Two years before the mast

Copyright 1895 by Henry Altemus.

CONTENTS.

I. "My Native Land, Good Night!* . . 7

IL A Seaman's Daily Work, . . . .15

III. Alarm of a Pirate, . . . . . 20

IV. Round Cape Horn, 80

V. A Man Overboard, ..... 40

VI. Juan Fernandez 45

VII. Effects of Long Sea-voyage, . .51

"VIII. First Landing in California, . • .67

IX. A South-easter, . . 60

X. Trading in California, . . . .70

XI. The Seamen Discontented, . • . 84

XII. A Tyrannical Captain, .... 95

XIII. On Shore, . . . . . . .110

XTV. San Diego 117

XV. Easter in California, . . . .123

XVI. Sandwich Islanders and Hide-Curing, . 137

XVII. Burning the Water, 146

XVIII. New Ship— the "Alert," . . . .155

XIX. Tom Harris 162

XX. The Story of George Marsh, . . .181

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

CONTENTS.

A Gale, .190

San Francisco 209

A Wedding 218

Preparing for the Home Voyagh, . . 280

Homeward Bound, 242

The Voyage 262

Bad Prospects 278

Doubling Cape Horn 296

Sailing Northward, . . • • .807
A Tropical Thunderstorm, . . . S17
In the Gulp Stream, . . . • .828
In Harbour, MO

INTRODUCTION.

Richard Henry Dana, the author of Two Years
Before the Mast, came of a distinguished New Eng-
land family, and was born at Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, in August, 1815. His father, also named
Richard Henry, was the son of Francis Dana, for
some time United States minister to Russia, after-
wards chief-justice of Massachusetts, and ranks as
one of the pioneers of American literature.

His son inherited his literary talents, which are
conspicuously displayed in the work before us, which
is probably the most graphic and truthful picture of
life at sea that has ever been given to the public.
The way in which it came to be written was as fol-
lows:— Young Dana, while at Harvard University,
which he entered in 1831, became troubled with an
affection of the eyes that prevented him from con-
tinuing his studies. He therefore, as he tells us in
his first chapter, determined to see what an entire
change of life, and a long absence from books and
study, would do towards curing his malady, and with
this end in view he shipped as an ordinary seaman on
board a trading vessel bound for California. He was
away just over two years, returning in September,

* INTRODUCTION.

1836, being then in his twenty-first year. His book,
which was published in 1840, is a faithful and de-
tailed account of the voyage. Not the least striking
part of the narrative is the description of life in Cali-
fornia, which was then hardly known, being still a
province of Mexico, and its gold mines undiscovered.

On his return Dana resumed his studies at Harvard,
graduating in 1837, and he was admitted to the
Massachusetts Bar in 1840.

Mr. Dana wrote, To Cuba and Back, and a work
on International Lata, besides biographical sketches
and other articles.

But nothing that he subsequently produced ap-
proached anything like the popularity of his Ttvo
Years Before the Mast, which has probably been as
widely read as any work from the pen of any Ameri-
can author. It is distinguished alike by its vivid de-
scriptive power and its humour, while the fidelity
with which it depicted the hardships of a sailor's
life has helped greatly to bring about a better state
of things in the mercantile marine of both America
and England.

In 1876 Mr. Dana was nominated to the position
of minister to England; but, after a long contest,
the Senate failed to confirm the appointment H»
died in Home in 1882.

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER I.

*MY NATIVE LAND, GOOD NIGHT P

The fourteenth of August was the day fixed upon
lor the sailing of the brig Pilgrim, on her voyage
from Boston, round Cape Horn, to the western coast
of North America. As she was to get under way
early in the afternoon, I made my appearance on
board at twelve o'clock, in full sea-rig, and with my
chest, containing an outfit for a two or three years'
voyage, which I had undertaken from a determina-
tion to cure, if possible, by an entire change of life,
and by a long absence from books and study, a weak-
ness of the eyes which had obliged me to give up my
pursuits, and which no medical aid seemed likely to
cure.

I joined the crew, and we hauled out into the
stream, and came to anchor for the night. The next
day we were employed in preparations for sea, reeving

* TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

studding-sail gear, crossing royal-yards, putting on
chafing gear, and taking on board our powder. On
the following night I stood my first watch. I re-
mained awake nearly all the first part of the night;
and when I went on deck, so great were my ideas of
the importance of my trust, that I walked regularly
fore and aft the whole length of the vessel, looking
out over the bows and taffrail at each turn, and was
not a little surprised at the coolness of the old salt
whom I called to take my place, in stowing himself
snugly away under the longboat for a nap.

The next morning was Saturday, and, a breeze
having sprung up from the southward, we took a
pilot on board, and began beating down the bay. As
we drew down into the lower harbour, we found the
wind ahead in the bay, and were obliged to come to
anchor in the roads. We remained there through
the day and a part of the night. My watch began
at eleven o'clock at night. About midnight the wind
became fair, and, having called the captain, I was
ordered to call all hands. How I accomplished this I
do not know, but I am quite sure that I did not give
the true hoarse boatswain call of " A-a-11 ha-a-a-nds!
up anchor, a-ho-oy!" In a short time every one
was in motion, the sails loosed, the yards braced,
and we began to heave up the anchor. I could take
but little part in these preparations. My little
knowledge of a vessel was all at fault. Unintelligible

"MY NATIVE LAND, GOOD NIGHT!" 9

orders were so rapidly given, and so immediately ex*
ecnted ; there was such a hurrying about, and such an
intermingling of strange cries and stranger actions,
that I was completely bewildered. At length those
peculiar, long-drawn sounds which denote that the
crew are heaving at the windlass began, and in a few
minutes we were under way. The noise of the water
thrown from the bows began to be heard, the vessel
leaned over from the damp night-breeze, and rolled
with the heavy ground-swell, and we had actually be-
gun our long, long journey.

The first day we passed at sea was the Sabbath.
As we were just from port, and there was a great
deal to be done on board, we were kept at work all
day, and at night the watches were set, and every-
thing put into sea order.

I, being in the starboard or second mate's watch,
had the opportunity of keeping the first watch at sea.

S , a young man making, like myself, his first

voyage, was in the same watch, and as he was the son
of a professional man, we found that we had many
friends and topics in common. We talked matters
over — Boston, what our friends were probably doing,
our voyage, &c, — until he went to take his turn at
the look-out, and left me to myself. I had now a
fine time for reflection.

But all my dreams were soon put to flight by an
order from the officer to trim the yards, as the wind

10 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

was getting ahead ; and I could plainly see, by the
looks the sailors occasionally cast to windward and by
the dark clouds that were fast coming up, that we
had bad weather to prepare for, and had heard the
captain say that he expected to be in the Gulf Stream
by twelve o'clock. In a few minutes eight bells were
struck, the watch called, and we went below. I now
began to feel the first discomforts of a sailor's life.
The steerage, in which I lived, was filled with coils
of rigging, spare sails, old junk, and ship stores
which had not been stowed away. Moreover, there
had been no berths built for us to sleep in. The sea,
too, had risen, the vessel was rolling heavily, and
everything was pitched about in grand confusion.
There was a complete "hurrah's nest," as the sailors
say, "everything on top and nothing at hand." A
large hawser had been coiled away upon my chest;
my hats, boots, mattress, and blankets had all fetched
aiyiy and gone over to leeward,* and were jammed
and broken under the boxes and coils of rigging.
To crown all, I was just beginning to feel strong
symptoms of sea-sickness, and that listlessness and
inactivity which accompany it. Giving up all at-
tempts to collect my tilings together, I lav down upon
the sails, expecting every moment to hear the cry of
"All hands, ahoy!" which the approaching storm

■*Lee, the side opposite to that from which the wind
blows. Leeward, the lee side.

"MY NATIVE LAND, GOOD NIGHT!" 11

would soon make necessary. I shortly heard the
raindrops falling on deck thick and fast, and the
watch evidently had their hands full of work, for I
could hear the loud and repeated orders of the mate,
the trampling of feet, the creaking of blocks, and all
the accompaniments of a coming storm. In a few
minutes the slide of the hatch was thrown back, which
let down the noise and tumult of the deck still louder,
the loud cry of "All hands, ahoy! Tumble up here
and take in sail!" saluted our ears, and the hatch
was quickly shut again. When I got upon deck, a
new scene and a new experience was before me.

The little brig was close-hauled upon the wind,
and lying over, as it then seemed to me, nearly upon
her beam-ends. The heavy head-sea was beating
against her bows with the noise and force almost of a
sledge-hammer, and flying over the deck, drenching
us completely through. The topsail-halyards had
been let go, and the great sails were filling out and*
backing against the masts with a noise like thunder;
the wind was whistling through the rigging; loose
ropes flying about; loud and, to me, unintelligible
orders constantly given, and rapidly executed; and -
the sailors "singing out" at the ropes in their hoarse
and peculiar strains.

In addition to all this, I had not got my " sea legs
on," was dreadfully sick, with hardly strength enough^
to hold on to anything, and it was "pitch dark.'*

12 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

This was my state when I was ordered aloft, for the
first time, to reef topsails.

How I got along I cannot now remember. I "laid
out" on the yards and held on with all my strength.
I could not have been of much service, for I remember
having been sick several times before I left the top-
sail yard. Soon all was suug aloft, and we were again
allowed to go below.

This state of things continued for two days.

Wednesday, August 20th. When we came on deck
at four o'clock, we found things much changed for
the better. The sea and wind had gone down, and
the stars were out bright.

Nothing will compare with the early breaking of day
upon the wide sad ocean. There is something in the
first grey streaks stretching along the eastern horizon,
and throwing an indistinct light upon the face of the
deep, which creates a feeling of loneliness, of dread,
and of melancholy foreboding, which nothing else in
nature can give. >*

From such reflections as these, I was aroused by
the order from the officer, "Forward there! rig the
head-pump!" I found that no time was allowed for
day-dreaming, but that we must" turn to" at the first
light. Having called up the "idlers," namely car-
penter, cook, steward, &c, and rigged the pump, we
commenced washing down the decks. This opera-
tion, which is performed every morning at sea, takes

"MY NATIVE LAND, GOOD NIGHT!" IS

nearly two hours; and I had hardly strength enough
to get through it. After we had finished, swabbed
down, and coiled up the rigging, I sat on the spars,
waiting for seven bells, which was the sign for break-
fast. The officer, seeing my lazy posture, ordered
me to slush the mainmast, from the royal-masthead
down. The vessel was then rolling a little, and I
had taken no sustenance for three days, so that I felt
tempted to tell him that I had rather wait till after
breakfast; but I knew that if I showed any sign of
want of spirit or of backwardness, I should be ruined
at once. So I took my bucket of grease and climbed
up to the royal-masthead. Here the rocking of the
vessel, which increases the higher you go from the
foot of the mast, which is the fulcrum of the lever,
and the smell of the grease, upset my stomach again,
and I was not a little rejoiced when I got upon the
comparative terra firma of the deck. In a few min-
utes seven bells were struck, the log hove, the watch
called, and we went to breakfast.

I cannot describe the change which half a pound of
cold salt beef and a biscuit or two produced in me.
I was a new being. We had a watch below un^il
noon, so that I had some time to myself, and getting
a huge piece of strong, cold salt beef from the cook,
I kept gnawing upon it until twelve o'clock. When
we went on deck I felt somewhat like a man, and
could begin to learn my sea duty with considerable

14 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

spirit. At about two o'clock we heard the loud cry
of "Sail ho!" from aloft, aud soon saw two sails to
windward, going directly athwart our hawse.* This
was the first time that I had seen a sail at sea. I
thought then, and have always since, that it exceeds
every other sight in interest and beauty. They passed
to leeward of us, and out of hailing distance.

TJtursday, August 21st. This day the sun rose
clear; we had a fine wind, and everything was bright
and cheerful. About six bells, that is, three o'clock
p.m., we saw a sail on our larboard bow. I was very
anxious, like every now sailor, to speak her. She
oame down to us, backed her main -topsail, and the
two vessels stood "head on," bowing and curveting
at each other like a couple of war-horses reined in by
their riders. It was the first vessel that I had seen
near, and I was surprised to find how much she rolled
and plunged in so quiet a sea. She plunged her head
into the sea, and then, her stern settling gradually
down, her huge bows rose up, showing the bright
copper, and her stern and breast-hooks dripping with
tlijB brine. Her decks were filled with passengers,
who had come up at the cry of "Sail ho!" and who
by their dress and features appeared to be Swiss and
French emigrants. She was the ship La Carolina,
from Havre, for New York.
* Hawse, the hole in the bows through which the cable

A SEAMAN'S DAILY WORK. 15

OHAPTEK II.

A seaman's daily work.

As we had now a long " spell" of fine weather, with-
out any incident to break the monotony of our lives,
there can be no better place to describe the duties,
regulations, and customs of an American merchant-
man, of which ours was a fair specimen.

The captain, in the first place, is lord paramount.
He stands no watch, comes and goes when he pleases,
and is accountable to no one, and must be obeyed in
everything. He has the power to turn his officers ofE
duty, and even to make them do duty as sailors in
the forecastle.

The prime minister, the official organ, and the
active and superintending officer is the chief mate.
The captain tells him what he wishes to have done,
and leaves to him the care of overseeing, of allotting
the work, and also the responsibility of its being well
done. The mate also keeps the log-book, for which
he is responsible to the owners and insurers, and has
the charge of the stowage, safe-keeping, and delivery
of the cargo.

The second mate's is proverbially a dog's berth.
The men do not respect him as an officer, and he is
obliged to go aloft to reef and furl the topsails, and

16 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

to put his hands into the tar and slush with the
rest. The crew call him the "sailor's waiter," as he
has to furnish them with spun-yarn, marline, and all
other stuffs that they need in their work, and has
charge of the boatswain's locker, which includes
serving-boards, marline-spikes, &c. His wages are
usually double those of a common sailor, and he eats
and sleeps in the cabin ; but he is obliged to be on
deck nearly all his time, and eats at the second table,
that is, makes a meal out of what the captain and
chief mate leave.

The steward is the captain's servant, and has charge
of the pantry, from which every one, even the mate
himself, is excluded.

The cook is the patron of the crew, and those who
are in his favour can get their wet mittens and stock-
ings dried, or light their pipes at the galley in the
night watch. These two worthies, together with the
carpenter and sailmaker, if there be one, stand no
watch, but, being employed all day, are allowed to
"sleep in" at night, unless all hands are called.

The crew are divided into two watches. Of these,
the chief mate commands the larboard, and the sec-
ond mate the starboard. They divide the time be-
tween them, being on and off duty, or on deck and
below, every other four hours. If, for instance, the
chief mate with the larboard watch have the first night
watch from eight to twelve; at the end of the four

A SEAMAN'S DAILY WORK. 17

hours the starboard watch is called, and the second
mate takes the deck, while the larboard watch and
the first mate go below until four in the morning,
when they come on deck again and remain until
eight, haying what is called the morning watch. As
they will have been on deck eight hours out of the
twelve, while those who had the middle watch — from
twelve to four — will only have been up four hours,
they have what is called a "forenoon watch below,"
that is, from eight a.m. till twelve M.

An explanation of the "dog-watches" may, per-
haps, be of use to one who has never been at sea.
They are to shift the watches each night, so that the
same watch need not be on deck at the same hours.
In order to effect this, the watch from four to eight
P.M. is divided into two half, or dog-watches, one
from four to six, and the other from six to eight.
By this means they divide the twenty-four hours into
seven watches instead of six, and thus shift the hours
every night. As the dog-watches come during twi-
light, after the day's work is done, and before the
night-watch is set, they are the watches in which
everybody is on deck. At eight o'clock eight bells
are struck, the log is hove, the watch set, the wheel
relieved, the galley shut up, and the other watch goes
below.

The morning commences with the watch on deck's
K turning to" at daybreak, and washing down* scrnb*
2

18 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

bing, and swabbing the decks. This, with filling the
"scuttled butt" with fresh water, and coiling up the
rigging, usually occupies the time until seven bells
(half past seven), when all hands get breakfast. At
eight the day's work begins, and lasts until sundown,
with the exception of an hour for dinner.

The discipline of the ship requires every man to be
at work upon something when he is upon deck, ex-
cept at night and on Sundays. It is the officers' duty
to keep every one at work, even if there is nothing to
be done but to scrape the rust from the chain cables.
No conversation is allowed among the crew at their
duty, and though they frequently do talk when aloft,
or when near one another, yet they always stop when
an officer is nigh.

"When I first left port, and found that we were kept
regularly employed for a week or two, I supposed that
we were getting the vessel into sea trim, and that it
would soon be over, and we should have nothing to
do but to sail the ship; but I found that it continued
bo for two years, and at the end of two years there
was as much to be done as ever. When first leaving
port, studding-sail* gear is to be rove, all the run-
ning rigging to be examined, that which is unfit for
use to be got down, and new rigging rove in its place;
then the standing rigging is to be overhauled, re-

* Studding-sails, light sails set outside the square sails
on booms, only carried in a fair wind.

A SEAMAN'S DAILY WORK. 1*

placed, and repaired in a thousand different ways;
and wherever any of the numberless ropes or the
yards are charing or wearing upon it, their " chafing
gear," as it is called, must be put on. Taking off,
putting on, and mending the chafing gear alone,
upon a vessel, would find constant employment for
two or three men during working hours for a whole
voyage.

All the " small stuffs" which are used on board a
ship — such as spun-yarn, marline, seizing-stuff,, &c.
— are made on board. The owners of a vessel buy up
incredible quantities of " old junk," which the sailors
unlay, after drawing out the yarns, knot them to-
gether, and roll them up in balls. These "rope
yarns" are used for various purposes, but the greater
part is manufactured into spun-yarn. For this pur-
pose every vessel is furnished with a "spun-yarn
winch," which is very simple, consisting of a wheel
and spindle.

Another method of employing the crew is " setting
up" rigging. Whenever any of the standing rigging i
becomes slack (which is continually happening) the
seizings and coverings must be taken off, tackles got
up, and after the rigging is bowsed well taut, the
seizings and coverings replaced, which is a very nice
piece of work. If we add to this all the tarring,
greasing, oiling, varnishing, painting, scraping, and
scrubbing which is required in the course of a long

30 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

voyage, and also remember this is all to be done in
addition to watching at night, steering, reefing, furl-
ing, bracing, making and setting sail, and pulling,
hauling, and climbing in every direction, one will
hardly ask, "What can a sailor find to do at sea?"

If, after all this labour, the merchants and captains
think that they have not earned their twelve dollars
a month and their salt beef and hard bread, they
keep them picking oakum — ad infinitum. I have
seen oakum stuff placed about in different parts of
the ship, so that the sailors might not be idle in th«
snatches between the frequent squalls upon crossing
the equator. Some officers have been so driven to
find work for the crew of a ship ready for sea that
they have set them to pounding the anchors and
scraping the chain cables. The " Philadelphia Cate-
chism" is, —

"Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou art able,
And on the seventh,— holystone the decks and scrape the
cable."

CHAPTER III.

ALARM OF A PIRATE.

After speaking the Carolina on the 21st of August,
nothing occurred to break the monotony of our life
until — Friday, September 5th, when we saw a sail on
the weather beam. She proved to be a brig under Eng-

ALARM OF A PIRATE. 21

lish colours, and, passing under our stern, reported
herself as forty-nine days from Buenos Ayres, bound
to Liverpool. Before she had passed us, "Sail ho!"
■was cried again, and we made another sail, far on our
weather bow, and steering athwart our hawse. She
passed out of hail, but we made her out to be an her-
maphrodite brig, with Brazilian colours in her main
rigging.

Sunday, September 7th. Fell in with the north-
east trade-winds. This morning we caught our first
dolphin. T was disappointed in the colors of this fish
when dying. They were certainly very beautiful, but
not equal to what has been said of them.

This day was spent like all pleasant Sabbaths at
sea. The decks are washed down, the rigging coiled
up, and everything put in order; and throughout
the day only one watch is kept on deck at a time.
The men are all dressed in their best white duck
trousers, and red or checked shirts, and have nothing
to do but to make the necessary changes in the sails.
They employ themselves in reading, talking, smok-
ing, and mending their clothes. If the weather is
pleasant, they bring their work and their books upon
deck and sit down upon the forecastle and windlass.

To enhance the value of the Sabbath to the crew,
they are allowed on that day a pudding, or, as it if
•called, a "duff." This is nothing more than flour
boiled with water, and eaten with molasses. It is

£2 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

very heavy, dark, and clammy, yet it is looked upon
as a luxury, and really forms an agreeable variety
with salt beef and pork.

We continued running large before the north-east
trade winds for several days, until Monday —

September 22nd^ when, upon coming on deck at
seven bells in the morning, we found the other watch
aloft throwing water upon the sails; and, looking
astern, we saw a small clipper-built brig with a black
hull heading directly after us. We went to work
immediately, and put all the canvas upon the brig
which we could get upon her, rigging out oars for
studding-sail yards, and continued wetting down the
sails by buckets of water whipped up to the mast-
head, until about nine o'clock, when there came on
a drizzling rain. The vessel continued in pursuit,
changing her course as we changed ours, to keep be-
fore the wind. The captain, who watched her with
his glass, said that she was armed, and full of men, and
showed no colours. We continued running dead before
the wind, knowing that we sailed better so, and that
clippers are fastest on the wind. We had also another
advantage. The wind was light, and we spread more
canvas than she did, having royals and sky-sails fore
and aft, and ten studding-sails: while she, being an
hermaphrodite brig, had only a gaff-topsail* aft.

* Gaff -topsail, a light sail set over a gaff, or spar, to
which the head of a fore-and-aft sail is bent

ALARM OF A PIRATE. 23

Early in the morning she was overhauling us a
little, but after the rain came on and the wind grew
lighter, we began to leave her astern. All hands re-
mained on deck throughout the day, and we got our
arms in order; but we were too few to have done any-
thing with her if she had proved to be what we feared.
Fortunately there was no moon, and the night which
followed was exceedingly dark, so that, by putting
out all the lights on board and altering our course
four points, we hoped to get out of her reach. At
daybreak there was no sign of any thing in the hori-
zon, and we kept the vessel off to her course.

Wednesday, Oct. 1st. Crossed the equator in long.
241° 24' W. I now, for the first time, felt at liberty,
according to the old usage, to call myself a son of
Neptune, and was very glad to be able to claim the
title without the disagreeable initiation which so many
have to go through. After once crossing the line
you can never be subjected to the process, but are
considered as a son of Neptune, with full powers to
play tricks upon others.

