When They
Got On Board, They Were Completely Exhausted, And Took A Watch
Below Of Twelve Hours.
All the hides, too, that came down in the
boats, were soaked with water, and unfit to put below, so that we
were obliged to trice them up to dry, in the intervals of sunshine
or wind, upon all parts of the vessel.
We got up tricing-lines
from the jib-boom-end to each arm of the fore yard, and thence to
the main and cross-jack yard-arms. Between the tops, too, and the
mast-heads, from the fore to the main swifters, and thence to the
mizen rigging, and in all directions athwartships, tricing-lines
were run, and strung with hides. The head stays and guys, and the
spritsail-yard, were lined, and, having still more, we got out the
swinging booms, and strung them and the forward and after guys,
with hides. The rail, fore and aft, the windlass, capstan, the
sides of the ship, and every vacant place on deck, were covered
with wet hides, on the least sign of an interval for drying.
Our ship was nothing but a mass of hides, from the cat-harpins
to the water's edge, and from the jib-boom-end to the taffrail.
One cold, rainy evening, about eight o'clock, I received orders to
get ready to start for San José at four the next morning, in one of
these Indian boats, with four days' provisions. I got my oil-cloth
clothes, south-wester, and thick boots all ready, and turned into
my hammock early, determined to get some sleep in advance, as the
boat was to be alongside before daybreak. I slept on till all hands
were called in the morning; for, fortunately for me, the Indians,
intentionally, or from mistaking their orders, had gone off alone
in the night, and were far out of sight. Thus I escaped three or
four days of very uncomfortable service.
Four of our men, a few days afterwards, went up in one of the
quarter-boats to Santa Clara, to carry the agent, and remained
out all night in a drenching rain, in the small boat, where there
was not room for them to turn round; the agent having gone up to
the mission and left the men to their fate, making no provision
for their accommodation, and not even sending them anything
to eat. After this, they had to pull thirty miles, and when
they got on board, were so stiff that they could not come up
the gangway ladder. This filled up the measure of the agent's
unpopularity, and never after this could he get anything done by
any of the crew; and many a delay and vexation, and many a good
ducking in the surf, did he get to pay up old scores, or "square
the yards with the bloody quill-driver."
Having collected nearly all the hides that were to be procured,
we began our preparations for taking in a supply of wood and water,
for both of which, San Francisco is the best place on the coast.
A small island, situated about two leagues from the anchorage,
called by us "Wood Island," and by the Spaniards "Isle de los
Angelos," was covered with trees to the water's edge; and to
this, two of our crew, who were Kennebec men, and could handle
an axe like a plaything, were sent every morning to cut wood,
with two boys to pile it up for them. In about a week, they had
cut enough to last us a year, and the third mate, with myself
and three others, were sent over in a large, schooner-rigged,
open launch, which we had hired of the mission, to take in the
wood, and bring it to the ship. We left the ship about noon, but,
owing to a strong head wind, and a tide, which here runs four or
five knots, did not get into the harbor, formed by two points of
the island, where the boats lie, until sundown. No sooner had we
come-to, than a strong south-easter, which had been threatening
us all day, set in, with heavy rain and a chilly atmosphere.
We were in rather a bad situation: an open boat, a heavy rain,
and a long night; for in winter, in this latitude, it was dark
nearly fifteen hours. Taking a small skiff which we had brought
with us, we went ashore, but found no shelter, for everything was
open to the rain, and collecting a little wood, which we found by
lifting up the leaves and brush, and a few muscles, we put aboard
again, and made the best preparations in our power for passing
the night. We unbent the mainsail, and formed an awning with it
over the after part of the boat, made a bed of wet logs of wood,
and, with our jackets on, lay down, about six o'clock, to sleep.
Finding the rain running down upon us, and our jackets getting wet
through, and the rough, knotty-logs, rather indifferent couches,
we turned out; and taking an iron pan which we brought with us,
we wiped it out dry, put some stones around it, cut the wet bark
from some sticks, and striking a light, made a small fire in the
pan. Keeping some sticks near, to dry, and covering the whole
over with a roof of boards, we kept up a small fire, by which
we cooked our muscles, and eat them, rather for an occupation
than from hunger. Still, it was not ten o'clock, and the night
was long before us, when one of the party produced an old pack
of Spanish cards from his monkey-jacket pocket, which we hailed
as a great windfall; and keeping a dim, flickering light by our
fagots, we played game after game, till one or two o'clock, when,
becoming really tired, we went to our logs again, one sitting up
at a time, in turn, to keep watch over the fire.
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