Then I Took Hold Of Bowditch's Navigator, Which I Had
Always With Me.
I had been through the greater part of it, and now
went carefully through it, from beginning to end working out most
of the examples.
That done, and there being no signs of the Pilgrim,
I made a descent upon old Schmidt, and borrowed and read all the
books there were upon the beach. Such a dearth was there of these
latter articles, that anything, even a little child's story-book,
or the half of a shipping calendar, appeared like a treasure.
I actually read a jest-book through, from beginning to end, in one
day, as I should a novel, and enjoyed it very much. At last,
when I thought that there were no more to be got, I found, at the
bottom of old Schmidt's chest, "Mandeville, a Romance, by Godwin,
in five volumes." This I had never read, but Godwin's name was enough,
and after the wretched trash I had devoured, anything bearing the name
of a distinguished intellectual man, was a prize indeed. I bore it off,
and for two days I was up early and late, reading with all my might,
and actually drinking in delight. It is no extravagance to say that
it was like a spring in a desert land.
From the sublime to the ridiculous - so with me, from Mandeville
to hide-curing, was but a step; for
Wednesday, July 18th, brought us the brig Pilgrim from the windward.
As she came in, we found that she was a good deal altered in her
appearance. Her short top-gallant masts were up; her bowlines all
unrove (except to the courses); the quarter boom-irons off her lower
yards; her jack-cross-trees sent down; several blocks got rid of;
running-rigging rove in new places; and numberless other changes
of the same character. Then, too, there was a new voice giving orders,
and a new face on the quarter-deck, - a short, dark-complexioned man,
in a green jacket and a high leather cap. These changes, of course,
set the whole beach on the qui-vive, and we were all waiting for the
boat to come ashore, that we might have things explained. At length,
after the sails were furled and the anchor carried out, the boat
pulled ashore, and the news soon flew that the expected ship had
arrived at Santa Barbara, and that Captain T - - - had taken command
of her, and her captain, Faucon, had taken the Pilgrim, and was the
green-jacketed man on the quarter-deck. The boat put directly off
again, without giving us time to ask any more questions, and we were
obliged to wait till night, when we took a little skiff, that lay on
the beach, and paddled off. When I stepped aboard, the second mate
called me aft, and gave me a large bundle, directed to me, and marked
"Ship Alert." This was what I had longed for, yet I refrained from
opening it until I went ashore. Diving down into the forecastle,
I found the same old crew, and was really glad to see them again.
Numerous inquiries passed as to the new ship, the latest news from
Boston, etc., etc. S - - - had received letters from home, and nothing
remarkable had happened. The Alert was agreed on all hands to be a
fine ship, and a large one: "Larger than the Rosa" - "Big enough to
carry off all the hides in California" - "Rail as high as a man's
head" - "A crack ship" - "A regular dandy," etc., etc. Captain
T - - - took command of her, and she went directly up to Monterey;
from thence she was to go to San Francisco, and probably would not
be in San Diego under two or three months. Some of the Pilgrim's
crew found old ship-mates aboard of her, and spent an hour or two
in her forecastle, the evening before she sailed. They said her
decks were as white as snow - holystoned every morning, like a
man-of-war's; everything on board "shipshape and Bristol fashion;"
a fine crew, three mates, a sailmaker and carpenter, and all complete.
"They've got a man for mate of that ship, and not a bloody sheep
about decks!" - "A mate that knows his duty, and makes everybody
do theirs, and won't be imposed upon either by captain or crew."
After collecting all the information we could get on this point,
we asked something about their new captain. He had hardly been
on board long enough for them to know much about him, but he had
taken hold strong, as soon as he took command; - sending down the
top-gallant masts, and unreeving half the rigging, the very first
day.
Having got all the news we could, we pulled ashore; and as soon as
we reached the house, I, as might be supposed, proceeded directly
to opening my bundle, and found a reasonable supply of duck,
flannel shirts, shoes, etc., and, what was still more valuable,
a packet of eleven letters. These I sat up nearly all the night
to read, and put them carefully away, to be read and re-read again
and again at my leisure. Then came a half a dozen newspapers,
the last of which gave notice of Thanksgiving, and of the clearance
of "ship Alert, Edward H. Faucon, master, for Callao and California,
by Bryant, Sturgis & Co." No one has ever been on distant voyages,
and after a long absence received a newspaper from home, who cannot
understand the delight that they give one. I read every part of them
- the houses to let; things lost or stolen; auction sales, and all.
Nothing carries you so entirely to a place, and makes you feel so
perfectly at home, as a newspaper. The very name of "Boston Daily
Advertiser" "sounded hospitably upon the ear."
The Pilgrim discharged her hides, which set us at work again,
and in a few days we were in the old routine of dry hides - wet
hides - cleaning - beating, etc.
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