It had been obvious to all hands for some time
that the second mate, whose name was Foster, was
an idle, careless fellow, and not much of a sailor, and
that the captain was exceedingly dissatisfied with
him. The power of the captain in these cases was
well known, and we all anticipated a difficulty.

The second night after crossing the equator we had

24 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

the watch from eight till twelve, and it was "my
helm" for the last two hours. There had been light
squalls through the night, and the captain told Mr.
Foster, who commanded our watch, to keep a bright
look-out. Soon after I came to the helm I found
that he was quite drowsy, and at last he stretched
himself on the companion and went fast asleep. Soon
afterwards the captain came quietly on deck, and
stood by me for some time looking at the compass.
The officer at length became aware of the captain's
presence, but, pretending not to kuow it, began hum-
ming and whistling to himself, to show that he was
not asleep, and went forward, without looking behind
him, and ordered the main royal to be loosed. On
turning round to come aft he pretended surprise at
seeing the master on deck. This would not do. The
captain was too " wide awake" for him, and, begin-
ning upon him at once, gave him a grand blow-up in
true nautical style. " You're a lazy, good-for-noth-
ing rascal! You're neither man, boy, soger, nor
sailor! You're no more than a thing aboard a vessel!
You don't earn your salt!" and other still more
choice extracts from the sailor's vocabulary. After
the poor fellow had taken this harangue he was sent
into his state-room, and the captain stood the rest of
the watch himself.

At seven bells in the morning all hands were called
aft, and told that Foster was no longer an officer on

ALARM OF A PIRATE. 25

board, and that we might choose one of our own
number for second mate. The crew refused to take
the responsibility of choosing a man of whom we
would never be able to complain, and left it to the
captain. He picked out an active and intelligent
young sailor, born near the Kennebec, who had been
several Canton voyages, and proclaimed him in the
following manner: "I choose Jim Hall. He's your
second mate. All you've got to do is to obey him as
you would me; and remember that he is Mr. Hall."
Foster went forward in the forecastle as a common
sailor, while young foremast Jim became Mr. Hall,
and took up his quarters in the land of knives and
forks and tea-cups.

Sunday, October 5th. It was our morning watch,
when soon after the day began to break a man on
the forecastle called out, "Land ho!" I had never
heard the cry before, and did not know what it
meant; but I soon found, by the direction of all eyes,
that there was land stretching along on our weather
beam.*

We immediately took in studding-sails and hauled
our wind, running in for the land. This was done to
determine our longitude; for by the captain's chro-
nometer we were in 25 deg. W., but by his observa-
tions we were much farther, and he had been for
some time in doubt whether it was his chronometer

* Weather, the direction from which. the wind blows.

26 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

or his sextant which was out of order. This land*
fall settled the matter, and the former instrument
was condemned.

As we ran in towards the coast we found that we
were directly off the port of Pernambuco, and could
see with the telescope the roofs of the houses, and one
large church, and the town of Olinda. It was here
that I first saw one of those singular things called
catamarans. They are composed of logs lashed to-
gether upon the water, have one large sail, are quite
fast, and, strange as it may seem, are trusted as good
sea boats. After taking a new departure from Olinda
we kept off on our way to Cape Horn.

We met with nothing remarkable until we were in
the latitude of the river La Plata. Here there are
violent gales from the south-west, called Pomperos,
which are very destructive to the shipping in the
river, and are felt for many leagues at sea. They are
usually preceded by lightning. The captain told
the mates to keep a bright look-out, and if they saw
lightning at the south-west to tako in sail at once.
We got the first touch of one during my watch on
deck. I was walking in the lee* gangway, and thought
I saw lightning on the lee-bow. I told tho second
mate, who came over and looked out for some time.
It was very black in the south-west, and in about ten

* Lee, the side opposite to that from which the wind
blows.

ALARM OF A PIRATE. 27

minutes we saw a distinct flash. The wind, which
had been southeast, had now left us, and it was dead
calm. We sprang aloft immediately and furled the
royals and topgallant-sails, and took in the flying-jib,
hauled up the mainsail and trysail,* squared the after-
yards, and awaited the attack. A huge mist, capped
with black clouds, came driving towards us, extend-
ing over that quarter of the horizon, and covering
the stars, which shone brightly in the other part of
the heavens. It came upon us at once with a blast,
and a shower of hail and rain, which almost took our
breath from us. We let the halyards run, and for-
tunately were not taken aback. The little vessel
"paid off" from the wind, and ran on for some time
directly before it, tearing through the water with
everything flying. Having called all hands, we close-
reefed the topsails and trysail, furled the courses and
jib, set the foretopmast-staysail, and brought her up
nearly to her course, with the weather-braces hauled
in a little to ease her.

This was the first blow that I had seen which could
really be called a gale. We had reefed our topsails in
the Gulf Stream, and I thought it something serious,
but an older sailor would have thought nothing of it.
As I had now become used to the vessel and to my
duty, I was of some service on a yard, and could knot

* Trysail, a fore-and-afl" sail set with a boom and gaffj
and hoisted on a small mast abaft the lower mast.

28 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

my reef -point as well as anybody. I obeyed the order
to lay aloft with the rest, and found the reefing a very
exciting scene; for one watch reefed the fore- topsail,
and the other the main, and every one did his utmost
to get his topsail hoisted first. We had a great ad-
vantage over the larboard watch, because the chief
mate never goes aloft, while our new second mate
used to jump into the rigging as soon as we began to
haul out the reef-tackle, and have the weather earing
passed before there was a man upon the yard. In
this way we were almost always able to raise the cry
of "Haul out to leeward" before them, and, having
knotted our points, would slide down the shrouds and
backstays, and sing out at the topsail-halyards, to let
it be known that we were ahead of them. Reefing is
the most exciting part of a sailor's duty. All hands
are engaged upon it, and after the halyards are let go,
there is no time to be lost — no " sogering" or hanging
back — then. If one is not quick enough, another
runs over him. The first on the yard goes to the
weather earing, the second to the lee, and the next
two to the "dog's ears;" while the others lay along
into the bunt, just giving each other elbow-room. In
reefing, the yard-arms (the extremes of the yards) are
the posts of honor; but in furling, the strongest and
most experienced stand in the slings (or middle of
the yard) to make up the bunt.* If the second mat©
*Bunt, the middle of a sail.

ALARM OF A PIRATE. 29

is a smart £eiiow he will never let any one take either
of these posts from him.

We remained for the rest of the night, and through-
out the next day, under the same close sail, for it
continued to blow very fresh; and though we had no
more hail, yet there was a soaking rain, and it was
quite cold and uncomfortable. Towards sundown
the gale moderated a little, and it began to clear off
in the south-west. We shook our reefs out one by
one, and before midnight had topgallant-sails upon
her.

We had now made up our minds for Cape Horn
and cold weather, and entered upon every necessary
preparation.

Tuesday, November 4th. At daybreak saw land
upon our larboard quarter. There were two islands;
in a few hours we sank them in the north-east.
These were the Falkland Islands. We had run be-
tween them and the main land of Patagonia. At
sunset the second mate, who was at the masthead,
said that he saw land on the starboard bow. This
must have been the island of Staten Land ; and we
were now in the region of Cape Horn, with a fine
breeze from the northward, topmast and topgallant
studding-sails set, and every prospect of a speedy and
pleasant passage round.

80 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER IV.

BOUND CAPE HORN.

Wednesday, November 5th. The weather was fine
during the previous night, and we had a clear view
$f the Magellan Clouds and of the Southern Cross.
The Magellan Clouds consist of three small nebulae
in the southern part of the heavens — two bright, like
the Milky Way, and one dark. When off Cape Horn
they are nearly overhead. The Cross is composed of
four stars in that form, and is said to be the brightest
constellation in the heavens.

During the first part of this day the wind was
light, but after noon it came on fresh, and we furled
the royals.* We still kept the studding-sails out, and
the captain said he should go round with them if he
could. Just before eight o'clock (then about sun-
down in that latitude) the cry of "All hands ahoy!"
was sounded down the fore-scuttle and the after-
hatchway, and, hurrying upon deck, we found a large
black cloud rolling on towards us from the south-
west, blackening the whole heavens. " Here comes
Cape Horn!" said the chief mate; and we had hardly
time to haul down and clew up before it was upon us.
In a few moments a heavier sea was raised than I had

* Royal, a light sail, next above the top-gallant sail.

ROUND CAPE HORN. 31

ever seen, and as it was directly ahead, the little brig,
which was no better than a bathing-machine, plunged
into it, and all the forward part of her was under
water, the sea pouring in through the bow-ports and
hawse-hole and over the knight-heads, threatening to
wash everything overboard. We sprang aloft and
double reefed the topsails, and furled all the other
sails, and made all snug. But this would not do; the
brig was labouring and straining against the head-sea,
and the gale was growing worse and worse. At the
same time sleet and hail were driving with all fury
against us. We clewed down, and hauled out the
reef -tackles again, and close-reefed the foretop sail,
and furled the main, and hove her to on the starboard
tack.

Throughout the night the storm was very violent
— rain, hail, snow, and sleet beating upon the vessel
— the wind continuing ahead, and the sea running
high. At daybreak (about three a.m.) the deck was
covered with snow. The captain sent up the steward
with a glass of grog to each of the watch ; and all the
time that we were off the Cape grog was given tc the
morning watch and to all hands whenever we reefed
topsails. The clouds cleared away at sunrise, and,
the wind becoming more fair, we again made sail and
stood nearly up to our course.

Thursday, November 6th. It continued more pleas-
ant through the first part of the day, but at night we

82 two Years before the mast.

had the same scene over again. This time we did
not heave to, as on the night before, bnt endeavoured
to beat to windward under close-reefed topsails, bal-
ance-reefed trysail, and fore top-mast staysail. This
night it was my turn to steer, or, as the sailors say, my
trick at the helm, for two hours. Inexperienced a&
I was, I made out to steer to the satisfaction of the*

officer, and neither S nor I gave up our tricks all

the time that we were off the Cape. This was some-
thing to boast of, for it requires a good deal of skill
and watchfulness to steer a vessel close-hauled in a
gale of wind against a heavy head-sea. "Ease her
when she pitches," is the word; and a little careless-
ness in letting her ship a heavy sea might sweep tl
decks or knock the masts out of her. :&J

Friday, November 7th. Towards morning the win*
went down, and during the whole forenoon we la
tossing about in a dead calm and in the midst of a
thick fog. The calms here are unlike those in most
parts of the world, for there is always such a high sea
running, and the periods of calm are so short that H
has no time to go down; and vessels, being under no
command of sails or rudder, lie like logs upon the
water. We were obliged to steady the booms and
fards by guys and braces and to lash everything well
6elow.

Towards evening the fog cleared off, and we had
every appearance of a cold blow ; and soon after sun-

BOUND CAPE HORN. 33

down it came on. Again it was clew up and haul
down, reef and furl, until we had got her down to
close-reefed topsails, double-reefed trysail, and reefed
fore spenser. Snow, hail, and sleet were driving
upon us most of the night, and the sea breaking over
the bows and covering the forward part of the little
vessel ; but as she would lay her course, the captain
refused to heave her to.

Sunday, November 9th. To-day the sun rose clear
and continued so until twelve o'clock, when the cap-
tain got an observatiqn. This was very well for Cape
Horn, and we thought it a little remarkable that, as
we had not had one unpleasant Sunday during the
whole voyage, the only tolerable day here should be a
Sunday. But this did not last very long. Between
five and six the cry of " All starbowlines* ahoy!" sum-
moned our watch on deck, and immediately all hands
were called. A great cloud of a dark slate-color was
driving on us from the south-west; and we did our
best to take in sail before we were in the midst of it.
We had got the light sails furled, the courses hauled
up, and the topsail reef-tackles hauled out, and were
just mounting the fore-rigging when the storm struck
us. In an instant the sea, which had been compara-
tively quiet, was running higher and higher; and it
became almost as dark as night. The hail and sleet
were harder than I had yet felt them, seeming almost
# Starbowlines, the starboard watch.
» B

84 TWO YEARS BEFORE TR£ MAST.

to pin us down to the rigging. We were longer tak-
ing in sail than ever before, for the sails were stiff
and wet, the ropes and rigging covered with snow and
sleet, and we ourselves cold and nearly blinded with
the violence of the storm. By the time we had got
down upon deck again the little brig was plunging

, madly into a tremendous head sea, which at every
drive rushed in through the bow-ports and over the
bows and buried all the forward part of the vessel.
At this instant the chief mate, who was standing on
the top of the windlass, at the foot of the spenser-
mast, called out, "Lay out there and furl the jib!"
This was no agreeable or safe duty, yet it must be
done. An old Swede (the best sailor on board), who
belonged on the forecastle, sprang out upon the bow-
sprit. Another must go. I was near the mate, and
sprang forward, threw the down-haul over the wind-
lass, and jumped between the knight-heads out upon
the bowsprit. The crew stood abaft the windlass
and hauled tho jib down, while we got out upon the
weather side of tho jib-boom, our feet on the foot
ropes, holding on by the spar, the great jib flying off
to leeward and slatting so as almost to throw us off

♦the boom. For some time we could do nothing but
hold on, and tho vessel, dividing into two huge seas,
one after the other, plunged us twice into the water
up to our chins. John (that was the sailor's name)
thought the boom would go every moment, and called

ROUND CAPE HORN. 35

out to the mate to keep the vessel off and haul down
the staysail ; but the fury of the wind and the break-
ing of the seas against the bows defied every attempt
to make ourselves heard, and we were obliged to do
the best we could in our situation. Fortunately no
other seas so heavy struck her, and we succeeded in
furling the jib "after a fashion;" and, coming in
over the staysail nettings, were not a little pleased to
find that all was snug and the watch gone below, for
We were soaked through, and it was very cold.

Monday, November 10th. During a part of this
day we were hove to, but the rest of the time were
driving on under close-reefed sails.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The same.

We had now got hardened to Cape weather, the
vessel was under reduced sail, and everything secured
on deck and below, so that we had little to do but
to steer and to stand our watch. Our clothes were
all wet through, and the only change was from wet
to more wet. We had only to come below when the
watch was out, wring out our wet clothes, hang them
up, and turn in and sleep as soundly as we could until
our watch was called again. The only time when
we could be said to take any pleasure was at night
and morning, when we were allowed a tin pot full of
hot tea, sweetened with molasses. This, bad as it
was, was still warm and comforting, and, together
with our sea biscuit and cold salt beef, made quite a

36 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

meal. Yet even this meal was attended with some
uncertainty. We had to go ourselves to the galley
and take our kid of beef and tin pots of tea and run
the risk of losing them before we could get below.
Many a kid of beef have I seen rolling in the scup-
pers*— and the bearer lying at his length on the decks.
I remember an English lad who was always the life
of the crew standing for nearly ten minutes at the
galley, with his pot of tea in his hand, waiting for a
chance to get down into the forecastle, and, seeing
what he thought was a "smooth spell," started to go
forward. He had just got to the end of the windlass
when a great sea broke over the bows, and for a mo-
ment I saw nothing of him but his head and shoul-
ders; and at the next instant, being taken off his legs,
he was carried aft with the sea, until her stern lifting
up, and sending the water forward, he was left high
and dry at the side of the long-boat, still holding on
to his tin pot, which had now nothing in it but salt
water. But nothing could ever daunt him or over-
come for a moment his habitual good-humour. Re-
gaining his legs, he rolled below, saying as he passed,
44 A man's no sailor if ho can't take a joke." The
ducking was not the worst of such an affair, for, as
there was an allowance of tea, you could get no more
from the galley; and though the sailors would never

* Scuppers, holes cut in the water-ways for the water to
run from the decks.

ROUND CAPE HORN. 37

suffer a man to go without, but would always turn in
a little from their own pots to fill up his, yet this was
at best but dividing the loss among all hands.

Something of the same kind befell me a few days
after. The cook had just made for us a mess of hot
"scouse" — that is biscuit pounded fine, salt beef cut
into small pieces, and a few potatoes boiled up together
and seasoned with pepper. This was a rare treat, and
I being the last at the galley, had it put in my charge
to carry down for the mess. I got along very well
as far as the hatchway, and was just getting down
the steps, when a heavy sea, lifting the stern out of
water, and, passing forward, dropping it down again,
threw the steps from their place, and I came down
into the steerage a little faster than I meant to, with
the kid on top of me, and the whole precious mess
scattered over the floor.

Friday, November 14th. We were now well to the
westward of the Cape and were changing our course
to the northward as much as we dared, since the
strong south-west winds, which prevailed.then, carried
us in towards Patagonia. At two p.m. we saw a sail
on our larboard beam, and at four we made it out to
be a large ship, steering our course under single -reefed
topsails. We at that time had shaken the reefs out
of our topsails, as the wind was lighter, and set the
main top-gallant sail. As soon as our captain saw
what sail she was under, he set the fore top-gallant

«5 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

sail and flying jib; and the old whaler — for such his
boats and short sail showed him to be — felt a little
ashamed, and shook the reefs out of his top-sails, but
could do no more, for he had sent down his top-gal-
lant masts off the Cape. He ran down for us, and
answered our hail as the whale-ship Neiv England, of
Poughkeepsie, one hundred and twenty days from New
York. The ship fell astern, and continued in sight
during the night. Toward morning, the wind hav-
ing become light, we crossed our royal and skysail
yards, and at daylight we were seen under a cloud of
sail, having royals and skysails* fore and aft. The
"spouter," as the sailors call a whaleman, had sent up
his main top-gallant mast and set the sail, and made
signal for us to heave to. About half-past seven
their whale-boat came alongside, and Captain Job
Terry sprang on board, a man known in every port
and by every vessel in the Pacific Ocean.

Captain Terry convinced our captain that our
reckoning was a little out, and, having spent the
day on board, put off in his boat at sunset for his
ship, which was now six or eight miles astern. He
began a "yarn," when he came aboard, which lasted,
with but little intermission, for four hours. It would
probably never have come to an end had not a good
breeze sprung up which sent him off to his own
vessel.

* Skysail, a light sail, next above the royaL

ROUND CAPE HORN. 99

At eight o'clock we altered our course to the iorth-
ward, bound for Juan Fernandez.

This day we saw the last of the albatrosses, which
had been our companions a great part of the time off
the Cape. I had been interested in the bird from
descriptions which I had read of it, and was not at
all disappointed. We caught one or two with a
baited hook which we floated astern upon a shingle.
Their long, flapping wings, long legs, and large, star-
ing eyes, give them a very peculiar appearance. They
look well on the wing; but one of the finest sights that
I have ever seen was an albatross asleep upon the water,
during a calm, off Cape Horn, when a heavy sea was
running. There being no breeze, the surface of the
water was unbroken, but a long, heavy swell was
rolling, and we saw the fellow, all white, directly
ahead of us, asleep upon the waves, with his head
under his wing; now rising on the top of a huge bil-
low, and then falling slowly until he was lost in the
hollow between. He was undisturbed for some time,
until the noise of our bows, gradually approaching,
roused him, when lifting his head he stared upon us
for a moment and then spread his wide wings and
took his flight.

40 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER V.

A MAN OVERBOARD.

Monday, November 17th. This was a black day in
our calendar. At seven o'clock in the morning we
were aroused from a sound sleep by the cry of " All
hands ahoy! a man overboard!" This unwonted cry
sent a thrill through the heart of every one, and hurry-
ing on deck, we found the vessel hove flat aback, with
all her studding-sails set; for the boy who was at the
helm left it to throw something overboard, and the
carpenter, who was an old sailor, knowing that the
wind was light, put the helm down and hove her aback.
The watch on deck were lowering away the quarter-
boat, and I got on deck just in time to heave myself
into her as she was leaving the side; but it was not
until out upon the wide Pacific in our little boat that
I knew we had lost George Ballmer, a young English
sailor, who was prized by the officers as an active and
willing seaman, and by the crew as a lively, hearty
fellow, and a good shipmate. He was going aloft to
fit a strap round the main topmast-head for ring-
. tail halyards, and had the strap and block, a coil
of halyards and a marline-spike about his neck. He
fell from the starboard futtock shrouds, and not
knowing how to swim, and being heavily dressed,

A MAN OVERBOARD. 41

with all those things round his neck, he probably
sank immmediately. We pulled astern in the direc-
tion in which he fell, and though we knew that there
was no hope of saving him, yet no one wished to speak
of returning, and we rowed about for nearly an hour
without the hope of doing anything, but unwilling to
acknowledge to ourselves that we must give him up.
At length we turned the boat's head and made to-
wards the vessel.

Death is at all times solemn, but never so much so
as at sea. When a man falls overboard at sea and
is lost there is a suddenness in the event, and a diffi-
culty in realizing it, which give to it an air of awful
mystery. Then, too, at sea — to use a homely but ex-
pressive phrase — you miss a man so much. A dozen
men are shut up together in a little bark upon the
wide sea, and for months and months see no forms
and hear no voices but their own, and one is taken
suddenly from among them, and they miss him at
every turn.

All these things make such a death peculiarly sol-
emn, and the effect of it remains upon the crew for
some time. There is more kindness shown by the
officers to the crew, and by the crew to one another.
There is more quietness and seriousness. The offi-
cers are more watchful, and the crew go more care-
fully aloft. The lost man is seldom mentioned, or is
dismissed with a sailor's rude eulogy — "Well, poor

42 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

George is gone! His cruise is up soon! He knew
his work, and did his duty, and was a good ship-
mate."

We had hardly returned on board with our sad re-
port, before an auction was held of the poor man's
j clothes. The captain had first, however, called all
wands aft and asked them if they were satisfied that
everything had been done to save the man, and if
they thought there was any use in remaining there
longer. The crew all said that it was in vain, for the
man did not know how to swim, and was very heavily
dressed. So we then filled away, and kept her off to
her course.

The laws regulating navigation make the captain
answerable for the effects of a sailor who dies during
the voyage, and it is either a law or a universal cus-
tom, established for convenience, that the captain
should immediately hold an auction of his things
in which they are bid off by the sailors, and the sums
which they give are deducted from their wages at
the end of the voyage. Accordingly we had no
sooner got the ship before the wind than his chest
was brought up upon the forecastle, and the sale be-
gan. The jackets and trousers in which we had seen
him dressed but a few day before were exposed and
bid off while the life was hardly out of his body, and
his chest was taken aft and used as a store-chest, so
that there was nothing left which could be called his.

