There's Nothing For Jack To Do But To Obey Orders, And I Went Up
Upon The Yard; And There Was A Worse "Mess," If Possible, Than I
Had Left Below.
The braces had been let go, and the yard was swinging
about like a turnpike-gate, and the whole sail having blown over to
leeward, the lee leach was over the yard-arm, and the sky-sail was
all adrift and flying over my head.
I looked down, but it was in
vain to attempt to make myself heard, for every one was busy below,
and the wind roared, and sails were flapping in every direction.
Fortunately, it was noon and broad daylight, and the man at the wheel,
who had his eyes aloft, soon saw my difficulty, and after numberless
signs and gestures, got some one to haul the necessary ropes taught.
During this interval I took a look below. Everything was in confusion
on deck; the little vessel was tearing through the water as if she were
mad, the seas flying over her, and the masts leaning over at an angle
of forty-five degrees from the vertical. At the other royal-mast-head
was S - - -, working away at the sail, which was blowing from him as
fast as he could gather it in. The top-gallant-sail below me was
soon clewed up, which relieved the mast, and in a short time I got my
sail furled, and went below; but I lost overboard a new tarpaulin hat,
which troubled me more than anything else. We worked for about half
an hour with might and main; and in an hour from the time the squall
struck us, from having all our flying kites abroad, we came down to
double-reefed top-sails and the storm-sails.
The wind had hauled ahead during the squall, and we were standing
directly in for the point. So, as soon as we had got all snug,
we wore round and stood off again, and had the pleasant prospect
of beating up to Monterey, a distance of an hundred miles, against
a violent head wind. Before night it began to rain; and we had
five days of rainy, stormy weather, under close sail all the time,
and were blown several hundred miles off the coast. In the midst
of this, we discovered that our fore topmast was sprung, (which no
doubt happened in the squall,) and were obliged to send down the
fore top-gallant-mast and carry as little sail as possible forward.
Our four passengers were dreadfully sick, so that we saw little or
nothing of them during the five days. On the sixth day it cleared off,
and the sun came out bright, but the wind and sea were still very high.
It was quite like being at sea again: no land for hundreds of miles,
and the captain taking the sun every day at noon. Our passengers now
made their appearance, and I had for the first time the opportunity
of seeing what a miserable and forlorn creature a sea-sick passenger
is. Since I had got over my own sickness, the third day from Boston,
I had seen nothing but hale, hearty men, with their sea legs on,
and able to go anywhere, (for we had no passengers;) and I will own
there was a pleasant feeling of superiority in being able to walk the
deck, and eat, and go about, and comparing one's self with two poor,
miserable, pale creatures, staggering and shuffling about decks,
or holding on and looking up with giddy heads, to see us climbing
to the mast-heads, or sitting quietly at work on the ends of the
lofty yards. A well man at sea has little sympathy with one who is
seasick; he is too apt to be conscious of a comparison favorable
to his own manhood. After a few days we made the land at Point Pinos,
(pines,) which is the headland at the entrance of the bay of Monterey.
As we drew in, and ran down the shore, we could distinguish well the
face of the country, and found it better wooded than that to the
southward of Point Conception. In fact, as I afterwards discovered,
Point Conception may be made the dividing line between two different
faces of the country. As you go to the northward of the point,
the country becomes more wooded, has a richer appearance, and is
better supplied with water. This is the case with Monterey,
and still more so with San Francisco; while to the southward of
the point, as at Santa Barbara, San Pedro, and particularly San Diego,
there is very little wood, and the country has a naked, level
appearance, though it is still very fertile.
The bay of Monterey is very wide at the entrance, being about
twenty-four miles between the two points, Año Nuevo at the north,
and Pinos at the south, but narrows gradually as you approach the
town, which is situated in a bend, or large cove, at the south-eastern
extremity, and about eighteen miles from the points, which makes the
whole depth of the bay. The shores are extremely well wooded,
(the pine abounding upon them,) and as it was now the rainy season,
everything was as green as nature could make it, - the grass,
the leaves, and all; the birds were singing in the woods, and great
numbers of wild-fowl were flying over our heads. Here we could
lie safe from the south-easters. We came to anchor within two
cable lengths of the shore, and the town lay directly before us,
making a very pretty appearance; its houses being plastered, which
gives a much better effect than those of Santa Barbara, which are
of a mud-color. The red tiles, too, on the roofs, contrasted well
with the white plastered sides and with the extreme greenness of
the lawn upon which the houses - about an hundred in number - were
dotted about, here and there, irregularly.
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