his will dated 19 November 1850, McArthur left “all real and personal estate” to his wife, Mary S. McArthur.
McArthur expected to be away from home another two years, but on 21 November he received word that a new steamer, the Corwin, was to be built for the Pacific Coast work, and he was directed to return to Washington at once to examine the vessel and make plans for the 1851 season.
Happy at the thought of seeing his family sooner than he expected, McArthur left for Panama on 1 December on the Oregon. Tragically, he developed an acute case of dysentery shortly after departing San Francisco, and, despite medical assistance, he died on 28 December, just as the ship reached Panama Harbor. He was buried on the island of Taboga.
Tributes to Lieutenant McArthur were many and heartfelt. He had been a popular officer and enjoyed the camaraderie of his peers. Professor A. D. Bache, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey, remarked on 8 February 1851, at a memorial service for McArthur: “He has not lived in vain. His name will ever be bright in the annals of our Survey ... as the pioneer on the shores of the Pacific.”
On 4 January 1853 the U.S. government purchased Mare Island for $83,491.20. Mary P. McArthur received 5/80ths of that sum, or $5,218.20. The faith exhibited by Lieutenant McArthur paid off handsomely for his widow.
While the McArthurs no longer have an interest in Mare Island, the island still has one more claim on them. Thanks to the efforts of Lieutenant Commander Charles McDougal, the remains of Lieutenant William P. McArthur were moved in 1867 to the little cemetery on Mare Island where he rests today on a knoll he surveyed in November 1849.