A MAN OVERBOARD. 43

The night after this event, when I went to the galley
to get a light, I found the cook inclined to be talka-
tive, so I sat down on the spars and gave him an op-
portunity to hold a yarn. He talked about George's
having spoken of his friends, and said he believed
few men died without having a warning of it, which
he supported by a great many stories of dreams, and
the usual behaviour of men before death. From this
he went on to other superstitions — the Flying Dutch-
man, &c. — and talked rather mysteriously, having
something evidently on his mind. At length he put
his head out of the galley and looked carefully about
to see if any one was within hearing, and, being
satisfied on that point, asked me, in a low tone:

"I say, you know what countryman 'e carpenter
be?"

"Yes," said I; "he's a German."

" What kind of a German?" said the cook.

"He belongs to Bremen," said I.

"Are you sure o' dat?" said he.

I satisfied him on that point by saying that he
could speak no language but the German and Eng-
lish.

"I'm plaguy glad o' dat," said the cook. "I was
mighty 'fraid he was a Finn."

I asked him the reason of this, and found that he
was fully possessed with the notion that Finns are
wizards, and especially have power over winds and

44 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

storms. I tried to reason with him about it, but he
had the best of all arguments, that from experience,
at hand, and was not to be moved. He had been in
a vessel at the Sandwich Islands in which the sail-
maker was a Finn, and could do anything he felt in-
clined to do. This sailmaker kept a junk bottle in
his berth, which was always just half full of rum,
though he got drunk upon it nearly every day.

He had heard of ships, too, beating up the ijult of
Finland against a head wind, and having a ship
heave in sight astern, overhaul, and pass them, with
as fair a wind as could blow and all studding-sails
out, and find she was from Finland.

"Oh, oh," said he; "I've seen too much of them
men to want to see 'em 'board a ship."

As I still doubted, he said he would leave it to
John, who was the oldest seaman aboard, and would
know if anybody did. John, to be sure, was the
oldest, and at the same time the most ignorant man
in the ship ; but I consented to have him called. The
cook stated the matter to him, and John, as I antici-
pated, sided with the cook, and said that he himself
had been in a ship where they had a head wind for a
fortnight, *nd the captain found out at last that one
of the men, whom he had had some hard words with
a short t'me before, was a Finn, and immediately
told him if he didn't stop the head wind he would
8hPt him down in the fore-peak. The Finn would

JUAN FERNANDEZ. 45

not give in, and the captain shut him down in the
fore-peak, and would not give him anything to eat.
The Finn held out for a day and a half, when he
could not stand it any longer, and did something or
other which brought the wind round again, and they
let him up.

"There," said the cook, "what do you think o'
dat?"

I told him I had no doubt it was true, and that it
would have been odd if the wind had not changed in
fifteen days, Finn or no Finn.

CHAPTER VI.

JUAN FERNANDEZ.

We sailed along with a fair wind and fine weather
*ntil —

Tuesday, November 25th, when at daylight we saw
the Island of Juan Fernandez directly ahead, rising
like a deep blue cloud out of the sea. We were then
probably nearly seventy miles from it; and so high
and so blue did it appear that I mistook it for a
cloud resting over the island, and looked for the
island under it until it gradually turned to a deader
and greener color, and I could mark the inequalities
upon its surface. At length we could distinguish
trees and rocks; and by the afternoon this beautiful

46 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

island lay fairly before us, and we directed our course
to the only harbour. Arriving at the entrance, soon
after sundown, we found a Chilian man-of-war brig,
the only vessel, coming out. She hailed us, and an
officer on board advised us to run in before night,
and said that they were bound to Valparaiso. We
ran immediately for the anchorage, but owing to the
,*winds, which drew about the mountains and came to
us in flaws from every point of the compass, we did
not come to an anchor until nearly midnight.

I was called on deck to stand my watch at about
three in the morning, and I shall never forget the
peculiar sensation which I experienced on finding
myself once more surrounded by land, feeling the
night-breeze coming from off shore and hearing the
frogs and crickets.

When all hands were ailed it was nearly sunrise,
and between that time and breakfast I had a good
view of the objects about me. The harbour was nearly
land-locked, and at the head of it was a landing-
place, protected by a small break -water of stones,
upon which two largo boats were hauled up, with a
sentry standing over them. Near this was a variety of
huts or cottages, nearly a hundred in number, the best
of them built of mud and whitewash, but the greater
part only Robinson-Crusoe-like — of posts and branches
of trees. The governor's house was the most con-
spicuous, being large, with grated windows, plastered

JUAN FERNANDEZ. 47

walls, and roof of red tiles; yet, like all the rest, only
of one story. Near it was a small chapel, distin-
guished by a cross, and a long, low, brown-looking
building surrounded by something like a palisade,
from which an old and dingy-looking Chilian flag
was flying. This was the Presidio. A sentinel was
(stationed at the chapel, another at the governor's
house, and a few soldiers, armed with bayonets, look-
ing rather ragged, with shoes out at the toes, were
strolling about among the houses, or waiting at the
landing-place for our boat to come ashore.

The mountains were high, but not so overhanging
as they appeared to be by starlight. They seemed
to bear off towards the center of the island, and were
green and well wooded, with some large, and, I am
told, exceedingly fertile valleys, with mule-tracks
leading to different parts of the island.

After breakfast, the second mate was ordered
ashore with five hands to fill the water-casks, and, to
my joy, I was among the number. We pulled ashore
with the empty casks; and here again fortune fa-
voured me, for the water was too thick and muddy to
be put into the casks, and the governor had sent men
up to the head of the stream to clear it out for us,
which gave us nearly two hours of leisure. This
leisure we employed in wandering about among the
houses and eating a little fruit which was offered to
us. Ground apples, melons, grapes, strawberries of

48 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

an enormous size, and cherries abound here. The
island belongs to Chili, aud had been used by the gov-
ernment as a sort of Botany Bay for nearly two years;
and the governor — an Englishman who had entered
the Chilian navy — with a priest, half-a-dozen task-
masters, and a body of soldiers, were stationed there
to keep the convicts in order. The worst part of
them, I found, were locked up under sentry, in
caves dug into the side of the mountain, nearly half-
way up, with mule-tracks leading to them, whence
they were taken by day and set to work under task-
masters upon building an aqueduct, a wharf, and
other public works; while the rest lived in the houses
which they put up for themselves, had their families
with them, and seemed to me to be the laziest people
on the face of the earth.

Having filled our casks we returned on board, and
soon after, tho governor, dressed in a uniform like
that of an American militia officer, the Padre, in
the dress of the Grey Friars, with hood and all com-
plete, and the Captain, with big whiskers and dirty
regimentals, came on board to dine.

A small boat which came from the shore to take

fway the governor and suite — as they styled them-
alves — brought, as a present to the crew, a large pail
of milk, a few shells, and a block of sandal-wood.
The milk, which was the first we had tasted since
leaving Boston, we soon despatched ; a piece of the

JUAN FERNANDEZ. 49

sandal- wood I obtained, and learned that it grew on
the hills in the centre of the island.

About an hour before sundown, having stowed our
water-casks, we commenced getting under way, and
were not a little while about it; for we were in thirty
fathoms water, and in one of the gusts which came
from off shore had let go our other bow anchor; and
as the southerly wind draws round the mountains
and comes off in uncertain flaws, we were continually
swinging round, and had thus got a very foul hawse.
We hove in upon our chain, and after stoppering and
unshackling it again and again, and hoisting and
hauling down sail, we at length tipped our anchor
and stood out to sea. It was bright starlight when
we were clear of the bay, and the lofty island lay
behind us in its still beauty, and I gave a parting
look and bid farewell to the most romantic spot of
earth that my eyes had ever seen. I did then, and
have ever since felt an attachment for that island,
altogether peculiar. It was partly, no doubt,
from its having been the first land that I had seen
since leaving home, and still more from the associa-
tions which every one has connected with it in their
childhood from reading Robinson Crusoe.

It is situated in about 33° 30' S., and is distant a

llittle more than three hundred miles from Valparaiso,

|on the coast of Chili, which is in the same latitude.

It is about fifteen miles in length and five in breadth.

4

60 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

The harbor in which we anchored (called by Lord
Anson Cumberland Bay) is the only one in the
island. The best anchorage is at the western side,
where we lay at abont three cables' length from the
shore, in a little more than thirty fathoms water.

There is an abundance of the best water upon the
island, small streams running through every valley,
and leaping down from the sides of the hills. One
stream of considerable size flows through the centre
of the lawn upon which the houses are built, and
furnishes an easy and abundant supply to the inhab-
itants. This, by means of a short wooden aqueduct,
was brought quite down to our boats.

The island in the month of November, when we
were there, being in all the freshness and beauty of
spring, appeared covered with trees. These were
chiefly aromatic, and the largest was the myrtle.
The soil is very loose and rich, and wherever it is
broken up, there spring up immediately radishes,
turnips, ground apples, and other garden fruits.
Goats, we were told, were not abundant, and we saw
none, though it was said we might if we had gone
into the interior.

It is perhaps needless to say that we saw nothing
of the interior; b'it all who have seen it give very
glowing accounts of it.

A steady, though light south-westerly wind carried
**s well off from the island, and when I came on deck

EFFECTS OF LONG SEA-VOYAGE. 51

for the middle watch I could just distinguish it from
its hiding a few low stars in the southern horizon,
though my unpractised eyes would hardly have
known it for land. At the close of the watch a few
trade-wind clouds which had arisen, though we were
hardly yet in their latitude, shut it out from our
view, and the next day,

Thursday, November 27th, upon coming on deck
in the morning, we were again upon the wide Pa-
cific, and saw no more land until we arrived upon
the western coast of the great continent of America.

CHAPTER VII.

EFFECTS OF LONG SEA- VOYAGE.

As we saw neither land nor sail from the time of
leaving Juan Fernandez until our arrival in California,
nothing of interest occurred except our own doings on
board. We caught the south-east trades, and ran
before them for nearly three weeks, without so much
as altering a sail or bracing a yard. The captain
took advantage of this fine weather to get the vesesel
in order for coming upon the coast. Everything
tf ivas set up taut, the lower rigging rattled down, or
ather rattled up, an abundance of spun-yarn and
lei zing-stuff made, and finally the whole standing*
igging, fore and aft, was tarred down. This was my

62 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

first essay at this latter business, and I had enough of

it; for nearly all of it came upon my friend S

and myself. We put on short duck frocks, and, tak-
ing a small bucket of tar and a bunch of oakum in
our hands, went aloft, one at the main royal-mast
head, and the other at the fore, and began tarring
down. This is an important operation, and is usu-
ally done about once in six months in vessels upon a
long voyage. 1& was done in our vessel several times
afterwards, but by the whole crew at once, and fin-
ished off in a day; but at this time, as most of it
came upon two of us, and we were new in the busi-
ness, it took us several days. In this operation they
always begin at the mast-head, and work down, tar-
ring the shrouds, back-stays, standing parts of the
lifts, the ties, runners, &c, and go on to the yard-
arms, and come in, tarring as they come, the lifts
and foot-ropes. Tarring the stays is more difficult,
and is done by an operation which the sailors call
"riding down." A long piece of rope — top-gallant-
studding-sail halyards. «r something of the kind — is
taken up to the mast-head from which the stay leads,
and rove through a block for a girt-line, or as tlio
sailors call it, a gant-Ymc; with the end of this a
bowline is taken round the stay, into which the man
gets with his bucket of tar and a bunch of oakum;
and the other end being fast on deck, with some one to
tend it, he is lowered down gradually, and tars the

EFFECTS OF LONG SEA-VOYAGE. 53

stay carefully as he goes. In this manner I tarred
down all the head-stays, but found the rigging about
the jib-boom, martingale, and spritsail-yard, upon
"which I was afterwards put, the hardest.

This dirty work could not last for ever; and on
Saturday night we finished it, scraped all the spots
from the deck and rails, and what was of more im-
portance to us, cleaned ourselves thoroughly, rolled
up our tarry frocks and trousers, and laid them away
for the next occasion, and put on our clean duck
clothes, and had a good comfortable sailor's Saturday
night. The next day was pleasant, and indeed we
had but one unpleasant Sunday during the whole
voyage, and that was off Cape Horn, where we could
expect nothing better. On Monday we commenced
painting and getting the vessel ready for port. We
painted her, both inside and out, from the truck to
the water's edge. In the midst of our painting, on —

Friday, December 19th, we crossed the equator for
the second time.

Thursday, December 25th. This day was Christ-
mas, but it brought us no holiday. The only change
was that we had a " plum duff" for dinner, and the
crew quarrelled with the steward because he did not
give us our usual allowance of molasses to eat with it.
He thought the plums would be a substitute for the
molasses, but we were not to be cheated out of our
rights in this way.

64 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Such are the trifles which produce quarrels on
shipboard. In fact, we had been too long from port.
We were getting tired of one another, and were in
an irritable state, both forward and aft. Our fresh
provisions were, of course, gone, and the captain had
stopped our rice, so that we had nothing but salt beef
and salt pork throughout the week, with the excep-
tion of a very small " duff" on Sunday. This added
to the discontent, and a thousand little things, daily
and almost hourly occurring, which no one who has
not himself been on a long and tedious voyage can
conceive of or properly appreciate, brought us into
a state in which everything seemed to go wrong.

In the midst of this state of things, my messmate

S and myself petitioned the captain for leave

to shift our berths from the steerage, where we had
previously lived, into the forecastle. This, to onr
delight, was granted, and we turned in to bunk and
mess with the crew forward. We now began to feel
like sailors, which we never did when we were in the
steerage. While there, however useful and active
you may be, you aro but a mongrel. You are im-
mediately under the eyo of the officers, cannot
dance, sing, play, smoke, make a noise, or growl, or
take any other sailor's pleasure; and you live with a
steward, who is usually a go-between; and the crew
never feel as though you were one of them. But if
yon live in the forecastle you hear sailors' talk, learn

EFFECTS OF LONG SEA-VOYAGE. 55

their ways, their peculiarities of feeling as well as
speaking and acting; and, moreover, pick up a great
deal of curious and useful information in seamanship,
ships' customs, foreign countries, &c, from their
long yarns and equally long disputes. After I had
been a week there, nothing would have tempted me
to go back to my old berth, and never afterwards,
even in the worst of weather, when in a close and
leaking forecastle off Cape Horn, did I for a moment
wish myself in the steerage. Another thing which
you learn better in the forecastle than you can any-
where else is to make and mend clothes, and this is
indispensable to sailors. A large part of their watches
below they spend at this work, and here I learned
that art which stood me in so good stead afterwards.
But to return to the state of the crew. Upon our
coming into the forecastle there was some difficulty
about the uniting of the allowances of bread, by
which we thought we were to lose a few pounds.
This set us into a ferment. The captain would not
condescend to explain, and We went aft in a body,
with a Swede, the oldest and best sailor of the crew,
for spokesman. The recollection of the scene that
followed always brings up a smile, especially the
quarter-deck dignity and eloquence of the captain.
He was walking the weather side of the quarter-deck,
and, seeing us coming aft, stopped short in his walk,
and with a voice and look intended to annihilate us.

M TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

called out, "Well, what do you want now?" Where*
upon we stated our grievances as respectfully as we
could, but he broke in upon us, saying that we were
getting fat and lazy, didn't have enough to do, and
that made us find fault. This provoked us, and we
began to give word for word. This would never an-
swer. He clinched his fist, stamped and swore, and
sent us all forward, saying, with oaths enough inter-
spersed to send the words home, "Away with you!
Go forward, everyone of you! I'll haze you! I'll
work you up! You don't have enough to do! . . .

You've mistaken your man! I'm F T , all

the way from 'down east.' I've been through the mill,
ground and bolted, and come out a regular built doton*
east jotimiy- cake — good when it's hot; but when it's
cold, sour and indigestible; and you'll find me so!"

So much for our petition for the redress of grier-
ances. The matter was, however, set right, for the
mate, after allowing the captain time to cool off, ex-
plained it to him; and at night we were all called aft
to hear another harangue, in which, of course, the
whole blame of the misunderstanding was thrown
upon us. Thus the affair blew over, but the irrita-
tion caused by it remained, and we never had peace
or good understanding again so long as the captain
and crew remained together.

We continued sailing along in the beautiful tem-
perate climate of the Pacific. We sailed well to the

FIRST LANDING IN CALIFORNIA. 57

westward to have the full advantage of the north-east
trades, and when we had reached the latitude of
Point Conception, where it is usual to make the land,
we were several hundred miles to the westward of it.
We immediately changed our course, due east, and
sailed in that direction for a number of days. At
length we began to heave-to after dark, for fear of
making the land at night, on a coast where there are
no light-houses, and but indifferent charts, and at
daybreak on the morning of —

Tuesday, January 13th, 1835, we made the land at
Point Conception, lat. 34° 32' N., Ion. 120° 06' W.
The port of Santa Barbara, to which we were bound,
lying about sixty miles to the southward of this point,
we continued sailing down the coast during the day
and following night, and on the next morning,

January 14-th, 1835, we came to anchor in the spa-
cious bay of Santa Barbara, after a voyage of one
hundred and fifty days from Boston.

CHAPTER VIII.

FIRST LANDING IN CALIFORNIA.

California extends along nearly the whole of the
western coast of Mexico, between the Gulf of Cali-
fornia in the south and the Bay of Sir Francis Drake*
* Now called the Bay of San Francisco.

68 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

on the north, or between the 22d and 38th degree*
of north latitude. The bay, or, as it was commonly
called, the canal of Santa Barbara, is very large, being
formed by the mainland on one side, which here
bends in like a crescent, and three large islands op-
posite to it and at the distance of twenty miles.
This is just sufficient to give it the name of a bay,
while at the same time it is so large and so much ex-
posed to the south-east and north-west winds, that it
is little better than an open roadstead ; and the whole
swell of the Pacific Ocean rolls in here before a south-
easter and breaks with so heavy a surf in the shallow
waters, that it is highly dangerous to lie near into
the shore during the south-easter season, that is, be-
tween the months of November and April.

This wind is the bane of the coast of California.
Between the months of November and April, which
is the rainy season, you are never safe from it; and
accordingly, in the ports which are open to it, vessels
are obliged, during these months, to lie at anchor
at a distance of three miles from the shore, with slip-
ropes on their cables, ready to slip and go to sea at a
moment's warning. The only ports which are safe
from this wind are San Francisco and Monterey in
the north, and San Diego in the south.

As it was January when we arrived, and the middle
of the south-easter season, we accordingly came to
anchor at the distance of three miles from the shore,

FIRST LANDING IN CALIFORNIA. 5fr

in eleven fathoms water, and bent a slip-rope and
buoys to onr cables, cast off the yard-arm gaskets from
the sails, and stopped them all with rope-yarns.
After we had done this, the boat went ashore with
the captain, and returned with orders to the mate to
,send a boat ashore for him at sundown. I did not
go in the first boat, and was glad to find that there
was another going before night; for after so long a
voyage as ours had been, a few hours is long to pass
in sight and out of reach of land.

It was a beautiful day, and so warm that we had
on straw hats, duck trousers, and all the summer
gear; and as this was midwinter, it spoke well for the
climate; and we afterwards found that the ther-
mometer never fell to the freezing-point throughout
the winter, and that there was very little difference
between the seasons, except that during a long period
of rainy and south-easterly weather thick clothes were
not uncomfortable.

The large bay lay about us, nearly smooth, as there
was hardly a breath of wind stirring, though the
boat's crew who went ashore told us that the long
ground-swell broke into a heavy surf on the beach.
There was only one vessel in the port — a long sharp
brig of about three hundred tons, with raking masts,
and very square yards, and English colours at her
peak. We afterwards learned that she was bnilt at
Guayaquil, and named the Ayacucho, after the place

60 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

where the battle was fought that gave Peru her in-
dependence, and was now owned by a Scotchman
named Wilson, who commanded her, and was engaged
in the trade between Callao, the Sandwich Islands,
and California. She was a fast sailer, as we
frequently afterward perceived, and had a crew of
Sandwich Islanders on board. Two points ran out as
the horns of the crescent, one of which — the one to
the westward — was low and sandy, and is that to
which vessels are obliged to give a wide berth when
running out for a south-easter; the other is high,
bold, and well wooded, and, we were told, has a mis-
sion upon it, called St. Buenaventura, from which the
point is named. In the middle of this crescent,
directly opposite the anchoring ground, lie the mis-
sion and town of Santa Barbara, on a low, flat plain,
but little above the level of sea, covered with grass,
though entirely without trees, and surrounded on
three sides by an amphitheatre of mountains, which
slant off to the distance of fifteen or twenty miles.

Just before sundown the mate ordered a boat's crew
ashore, and I went as one of the number. We passed
under the stern of the English brig, and had a long
pull ashore. I shall never forget the impression
which our first landing on the beach of California
made upon me. The sun had just gone down ; it was
getting dusky; the damp night-wind was beginning
to blow, and the heavy swell of the Pacific was setting

FIRST LANDING IN CALIFORNIA. 61

in, and breaking in loud and high " combers" upon
the beach. We lay on our oars in the swell, just
outside of the surf, waiting for a good chance to run
in, when a boat, which had put off from the Ayacucho
just after us, came alongside of us, with a crew of
dusky Sandwich Islanders, talking and hallooing in
their outlandish tongue. They knew that we were
novices in this kind of boating, and waited to see us
go in. The second mate, however, who steered our
boat, determined to have the advantage of their ex-
perience, and would not go in first. Finding at
length how matters stood, they gave a shout, and
taking advantage of a great comber which came
swelling in, rearing its head, and lifting up the stern
of our boat nearly perpendicular, and again dropping
it in the trough, they gave three or four long and
strong pulls, and went in on top of the great wave,
throwing their oars overboard and as far from the
boat as they could throw them, and jumping out the
instant that the boat touched the beach, and then
seizing hold of her, and running her up high and
dry upon the sand. We saw at once how it was to
be done, and also the necessity of keeping the boat
stern on to the sea; for the instant the sea should
strike upon her broadside or quarter she would be
driven up broadside on and capsized. We pulled
strongly in, and as soon as we felt that the sea had
got hold of us, and was carrying us in with the speed

C2 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

of a racehorse, we threw the oars as far from the boat
as we could, and took hold of the gunwale, ready to
spring out and seize her when she struck, the officer
using his utmost strength to keep her stern on. We
were shot up upon the beach like an arrow from a
bow, and seizing the boat, ran her up high and dry,
and soon picked up our oars, and stood by her, ready
for the captain to come down.

