Towards Night,
A Few Clouds Appeared In The Horizon, And As The Gale Moderated,
The Usual Appearance Of Driving Clouds
Relieved the face of the sky.
The fifth day after the commencement of the storm, we shook a reef
out
Of each topsail, and set the reefed foresail, jib and spanker;
but it was not until after eight days of reefed topsails that we
had a whole sail on the ship; and then it was quite soon enough,
for the captain was anxious to make up for leeway, the gale having
blown us half the distance to the Sandwich Islands.
Inch by inch, as fast as the gale would permit, we made sail on the
ship, for the wind still continued a-head, and we had many days'
sailing to get back to the longitude we were in when the storm
took us. For eight days more we beat to windward under a stiff
top-gallant breeze, when the wind shifted and became variable.
A light south-easter, to which we could carry a reefed topmast
studding-sail, did wonders for our dead reckoning.
Friday, December 4th, after a passage of twenty days, we arrived
at the mouth of the bay of San Francisco.
CHAPTER XXVI
SAN FRANCISCO - MONTEREY
Our place of destination had been Monterey, but as we were to the
northward of it when the wind hauled a-head, we made a fair wind
for San Francisco. This large bay, which lies in latitude 37° 58',
was discovered by Sir Francis Drake, and by him represented to
be (as indeed it is) a magnificent bay, containing several good
harbors, great depth of water, and surrounded by a fertile and
finely wooded country. About thirty miles from the mouth of the
bay, and on the south-east side, is a high point, upon which the
presidio is built. Behind this, is the harbor in which trading
vessels anchor, and near it, the mission of San Francisco, and a
newly begun settlement, mostly of Yankee Californians, called Yerba
Buena, which promises well. Here, at anchor, and the only vessel,
was a brig under Russian colors, from Asitka, in Russian America,
which had come down to winter, and to take in a supply of tallow
and grain, great quantities of which latter article are raised
in the missions at the head of the bay. The second day after
our arrival, we went on board the brig, it being Sunday, as a
matter of curiosity; and there was enough there to gratify it.
Though no larger than the Pilgrim, she had five or six officers,
and a crew of between twenty and thirty; and such a stupid and
greasy-looking set, I certainly never saw before. Although it
was quite comfortable weather, and we had nothing on but straw
hats, shirts, and duck trowsers, and were barefooted, they had,
every man of them, double-soled boots, coming up to the knees,
and well greased; thick woolen trowsers, frocks, waistcoats,
pea-jackets, woolen caps, and everything in true Nova Zembla
rig; and in the warmest days they made no change.
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