She Was Called The Catalina, And, Like All
The Others Vessels In That Trade, Except The Ayacucho, Her Papers
And Colors Were From Uncle Sam.
They, of course, brought us no news,
and we were doubly disappointed, for we had thought, at first,
it might be the ship which we were expecting from Boston.
After lying here about a fortnight, and collecting all the hides the
place afforded, we set sail again for San Pedro. There we found
the brig which we had assisted in getting off lying at anchor,
with a mixed crew of Americans, English, Sandwich Islanders,
Spaniards, and Spanish Indians; and, though much smaller than we,
yet she had three times the number of men; and she needed them,
for her officers were Californians. No vessels in the world
go so poorly manned as American and English; and none do so well.
A Yankee brig of that size would have had a crew of four men,
and would have worked round and round her. The Italian ship had a
crew of thirty men; nearly three times as many as the Alert, which
was afterwards on the coast, and was of the same size; yet the Alert
would get under weigh and come-to in half the time, and get two
anchors, while they were all talking at once - jabbering like a parcel
of "Yahoos," and running about decks to find their cat-block.
There was only one point in which they had the advantage over us,
and that was in lightening their labors in the boats by their songs.
The Americans are a time and money saving people, but have not yet,
as a nation, learned that music may be "turned to account." We pulled
the long distances to and from the shore, with our loaded boats,
without a word spoken, and with discontented looks, while they not
only lightened the labor of rowing, but actually made it pleasant
and cheerful, by their music. So true is it, that -
"For the tired slave, song lifts the languid oar,
And bids it aptly fall, with chime
That beautifies the fairest shore,
And mitigates the harshest clime."
We lay about a week in San Pedro, and got under weigh for San Diego,
intending to stop at San Juan, as the south-easter season was
nearly over, and there was little or no danger.
This being the spring season, San Pedro, as well as all the other
open ports upon the coast, was filled with whales, that had come in
to make their annual visit upon soundings. For the first few days
that we were here and at Santa Barbara, we watched them with
great interest - calling out "there she blows!" every time we saw the
spout of one breaking the surface of the water; but they soon became
so common that we took little notice of them. They often "broke"
very near us; and one thick, foggy night, during a dead calm, while
I was standing anchor-watch, one of them rose so near, that he
struck our cable, and made all surge again. He did not seem to like
the encounter much himself, for he sheered off, and spouted at a
good distance. We once came very near running one down in the
gig, and should probably have been knocked to pieces and blown
sky-high. We had been on board the little Spanish brig, and were
returning, stretching out well at our oars, the little boat going like a
swallow; our backs were forward, (as is always the case in pulling,)
and the captain, who was steering, was not looking ahead, when, all
at once, we heard the spout of a whale directly ahead. "Back water!
back water, for your lives!" shouted the captain; and we backed
our blades in the water and brought the boat to in a smother of
foam. Turning our heads, we saw a great, rough, hump-backed whale,
slowly crossing our fore foot, within three or four yards of the
boat's stem. Had we not backed water just as we did, we should
inevitably have gone smash upon him, striking him with our stem
just about amidships. He took no notice of us, but passed slowly on,
and dived a few yards beyond us, throwing his tail high in the air.
He was so near that we had a perfect view of him and as may be
supposed, had no desire to see him nearer. He was a disgusting
creature; with a skin rough, hairy, and of an iron-grey color.
This kind differs much from the sperm, in color and skin, and is said
to be fiercer. We saw a few sperm whales; but most of the whales
that come upon the coast are fin-backs, hump-backs, and right-whales,
which are more difficult to take, and are said not to give oil
enough to pay for the trouble. For this reason whale-ships do not
come upon the coast after them. Our captain, together with Captain
Nye of the Loriotte, who had been in a whale-ship, thought of
making an attempt upon one of them with two boats' crews, but
as we had only two harpoons and no proper lines, they gave it up.
During the months of March, April, and May, these whales appear in
great numbers in the open ports of Santa Barbara, San Pedro, etc.,
and hover off the coast, while a few find their way into the
close harbors of San Diego and Monterey. They are all off again
before midsummer, and make their appearance on the "off-shore
ground." We saw some fine "schools" of sperm whales, which are
easily distinguished by their spout, blowing away, a few miles to
windward, on our passage to San Juan.
Coasting along on the quiet shore of the Pacific, we came to anchor,
in twenty fathoms' water, almost out at sea, as it were, and directly
abreast of a steep hill which overhung the water, and was twice as
high as our royal-mast-head.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 55 of 167
Words from 55266 to 56274
of 170236