Finding that the captain did not come immedi-
ately, we walked about the beach to see what we could
of the place. It was growing dark, so that we could
just distinguish the thin outlines of the two vessels
in the offing. The Sandwich Islanders had turned
their boat round, and ran her down into the water,
and were loading her with hides and tallow. As this
was the work in which we were soon to be engaged
we looked on with some curiosity. They ran the boat
into the water so far that every large sea might float
her, and two of them, with their trousers rolled up,
stood by the bows, one on each side, keeping her in
her right position. This was hard work; for beside
the force they had to use upon the boat, the large
seas nearly took them oh* their legs. The others
were running from the boat to the bank, upon which,
out of the reach of the water, was a pile of dry bul-
locks' hides, doubled lengthwise in the middle, and
nearly as stiff as boards. These they took upon their
heads, one or two at a time, and carried down to the

FIRST LANDING IN CALIFORNIA. 63

boat, where one of their nnmber stowed them away.
"Well, Dana," said the second mate to me, "this
does not look much like college, does it? This is
what I call head work."

After they had got through with the hides they
laid hold of the bags of tallow, and lifting each upon
the shoulders of two men, one at each end, walked
*)ff with them to the boat, and prepared to go aboard.
Here, too, was something for us to learn. The man
Who steered shipped his oar and stood up in the stern,
and those that pulled the after oars sat upon their
benches, with their oars shipped, ready to strike out
as soon as she was afloat. The two men standing at
the bows kept their places, and when at length a
large sea came in and floated her, seized hold of the
gunwale and ran out with her till they were up to
their armpits, and then tumbled over the gunwale
into the bows dripping with water. The men at the
oars struck out, but it wouldn't do; the sea swept
back and left them nearly high and dry. The two
fellows jumped out again, and the next time they
succeeded better, and with the help of a deal of out-
landish hallooing and bawling got her well off.

The sand of the beach began to be cold to our bare
feet, the frogs set up their croaking in the marshes,
and one solitary owl, from the end of the distant
point, gave out his melancholy note, mellowed by the
distance, and we began to think that it was high time

C4 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

for the "old man" to come down. Presently the
captain appeared; and we winded the boat round,
shoved her down, and prepared to go off. The cap-
tain, who had been on the coast before and " knew
the ropes," took the steering oar, and we went off in
the same way as the other boat. We went off well,
though the seas were high. Some of them lifted us
up, and, sliding from under us, seemed to let us drop
through the air like a flat plank upon the body of
the water. In a few minutes, we were in the low,
regular swell, and pulled for a light, which, as we
came up, we found had been run up to our trysail
gaff.

Coming aboard, we hoisted up all the boats, and,
diving down into the forecastle, changed our wet
clothes, and got our supper. After supper the
sailors lighted their pipes, and we had to tell all we
had seen ashore. At eight bells all hands were called
aft, and the "anchor watch" set. We were to stand
two in a watch, and, as the nights were pretty long,
two hours were to make a watch. The second mate
was to keep the deck until eight o'clock, all hands worn
to be called at daybreak, and the word was passed
to keep a bright look-out, and to call the mate if
it should come on to blow from the south-east. We
had, also, orders to strike the bells every half hour
through the night, as at sea. At daylight all hands
were called, and we went through the usual procesi

FIRST LANDING IN CALIFORNIA. 65

of washing down, swabbing, &c, and got breakfast
at eight o'clock. In the course of the forenoon a
boat went aboard of the Ayacucho and brought off
a quarter of beef, which made us a fresh bite for
dinner. This we were glad enough to have, and the
mate told us that we should live upon fresh beef while
we were on the coast, as it was cheaper here than the
salt. While at dinner the cook called "Sail ho!"
and, coming on deck, we saw two sails coming round
the point. One was a large ship under top-gallant
sails, and the other a small hermaphrodite brig.
They both backed their topsails and sent boats
aboard of us. The ship's colors had puzzled us, and we
found that she was from Genoa, with an assorted
cargo, and was trading on the coast. She filled away
again, and stood out, being bound up the coast to
San Francisco. The crew of the brig's boat were
Sandwich Islanders, but one of them, who spoke a
little English, told us that she was the Loriotte, Cap-
tain Nye, from Oahu, and was engaged in this trade.
The three captains went ashore after dinner, and
came off again at night. When in port everything
is attended to by the chief mate; the captain, unless
he is also supercargo, has little to do, and is usually
ashore much of his time. This we thought would be
pleasanter for us, as the mate was a good-natured
man, and not very strict. So it was for a time, but
We were worse off in the end ; for wherever the cap-

* c

•6 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

tain is a severe, energetic man, and the mate is
wanting in both these qualities, there will always be
trouble. And trouble we had already begun to antic-
ipate. The captain had several times found fault
with the mate in presence of the crew, and hints had
been dropped that all was not right between them.

CHAPTER IX.

A SOUTH-EASTER.

This night, after sundown, it looked black at the
southward and eastward, and we were told to keep a
bright look-out. Expecting to be called up, we
turned in early. Waking up about midnight, I
found a man who had just come down from his watch
striking a light. He said that it was beginning to
puff up from the south-east, and that the sea was
rolling in, and he had called the captain ; and as he
threw himself down on his chest with all his clothes
on I knew that he expected to be called. I felt the
vessel pitching at her anchor and the chain surging
and snapping, and lay awake, expecting an instant
summons. In a few minutes it came — three knocks
on the scuttle, and "All hands ahoy! bear a hand up
and make sail." We sprang up for our clothes and
were about half-way dressed when the mate called
out, down the scuttle, " Tumble up here, men ! tumble

A SOUTH-EASTER. 61

up! before she drags her anchor." We were on deok
in an instant. " Lay aloft and loose the top-sails!"
shouted the captain, as soon as the first man showed
himself. Springing into the rigging, I saw that the
Ayacucho's topsails were loosed, and heard her crew
singing out at the sheets as they were hauling them
home. This had probably started our captain, as
" Old Wilson" had been many years on the coast, and
knew the signs of the weather. We soon had the
topsails loosed; and one hand remaining, as usual,
in each top, to overhaul the rigging and light the
sail out, the rest of us laid down to man the sheets.
While sheeting home we saw the Ayacucho standing
athwart our bows, sharp upon the wind, cutting
through the head sea like a knife, with her raking
masts, and sharp bows running up like the head of
a greyhound. It was a beautiful sight. She was like a
bird which had been frightened and had spread her
wings in flight. After the topsails had been sheeted
home, the head yards braced aback, the fore-topmast
staysail hoisted, and the buoys streamed, and all
ready forward for slipping, we went aft and manned
the slip-rope which came through the stern port with
a turn round the timber-heads. " All ready forward ?"
asked the captain. "Aye, aye, sir; all ready,"
answered the mate. " Let go !" " All gone, sir ;" and
the iron cable grated over the windlass and through
the hawse-hole, and the little vessel's head swinging.

68 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

off from the wind under the force of her backed head
sails brought the strain upon the slip-rope. "Let
go aft!" Instantly all was gone, and we were under
way. As soon as she was well off from the wind we
filled away the head yards, braced all up sharp, set
the foresail and trysail, and left our anchorage well
astern, giving the point a good berth.

It now began to blow fresh, the rain fell fast, and
it grew very black, but the captain would not take in
sail until we were well clear of the point. As soon as
we left this on our quarter and were standing out to
sea the order was given, and we sprang aloft, double-
reefed each topsail, furled the foresail, and double-
reefed the trysail, and were soon under easy sail. In
these cases of slipping for south-easters there is
nothing to be done, after you have got clear of the
coast, but to lie-to under easy sail and wait for the
gale to be over, which seldom lasts more than two
days, and is often over in twelve hours; but the
wind never comes back to the southward until there
has a good deal of rain fallen. " Go below, the
watch," said the mate; but here was a dispute which
watch it should be, which the mate soon, however,
settled by sending his watch below, saying that we
should have our turn the next time we got under
way. We remained on deck till the expiration of the
watch, the wind blowing very fresh, and the rain
ooming down in torrents. When the watch came up

A SOUTH-EASTER. 69

we wore ship and stood on the other tack, in towards
land. When we came up again, which was at four in
the morning, it was very dark and there was not
much wind, but it was raining as I thought I had
never seen it rain before. We had on oilcloth suits
and south-wester caps, and had nothing to do but to
stand bolt upright and let it pour down upon us.

Toward morning the captain put his head out of
the companion-way and told the second mate, who
commanded our watch, to look out for a change of
wind, which usually followed a calm and heavy rainj
and it was well that he did, for in a few minutes it
fell dead calm, the vessel lost her steerage- way, and
the rain ceased. We hauled up the trysail and
courses, squared the after-yards, and waited for the
change, which came in a few minutes, with a ven-
geance, from the north-west, the opposite point of
the compass. Owing to our precautions we were not
taken aback, but ran before the wind with square
yards. The captain coming on deck, we braced up a
little and stood back for our anchorage. With the
change of wind came a change of weather, and in
;two hours the wind moderated into the light, steady
breeze which blows down the coast the greater part
of the year, and, from its regularity, might be called
a trade-wind. The sun came up bright, and we set
royals, sky-sails, and studding-sails, and were under
fair way for Santa Barbara.

7# TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

The Ayacucho got to the anchoring-ground about
half-an-hoar before us, and was furling her sails
when we came up to it. This picking up your cables
is a very nice piece of work. It requires some sea-
manship to come-to at your former moorings, with-
out letting go another anchor. Captain Wilson was
remarkable among the sailors on the ioast for his
skill in doing this; and our captain never let go a
second anchor during all the time that I was with
him. Coming a little to windward of our buoy, we
clewed up the light sails, backed our main topsail,
and lowered a boat, which pulled off, and made fast
a spare hawser to the buoy on the end of the slip
rope. We brought the other end to the rapstan, and
hove in upon it until we came to the f lip rope, which
we took to the windlass, and walked up to her chain,
the captain helping her by backing and filling the
sails. The chain is then passed through the hawse-
hole and round the windlass, and bitted the slip
rope taken round outside and brought into the stern
port, and she is safe in her old berth

After we had furled the sail:: and got dinner we
saw the Loriotte nearing and she had her anchor
before night. At sundown we went ashore again,
and found the Loriott s boat waiting on the beach.
The Sandwich Islander who could speak English told
lis that he had been up to the town ; that our agent,
Mr. R , and some other passengers were going to

A SOUTH-EASTER. 71

Monterey with us, and that we were to sail the same

night. In a few minutes, Captain T ,with two

gentlemen and one female, came down, and we got
ready to go off. I pulled the after-oar, so that I
heard the conversation, and learned that one of the
men, who, as well as I could see in the darkness,
was a young-looking man, in the European dress, and
covered up in a large cloak, was the agent of the firm
to which our vessel belonged; and the other, who
>was dressed in the Spanish dress of the country, was
a brother of our captain, who had been many years a
trader on the coast, and had married the lady who
was in the boat. As soon as we got on board, the
boats were hoisted up, the sails loosed, the windlass
manned, the slip-ropes and gear cast off; and after
about twenty minutes of heaving at the windlass,
making sail, and bracing yards, we were well under
way, and going with a fair wind up the coast to
Monterey. We had a fair wind, which is something
unusual when going up, as the prevailing wind is the
north, which blows directly down the coast; whence
the northern are called the windward, and the south-
ern the leeward ports.

We got clear of the islands before sunrise the next
morning, and by twelve o'clock we were out of the
canal, and off Point Conception. This is the largest
point on the coast, and is an uninhabited headland,
stretching out into the Pacific, and has the reputa-

f2 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

tion of being very windy, Any vessel does well
which gets by it without a gale, uspecirJly in the
winter season. We were going along With studding-
sails set on both sides, when, as we came round the
point, we had to haul our wind, and took in :h lee
studding-sails. As the brig came more upon the
wind, she felt it more, and we doused the sky sails,
but kept the weather studding-sails on her, bracing
the yards forward so that the swinging-boom nearly
touched the sprit-sail yard. She now lay over to it,
the wind was ireshening and the captain was evi-
dently "dragging on to her " He stood up to wind-
ward, holding on by the back stays and looking up at
the sticks to see how much they would bear; when a
puff came which settled the matter. Then it was
"haul down" and "clew up royals, flying-jib, and
studding-sails all at once. The mate and some men
forward were trying to haul in the lower studding-
sail which had blown over the sprit-sail yard-arm and
round the guys, while the topmast-studding sail boom,
after buckling up and springing again like a piece
of whalebone, broke off at the boom-iron. T sprang
aloft to take in the main top-gallant studdmg-sai?,
but before I got into the top, the t ck part d, and
away went the sail, swinging forward of the t p-gal-
lant sail, and tearing and slatting itself to nieces.
The halyards were at this moment let go by the run ;
and such a piece of work I never had before in tak-

A SOUTH-EASTER. 78

ing in a sail. After great exertions I got it, or the
remains of it, into the top, and was making it fast,
when the captain, looking up, called out to me, " Lay
aloft there, Dana, and furl that main royal. " Leav-
ing the studding-sail, I went up to the cross-trees;
and here it looked rather squally. The foot of the
top-gallant-mast was working between the cross and
trussel trees, and the royal-mast lay over at a fearful
angle with the mast below, while everything was
working, and cracking, strained to the utmost.

There's nothing for Jack to do but to obey orders,
and I went up upon the yard ; and there was a worse
mess, if possible, than I had left below. The braces
had been let go, and the yard was swinging about
like a turnpike gate, and the whole sail having
blown oyer to leeward, the lee leach was over the
yard-arm, and the skysail was all adrift and flying
over my head. I looked down, but it was in vain to
attempt to make myself heard, for everyone was busy
below, and the wind roared, and sails were flapping
in every direction. Fortunately, it was noon and
broad daylight, and the man at the wheel, who had his
eyes aloft, soon saw my difficulty, and after number-
less signs and gestures got some one to haul the nec-
essary ropes taut. At the other royal-mast-head was

S , working away at the sail, which was blowing

from him as fast as he conld gather it in. The top-
gallant sail below me was soon clewed up, which re-

74 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

lieved the mast, and in a short time I got my sail
furled, and went below. In an hour from the time
the squall struck us, from having all our flying kites
aboard, we came down to double-reefed top-sails and
the storm-sails.

The wind had hauled ahead during the squall,
and we were standing directly in for the point.
So, as soon as we had got all snug, we wore round
and stood off again, and had the pleasant pros-
pect of beating up to Monterey, a distance of a
hundred miles, against a violent head wind. Before
night it began to rain ; and we had five days of rainy,
stormy weather, under close sail all the time, and
were blown several hundred miles off the coast. In
the midst of this we discovered that our fore topmast
was sprnng, and were obliged to send down the fore
top-gallant-mast and carry as little sail as possible
forward. On the sixth day it cleared off, and the
sun came out bright, but the wind and sea were still
very high. It was quite like being at sea again; no
land for hundreds of miles, and the captain taking
the 3ii n every day at noon.

After a few days we made the land at Point Pinos,
which is the headland at the entrance of the bay of
Monterey. As we drew in, and ran down the shore,
we could distinguish well the face of the country, and
found it better wooded than that to the southward of
Point Conception.

A SOUTH-EASTER. •»

The bay of Monterey is very wide at the entrance,
being about twenty-four miles between the two points,
Aflo Nuevo at the north, and Pinos at the south, but
narrows gradually as you approach the town, which
is situated in a bend or large cove at the south-east-
ern extremity, and about eighteen miles from the
points, which makes the whole depth of the bay.
We came to anchor within two cable-lengths of the
shore, and the town lay directly before us, making a
very pretty appearance; its houses being plastered,
which gives a much better effect than those of Santa
Barbara, which are of a mud color. The red tiles, too,
on the roofs contrasted well with the white plastered
sides, and with the extreme greenness of the lawn
upon which the houses — about a hundred in num-
ber— were dotted about here and there irregularly.

It was a fine Saturday afternoon when we came ta
anchor, the sun about an hour high, and everything
looking pleasant. The Mexican flag was flying from
the little square Presidio, and the drums and trum-
pets of the soldiers, who were out on parade, sounded
over the water, and gave great life to the scene.
Every one was delighted with the appearance of
things. We felt as though we had got into a Chris-
tian country.

We landed the agent and passengers, and found
several persons waiting for them on the beach,,
among whom were some who, though dressed in the

W TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

costume of the country, spoke English, and who, we
afterwards learned, were English and Americana who
had married and settled in the country.

CHAPTER X.

TRADING IN CALIFORNIA.

On Monday, the cargo having been entered in
due form, we began trading. The trade-room was
fitted up in the steerage, and furnished out with the
lighter goods and with specimens of the rest of the

cargo; and M , a young man who came out from

Boston with us before the mast, was taken out of the
forecastle and made supercargo's clerk. He was well
qualified for the business, having been clerk in a
counting-house in Boston. The people camo off to
look and buy — men, women, and children; and we
were continually going in the boats, carrying goods
and passengers — for they have no boats of their own.
Everything must dress itself and come aboard and see
the new vessel, if it were only to buy a paper of pins.
The a^ent and his clerk managed the sales, while we
were busy in the hold or in the boats. Our cargo was
an assorted one; that is, it consisted of everything
under the sun. We had spirits of all kinds, teas,
coffee, sugars, spices, raisins, molasses, hardware,
crockery-ware, tinware, cutlery, clothing of all kinds,

TRADING IN CALIFORNIA. 77

boots and shoes from Lynn, calicoes and cottons from
Lowell, crapes, silks; also shawls, scarfs, necklaces,
jewellery, and combs for the ladies; furniture, and,
in fact, everything that can be imagined, from Chi-
nese fireworks to English cart-wheels — of which we
had a dozen pairs with their iron rims on.

By being thus continually engaged in transporting
passengers with their goods to and fro we gained con-
siderable knowledge of the character, dress, and
language of the people. The women wore gowns of
various textures — silks, crape, calicoes, &c. — made
after the European style, except that the sleeves were
short, leaving the arm bare and that they were
loose around the waist, having no corsets. They
wore shoes of kid or satin, sashes or belts of bright
colours, and almost always a necklace and ear-rings.
Bonnets they had none. They wear their hair (which
is almost invariably black or a very dark brown) long
in their necks, sometimes loose, and sometimes in
long braids; though the married women often do it
up on a high comb. Their only protection against
the sun and weather is a large mantle which they put
over their heads, drawing it close round their faces
when they go out of doors, which is generally only in
pleasant weather. When in the house, or sitting out
in front of it, which they often do in line weather,
they usually wear a small scarf or neckerchief of a
rich pattern. A band also about the top of the head,

78 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

with a cross, star, or other ornament in front, is
common. Their complexions are various, depending
— as well as their dress and manner — upon their
rank; or in other words, upon the amount of Spanish
blood they can lay claim to.

Next to the love of dress, I was most struck with
the fineness of the voices and beauty of the intona-
tions of both sexes. Every common ruffian-looking
fellow, with a slouched hat, blanket cloak, dirty un-
der-dress, and soiled leather leggings appeared to me
to be speaking elegant Spanish. It was a pleasure
simply to listen to the sound of the language before
I could attach any meaning to it. A common bul-
lock-driver on horseback delivering a message seemed
to speak like an ambassador at an audience. In fact,
they sometimes appeared to me to be a people on
whom a curse had fallen, and stripped them of every
thing but their pride, their manners, and their
voices.

I had never studied Spanish while at college, and
could not speak a word when at Juan Fernandez; but
during the latter part of the passage out, I borrowed
a grammar and dictionary from the cabin, and by a
continual use of these, and a careful attention to
every word that I heard spoken, I soon got a vocab-
ulary together, and began talking for myself. As I
soon knew more Spanish than any of the crew, and
had been at college, and knew Latin, I got the name

TRADING IN CALIFORNIA. 79

of a great linguist, and was always sent by the cap-
tain and officers to get provisions or to carry letters
and messages to different parts of the town. This
was a good exercise for me, and no doubt taught me
more than I should have learned by months of study
and reading; it also gave me opportunities of seeing
the customs, characters, and domestic arrangements
of the people; beside being a great relief from the
monotony of a day spent on board ship.

But to return to Monterey. The houses here, as
everywhere else in California, are of one story, built
of clay made into large bricks, about a foot and a
half square, and three or four inches thick, and hard-
ened in the sun. The floors are generally of earth,
the windows grated and without glass, and the doors,
which are seldom shut, open directly into the com-
mon room, there being no entries. Some of the
more wealthy inhabitants have glass to their windows
and board floors; and in Monterey nearly all the
houses are plastered on the outside. The better
houses, too, have red tiles upon the roofs. The
common ones have two or three rooms, which open
into each other, and are furnished with a bed or
two, a few chairs and tables, a looking - glass, a
crucifix of some material or other, and small daubs
of paintings enclosed in glass, and representing
some miracle or martyrdom. They have no chim'
neys or fire-places in the houses, the climate being

80 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

such as to make a fire unnecessary; and all their
cooking i3 done in a small cookhouse separated
from the house.

In Monterey there are a number of English and
Americans, who have married Californians, become
united to the Catholic Church, and acquired consid-
erable property. Having more industry, frugality,
and enterprise than the natives, they soon get nearly
all the trade into their hands.

The men in Monterey appeared to me to be always
on horseback. Horses are as abundant here as dogs
and chickens were in Juan Fernandez. There are no
stables to keep them in, but they are allowed to run
wild, and graze wherever they please, being branded,
and having long leather ropes, called "lassos," at-
tached to their necks, and dragging along behind
them, by which they can easily be taken. The men
usually catch one in the morning, throw a saddle and
bridle upon him, and use him for the day, and let
him go at night, catching another the next day.
When they go on long journeys, they ride one horse
down, and catch another, throw the saddle and bridle
upon him, and after riding him down, take a third,
and so on to the end of tho journey. There are
probably no better riders in the world. The stirrups
are covered or boxed up in front, to prevent their
catching when riding through the woods; and the sad-
dles are large and heavy, strapped very tight upo»

TRADING IN CALIFORNIA. 81

the horse, and have pommels in front, round which
the "lasso" is coiled when not in use. They can
hardly go from one house to another without getting
on a horse, there being generally several standing
tied to the door-posts of the little cottages. When
they wish to show their activity they make no use of
their stirrups in mounting, but striking the horse,
spring into the saddle as he starts, and sticking their
long spurs into him, go off on the full run. They
frequently give exhibitions of their horsemanship in
races, bull-baitings, &c. ; but as we were not ashore
during any holiday we saw nothing of it.

