I Felt An Interest And Affection For Many Of
These Simple, True-Hearted Men, Such As I Never Felt Before
But For A Near Relation.
Hope shook me by the hand, said he
should soon be well again, and ready to work for me
When I came
upon the coast, next voyage, as officer of the ship; and told me
not to forget, when I became captain, how to be kind to the sick.
Old "Mr. Bingham" and "King Mannini" went down to the boat with me,
shook me heartily by the hand, wished us a good voyage, and went back
to the oven, chanting one of their deep monotonous songs, the burden
of which I gathered to be about us and our voyage.
Sunday, May 8th. This promised to be our last day in California.
Our forty thousand hides, thirty thousand horns, besides several
barrels of otter and beaver skins, were all stowed below, and the
hatches calked down. All our spare spars were taken on board and
lashed; our water-casks secured; and our live stock, consisting
of four bullocks, a dozen sheep, a dozen or more pigs, and three
or four dozen of poultry, were all stowed away in their different
quarters: the bullocks in the long-boat, the sheep in a pen on the
fore-hatch, and the pigs in a sty under the bows of the long-boat,
and the poultry in their proper coop; and the jolly-boat was full
of hay for the sheep and bullocks. Our unusually large cargo,
together with the stores for a five months' voyage, brought the
ship channels down into the water. In addition to this, she had
been steeved so thoroughly, and was so bound by the compression of
her cargo, forced into her by so powerful machinery, that she was
like a man in a straight-jacket, and would be but a dull sailer,
until she had worked herself loose.
The California had finished discharging her cargo, and was to get
under weigh at the same time with us. Having washed down decks and
got our breakfast, the two vessels lay side by side, in complete
readiness for sea, our ensigns hanging from the peaks, and our
tall spars reflected from the glassy surface of the river, which,
since sunrise, had been unbroken by a ripple. At length, a few
whiffs came across the water, and, by eleven o'clock, the regular
north-west wind set steadily in. There was no need of calling
all hands, for we had all been hanging about the forecastle the
whole forenoon, and were ready for a start upon the first sign
of a breeze.
All eyes were aft upon the captain, who was walking the deck,
with, every now and then, a look to windward. He made a sign
to the mate, who came forward, took his station, deliberately
between the knight-heads, cast a glance aloft, and called out,
"All hands, lay aloft and loose the sails!" We were half in the
rigging before the order came, and never since we left Boston
were the gaskets off the yards, and the rigging overhauled, in a
shorter time. "All ready forward, sir!" - "All ready the main!" -
"Cross-jack yards all ready, sir!" - "Lay down, all hands but one
on each yard!" The yard-arm and bunt gaskets were cast off; and
each sail hung by the jigger, with one man standing by the tie to
let it go. At the same moment that we sprang aloft, a dozen hands
sprang into the rigging of the California, and in an instant were
all over her yards; and her sails, too, were ready to be dropped at
the word. In the mean time our bow gun had been loaded and run out,
and its discharge was to be the signal for dropping sails. A cloud
of smoke came out of our bows; the echoes of the gun rattled our
farewell among the hills of California; and the two ships were
covered, from head to foot, with their white canvas. For a few
minutes, all was uproar and apparent confusion: men flying about
like monkeys in the rigging; ropes and blocks flying; orders given
and answered, and the confused noises of men singing out at the
ropes. The top-sails came to the mast-heads with "Cheerily,
men!" and, in a few minutes, every sail was set; for the wind
was light. The head sails were backed, the windlass came round
"slip-slap" to the cry of the sailors; - "Hove short, sir," said
the mate; - "Up with him!" - "Aye, aye, sir." - A few hearty and long
heaves, and the anchor showed its head. "Hook cat!" - The fall was
stretched along the decks; all hands laid hold; - "Hurrah, for the
last time," said the mate; and the anchor came to the cat-head to
the tune of "Time for us to go," with a loud chorus. Everything
was done quick, as though it were for the last time. The head
yards were filled away, and our ship began to move through the
water on her homeward-bound course.
The California had got under weigh at the same moment; and we
sailed down the narrow bay abreast and were just off the mouth,
and finding ourselves gradually shooting ahead of her, were on
the point of giving her three parting cheers, when, suddenly, we
found ourselves stopped short, and the California ranging fast
ahead of us. A bar stretches across the mouth of the harbor,
with water enough to float common vessels, but, being low in
the water, and having kept well to leeward, as we were bound
to the southward, we had stuck fast, while the California,
being light, had floated over.
We kept all sail on, in the hope of forcing over, but failing in
this, we hove aback, and lay waiting for the tide, which was on
the flood, to take us back into the channel. This was somewhat
of a damper to us, and the captain looked not a little mortified
and vexed.
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