"Let Go Aft!"
Instantly All Was Gone, And We Were Under Weigh.
As soon as she was
well off from the wind, we filled away the head yards, braced all
up sharp, set the foresail and trysail, and left our anchorage well
astern, giving the point a good berth.
"Nye's off too," said the
captain to the mate; and looking astern, we could just see the
little hermaphrodite brig under sail standing after us.
It now began to blow fresh; the rain fell fast, and it grew very
black; but the captain would not take in sail until we were well
clear of the point. As soon as we left this on our quarter, and were
standing out to sea, the order was given, and we sprang aloft,
double reefed each topsail, furled the foresail, and double reefed
the trysail, and were soon under easy sail. In those cases of
slipping for south-easters, there is nothing to be done, after you
have got clear of the coast, but to lie-to under easy sail, and wait
for the gale to be over, which seldom lasts more than two days,
and is often over in twelve hours; but the wind never comes back
to the southward until there has been a good deal of rain fallen.
"Go below the watch," said the mate; but here was a dispute which
watch it should be, which the mate soon however settled by sending
his watch below, saying that we should have our turn the next time
we got under weigh. We remained on deck till the expiration of
the watch, the wind blowing very fresh and the rain coming down in
torrents. When the watch came up, we wore ship, and stood on the
other tack, in towards land. When we came up again, which was at
four in the morning, it was very dark, and there was not much wind,
but it was raining as I thought I had never seen it rain before.
We had on oil-cloth suits and south-wester caps, and had nothing to
do but to stand bolt upright and let it pour down upon us. There are
no umbrellas, and no sheds to go under, at sea.
While we were standing about on deck, we saw the little brig
drifting by us, hove to under her fore topsail double reefed;
and she glided by like a phantom. Not a word was spoken, and we
saw no one on deck but the man at the wheel. Toward morning the
captain put his head out of the companion-way and told the second
mate, who commanded our watch, to look out for a change of wind,
which usually followed a calm and heavy rain; and it was well
that he did; for in a few minutes it fell dead calm, the vessel
lost her steerage-way, and the rain ceased. We hauled up the
trysail and courses, squared the after yards, and waited for the
change, which came in a few minutes, with a vengeance, from the
north-west, the opposite point of the compass. Owing to our
precautions, we were not taken aback, but ran before the wind
with square yards. The captain coming on deck, we braced up a
little and stood back for our anchorage. With the change of wind
came a change of weather, and in two hours the wind moderated into
the light steady breeze, which blows down the coast the greater
part of the year, and, from its regularity, might be called a
trade-wind. The sun came up bright, and we set royals, skysails,
and studding-sails, and were under fair way for Santa Barbara.
The little Loriotte was astern of us, nearly out of sight; but we
saw nothing of the Ayacucho. In a short time she appeared,
standing out from Santa Rosa Island, under the lee of which she
had been hove to, all night. Our captain was anxious to get in
before her, for it would be a great credit to us, on the coast,
to beat the Ayacucho, which had been called the best sailer in
the North Pacific, in which she had been known as a trader for
six years or more. We had an advantage over her in light winds,
from our royals and skysails which we carried both at the fore
and main, and also in our studding-sails; for Captain Wilson
carried nothing above top-gallant-sails, and always unbent his
studding-sails when on the coast. As the wind was light and fair,
we held our own, for some time, when we were both obliged to brace
up and come upon a taught bowline, after rounding the point; and here
he had us on fair ground, and walked away from us, as you would haul
in a line. He afterwards said that we sailed well enough with the
wind free, but that give him a taught bowline, and he would beat us,
if we had all the canvas of the Royal George.
The Ayacucho got to the anchoring ground about half an hour before us,
and was furling her sails when we came up to it. This picking up your
cables is a very nice piece of work. It requires some seamanship to
do it, and come to at your former moorings, without letting go another
anchor. Captain Wilson was remarkable, among the sailors on the coast,
for his skill in doing this; and our captain never let go a second
anchor during all the time that I was with him. Coming a little to
windward of our buoy, we clewed up the light sails, backed our main
topsail, and lowered a boat, which pulled off, and made fast a spare
hawser to the buoy on the end of the slip-rope. We brought the other
end to the captain, and hove in upon it until we came to the slip-rope,
which we took to the windlass, and walked her up to her chain, the captain
helping her by backing and filling the sails.
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