Nothing but the character of the people prevents
Monterey from becoming a great town. The soil is
as rich as man could wish — climate as good as any in
the world — water abundant, and situation extremely
beautiful. The harbour, too, is a good one, being
subject only to one bad wind, the north; and though
the holding-ground is not the best, yet I have heard
of but one vessel being driven ashore here.

The only vessel in port with us was the little Lo-
riotte. I frequently went on board her, and became
very well acquainted with her Sandwich Island crew.
They were well formed and active, with black eyes, in-
telligent countenances, dark-olive or copper complex-
ions, and coarse black hair, but not woolly like the
negro's. The language is extremely guttural, and
not pleasant at first, but improves as you hear it
6

82 TWO TEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

more, and is said to have great capacity. They use
a good deal of gesticulation, and are exceedingly
animated, saying with their might what their tongues
find to say. They are complete water-dogs, and
therefore very good in boating. They are also quick
and active in the rigging, and good hands in warm
weather; but those who have been with them round
Cape Horn, and in high latitudes, say that they are
useless in cold weather. In their dress they are pre-
cisely like our sailors. In addition to these Island-
ers, the vessel had two English sailors, who acted ai
boatswains over the Islanders, and took care of the
rigging. One of them I shall always remember as
the best specimen of the thoroughbred English sailor
that I ever saw. He had been to sea from a boy,
having served a regular apprenticeship of seven
years, as all English sailors are obliged to do, and
was then about four or five and twenty.

He called himself Bill Jackson; and I know no
one of all my accidental acquaintances to whom I
would more gladly give a shake of the hand than to
him.

Sunday came again while we were at Monterey,
but, as before, it brought us no holiday. The people
on shore came off in greater numbers than ever, and
we were employed all day in boating and breaking
out cargo, so that we had hardly time to eat. Our
ci-devant second mate, who was determined to get

TRADING IN CALIFORNIA. 83

liberty if it was to be had, dressed himself in a long
coat and black hat, and polished his shoes, and went
aft and asked to go ashore. He could not have done
a more imprudent thing, for he knew that no liberty
would be given; and besides, sailors, however sure
they may be of having liberty granted them, always
go aft in their working clothes, to appear as though
they had no reason to expect anything, and then
wash, dress, and shave, after they have got their lib-
erty. We looked to see him go aft, knowing pretty
well what his reception would be. The captain was
walking the quarter-deck, smoking his morning
cigar, and Foster went as far as the break of the
deck, and there waited for him to notice him.

The captain took two or three turns, and then
walking directly up to him, surveyed him from
head to foot, and lifting up his fore-finger, said a
word or two, in a tone too low for us to hear, but
which had a magical effect upon poor Foster. He
walked forward, sprang into the forecastle, and in a
moment more made his appearance in his common
clothes, and went quietly to work again. What the
captain said to him we never could get him to tell,
but it certainly changed him outwardly and inwardly
in a most surprising manner.

84 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER XL

THE SEAMEN DISCONTENTED.

After a few days, finding the trade beginning to
•lacken, we hove our anchor up, set our topsails, ran
the stars and stripes up to the peak, and left the
little town astern, running out of the bay, and bear-
ing down the coast again for Santa Barbara. As we
were now going to leeward, we had a fair wind, and
plenty of it. After doubling Point Pinos, we bore
up, set studding-sails alow and aloft, and were walk-
ing off at the rate of eight or nine knots, promising
to traverse in twenty-four hours the distance which
we were nearly three weeks in traversing on the pas-
sage up. We passed Point Conception at a flying
rate, the wind blowing so that it would have seemed
half a gale to us if we had been going the other way
and close hauled. As we drew near the islands of
Santa Barbara it died away a little, but we came to at
our old anchoring-ground in less than thirty hours
from the time of leaving Monterey.

Here everything was pretty much as we left it — the
large bay without a vessel in it; the surf roaring and
rolling in upon the beach ; the white mission, the
dark town, and the high, treeless mountains. Here,
too, we had our south-easter tacks aboard again. We

THE SEAMEN DISCONTENTED. 85

lay here about a fortnight, employed in landing goods
and taking off hides occasionally when the surf was not
high ; but there did not appear to be one-half the
business doing here that there was in Monterey.

The hides are always brought down dry, or they
would not be received. When they are taken from
the animal they have holes cut in the ends, and
are staked out, and thus dried in the sun without
shrinking. They are then doubled once length-
wise with the hair side usually in, and sent down
upon mules or in carts, and piled above high-water
mark; and then we take them upon our heads and
wade out with them, and throw them into the boat.
We all provided ourselves with thick Scotch caps,
which would be soft to the head, and at the same
time protect it; for we soon found that however it
might look or feel at first, the " headwork" was
the only system for California.

After we had got our heads used to the weight
and had learned the true Californian style of tossing
a hide, we could carry off two or three hundred in
a short time without much trouble; but it was al-
ways wet work, and if the beach was stony, hard for
our feet; for we, of course, always went bare-footed
on this duty, as no shoes could stand such constant
wetting with salt water. Then, too, we had a long
pull of three miles with a loaded boat, which often
took a couple of hours.

86 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

We had now got well settled down into our harbor
duties, which, as they are a good deal different from
those at sea, it may be well enough to describe. In
the first place, all hands are called at daylight, or
rather — especially if the days are short — before day-
light, as soon as the first grey of the morning. The
cook makes his fire in the galley; the steward goes
about his work in the cabin ; and the crew rig the head
pump, and wash down the decks. The washing,
swabbing, squilgeeing, &c, lasts, or is made to last,
until eight o'clock, when breakfast is ordered fore
and aft. After breakfast, for which half an hour is
allowed, the boats are lowered down and made fast
astern or out to the swinging-booms by geswarps, and
the crew are turned-to npon their day's work. Thin
is various, and its character depends upon circum-
stances. There is always more or less of boating in
small boats; and if heavy goods arc to bo taken
ashore, or hides are brought down to the beaoh for
us, then all hands are sent ashore with an officer in the
long-boat. Then there is always a good deal to be
done in the hold; goods to be broken out; and
cargo shifted, to make room for hides, or keep the
trim of the vessel. In addition to this, the usual
work upon the rigging must be going on. The great
difference between sea and harbour duty is in the di-
vision of time. Instead of having a watch on deck
•nd a watch below, as at sea, all hands are at work

THE SEAMEN DISCONTENTED. 87

together except at meal times, from daylight till
dark; and at night an " anchor-watch" is kept. An
hour is allowed for dinner; and at dark the decks
are cleared up, the boats hoisted, supper ordered;
and at eight the lights put out, except in the binnacle,
where the glass stands and the anchor- watch is set.
Thus when at anchor the crew have more time at
night, but have no time to themselves in the day ; so
that reading, mending clothes, &c, has to be put off
until Sunday, which is usually given. Some religious
captains give their crews Saturday afternoons to do
their washing and mending in so that they may
[have their Sundays free. We were well satisfied if
we got Sunday to ourselves, for if any hides came
down on that day, as was often the case when they
were brought from a distance, we were obliged to
bring them off, which usually took half a day.

But all these little vexations and labours would have
been nothing were it not the uncertainty, or worse
than uncertainty, which hung over the nature and
length of our voyage. Here we were in a little vessel
with, a small crew on a half-civilized coast at the ends
>f the earth, and with the prospect of remaining an
ndefinite period, two or three years at the least.
tVhen we left Boston we supposed that it was to be a
royage of eighteen months, or two years at most; but

Ipon arriving on the coast we learned something more

88 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

which was yearly greater and greater, it would tab
us a year at least to collect our own cargo, beside th<
passage out and home, and that we were also to col
lect a cargo for a large ship belonging to the sam<
firm which was soon to come on the coast, and t<
which we were to act as tender.

The ship California, belonging to the same firm
had been nearly two years on the coast, had collectec
a full cargo, and was now at San Diego, from whicl
port she was expected to sail in a few weeks for Bos
ton; and we were to collect all the hides we coulc
and deposit them at San Diego, when the new ship
which would carry forty thousand, was to be fillec
and sent home and then we were to begin anew an<
collect our own cargo. Here was a gloomy prospec
before us indeed. The California had been twent]
months on the coast, and the Lagoda, a smaller ship
carrying only thirty-one or thirty- two thousand, ha<
been two years getting her cargo, and we were to col
lect a cargo of forty thousand beside our own, whicl
would be twelve or fifteen thousand. Besides, yn
were not provided for so long a voyage, and clothd
and all sailors' necessaries were excessively dear-
three or four hundred per cent advance upon thj
Boston prices. This was bad enough for them, buj
still worse was it for me, who did not mean to be I
sailor for life, having intended only to be gone eigit
teen months or two years. Three or four years would

THE SEAMEN DISCONTENTED. 89

make me a sailor in every respect, mind and habits as
well as body, and would put all my companions so far
ahead of me that college and a profession would be in
vain to think of.

Beside the length of the voyage and the hard and
exposed life, we were at the ends of the earth, in a
country where there is neither law nor gospel, and
where sailors are at their captain's mercy, there being
no American consul, or any one to whom a complaint
could be made. We lost all interest in the voyage,
cared nothing about the cargo, which we were only
collecting for others, began to patch our clothes, and
felt as though we were fixed beyond all hope of
change.

In addition to, and perhaps partly as a consequence
of, this state of things, there was trouble brewing on
board the vessel. Our mate was a worthy man — a
more honest, upright, and kind-hearted man I never
saw ; but he was too good for the mate of a merchant-
man. He wanted the energy and spirit for such a
voyage as ours and for such a captain. Captain

T was a vigorous, energetic fellow. During all

the time that I was with him I never saw him sit
down on deck. He was always active and driving,
severe in his discipline, and expected the same of his
officers. The mate not being enough of a driver for
him, and being perhaps too easy with the crew, he
was dissatisfied with him, became suspicious that

00 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

discipline was getting relaxed, and began to interfere
in everything. He drew the reins tauter, and ii
his attempt to remedy the difficulty by severity h<
made everything worse. Severity created discontent
and signs of discontent provoked severity. Then, too
ill-treatment and dissatisfaction are no u linimenti
laborum ;" and many a time have I heard the sailon
say that they should not mind the length of the voyage
and the hardships if they were only kindly treated
and if they could feel that something was done tx
make things lighter and easier. But the contrary pol
icy was pursued. We were kept at work all day whei
in port, which, together with a watch at night, mad*
us glad to turn in as soon as we got below. Thus w<
got no time for reading or for washing and mending
our clothes. And then, when we were at sea, sailing
from port to port, instead of giving us "watch anc
watch," as was the custom on board every other ves
8el on the coast, we were all kept on deck and a
work, rain or shine, making spun-yarn and rope, anc
at other work in good weather, and picking oakun
when it was too wet for anything else.

While lying at Santa Barbara we encountered an
other south-easter, and, like the first, it came on ii
the night — the great black clouds coming from th<
southward, covering the mountain, and hanging dowi
over the town, appearing almost to rest upon th<
roofs of the houses. We made sail, slipped our cable.

THE SEAMEN DISCONTENTED. 91

cleared the point, and beat about for four days in the
offing, under close sail, with continual rain and high
seas and winds. On the fifth day it cleared up, and
we found ourselves drifted nearly ten leagues from
the anchorage, and, having light head winds, we did
not return until the sixth day. Having recovered our
anchor, we made preparations for getting under way
to go down to leeward. Just before sailing the cap-
tain took on board a short, red-haired, round-shoul-
dered, vulgar-looking fellow, who had lost one eye
and squinted with the other, and, introducing him
as Mr. Russell, told us that he was an officer on board.
This was too bad. We had lost overboard on the
passage one of the best of our number, another had
been taken from us and appointed clerk ; and thus
weakened and reduced, instead of shipping some
hands to make our work easier, he had put another
officer over us to watch and drive us. We had now
four officers, and only six in the forecastle.

Leaving Santa Barbara we coasted along down, the
country appearing level or moderately uneven, and
for the most part sandy and treeless, until, doubling
a high sandy point, we let go our anchor at a dis-
tance of three or three and a half miles from shore.
As soon as everything was snug on board the boat was
lowered, and we pulled ashore, our new officer, who
had been several times in the port before, taking the
place of steersman. As we drew in we found the

t2 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

tide low and the rocks and stones covered with kelp
and sea- weed, lying bare for the distance of nearly an
eighth of a mile. Just in front of the landing, and
immediately over it, was a small hill which we had
not perceived from our anchorage. Over this hill
we saw three men come down, dressed partly like
sailors and partly like Californians. When they came
down to us we found that they were Englishmen, and
they told us that they had belonged to a small Mex-
ican brig which had been driven ashore here in a
south-easter, and now lived in a small house just over
the hill. Going up this hill with them, we saw just
behind it a small, low buildiug, with one room, con-
taining a fireplace, cooking apparatus, &c, and the
rest of it unfinished, and used as a place to store
hides and goods. This, they told us, was built by
some traders in the Pueblo (a town about thirty
miles in the interior, to which this was the port),
and used by them as a storehouse, and also as a
lodging-place when they came down to trade with the
vewels. These threo men were employed by them
to keep the house in order and to look out for the
things stored in it. They said that they had been
there nearly a year, and had nothing to do most of
the time. The nearest house, they told us, was a
rancho or cattle-farm about three miles off; and one
of them went up, at the request of our officer, to
order a horse to be sent down, with which the agent,

THE SEAMEN DISCONTENTED. 93

who was on board, might go up to the Pueblo. From
one of them I learned a good deal in a few minutes'
conversation about the place, its trade, and the news
from the southern ports. San Diego, he said, was
about eighty miles to the leeward of San Pedro, that
they had heard from there, by a Spaniard who came
up on horseback, that the California had sailed for
Boston, and that the Lagoda, which had been in San-
Pedro only a few weeks before, was taking in b<*
cargo for Boston.

I also learned, to my surprise, that the desol j
looking place we were in was the best place on tb'
whole coast for hides. It was the only port for a
distance of eighty miles, and about thirty miles An
the interior was a fine plane country, filled with herds
of cattle, in the centre of which was the Pueblo de
los Angelos — the largest town in California — and
several of the wealthiest missions, to all which San
Pedro was the seaport.

The next day we pulled the agent ashore, and he
went up to visit the Pueblo and the neighbouring mis-
sions; and in a few days, as the result of his labours,
large ox-carts and droves of mules, loaded with hides,
were seen coming over the flat country. We loaded
our iong-boat with goods of all kinds, light and
heavy, and pulled ashore. After landing and rolling
them over the stones upon the beach, we stopped,
waiting for the carts to come down the hill and tak*

94 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MASi

them, but the captain soon settled the matter by or-
dering us to carry them all up to the top, saying that
that was "California fashion." So what the oxen
would not do we were obliged to do. The hill was
low, but steep, and the earth, being clayey and wet
with the recent rains, was but bad holding-ground
for our feet. The heavy barrels and casks we rolled
up with some difficulty, getting behind and putting
our shoulders to them ; now and then our feet slipping
added to the danger of the casks rolling back upon
us. But the greatest trouble was with the large
boxes of sugar. These we had to place upon oars,
and, lifting them up, rest the oars upon our shoulders
and creep slowly up the hill with the gait of a funeral
procession. After an hour or two of hard work we
got them all up, and found the carts standing full of
hides, which we had to unload, and also to load again
with our own goods.

Now tho hides were to be got down, and for this
purpose we brought the boat round to a place where
th<^ hill was steeper, and threw them down, letting
them slide over the slope. Many of them lodged,
and we had to let ourselves down and set them agoing
again, and in this way got covered with dust, and
our clothes torn. After we had got them all down
we were obliged to take them on our heads and walk
over stones, and through the water, to the boat.
For several days we were employed in this manner,

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN. 95

until we had landed forty or fifty tons of goods, and
brought on board about two thousand hides, when
the trade began to slacken, and we were kept at work
on board during the latter part of the week either i»
the hold or upon the rigging.

CHAPTER XII.

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN.

For several days the captain seemed very much
out of humour. He quarrelled with the cook, and
threatened to flog him for throwing wood on deck ;
and had a dispute with the mate about reeving a
Spanish burton, the mate saying that he was right;
and had been taught how to do it by a man who was
a sailor! This the captain took in dudgeon, and
they were at sword's points at once. But his dis-
pleasure was chiefly turned against a large, heavy-
moulded fellow, from the Middle States, who was
called Sam. This man hesitated in his speech, and
was rather slow in his motions, but was a pretty good
sailor, and always seemed to do his best; but the
captain took a dislike to him, found fault with every-
thing he did, and hazed him for dropping a marline-
spike from the main-yard, where he was at work.
We worked late on Friday ni ght, and were turned-to
early on Saturday morning. About ten o'clock tht

M TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

captain ordered our new officer, Russell, to get the
gig ready to take him ashore. John, the Swede, was
sitting in the boat alongside, and Russell and my-
self were standing by the main hatchway, waiting for
the captain, who was down in the hold, where the
men were at work, when we heard his voice raised in
violent dispute with somebody. Then came blows*
and scuffling. I ran to the side and beckoned to
John, who came up, and we leaned on the hatchway,
and though wo could see no one, yet we knew that
tho captain had the advantage, for his voice was loud
and clear: —

" You see your condition! Will you ever give me
any moro of your yaw?" No answer; and then came
wrestling and heaving, as though the man was trying
to turn him. "You may as well keep still, for I
have got you," said the captain. Then came the
question, " Will you ever give me any more of your
jaw?"

" I never gave you any, sir," said Sam; for it was
his voice that we heard.

"That's not what I ask you. Will you ever be
impudent to mo again?"

" I never have been, sir," said Sam.

" Answer my question, or I'll make spread-eagle
of you !"

" I'm no negro slave," said Sam.

"Then I'll make you one," said the captain; and

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN. 97

he came to the hatchway and sprang on deck, threw
off his coat, and rolling up his sleeves, called out to

the mate, Seize that man up, Mr. A ! seize him

up! Make a spread-eagle of him! I'll teach you
all who is master aboard!"

The crew and officers followed the captain up the
natchway, and after repeated orders the mate laid
hold of Sam, who made no resistance, and carried
him to the gangway.

"What are you going to flog that man for, sir?"
said John, the Swede, to the captain.

Upon hearing this the captain turned upon him,
but, knowing him to be quick and resolute, he
ordered the steward to bring the irons, and calling
upon Russell to help him, went up to John.

"Let me alone," said John. "You need not use
any force;" and putting out his hands, the captain
slipped the irons on, and sent him aft to the quarter-
deck. Sam by this time was seized up — that is,
placed against the shrouds, with his wrists made
fast to the shrouds, his jacket off, and his back
exposed. The captain stood on the break of the
deck, a few feet from him, and a little raised,
so as to have a good swing at him, and held in his
hand the bight of a thick, strong rope. The offi-
cers stood round, and the crew grouped together
in the waist. All these preparations made me feel
lick and almost faint, angry and excited as I was. A
7 D

96 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

man — a human being, made in God's likeness —
fastened up and flogged like a beast! The first and
almost uncontrollable impulse was resistance. But
what was to be done? The time for it had gone by.
The two best men were fast, and there were only two
beside myself, and a small boy of ten or twelve years
of age. And then there were, beside the captain,
three officers, steward, agent, and clerk. But be-
side the numbers, what is there for sailors to do? If
they resist, it is mutiny; and if they succeed, and
take the vessel, it is piracy. Bad as it was it must be
borne. It is what a sailor ships for. Swinging the
ropo over his head, and bending his body so as to give
it full force, the captain brought it down upon the
poor fellow's back. Once, twice — six times. " Will
you ever give me any more of your jaw?" The man
writhed with pain, but said not a word. Three
times more. This was too much, and he muttered
somothing which I could not hear. This brought as
many more as tho man could stand, when the captain
ordered the man to be cut down and to go forward.

"Now for you," said the captain, making up to
John, and taking his irons off. As soon as he was
loose, ho ran forward to the forecastle. " Bring that
man aft!" shouted the captain. The second mate,
who had been a shipmate of John's, stood still in the
waist, and the mate walked slowly forward; but our
third officer, anxious to show his zeal, sprang over

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN. 99

the windlass and laid hold of John; but he soon
threw him from him. At this moment I would have
given worlds for the power to help the poor fellow;
but it was all in vain. The captain stood on the
quarter-deck, bareheaded, his eyes flashing with rage,
and his face as red as blood, swinging the rope, and
calling out to his officers, "Drag him aft! lay hold
of him! I'll sweeten him!" &c.

The mate now went forward and told John quietly
to go aft; and he, seeing resistance was in vain, threw
the blackguard third mate from him, said he would
go aft of himself, that they should not drag him, and
went up to the gangway and held out his hands; but
as soon as the captain began to make him fast, the
indignity was too much, and he began to resist; but
the mate and Kussell holding him, he was soon
seized up. When he was made fast he turned to the
captain, who stood turning up his sleeves and getting
ready for the blow, and asked him what he was to be
flogged for. "Have I ever refused my duty, sir?
Have you ever known me to hang back, or to be
insolent, or not to know my work?"

"No," said the captain; "it is not that that I flog
you for ; I flog you for your interference — for asking
questions."

" Can't a man ask a question here without being
flogged?"

"No," shouted the captain; "nobody shall open

100 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

his mouth aboard this vessel but myself;" and
began laying the blows upon his back, swinging half
round between each blow to give it full effect. As
he went on his passion increased, and he danced
about the deck, calling out as he swung the rope, " If
you want to know what I flog you for, I'll tell you.
It's because I like to do it! — because I like to do
it!— It suits me! That's what I do it for!"

The man writhed under the pain. My blood ran
cold. I could look on no longer. Disgusted, sick,
and horror-struck, I turned away and leaned over he
rail and looked down into the water. A few rapid
thoughts of my own situation, and of the prospect of
future revenge crossed my mind ; but the falling of
the blows and tho cries of the man called me back at
once. At length they ceased, and, turning round, I
found that the mate, at a signal from the captain,
had cut him down.

