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.
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