My Medicines, However, Were Gone,
And No More Could Be Got From The Ship, So That His Life Was Left
To Hang Upon The Arrival Of The California.
Sunday, April 24th.
We had now been nearly seven weeks in San Diego,
and had taken in the greater part of our cargo, and were looking out,
every day, for the arrival of the California, which had our agent
on board; when, this afternoon, some Kanakas, who had been over
the hill for rabbits and to fight rattlesnakes, came running down
the path, singing out, "Kail ho!" with all their might. Mr. H.,
our third mate, was ashore, and asking them particularly about
the size of the sail, etc., and learning that it was "Moku - Nui
Moku," hailed our ship, and said that the California was on the
other side of the point. Instantly, all hands were turned up,
the bow guns run out and loaded, the ensign and broad pennant set,
the yards squared by lifts and braces, and everything got ready to
make a good appearance. The instant she showed her nose round
the point, we began our salute. She came in under top-gallant
sails, clewed up and furled her sails in good order, and came-to,
within good swinging distance of us. It being Sunday, and nothing
to do, all hands were on the forecastle, criticising the new-comer.
She was a good, substantial ship, not quite so long as the Alert,
and wall-sided and kettle-bottomed, after the latest fashion of
south-shore cotton and sugar wagons; strong, too, and tight, and a
good average sailor, but with no pretensions to beauty, and nothing
in the style of a "crack ship." Upon the whole, we were perfectly
satisfied that the Alert might hold up her head with a ship twice
as smart as she.
At night, some of us got a boat and went on board, and found
a large, roomy forecastle, (for she was squarer forward than
the Alert,) and a crew of a dozen or fifteen men and boys,
sitting around on their chests, smoking and talking, and ready
to give a welcome to any of our ship's company. It was just
seven months since they left Boston, which seemed but yesterday
to us. Accordingly, we had much to ask, for though we had seen
the newspapers that she brought, yet these were the very men who
had been in Boston and seen everything with their own eyes. One of
the green-hands was a Boston boy, from one of the public schools,
and, of course, knew many things which we wished to ask about, and
on inquiring the names of our two Boston boys, found that they had
been schoolmates of his. Our men had hundreds of questions to ask
about Ann street, the boarding-houses, the ships in port, the rate
of wages, and other matters.
Among her crew were two English man-of-war's-men, so that, of course,
we soon had music.
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