Almost doubled up with pain the man walked
•lowly forward, and went down into the forecastle.
Every one else stood still at his post, while the captain
swelling with rage and with the importance of his
achievement, walked the quarter-deck, and at each
turn, as ho came forward, calling out to us, " You
tee your condition! You see where I've got you all,
and you know what to expect! You've been mis-
taken in mo — you didn't know what I was! Now
you know what I am! — I'll make you toe the mark,

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN. 101

every soul of you, or I'll flog you all, fore and aft,
from the boy, up! — You've got a driver over you!
Yes, a slave driver — a negro driver /"

With this and the like matter, equally calculated
to quiet us, and to allay any apprehensions of future
trouble, he entertained us for about ten minutes,
when he went below. Soon after John came aft,
with his bare back covered with stripes and wales in
every direction, and dreadfully swollen, and asked
the steward to ask the captain to let him have some
salve or balsam to put upon it.

"No," said the captain, who heard him from
below; "tell him to put his shirt on; that's the best
thing for him ; and pull me ashore in the boat. No-
body is going to lay-up on board this vessel." He
then called Mr. Eussell to take those two men and
two others in the boat and pull him ashore. I went
for one. The two men could hardly bend their backs,
and the captain called to them to " give way, give
way!" but finding they did their best he let them
alone.

The agent was in the stern-sheets, but during the£
whole pull not a word was spoken. We landed; the
captain, agent, and officer went up to the house, and
left us with the boat. I, and the man with me, stayed
near the boat, while John and Sam walked slowly away
and sat down on the rocks. They talked some time
together, but at length separated, each sitting alone.

102 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

After tho day's work was done we went down
into the forecastle and ate our supper, but not a
word was spoken. It was Saturday night, but there
was no song — no "sweethearts and wives." A gloom
was over everything. The two men lay in their
berths groaning with pain, and we all turned in —
but, for myself, not to sleep. A sound coming now
and then from the berths of the two men showed that
they were awake, as awake they must have been, for
they could hardly lie in one posture a moment; the
dim, swinging lamp of the forecastle shed its light
over the dark hole in which we lived; and many and
various reflections and purposes coursed through my
mind. I thought of our situation, living under a
tyranny; of the character of the country we were in;
of tho length of the voyage, and of the uncertainty
attending our return to America; and then, if we
should return, of tho prospect of obtaining justice
and satisfaction for theso poor men; and vowed that,
if over I should have tho means, I would do some-
thing to redress the grievances and relieve the suffer-
ings of that poor class of beings of whom I then
was one.

The next day was Sunday. We worked as usual,
washing decks, &c, until breakfast-time. After
breakfast we pulled tho captain ashore, and finding
some hides there which had been brought down the
night before, he ordered me to stay ashore and watch

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN 108

them, isaying that the boat would come again before
night. They left me; and I spent a quiet day on the
hill, eating dinner with the three men at the little
house. Unfortunately, they had no books; and after
talking with them and walking about I began to
grow tired of doing nothing.

I looked anxiously for a boat during the latter part
of the afternoon, but none came until toward sun-
down, when I saw a speck on the water, and as it
drew near I found it was the gig with the captain.
The hides, then, were not to go off. The captain
came up the hill, with a man bringing my monkey
jacket and a blanket. He looked pretty black, but
inquired whether I had enough to eat, told me to
make a house out of the hides and keep myself warm,
as I should have to sleep there among them, and to
keep good watch over them. I got a moment to
speak to the man who brought my jacket.

" How do things go aboard?" said I.

"Bad enough," said he; "hard work, and not a
kind word spoken."

" What," said I, " have you been at work all day?"

"Yes! no more Sunday for us. Everything has
been moved in the hold from stem to stern and from
the water-ways to the keelson."

I went up to the house to supper. After our meal
the three men sat down by the light of a tallow
candle, with a pack of greasy Spanish cards, to the

104 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

favourito game of " treinta uno," a sort of Spanish
"everlasting." I left them and went out to take up
my bivouac among the hides. It was now dark, the
vessel was hidden from sight, and except the three
men in the house there was not a living soul within
a league. The coati (a wild animal of a nature and
appearance between that of the fox and the wolf) set
up their sharp, quick bark, and two owls, at the end
of two distant points running out into the bay, on
different sides of the hill where I lay, kept up their
alternate dismal notes. Mellowed by the distance,
and heard alone at night, I thought it was the most
melancholy, boding sound I had ever heard.
Through nearly all the night they kept it up, answer-
ing one another slowly at regular intervals. The
noxt morning, before sunrise, the longboat came
ashore, and tho hidos were taken off.

We lay at San Pedro about a week, engaged in
taking off hides and in other labours, which had now
become our regular duties. I spent one more day on
tbe hill, watching a quantity of hides and goods, and
this time succeeded in finding a part of a volume of
Scott's Pirate in a corner of the house, but it failed
me at a most interesting moment, and I betook my-
self to my acquaintances on shore, and from them
learned a urood deal about the customs of the country,
the harbours, &c.

On board th" Pilgrim everything went on regn-

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN. 105

larly, each one trying to get along as smoothly as
possible; but the comfort of the voyage was evidently
at an end. The flogging was seldom if ever alluded
to by us in the forecastle. If any one was inclined to
talk about it, the others, with a delicacy which I
hardly expected to find among them, always stopped
him or turned the subject. But the behaviour of the
two men who were flogged toward one another showed
a delicacy and a sense of honour which would have
been worthy of admiration in the highest walks of
life. Sam knew that the other had suffered solely
on his account, and in all his complaints he said that
if he alone had been flogged it. would have been
nothing, but that he never could see that man with-
out thinking that he had been the means of bringing
that disgrace upon him ; and John never, by word or
deed, let anything escape him to remind the other
that it was by interfering to save his shipmate that
he had suffered.

Having got all our spare room filled with hides, we
hove up our anchor and made sail for San Diego. In
no operation can the disposition of a crew be dis-
covered better than in getting under way. Where
things are done " with a will" every one is like a cat
aloft, sails are loosed in an instant, each one lays out
his strength on his handspike, and the windlass goes
briskly round with the loud cry of "Yo, heave ho!
Heave and pawll Heave hearty, ho." But with us

!<* TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

at this time it was all dragging work. The mate,
between the knightheads, exhausted all his official
rhetoric in calls of "Heave with a will!" "Heave
hearty, men ! — heave hearty !" " Heave and raise the
dead!" " Heave and away !" &c, &c. ; but it would
not do. Nobody broke his back or his handspike by
his efforts. And when the cat-tackle-fall was strong
along, and all hands — cook, steward, and all — laid
hold to cat the anchor, instead of the lively song of
"Cheerily, men!" in which all hands join in the
chorus, we pulled a long, heavy, silent pull, and the
anchor came to the cat-head pretty slowly. " Give us
•Cheerily!'" said the mate; but there was no
u cheerily" for us, and we did without it. The
captain walked the quarter-deck and said not a word.
We sailed leisurely down the coast before a lighi
fair wind, keeping the land well aboard, and saw two
ether missions, looking like blocks of white plaster,
■hining in the distance. At sunset on the second
day, we had a large and well wooded headland
directly before us, behind which lay the little harbour
of San Diego. We were becalmed off this point all
night; but the next morning, which was Saturday,
March 14, having a good breeze, we stood round the
point, and hauling our wind, brought the little har-
bour, which is rather the outlet of a small river, right
before us. A chain of high hills, beginning at the
point (which was on our larboard hand, coming in),

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN. 107

protected the harbour on the north and west and ran
off into the interior as far as the eye could reach.
On the other sides the land was low and green, but
without trees. The entrance is so narrow as to admit
but one vessel at a time, the current swift, and the
channel runs so near to a low stony point that tho
ship's sides appeared almost to touch it. There was no
stown in sight; but on the smooth sand-beach, abreast,
and within a cable's-length of which three vessels lay
moored, were four large houses, built of rough boards,
with piles of hides standing round them, and men in
red shirts and large straw hats walking in and out of
the doors. These were the hide-houses. Of the
vessels, one we recognized as our old acquanintance
the Loriotte; another, newly painted and tarred, ^nd
glittering in the morning sun, with the blood-red
banner and cross of St. George at her peak, was the
handsome Ayacucho. The third was a large ship,
with topgallant-masts housed, and sails unbent, and
looking as rusty and worn as two year's "hide drogh-
ing" could make her. This was the Lagoda. As we
drew near we overhauled our anchor and clewed up
the top sails. "Let go the anchor!" said the captain
but either there was not chain enough forward of the
windlass, or the anchor went down foul, or we had
too much headway on, for it did not bring us up.
"Pay out chain!" shouted the captain; and we gave
it to her; but it would not do. Before the other

108 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

anchor could be let go, we drifted down, broadside
on, and went smash into the Logado.

Fortunately no great harm was done. Her jib-
boom ran between our fore and main-masts, carrying
away some of our rigging, and breaking down the
rail. She lost her martingale.* This brought us
up; and as they paid out chain we swung clear of
them, and let go the other anchor; but this had as
bad luck as the first, for before any one perceived it,
we were drifting on to the Loriotte. The captain
now gave out his orders rapidly and fiercely, sheeting
home the top sails, and backing and filling the sails,
in hope of starting or clearing the anchors; but it
was all in vain; and he sat down on the rail, taking
it very leisurely, and calling out to Captain Nye that
he was coming to pay him a visit. We drifted fairly
into the Loriotte, her larboard bow into our starboard
quarter, carrying away a part of our starboard quarter
railing, and breaking off her larboard bumpkin, and
one or two stanchions above the deck. After paying
out chain we swung clear, but our anchors were no
doubt afoul of hers. We manned the windlass, and
hove, and hove away, but to no purpose. Sometimes
we got a little upon the cable, but a good surge would
take it all back again. We now began to drift down
toward the Ayacucho, when her boat put off, and

* Martingale, a short perpendicular spar under the bow-
■prit end. used for guying down the head-stays.

A TYRANNICAL CAPTAIN. 109

brought her commander, Captain Wilson, on board.
He was a short, active, well-built man, between fifty
and sixty years of age ; and being nearly thirty years
older than our captain, he did not hesitate to give
his advice, and from giving advice, he gradually
came to taking the command ; ordering us when to
heave and when to pawl, and backing and filling the
topsails, setting and taking in jib and trysails, when-
ever he thought best. We had no objections to this
state of things; for Wilson was a kind old man, and
had an encouraging and pleasant way of speaking to
us, which made everything go easily. After two or
three hours of constant labor at the windlass, heaving
and " Yo ho!"-ing with all our might, we brought
up an anchor, with the Loriotte's small bower fast to
it. Having cleared this and let it go, and cleared
our hawse, we got out our other anchor, which had
dragged half over the harbour. " Now," saic! Wilson,
" I'll find you a good berth" ; and setting v,oth the
topsails, he carried us down, and brought us to
anchor, in handsome style, directly abreast of the
hide-house which we were to use. Having done this,
he took his leave, while we furled the sails, and got
our breakfast. After breakfast and until night we were
employed in getting out the boats and mooring ship.
After supper two of us took the captain on board
the Lagoda. As he came alongside, he gave his
name; and the mate, in the gangway, called out to

110 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

the captain down the companion-way — " Captain

T has come aboard, sir!" " Has he brought his

brig with him?" said the rough old fellow, in a tone
which made itself heard fore and aft. The captain
went down into the cabin, and wo walked forward
and put our heads down the forecastle, where we
found the men at supper. " Come down, shipmates!
come down!" said they as soon as they saw us; and
we went down, and found a large high forecastle,
well lighted, and a crew of twelve or fourteen men,
eating out of their kids and pans, and drinking their
tea and talking and laughing, all as independently
and easy as so many "wood-sawyers' clerks."

We spent an hour or two with them, talking over
California matters, until the word was passed — " Pil-
grims away!" — and we went back with our captain
to the brig.

CHAPTER XIII.

ON SHORE.

The next day being Sunday, after washing and
clearing decks, and getting breakfast, the mate came
forward with leave for one watch to go ashore on
liberty. We drew lots, and it fell to the larboard,
which I was in. Instantly all was preparation.
Buckets of fresh water (which we were allowed in

ON SHORE. Ill

port), and soap, were put in use; go-ashore jackets
and trousers got out and brushed; pumps, necker-
chiefs, and hats overhauled; one lending to another;
so that among the whole each one got a good fit-out.
A boat was called to pull the " liberty-men" ashore,
and we sat down in the stern-sheets, " as big as pay-
passengers, " and jumping ashore, set out on our walk
for the town, which was nearly three miles off.

It is a pity that some other arrangement is not
made in merchant vessels with regard to the liberty-
day. I have heard of a religious captain who gave
his crew liberty on Saturdays after twelve o'clock.
This would be a good plan, if shipmasters would
bring themselves to give their crews so much time.
As it is, it can hardly be expected that a crew on a
long and hard voyage will refuse a few hours of free-
dom from toil and the restraints of a vessel, and an
opportunity to tread the ground and see the sights of
society and humanity because it is on a Sunday.

I shall never forget the delightful sensation of
being in the open air, with the birds singing around
me, and escaped from the confinement, labor, and
strict rule of a vessel — of being once more in my life,
though only for a day, my own master. A sailor's
liberty is but for a day ; yet while it lasts it is perfect.
He is under no one's eye, and can do whatever, and
go wherever he pleases. This day, for the first time,
I may truly say, in my whole life, I felt the meaning

112 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

of a term which I had often heard — the sweets of
liberty. It was wonderful how the prospect bright-
ened, and how short and tolerable the voyage ap-
peared, when viewed in this new light. Things
looked differently from what they did when we talked
them over in the little dark forecastle the night after
the flogging at San Pedro.

8 and myself determined to keep as much

together as possible, though we knew that it would
not do to cut our shipmates; for, knowing our birth
and education, they were a little suspicious that we
would try to put on the gentleman when we got
ashore, and would bo ashamed of their company;
and this won't do with Jack. Our crew feU in with
some men who belonged to the other vessels and,
sailor-like, steered for the first grog-shop. This was
a small rand-building, of only one room, in which
were liquors, dry and West India goods, shoes, bread,
fruits, and everything which is vendible in Califor-
nia. S and I followed in our shipmates' wake.

knowing that to refuse to drink with them would be
the highest affront, but determining to slip away at
the first opportunity. When we first came in there
was some dispute between our crew and the others,
whether the new-comers or the old California rangers
should treat first; but it being settled in favor of
the latter, each of the crews of the other vessels
treated all round in their turn, and as there were a

ON SHORE. 113

good many present, and the liquor was a real (12£
cents) a glass, it made somewhat of a hole in their

lookers. It was now our ship's turn, and S and

I, anxious to get away, stepped up to call for glasses;
but we soon found that we must go in order — the
oldest first, for the old sailor did not choose to be
preceded by a couple of youngsters; and we had to
wait our turn, with the* twofold apprehension of
being too late for our horses and of taking too
much; for drink you must every time; and if you
drink with one and not with another it is always
taken as an insult.

Having at length gone through our turns, and,
acquitted ourselves of all obligations, we slipped out,
and went about among the houses, endeavouring to
get horses for the day, so that we might ride round
and see the country. At first we had but little suc-
cess; but after several efforts we fell in with a little
Sandwich Island boy, who belonged to Captain Wilson
of the Ayacucho, and was well acquainted with the
place; he, knowing where to go, soon procured us
two horses, ready saddled and bridled, each with a
lasso coiled over the pommel. Mounted on our
horses, which were spirited beasts, we started off on
a fine run over the country. The first place we
went to was the old ruinous Presidio, which stands
on a rising ground near the village, which it over-
looks. From the Presidio we rode off in the direc-
8

114 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

tion of the mission, which we were told was three
miles distant. The country was rather sandy, and
there was nothing for miles which could be called a
tree ; but the grass grew green and rank, and there
were many bushes and thickets; and the soil is said
to be good. After a pleasant ride of a couple of
miles we saw the white wails of the mission, and
fording a small river we came directly before it.
There was something decidedly striking in its ap-
pearance: a number of irregular buildings, connected
with one another, and disposed in the form of a
hollow square, with a church at one end, rising above
the rest, with a tower containing five belfries, in
each of which hung a large bell, and with an im-
mense rusty iron cross at the top. Just outside of
the buildings, and under the walls, stood twenty or
thirty small huts, built of straw and of the branches
of trees, in which a few Indians lived, under the
protection and in the service of the mission.

Entering a gateway, we rode into the open square,
in which the stillness of death reigned. Not a living
creature could we see. We rode twice round the
square in the hope of waking up some one; and in
ono circuit saw a tall monk, with shaven head,
sandals, and the dress of the Grey Friars, pass rapidly
through a gallery, but he disappeared without notio-
sag us. After two circuits we stopped our horses,
-md saw at last a man show himself in front of one

ON SHORE. 115

of the small buildings. We rode up to him and
found him dressed in the common dress of the
country, with a silver chain round his neck sup-
porting a large bunch of keys. From this we took
him to be the steward of the mission, and address-
ing him as "Mayordomo" received a low bow and
an invitation to walk into his room. It was a
plain room, containing a table, three or four
chairs, a small picture or two, and a few dishes and
glasses. "Hay algunas cosas a comer?" said I.
"Si, Sefior!" said he. "Que gusta listed?" Men-
tioning frijoles, which I knew they must have if they
had nothing else*, and beef and bread, and a hint for
wine, if they had any; he went off to another build-
ing, across the court, and returned in a few moments
with a couple of Indian boys, bearing dishes and a
decanter of wine. The dishes contained baked
meats, frijoles stewed with peppers and onions, boiled
eggs, and a kind of macaroni. These, together with
the wine, made the most sumptuous meal we had
eaten since we left Boston. After despatching ou:*
meal, we took out some money and asked him how
much we were to pay. He shook his head, and
crossed himself, saying that it was charity — the Lord
gave it to us. We gave him ten or twelve reals,
which he pocketed with admirable nonchalance,
saying " Dios se lo pague." Taking leave of him wa
rode out to the Indians' huts.

11« TWO fEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Leaving the mission we returned to the village,
going nearly all the way on a full run. The Califor-
nian horses have no medium gait which is pleasant
between walking and running; for as there are no
streets and parades they have no need of the genteel
trot, and their riders usually keep them at the top of
their speed until they are tired and then let them
rest themselves by walking. The fine air of the
afternoon, the rapid rate of the animals, who seemed
almost to fly over the ground, and the excitement and
novelty of the motion to us who had been so long
confined on shipboard, were exhilarating beyond
expression and we felt willing to ride all day long.
Coming into the village we found things looking very
lively. The Indians, who always have a holiday on
Sunday, were engaged at playing a kind of running
game of ball on a level piece of ground near the
houses. Several blue-jackets were reeling about
among tho houses, which showed that the pulperiaa
had been well patronized. One or two of the sailors
had got on horseback, but being rather indifferent
horsemen, and thb Spaniards having given them
vicious horses, they were soon thrown, much to the
amusement of the people. A half-dozen Sandwich
Islanders, from the hide-houses and the two brigs,
who are bold riders, were dashing about on the full
gallop, hallooing and laughing like so many wild
men.

SAN DIEGO. 117

It was now nearly sundown, and S and myself

went into a house and sat quietly down to rest our-
selves before going down to the beach. Thus ended
our first liberty-day on shore. We were well tired,
but had had a pleasant holiday, and were more willing
to go back to our old duties.

CHAPTER XIV.

SAN DIEGO.

The next sound that we heard was "All hands
ahoy!" and looking up the scuttle, saw that it was
just daylight. Our liberty had now truly taken
flight, and putting on old duck trousers, red shirts,
and Scotch caps, we began taking out and landing
our hides. For three days we were hard at work in
this duty, from the grey of the morning until star-
light, with the exception of a short time allowed for
meals. We took possession of one of the hide-houses,
which belonged to our firm, and had been used by the
California. It was built to hold forty thousand
hides, and we had the pleasing prospect of filling it
before we could leave the, coast; and toward this, our
thirty-five hundred, which we brought down with us,
would do but little.

The hides, as they come rough and uncured from
the vessels, are piled up outside of the houses, whence

118 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

they are taken and carried through a regular process
of picking, drying, cleaning, &c, and stowed away
in the house, ready to be put on board. This process
is necessary in order that they may keep during a
long voyage and in warm latitudes. For the purpose
of curing and taking care of these hides an officer
and a part of the crew of each vessel are usually left
ashore; and it was for this business, we found, that
our new officer had joined us. As soon as the hides
wero landed ho took charge of the house, and the
captain intended to leave two or three of us with
him, hiring Sandwich Islanders to take our places on
board; but he could not get any Sandwich Islanders
to go, though he offered them fifteen dollars a month ;
for the report of the Hogging had got among them,
and ho was called "aolo maikai" (no good), and that
was an end of the business. They were, however,
willing to work on shore, and four of them were
hired and put with Mr. Russell to cure the hides.

After landing our hides we next sent ashore all our
spare spars and rigging— all the stores which we did
not want to use in the course of one trip to windward
— and, in fact, everything which we could spare, so
as to make room for hides; among other things the
pig-sty, and with it "Old Bess." This was an old
sow that wo had brought from Boston, and which
lived to get round Cape Horn, where all the other
pigs died from cold and wet. She had been the pet of

SAN DIEGO. 119

the cook during the whole passage, and he had fed
her with the best of everything, and taught her to
do a number of strange tricks for his amusement.
It almost broke our ipoor darky's heart when he heard
that Bess was to be taken ashore. He had depended
upon her as a solace during the long trips up and
down the coast. We got a whip up on the main-
yard, and hooking it to a strap round her body,
swayed away; and giving a wink to one another, ran
her chock up to the yard-arm. " 'Vast there! 'vast!"
said the mate; "none of your skylarking! Lower
away!" But he evidently enjoyed the joke. The
pig squealed like the "crack of doom," and tears
stood in the poor darky's eyes, and he muttered some-
thing about having no pity on a dumb beast. " Dumb
beast!" said Jack; "if she's what you call a dumb
beast, then my eyes a'n't mates." This produced a
laugh from all but the cook. He was too intent upon
seeing her safe in the boat. He watched her all the
way ashore, where, upon her landing, she was received
by a whole troop of her kind who had been set ashore
from the other vessels. From the door of his galley
the cook used to watch them in their manoeuvres,
setting up a shout and clapping his hands whenever
Bess came off victorious in the struggle for pieces of
raw hide and half-picked bones which were lying
about the beach. We told him that he thought more
about the pig than he did about his wife ; and indeed

120 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

he could hardly have been more attentive, for he act*
ualiy on several nights after dark when he thought
he would not be seen sculled himself ashore in a boat
with a bucket of nice swill.

