This morning, the officer in charge of
our house went off beyond the point a fishing, in a small canoe,
with two Kanakas; and we were sitting quietly in our room at the
hide-house, when, just before noon, we heard a complete yell of
"Sail ho!" breaking out from all parts of the beach, at once, - from
the Kanakas' oven to the Rosa's house. In an instant, every one
was out of his house; and there was a fine, tall ship, with royals
and skysails set, bending over before the strong afternoon breeze,
and coming rapidly round the point. Her yards were braced sharp
up; every sail was set, and drew well; the Yankee ensign was flying
from her mizen-peak; and having the tide in her favor, she came up
like a race-horse. It was nearly six months since a new vessel had
entered San Diego, and of course, every one was on the qui-vive.
She certainly made a fine appearance. Her light sails were taken
in, as she passed the low, sandy tongue of land, and clewing up her
head sails, she rounded handsomely to, under her mizen topsail,
and let go the anchor at about a cable's length from the shore.
In a few minutes, the topsail yards were manned, and all three
of the topsails furled at once. From the fore top-gallant yard,
the men slid down the stay to furl the jib, and from the mizen
top-gallant yard, by the stay, into the maintop, and thence to
the yard; and the men on the topsail yards came down the lifts
to the yard-arms of the courses. The sails were furled with
great care, the bunts triced up by jiggers, and the jibs stowed
in cloth. The royal yards were then struck, tackles got upon the
yard-arms and the stay, the long-boat hoisted out, a large anchor
carried astern, and the ship moored. Then the captain's gig was
lowered away from the quarter, and a boat's crew of fine lads,
between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, pulled the captain
ashore. The gig was a light whale-boat, handsomely painted,
and fitted up with cushions, etc., in the stern sheets.
We immediately attacked the boat's crew, and got very thick
with them in a few minutes. We had much to ask about Boston,
their passage out, etc., and they were very curious to know about
the life we were leading upon the beach. One of them offered to
exchange with me; which was just what I wanted; and we had only
to get the permission of the captain.
After dinner, the crew began discharging their hides, and, as we
had nothing to do at the hide-houses, we were ordered aboard to
help them. I had now my first opportunity of seeing the ship which
I hoped was to be my home for the next year. She looked as well
on board as she did from without. Her decks were wide and roomy,
(there being no poop, or house on deck, which disfigures the after
part of most of our vessels,) flush, fore and aft, and as white as
snow, which the crew told us was from constant use of holystones.
There was no foolish gilding and gingerbread work, to take the eye
of landsmen and passengers, but everything was "ship-shape and
Bristol fashion." There was no rust, no dirt, no rigging hanging
slack, no fag ends of ropes and "Irish pendants" aloft, and the
yards were squared "to a t" by lifts and braces.
The mate was a fine, hearty, noisy fellow, with a voice like a lion,
and always wide awake. He was "a man, every inch of him," as the
sailors said; and though "a bit of a horse," and "a hard customer,"
yet he was generally liked by the crew. There was also a second and
third mate, a carpenter, sailmaker, steward, cook, etc., and twelve,
including boys, before the mast. She had, on board, seven thousand
hides, which she had collected at the windward, and also horns
and tallow. All these we began discharging, from both gangways
at once, into the two boats, the second mate having charge of
the launch, and the third mate of the pinnace. For several days,
we were employed in this way, until all the hides were taken out,
when the crew began taking in ballast, and we returned to our old
work, hide-curing.
Saturday, Aug. 29th. Arrived, brig Catalina, from the windward.
Sunday, 30th. This was the first Sunday that the crew had been
in San Diego, and of course they were all for going up to see
the town. The Indians came down early, with horses to let for
the day, and all the crew, who could obtain liberty, went off
to the Presidio and mission, and did not return until night.
I had seen enough of San Diego, and went on board and spent
the day with some of the crew, whom I found quietly at work in
the forecastle, mending and washing their clothes, and reading
and writing. They told me that the ship stopped at Callao in
the passage out, and there lay three weeks. She had a passage
of little over eighty days from Boston to Callao, which is one of
the shortest on record. There, they left the Brandywine frigate,
and other smaller American ships of war, and the English frigate
Blonde, and a French seventy-four. From Callao they came directly
to California, and had visited every port on the coast, including
San Francisco. The forecastle in which they lived was large,
tolerably well lighted by bulls-eyes, and, being kept perfectly clean,
had quite a comfortable appearance; at least, it was far better than
the little, black, dirty hole in which I had lived so many months on
board the Pilgrim. By the regulations of the ship, the forecastle
was cleaned out every morning, and the crew, being very neat, kept
it clean by some regulations of their own, such as having a large
spitbox always under the steps and between the bits, and obliging
every man to hang up his wet clothes, etc.
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