There Was Only One
"Splicer" On Board, A Fine-Looking Old Tar, Who Was In The Bunt Of
The Fore-Topsail.
He was probably the only sailor in the ship,
before the mast.
The mates, of course, and the boat-steerers,
and also two or three of the crew, had been to sea before, but
only whaling voyages; and the greater part of the crew were raw
hands, just from the bush, as green as cabbages, and had not yet
got the hay-seed out of their heads. The mizen topsail hung in
the bunt-lines until everything was furled forward. Thus a crew
of thirty men were half an hour in doing what would have been
done in the Alert with eighteen hands to go aloft, in fifteen
or twenty minutes.
We found they had been at sea six or eight months, and had no news
to tell us; so we left them, and promised to get liberty to come
on board in the evening, for some curiosities, etc. Accordingly,
as soon as we were knocked off in the evening and had got supper,
we obtained leave, took a boat, and went aboard and spent an hour
or two. They gave us pieces of whalebone, and the teeth and other
parts of curious sea animals, and we exchanged books with them - a
practice very common among ships in foreign ports, by which you
get rid of the books you have read and re-read, and a supply of
new ones in their stead, and Jack is not very nice as to their
comparative value.
Thursday, Nov. 12th. This day was quite cool in the early part,
and there were black clouds about; but as it was often so in the
morning, nothing was apprehended, and all the captains went
ashore together, to spend the day. Towards noon, the clouds
hung heavily over the mountains, coming half way down the
hills that encircle the town of Santa Barbara, and a heavy
swell rolled in from the south-east. The mate immediately
ordered the gig's crew away, and at the same time, we saw boats
pulling ashore from the other vessels. Here was a grand chance
for a rowing match, and every one did his best. We passed the
boats of the Ayacucho and Loriotte, but could gain nothing upon,
and indeed, hardly hold our own with, the long, six-oared boat of
the whale-ship. They reached the breakers before us; but here
we had the advantage of them, for, not being used to the surf,
they were obliged to wait to see us beach our boat, just as,
in the same place, nearly a year before, we, in the Pilgrim,
were glad to be taught by a boat's crew of Kanakas.
We had hardly got the boats beached, and their heads out, before our
old friend, Bill Jackson, the handsome English sailor, who steered
the Loriotte's boat, called out that the brig was adrift; and, sure
enough, she was dragging her anchors, and drifting down into the
bight of the bay.
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