The iext Sunday the other half of our crew went
•shore on liberty and left us on board to enjoy the first
quiet Sunday which we had had upon the coast. Here
were no hides to come off and no sonth-easters to fear.
We washed and mended our clothes in the morning
and spent the rest of the day in reading and writing.
8everal of us wrote letters to send home by the Lagoda.

At the close of the week we were ready to sail, but
were delayed a day or two by the running away of
Foster, the man who had been our second mate.
From the time that he was " broken" he had had a
dog's berth on board the vessel and determined to
run away at the first opportunity. Having shipped
for an officer when he was not half a seaman, he found
little pity with the crew and was not man enough to
hold his ground among them. He had had several
difficulties with the captain and asked leave to go
home in the Lagoda; but this was refused him. One
night he was insolent to an officer on the beach, and
refused to come aboard in the boat. He was reported
to the captain; and as he came on board — it being
past the proper hour — he was called aft and told that
he was to have a flogging. Immediately he fell down
on the deck, calling out, "Don't flog me, Captain

SAN DIEGO. 121

T ; don't flog me!" and the captain, angry with

him and disgusted with his cowardice, gave him a
few blows over the back with a rope's-end and sent
him forward. He was not mnch hurt, but a good
deal frightened, and made up his mind to run away
that very night.

This was managed better than anything he ever did
in his life, and seemed really to show some spirit and
forethought. He gave his bedding and mattress to
one of the Lagodcfs crew, who took it aboard his ves-
sel as something which he had bought, and promised
to keep it for him. He then unpacked his chest,
putting all his valuable clothes into a large canvas
bag, and told one of us, who had the watch, to call
him at midnight. Finding no officer on deck, and
all still aft, he lowered his bag into a boat, got softly
down into it, cast off the painter, and let it drop
down silently with the tide until he was out of hear-
ing, when he sculled ashore.

The next morning when all hands were mustered
there was a great stir to find Foster. Of course we
would tell nothing ; and all they could discover was
that he had left an empty chest behind him, and
that he went off in a boat. After breakfast the cap-
tain went up to the town and offered a reward of
twenty dollars for him; and for a couple of days the
soldiers, Indians, and all others who had nothing to
do were scouring the country for him on horseback,

132 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

but without effect; for he was safely concealed all
the time within fifty rods of the hide-houses. As
soon as he had landed, he went directly to the La-
goda's hide-house; and a part of her crew who were
living there on shore promised to conceal him and his
traps until the Pilgrim should sail, and then to inter-
cede with Captain Bradshaw to take him on board his
ship. Just behind the hide-houses, among the thick-
ets and underwood, was a small cave, the entrance to
which was known only to the two men on the beach.
To this cave he was carried before daybreak in the
morning, and supplied with bread and water, and
there remained until he saw us under way and well
round the point.

Friday j March 27th. The captain, having given up
all hope of finding Foster, gave orders for unmooring
ship, and we made sail, dropping slowly down with
tho tide. The wind, which was very light, died away
soon after wo doubled the point, and we lay becalmed
for two days. On the third day about noon a cool
sea-breeze came rippling and darkening the surface
of tho water, and by sundown wo were off St. Juan's.
Our crew was now considerably weakened. Yet there
was not one who was not glad that Foster had es-
caped; for shiftless and good-for-nothing as he was,
no one could wish to see him dragging on a miserable
lifo, rowed down and disheartened; and wo were all
rejoiced to hear, upon our return to San Diego about

SAN DIEGO. 123

two months afterwards, that he had been immedi-
ately taken aboard the Lagoda.

After a slow passage of five days, we arrived on
Wednesday, the first of April, at our old anchoring
ground at San Pedro. In a few days the hides began
to come slowly down, and we got into the old busi-
ness of rolling goods up the hill, pitching hides down,
and pulling our long league off and on.

On board things went on in the common monoto-
nous way. The excitement which immediately fol-
lowed the flogging scene had passed off, but the effect
of it upon the crew, and especially upon the two men
themselves, remained.

After a stay of about a fortnight, during which we
slipped for one south-easter, and were at sea two
days, we got under way for Santa Barbara. There
we found lying at anchor the large Genoese ship
which we saw in the same place on the first day of
our coming upon the coast. She had been up to San
Francisco, had stopped at Monterey on the way down,
and was shortly to proceed to San Pedro and San
Diego, and thence, taking in her cargo, to sail for
Valparaiso and Cadiz. It was now the close of Lent,
and on Good Friday she had all her yards a'-cock-bill,
which is customary among Catholic vessels. Some
also have an effigy of Judas, which the crew amused
themselves with keel-hauling and hanging by the
neck from the yard-arms.

124 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER XV.

EASTER IN CALIFORNIA.

The next Sunday was Easter Day, and as there
had been no liberty at San Pedro, it was our turn to
go ashore and misspend another Sabbath. Soon after
breakfast a large boat, filled with men in blue jackets,
scarlet caps, and various colored under-clothes, bound
ashore on liberty, left the Italian ship and passed
under our stern, the men singing beautiful Italian
boat-songs all the way in fine full chorus. Supposing
that the whole day would be too long a time to spend
ashore, as there was no place to which we could take a
ride, we remained quietly on board until after dinner.
Wo were then pulled ashore in the stern of the
boat, and with orders to be on the beach at sundown,
we took our way for the town. There everything
wore the appearance of a holiday. Under the piazza
of a "pulperia" two men were seated, decked out with
knots of ribands and bouquets, and playing the violin
and the Spanish guitar. As it was now too near the
middle of the day to see any dancing, and hearing
that a bull was expected down from the country to
be baited in the Presidio square in the course of an
hour or two, we took a stroll among the houses. In-
quiring for an American who, we had been told,

EASTER IN CALIFORNIA. 125

had married in the place, and kept a shop, we were
directed to a long, low building, at the end of which
was a door with a sign over it in Spanish. Entering
the shop, we found no one in it, and the whole had a
deserted appearance. In a few minutes the man made
his appearance, and apologized for having nothing
to entertain us with, saying that he had had a fan-
dango at his house the night before, and the people
had eaten and drunk up everything.
"Oh, yes," said I; "Easter holidays."
1 No," said he, with a singular expression on his
face ; u I had a little daughter die the other day, and
that's the custom of the country."

At this I felt a little strangely, not knowing what
to say, or whether to offer consolation or no, and was
beginning to retire when he opened a side-door and
told us to walk in. Here I was no less astonished ;
for I found a large room filled with young girls from
three or four years of age up to fifteen and sixteen,
dressed all in white, with wreaths of flowers on their
heads and bouquets in their hands. Following our
conductor among all these girls, who were playing
about in high spirits, we came to a table at the end
of the room, covered with a white cloth, on which lay
a coffin about three feet long with the body of his
child. Through an open door we saw in another
room a few elderly people in common dresses; while
the benches and tables thrown up in a corner and the

126 TWO YEAES BEFORE THE MAST.

stained walls gave evident signs of the last night's
"high go."

To pass away the time we hired horses and rode
down to the beach. There we found three or four
Italian sailors mounted and riding up and down on
the hard sand at a furious rate. We joined them,
and found it fine sport. From the beach we returned
to the town, and finding that the funeral procession
had moved, rode on and overtook it about half way
to the mission. Here was as peculiar a sight as we
had seen before in the house — the one looking as little
like a funeral procession as the other did like a house of
mourning. The coffin was borne by eight girls, who
were continually relieved by others, running forward
from the procession and taking their places. Behind
it came a straggling company of girls, dressed as be-
fore, in white and flowers, and including, I should
suppose by their numbers, nearly all the girls between
five and fifteen in the place. They played along on
the way, frequently stopping and running altogether
to talk to some one, or to pick up a flower, and then
running on again to overtake the coffin. There were
a few elderly women in common colours; and a herd
of young men and boys, some on foot and others
mounted, followed them, or walked or rode by their
side, frequently interrupting them by jokes and
questions. But the most singular thing of all was
that two men walked, one on each side of the coffin,

EASTER IN CALIFORNIA. 127

carrying muskets in their hands, which they contin-
ually loaded and fired into the air.

As we drew near the mission we saw the great gate
thrown open and the padre standing on the steps
with a crucifix in his hand. Just at this moment
the bells set up their harsh, discordant clang, and the
procession moved into the court. I was anxious to
follow and see the ceremony, but the horse of one of
my companions had become frightened and was tear-
ing off towards the town, and having thrown his rider
and got one of his feet caught in the saddle, which
had slipped, was fast dragging and ripping it to
pieces. Knowing that my shipmate could not speak
a word of Spanish, and fearing that he would get into
difficulty, I was obliged to leave the ceremony and
ride after him.

Having returned to the town, we saw a great crowd
collected in the square before the principal pulperia,
and found that all these people — men, women, and
children — had been drawn together by a couple of
bantam cocks.

We heard some talk about " cabettas" and " carrera"
and seeing the people all streaming off in one direc-
tion, we followed, and came upon a level piece of
ground just out of the town which was used as a
race-course. Here the crowd soon became thick
again ; the ground was marked off, the judges sta-
tioned, and horses led up to one end. Two fine-look-

128 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST

ing old gentlemen— Don Carlos and Don Domingo,
so called— held the stakes, and all was now ready.
We waited some time, during which we conld just see
the horses twisting round and turning, until at length
there was a shout along the lines, and on they came,
heads stretched out and eyes starting, working all
over, both man and beast. The steeds came by us
like a couple of chain-shot — neck and neck; and now
we could see nothing but their backs, and their hind
hoofs flying in the air. As fast as the horses passed
the crowd broke up behind them and ran to the goal.
When wo got there we found the horses returning on
ft slow walk, having run far beyond the mark, and
heard that the long, bony one had come in head and
shoulders before the other. The horses were noble-
looking beasts — not so sleek and combed as our Bos-
ton stable-horses, but with fine limbs and spirited
eyes.

Returning to the large pulperia, we found the vio-
lin and guitar screaming and twanging away under
the piazza, where they had been all day. As it was
now sundown there began to be some dancing. The
Italian sailors danced, and one of our crew exhibited
himself in a sort of West Indian shuffle, much to the
amusement of the bystanders, who cried out " Bravo!"
" Otra vez!" and "Vivan los marineros!" but the
dancing did not become general, as the women and
the "genta de raz6n" had not yet made their appear-

EASTER IN CALIFORNIA. 12«

•nee. We wished very much to stay and see the style
of dancing, but, although we had had our own way
during the day, yet we were after all but 'foremast
Jacks, and having been ordered to be on the beach
by sundown, did not venture to be more than an
hour behind the time; so we took our way down.

On Monday morning, as an off-set to our day's
sport, we were all set to work "tarring down"
the rigging. After breakfast we had the satis-
faction of seeing the Italian ship's boat go ashore
filled with men gaily dressed, as on the day before,
and singing their barcarollas. The Easter holidays
are kept up on shore during three days, and
being a Catholic vessel, the crew had the advantage
of them. For two successive days, while perched up
in the rigging covered with tar and engaged in our
disagreeable work, we saw these fellows going ashore
in the morning and coming off again at night in high
spirits.

About noon a man aloft called out "Sail ho!" and
looking round we saw the head sails of a vessel com-
ing round the point. As she drew round she showed
the broad side of a full-rigged brig, with the Yankee
ensign at her peak. We ran up our stars and stripes,
and, knowing that there was no American brig on
the coast but ourselves, expected to have news from
home. She rounded-to and let her anchor go; but
the dark faces on her yards, when they furled the
9 E

130 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

sails, and the Babel on deck, soon made known that
she was from the Islands. Immediately afterwards a
boat's crew came aboard, bringing her skipper, and
from them we learned that she was from Oahu, and
was engaged in the same trade with the Ayacucho,
Loriotte, &c, between the coast, the Sandwich
Islands, and the leeward coast of Peru and Chili.
Her captain and officers were Americans, and also a
part of her crew ; the rest were Islanders. She was
called the Catalina, and, like all the other vessels in
that trade, except the Ayacucho, her papers and
colours were from Uncle Sam.

After lying here about a fortnight, and collecting
all the hides the place afforded, we set sail again for
San Pedro.

We lay about a weok in San Pedro, and got under
way 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
fisit 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 sur-
face of the water; but they soon became so common
that we took little notice of them. We once very

EASTER IN CALIFORNIA. 131

nearly ran one down in the gig, and should probably
have been knocked to pieces or 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,
and the captain, who was steering, was not looking
out, 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 forefoot, with-
in 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. He took no notice of us, but
passed slowly on, and dived a few yards beyond us,
throwing his tail high in the air. 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 diffi-
cult to take, and are said not to give oil enough to
pay for the trouble.

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 as high as
our royal-masthead. We heard much of this place

132 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

from the Lagoda's crew, who said it was the worst
place in California. The shore is rocky, and directly
exposed to the south-east, so that vessels are obliged
to slip and run for their lives on the first sign of a
gale; and, late as it was in the season, we got up our
slip-rope and gear, though we meant to stay only
twenty-four hours. We pulled the agent ashore, and
were ordered to wait for him, while he took a cir-
cuitous way round the hill to the mission, which was
hidden behind it.

San Juan is the only romantic spot we saw in Cali-
fornia. The country here for several miles is high
table-land, running boldly to the shore, and break-
ing off in a steep hill, at the foot of which the waters
of the Pacific are constantly dashing. For several
miles the water washes the very base of the hill, or
breaks upon ledges and fragments of rocks which run
out into the sea. Just where we landed was a small
cove, or " bight," which gave us, at high tide, a few
square feet of sandbeach between the sea and the bot-
tom of the hill. This was the only landing place.
Directly before us rose the perpendicular height of
four or five hundred feet. How we were to get hides
down, or goods up, upon the table-land on which the
mission was situated was more than we could tell.
The aeent had taken a long circuit, and yet bad fre-
quently to jump over breaks and climb up steep
places in the ascent. No animal but a man or a

EASTER IN CALIFORNIA. 133

monkey could get up it. However, that was not
our look-out; and knowing that the agent would be
gone an hour or more, we strolled about, picking up
shells, and following the sea where it tumbled in,
roaring and spouting, among the crevices of the great
rocks. What a sight, thought I, must this be in a
south-easter ! Besides, there was a grandeur in every-
thing around, which gave almost a solemnity to the
scene ; a silence and solitariness which affected every-
thing! Not a human being but ourselves for miles;
and no sound heard but the pulsations of the great
Pacific! the steep hill rising like a wall, and cutting
us off from all the world but the "world of waters!"
I separated myself from the rest, and sat down on a
rock, just where the sea ran in and formed a fine
spouting-horn. Compared with the plain, dull sand-
beach of the rest of the coast this grandeur was as
refreshing as a great rock in a weary land. It was
almost the first time that I had been positively alone
— free from the sense that human beings were at my
elbow, if not talking with me — since I had left home.
My better nature returned strong upon me. Every-
thing was in accordance with my state of feeling, and
I experienced a glow of pleasure at finding that what
of poetry and romance I ever had in me had not been
entirely deadened by the laborious life I had been
lately leading. Nearly an hour did I sit, almost lost
in the luxury of this entire new scene of the play in

134 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

which I had been so long acting, when I was aroused
by the distant shouts of my companions, and saw
that they were collecting together, as the agent had
made his appearance on his way back to our boat.

Vie pulled aboard, and found the long-boat hoisted
out, and nearly laden with goods; and after dinner
we all went on shore in the quarter-boat, with the
long-boat in tow. As we drew in, we found an ox-
cart and a couple of men standing directly on the
brow of the hill; and having landed, the captain
took his way round the hill, ordering me and one
other to follow him. We followed, picking our way
out, and jumping and scrambling up, walking over
briers and prickly pears, until we came to the top.
Here the country stretched out for miles, as far as
the eye could reach, on a level table surface; and
the only habitation in sight was the small white mis-
sion of San Juan Campestrano, with a few Indian
huts about it, standing in a small hollow, about a
mile from where we were. Reaching the brow of the
hill where the cart stood, we found several piles of
, and the Indians sitting round them. One or
two other carts were coming slowly on from the mis-
sion, and the captain told us to begin and throw the
hides down. This, then, was tho way they were to
be got down : thrown down, one at a time, a distance
of four hundred feet!

Down this height we pitched the hides, throwing

EASTER IN CALIFORNIA. 135

them as far out into the air as we could ; and as
they were all large, stiff, and doubled, like the
cover of a book, the wind took them, and they
swayed and eddied about, plunging and rising in
the air like a kite when it has broken its string.
As it was now low tide there was no danger of their
falling into the water, and as fast as they came to
ground the men below picked them up and, taking
them on their heads, walked off with them to the
boat. It was really a picturesque sight.

Some of the hides lodged in cavities which were
under the bank and out of our sight, being directly
under us; bat by sending others down in the same
direction we succeeded in dislodging them.

Having thrown them all down, we took our way
back again, and found the boat loaded and ready to
start. We pulled off, took the hides all aboard,
hoisted in the boats, hove up our anchor, made sail,
and before sundown were on our way to San Diego.

Friday ', May 8th, 1885. — Arrived at San Diego.
Here we found the little harbor deserted. The
Lagoda, Ayacucho, Loriotte, and all, had left the coast,
and we were nearly alone. All the hide-houses on
the beach but ours were shut up; and the Sandwich
Islanders, a dozen or twenty in number, who had
worked for the other vessels, and had been paid off
when they sailed, were living on the beach, keeping
tip a grand carnival. A Russian discovery-ship,

13« TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

which had been in this port a few years before, bad
built a large oven for baking bread, and went away
leaving it standing. This the Sandwich Islanders
took possession of, and had kept ever since undis-
turbed. It was big enough to hold six or eight men,
had a door at the side, and a vent-hole at top. They
covered it with Oahu mats for a carpet, stopped up
the vent-hole in bad weather, and made it their head-
quarters. It was now inhabited by as many as a
dozen or twenty men, who lived there in complete
idleness; — drinking, playing cards, and carousing in
every way. They bought a bullock once a week,
which kept them in meat, and one of them went up
to town every day to get fruit, liquor, and provisions.

Captain T was anxious to get three or four of

them to come on board of the Pilgrim, as we were so
much diminished in numbers, and went up to the oven
and spent an hour or two trying to negotiate with
them. One of them, a finely built, active, strong
ami intelligent fellow, who was a sort of king among
them, acted as spokesman. He was called Mannini
and was known all over California. Through him
the captain offered them fifteen dollars a month and
ono month's pay in advance; but so long as they had
monoy they would not work for fifty dollars a month,
and when their money was gone they would work for
ten.

We discharged our hides and tallow, and in about

SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 137

a week were ready to set sail again for the windward.
We unmoored, and got everything ready, when the
captain made another attempt upon the oven. This
time he had more regard to the " mollia tempora
fandi," and succeeded very well. He got Mr.
Mannini in his interest, and, as the shot was getting
low in the locker, prevailed upon him and three
others to come on board with their chests and bag-
gage, and sent a hasty summons to me and the boy
to come ashore with our things, and join the gang at
the hide-house. This was unexpected to me, but
anything in the way of variety I liked; so we got
ready, and were pulled ashore. I stood on the beach
while the brig got under way, and watched her until
she rounded the point, and then went up to the
hide-house to take up my quarters for a few months.

CHAPTEK XVI.

SANDWICH ISLANDERS AND HIDE-CURING.

Here was a change in my life as complete as it had
been sudden. In the twinkling of an eye I was
transformed into a " beach-comber" and hide-curer;
yet the novelty and the comparative independence of
the life were not unpleasant. Our hide-house was a
large building made of rough board, and intended to
hold forty thousand hides. In one corner of it a

188 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

sinall room was parted off, in which four berths were
made, where we were to live, with mother earth for
our floor. It contained a table, a small locker for
pots, spoons, plates, etc., and a small hole cut to let
in the light. Over our head was another small room,
in which Mr. Russell lived, who had charge of the
hide-house. There he lived in solitary grandeur;
eating and sleeping alone, and communing with his
own dignity. The boy was to act as cook; while
myself, a giant of a Frenchman named Nicholas, and
four Sandwich Islanders were to cure hides. Sam,
the boy, the Frenchman, and myself lived together
in the room, and the four Sandwich Islanders worked
and ate with us, but generally slept at the oven. My
new messmate, Nicholas, was the most immense man
that I had ever seen in my life. He was considerably
over six feet, and of a frame so large that he might
have been shown for a curiosity. His strength was
in proportion to his size, and his ignorance to his
strength — "strong as an ox, and ignorant as strong."
He neither knew how to read nor to write. He had
been to sea from a boy, and had seen all kinds of
service, and been in every kind of vessels: mer-
chantmen, men-of-war, privateers, and slavers; and
from what I could gather from the accounts of
himself, and from what he once told me in confi-
dence after we had been better acquainted, he had
even been in worse business than slave-trading.

SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 139

He was once tried for his life in Charleston, South
Carolina, and though acquitted, yet he was so fright-
ened that he never would show himself in the United
States again.

Though I knew what his life had been, yet I
never had the slightest fear of him. We always got
along very well together; and though so much
stronger and larger than I, he showed a respect for
my education, and from what he had heard of my
situation before coming to sea. " I'll be good friends
with you," he used to say, "for by-and-by you'll come
out here captain, and then you'll haze me well !" By
holding well together we kept the officer in good
order, for he was evidently afraid of Nicholas, and
never ordered us, except when employed upon the
hides.

A considerable trade has been carried on for several
years between California and the Sandwich Islands;
and most of the vessels are manned with Islanders,
who, as they for the most part sign no articles, leave
whenever they choose and let themselves out to cure
hides at San Diego, and to supply the places of the
men of the American vessels while on the coast. In
this way, quite a colony of them had become settled
at San Diego as their headquarters. Some of these
had recently gone off in the Ayacucho, the Loriotte,
and the Pilgrim, so that there were not more than
twenty left. Of these, four were on pay at the

140 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Ayacucho's house, four more working with us, and
the rost were living at the oven.

I had been but a few hours on the beach, and the
Pilgrim was hardly out of sight, when the cry of
"Sail ho!" was raised, and a small hermaphrodite
brig rounded the point, bore up into the harbor, and
came to anchor. It was the Mexican brig Fazio,
which we had left at San Pedro, and which had
come down to land her tallow, try it all over, and
make new bags, and then take it in, and leave the
coast. They moored ship, erected their try-works
on shore, put up a small tent, in which they all
lived, and commenced operations. They made ah
addition to our society, and we spent many evenings
in their tent, where, amid the Babel of English,
Spanish, French, Indian, and Kanaka, we found
some words that we could understand in common.

