When The Skiff
Went Off With Her Load, We Could Only Keep Our Feet From Freezing
By Racing Up And Down The Beach On The Hard Sand, As Fast As We
Could Go.
We were all day at this work, and towards sundown,
having loaded the vessel as deep as she would bear, we hove up
our anchor, and made sail, beating out the bay.
No sooner had
we got into the large bay, than we found a strong tide setting
us out to seaward, a thick fog which prevented our seeing the
ship, and a breeze too light to set us against the tide; for we
were as deep as a sand-barge. By the utmost exertions, we saved
ourselves from being carried out to sea, and were glad to reach the
leewardmost point of the island, where we came-to, and prepared
to pass another night, more uncomfortable than the first, for we
were loaded up to the gunwale, and had only a choice among logs
and sticks for a resting-place. The next morning, we made sail at
slack water, with a fair wind, and got on board by eleven o'clock,
when all hands were turned-to, to unload and stow away the wood,
which took till night.
Having now taken in all our wood, the next morning a water-party
was ordered off with all the casks. From this we escaped, having
had a pretty good siege with the wooding. The water-party were
gone three days, during which time they narrowly escaped being
carried out to sea, and passed one day on an island, where one
of them shot a deer, great numbers of which overrun the islands
and hills of San Francisco Bay.
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