The morning after my landing I began the duties
of hide-curing. The great weight of the wet hides,
which we were obliged to roll about in wheelbarrows,
the continual stooping upon those which were pegged
out to be cleaned, and the smell of the vats, into
which we were often obliged to get, knee-deep, to
press down the hides — all made the work disagreeable
and fatiguing. But we soon got hardened to it, and
the comparative independence of our life reconciled
us to it, for when we had finished our work we had
only to wash and change our clothes, and our time

SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 141

was our own. There was, however, one exception to
the time being our own, which was, that on two
afternoons of every week we were obliged to go off
and get wood for the cook to use in the galley. Wood
is very scarce in the vicinity of San Diego, and two
afternoons in the week, generally Mondajr and Thurs-
day, as soon as we had finished our dinner, we started
off for the bush, each of us furnished with a hatchet
and a long piece of rope, and dragging the hand-cart
behind us, and followed by the whole colony of dogs,
who were always ready for the bush, and were half
mad whenever they saw our preparations. We went
with the hand-cart as far as we could conveniently
drag it, and, leaving it in an open, conspicuous place,
separated ourselves, each taking his own course, and
looking about for some good place to begin upon.
Having lighted upon a good thicket, the next thing
was to clear away the under-brush, and have fair
play at the trees. These trees are seldom more than
five or six feet high ; so that, with lopping off the
branches and clearing away the underwood, we had
a good deal of cutting to do for a very little wood.
Having cut enough for a "back-load," the next
thing was to make it well and fast with the rope, and
heaving the bundle upon our backs, and taking the
hatchet in hand, to walk off, up hill and down dale,
to the hand-cart. Two good back-loads apiece filled
the hand-cart, and that was each one's proportion:.

142 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

When each had brought down his second load, we filled
the hand-cart, and took our way again slowly back
to the beach.

These wooding excursions had always a mixture
of something rather pleasant in them. Roaming
about the woods, with hatchet in hand, like a back-
woodsman, followed by a troop of dogs; starting up
of birds, snakes, hares, and foxes, and examining the
various kinds of trees, flowers, and bird's nests, was
at least a change from the monotonous drag and
pull on shipboard. Frequently, too, we had some
amusement and adventure. The coati,* of which
I have before spoken, fierce little animals, with
bushy tails and large heads, and a quick, sharp bark,
abound here, as in all other parts of California.
These the dogs were very watchful for, and whenever
they saw them started off in full run after them.
We had many fine chases, yet, although our dogs
ran finely, the rascals generally escaped. They
are a match for the dogs one to one; but as the
dogs generally went in squads there was seldom a
fair fight. A smaller dog belonging to us once at-
tacked a coati, single, and got a good deal worsted,
and might, perhaps, have been killed had we not
come to his assistance. We had, however, one dog
which gave them a good deal of trouble and many
hard runs. He was a fine, tall fellow, and united
* Coyote.

SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 143

strength and agility better than any dog that I have
ever seen. He was born at the Islands, his father
being an English mastiff and his mother a greyhound.
He had the high head, long legs, narrow body, and
springing gait of the latter, and the heavy jaw, thick
jowls, and strong fore-quarters of the mastiff. He
always led the dogs by several yards in the chase, and
had killed two coati at different times in single com-
bats. We often had fine sport with these fellows. A
quick, sharp bark from a coati, and in an instant
every dog was at the height of his speed. Pursuit
by us was in vain, and in about half an hour a few of
them would come panting and straggling back.

Beside the coati, the dogs sometimes made prizes
of rabbits and hares, which are very plentiful here,
and great numbers of which we often shot for our
dinners. There was another animal that I was not
much disposed to find amusement from, and that was
the rattlesnake. These are very abundant. The
latter part of the time that I was on shore I did not
meet with so many; but for the first two months we
seldom went into "the bush" without one of our
number starting some of them. The first that I ever
saw I remember perfectly well. I had left my com-
panions, and was beginning to clear away a fine
clump of trees, when, just in the midst of the thicket,
not more than eight yards from me, one of these
fellows set up his hiss. Once or twice the noise

144 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

stopped for a short time, which gave me a little un-
easiness, and retreating a few Bteps, I threw some-
thing into the bush, at which he would set his rattle
going; and finding that he had not moved from his
first place, I was easy again. In this way I con-
tinued at my work till I had cut a full load, never
suffering him to be quiet for a moment. Having cut
my load, I strapped it together and got everything
ready for starting. I felt that I could now call the
others without the imputation of being afraid, and
went in search of them. In a few minutes we were
all collected and began an attack upon the bush.
The big Frenchman I found as little inclined to
approach the snake as I had been. The dogs, too,
seemed afraid of the rattle, and kept up a barking at
a safe distance; but the Kanakas showed no fear,
and getting long sticks went into the bush, and keep-
ing a bright look-out stood within a few feet of him.
One or two blows struck near him, and a few stones
thrown started him, and we lost his track, and had
the pleasant consciousness that he might be directly
under our feet. By throwing stones and chips in
different directions we made him spring his rattle
again, and began another attack. This time we
Mm into the clear ground, and saw him gliding
off, with head and tail erect, when a stone, well
aimed, knocked him over the bank, down a declivity
of fifteen or twenty feet, and stretched him at his

SANDWICH ISLANDERS. 145

length. Having made sure of him by a few more
stones we went down, and one of the Kanakas cut off
his rattle. These rattles vary in number, it is said,
according to the age of the snake; though the Indians
think they indicate the number of creatures they
have killed.

Hares and rabbits, as I said before, were abundant,
and during the winter months the waters are covered
with wild ducks and geese. Crows, too, were very
numerous, and frequently alighted in great numbers
upon our hides, picking at the pieces of dried meat
and fat. Bears and wolves are numerous in the
upper parts and in the interior, but there were none
in our immediate neighbourhood. The only other
animals were horses. Over a dozen of these were
owned by different people on the beach, and were
allowed to run loose among the hills, with a long
lasso attached to them, and pick up feed wherever
they could find it. These horses were bought at
from two or to six dollars apiece, and were held very
much as common property. We generally kept one
fast to one of the houses every day, so that we could
mount him and catch any of the others. Some of
them were really fine animals, and gave us many
good runs up to the Presidio and over the country.
10

146 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER XVII.

BURNING THE WATER.

After we had been a few weeks on shore, and had
begun to feel broken into the regularity of our life,
its monotony was interrupted by the arrival of two
vessels from the windward. As they drew near we
soon discovered the high poop and top-gallant
forecastle and other marks of the Italian ship Rosa,
and the brig proved to be the Catalina> which we
saw at Santa Barbara, just arrived from Valparaiso.
They came to anchor, moored ship, and commenced
discharging hides and tallow. The Rosa had pur-
chased the house occupied by the Logoda, and the
Catalina took the other spare one between ours and
the Ayacucho^Sy so that now each one was occupied,
and the beach for several days was all alive. The
('afalina had several Kanakas on board, who were
immediately besieged by the others, and carried up
to the oven, where they had a long pow-wow and a
smoke. Two Frenchmen, who belonged to the Rosa's
crew, came in every evening to see Nicholas; and
from them we learned that the Pilgrim was at San
Pedro, and was the only other vessel now on the
coast. Several of the Italians slept on shore at their
hide-house; and there, and at the tent in which the

BURNING THE WATER. 147

Fazio's crew lived, we had some very good singing
almost every evening. The Italians sang a variety
of songs — barcarollas, provincial airs, etc. — in several
of which I recognized parts of onr favorite operas
and sentimental songs.

The greater part of the crews of the vessels came
ashore every evening, and we passed the time in going
about from one house to another, and listening to all
manner of languages. The Spanish was the common
ground upon which we all met, for every one knew
more or less of that. We had now, out of forty or
fifty representatives from almost every nation under
the sun, two Englishmen, three Yankees, two Scotch-
men, two Welshmen, one Irishman, three French-
men, one Dutchman, one Austrian, two or three
Spaniards, half a dozen of Spanish-Americans and
half-breeds, two native Indians from Chili and the
Island of Chiloe, one negro, one mulatto, about
twenty Italians from all parts of Italy, as many more
Sandwich Islanders, one Otaheitan, and one Kanaka
from the Marquesas Islands.

The night before the vessels were ready to sail, all
the Europeans united and had an entertainment at
the Rosa's hide-house, and we had songs of every na-
tion and tongue. A German gave us"Och! mein
lieber Augustin!"; the three Frenchmen roared
through the Marseillaise Hymn; the English and
Scotchmen gave us " Rule Britannia" and " Wha'll

148 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST

be King but Charlie?"; the Italians and Spaniards
screamed through some national affairs, for which I
was none the wiser ; and we three Yankees made an
attempt at the " Star Spangled Banner." After these
national tributes had been paid the Austrian gave us
a very pretty little love song, and the Frenchman sang
a spirited thing called " Sentinelle ! 0 prenez garde a
vous!"

The next day the two vessels got under way for the
windward, and left us in quiet possession of the
beach. Our numbers were somewhat enlarged by
the opening of the new houses, and the society of the
beach a little changed. In charge of the Caialinat8
house was an old Scotchman, who, like nio.-t of his
countrymen, had a .pretty good education, and like
many of them, was rather pragmatical, and bad a lu-
dicrously solemn conceit. Everything was as neat as
a pin in the house, and he was as regular in his hours
as a chronometer, but as he kept very much by him-
self was not a great addition to our society. He had
been a petty officer on board the British frigate Dub-
lin, Captain Lord James Townsend, and had great
ideas of his own importance. The man in charge of
the Rosa's house was an Austrian by birth, but spoke,
read, and wrote four languages with ease and correct-
ness. He was between forty and fifty years of age,
and was a singular mixture of the man-of-war's-man
and Puritan. He talked a great deal about propriety

BURNING THE WATER. 149

and steadiness, and gave good advice to the young-
sters and Kanakas, but seldom went up to the town
without coming down "three sheets in the wind."
One holiday he and the Scotchman went up to the
town and got so cosy, talking over old stories, and
giving one another good advice, that they came down,
double- backed, on a horse, and both rolled off into
the sand as soon as the horse stopped. This put an
end to their pretensions, and they never heard the
last of it from the rest of the men.

In about six weeks from the time when the Pilgrim
sailed we had got all the hides which she left us cured
and stowed away; and having cleared up the ground,
and emptied the vats, and set everything in order,
had nothing more to do until she should come down
again but to supply ourselves with wood. Instead of
going twice a week for this purpose we determined
to give one whole week to getting wood, and then we
should have enough to last us half through the sum-
mer. Accordingly, we started off every morning and
cut wood until the sun was over the point — which
was our only mark of time, as there was not a watch
on the beach — and then came back to dinner, and
after dinner started off again with our hand-cart and
ropes, and carted it down until sunset. This we kept
up for a week, until we had collected enough to last
us for six or eight weeks, when we "knocked off" al-
together, much to my joy ; for though I liked stray-

160 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

ing in the woods and cutting very well, yet the back-
ing the wood for so great a distance over an uneven
country, was, without exception, the hardest work I
had ever done.

We were now through all our work, and had noth-
ing more to do until the Pilgrim should come down
again. We had nearly got through our provisions
too, as well as our work; for our officer had been
very wasteful of them, and the tea, flour, sugar, and
molasses were all gone. Finding wheat-coffee and
dry bread rather poor living, we clubbed together,
and I went up to the town on horseback, with a great
salt-bag behind the saddle, and a few reals in my
pocket, and brought back the bag full of onions,
pears, beans, water-melons, and other fruits. With
these wo lived like fighting-cocks for a week or two,
and had, besides, what the sailors call a " blow-out on
sleep;" not turning out in the morning until break-
fast was ready. I employed several days in overhaul-
ing my chest and mending up all my old clothes,
until I had got everything in order — patch upon
patch, like a sand-barge's mainsail. That done, and
there being no signs of the Pilgrim^ I made a descent
upon Schmidt, and borrowed and read all the books
there were upon the beach. I found, at the bottom
of Schmidt's chest, " Afandeville, a romance, by God-
win, in five volumes." I bore it off, and for two
days I was up early and late, reading with all my

BURNING THE WATER. 15 J

might, and actually drinking in delight. It is no
extravagance to say that it was like a spring in a
desert land.

Wednesday, JulyfSth, brought us the brig Pilgrim
from the windward. As she came in we found that
she was a good deal altered in her countenance.
Then 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 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 arrived at Santa
Barbara, and that Captain T had taken com-
mand 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, with-
out 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
ilert." Driving 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, &c, &c. The

152 TWO YEARS BEFORE TEE MAST.

Alert was agreed on all hands to be a fine ship, and
e large one: " Larger than the Rosa" — " Big enough
to carry off all the hides in California." Captain

T took command of her, and she went directly

tip 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 spent an hour or two in hor forecastle the even-
ing before she sailed. They said her decks were as
white as snow — holystoned every morning, like a
man-of-war's; everything on board " ship-shape and
Bristol fashion"; a fine crew, three mates, a sail-
maker and carpenter, and all complete. " They've got
a man for mate of that ship, and not a 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."

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 open my
bundle, and found a reasonable supply of duck, flan-
nel shirts, shoes, &c., and, what was still more val-
uable, a packet of eleven letters. These I sat up nearly
all the night to read. Then came half-a-dozen news-
papers, the last of which gave notice of Thanksgiving,
and of the clearance of "ship Akrt, Edward H.
Faucon, master, for Callao and California, by Bryant,
Sturgis, and Go." No one has ever been on distant

BURNING THE WATER. 153

voyages, and after a long absence received a news-
paper from home, who cannot understand the de-
light that they give one. .

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,
&c. Captain Faucon came quietly up to me as I was
at work with my knife, cutting the meat from a
dirty hide, asked me how I liked California, and
repeated :

" Tityre, tu patulse recubans sub tegmine fagi. "

Saturday, July 11th. The Pilgrim set sail for the
windward, and left us to go in our old way. Hav-
ing laid in such a supply of wood, and the days being
now long, and invariably pleasant, we had a good
deal of time to ourselves. Eeading, mending, sleep-
ing, with occasional excursions into the bush, with
the dogs, in search of coati, hares and rabbits, or to
encounter a rattlesnake, and now and then a visit to
the Presidio, filled up our spare time after hide-cur-
ing was over for the day.

Another amusement which we sometimes indulged
in was " burning the water" for craw-fish. For this
purpose we procured a pair of grains, with a long
staff like a harpoon, and making torches with tarred
rope twisted round a long pine stick, took the only
boat on the beach, a small skiff, and with a torch-bearer

154 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

in the bow, a steersman in the stern, and one man on
each side with the grains, went off, on dark nightg,
to burn the water. This is fine spot. Keeping with-
in a few rods of the shore, where the water is not more
than three or four feet deep, with a clear sandy bot-
tom, the torches light everything up so that one could
almost have seen a pin among the grains of sand.
The craw-fish are an easy prey, and we used soon to
get a load of them. The Pilgrim brought us down
a supply of fish-hooks, which we had never had be-
fore on the beach, and for several days we went down
to the Point, and caught a quantity of cod and mack-
erel.

On one of these expeditions, we saw a battle be-
tween two Sandwich Islanders and a shark. " John-
ny" had been playing about our boat for some time,
driving away the fish, and showing his teeth at our
bait, when we missed him, and in a few moments
heard a great shouting between two Kanakas who
were fishing on the rock opposite to us, and saw them
pulling away on a stout line, and "Johnny Shark"
floundering at the other end. The line soon broke;
but the Kanakas would not let him off so easily, and
sprang directly into the water after him. Now came
the tug of war. Before ho could get into deep water
one of them seized him by the tail, and ran up with
him upon the beach; but Johnny twisted round,
turning his head under his body, and showing his

NEW SHIP— THE "ALERT." 155

teeth in the vicinity of the Kanaka's hand, made him
let go and spring out of the way. The shark now
turned tail and made the best of his way, by flapping
and floundering, towards deep water; but here again,
before he was fairly off, the other Kanaka seized him
by the tail, and made a spring towards the beach,
his companion at the same time paying away upon
him with stones and a large stick. As soon, how-
ever, as the shark could turn he was obliged to let
go his hold; but the instant he made toward deep
water they were both behind him, watching their
chance to seize him. In this way the battle went on
for some time, the shark, in a rage, splashing and
twisting about, and the Kanakas, in high excite-
ment, yelling at the top of their voices; but the
shark at last got off, carrying away a hook and line,
and not a few severe bruises.

CHAPTER XVIII.

NEW SHIP — THE " ALERT."

Saturday, July 18th. This day sailed the Mexican
hermaphrodite Fazio for San Bias and Mazatlan. The
owner of her had had a good deal of difficulty with
the government about the duties, &c, and her sailing
had been delayed for several weeks; but everything
having been arranged she got under way with a light

166 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

breeze, and was floating out of the harbour when two
horsemen came dashing down to the beach at fall
speed, and tried to find a boat to put after her; but
there being none on the beach, they offered a hand-
ful of silver to any Kanaka who would swim on*
and take a letter on board. One of the Kanakas, a
fine, active, well-made young fellow, instantly threw
off everything but his duck trousers, and putting the
letter into his hat, swam off after the vessel. Fortu-
nately, the wind was very light, and the vessel was
going slowly, so that although she was nearly a mile
off when he started he gained on her rapidly. He
went through the water, leaving a wake like a small
steamboat. They saw him coming from the deck,
but did not heave-to, suspecting the nature of his
errand; yet, the wind continuing light, he swam
alongside and got on board, and delivered his letter.
The captain read the letter, told the Kanaka there
was no answer, and giving him a glass of brandy, left
him to jump overboard and find the best of his way
to the shore. The Kanaka swam in for the nearest
point of land, and in about an hour made his appear-
ance at the hide-house. He did not seem at all
fatigued, had made three or four dollars, got a glass
of brandy, and was in fine spirits.

It was now nearly three months since the Alert
arrived at Santa Barbara, and we began to expect her
daily. About half-a-mile behind the hide-house waa

NEW SHIP— THE "ALERT." 157

a high hill, and every afternoon, as soon as we had
done our work, some one of us walked up to see if
there were any sail in sight. Each day after the lat-
ter part of July we went up the hill and came back
disappointed. I was anxious for her arrival: for I
'had been told by letter that the owners in Boston, at
the request of my friends, had written to Captain
T to take me on board the Alert, in case she re-
turned to the United States before the Pilgrim; and
I, of course, wished to know whether the order had
been received, and what was the destination of the
ship. One year more or less might be of small con-
sequence to others, but it was everything to me. It
vr&a now just a year since we sailed from Boston, and
at the shortest, no vessel could expect to get away
under eight or nine months, which would make our
absence two years in all. This would be pretty long,
but would not be fatal. It would not necessarily be
decisive of my future life.

But one year more would settle the matter. I
should be a sailor for life; and although I had made
up my mind to it before I had my letters from home,
and was. as I thought, quite satisfied ; yet as soon as
an opportunity was held out to me of returning, and
the prospect of another kind of life was opened to me,
my anxiety to return, and, at least, to have the
chance of deciding upon my course for myself was
beyond measure. Beside that, I wished to be " equal

158 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

to either fortune," and to qualify myself for an offi-
cer's berth ; and a hide-house was no place to learn
seamanship in. I had become experienced in hide-
curing, and everything went on smoothly, and I had
many opportunities of becoming acquainted with the
people, and much leisure for reading and stndying
navigation; yet practical seamanship could only be
got on board ship; therefore I determined to ask to be
taken on board the ship when she arrived. By the first
of August we finished curing all our hides, stored them
away, cleaned out our vats, and got in readiness for
the arrival of the ship, and had another leisure inter-
val of three or four weeks, which I spent as usual in
reading, writing, studying, making and mending my
clothes, and getting my wardrobe in complete readi-
ness, in case I should go on board the ship.

Tuesday, August 25th. This morning the officer
in charge of our house went off beyond the point
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. 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 after-
noon breeze, and coming rapidly round the point.
The Yankee ensign was flying from her mizzen-peak;
and having the tide in her favour, she came up like

NEW SHIP— THE "ALERT." 159

a racehorse. 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 ap-
pearance. 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
mizzen-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 top-
sails furled at once. From the fore top-gallant yard
the men slid down the stay to furl the jib, and from
the mizzen top-gallant yard by the stay into the main*
top, 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. 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,
Ac, 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

160 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

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. She looked as
well on board as she did from without. Her decks/
were wide and roomy, flush fore and aft, and as white?
as snow. There was no rust, no dirt, no rigging
hanging slack, no fag-ends of ropes and " Irish pend-
ants*' 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. There was also a second and third mate, a
carpenter, sail-maker, steward, mate, cook, &c, 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
pinnaoe. For several days we were employed in this
way until ail 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, Aug. 80th. This was the first Sunday
that the crew had been in San Diego, and of course

Two Years Before the Mast 4

ALL HANDS AT THE PIMP

IS uw SHIP— THE "ALERT" 161

they were all for going up to see the town. The In-
dians 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. The forecastle in which they lived was
large, tolerably well lighted by bull's-eyes, and being
kept perfectly clean, had quite a comfortable appear-
ance ; at least it was far better than the little, black,
dirty hole in which I had lived so many months on
board the Pilgrim. In the after part of the ship was
a handsome cabin, a dining-room, and a trade-room,
fitted out with shelves, and furnished with all sorts
of goods. Between these and the forecastle was the
" between decks," as high as the gun-deck of a frigate,
being six feet and a half under the beams. These
between decks were kept in the most perfect order,
the carpenter's bench and tools being in one part, the
sailmaker's in another, the boatswain's locker, with
the spare rigging, in a third. A part of the crew
slept here in hammocks swung fore and aft from the
beams, and triced up every morning.

This ship lay about a week longer in port, when,
having discharged her cargo and taken in ballast, she
prepared to get under way. I now made my applica-
11 F

162 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

tion to the captain to go on board. He said he had
no objections, if I could find one of my own age to
exchange with me for the time. This I easily accom-
plished, for they were glad to change the scene by a
few months on shore, and, moreover, escape the win-
ter and the south-easters; and I went on board the
next day, and found myself once more afloat.

CHAPTER XIX.

TOM HARRIS.

Tuesday, Sept. 8th. This was my first day's duty
on board the ship, and though a sailor's life is a sail-
or's life wherever it may be, yet I found everything
very different here from the customs of the brig Pil-
grim. After all hands were called at daybreak the
head-pump was then rigged, and the decks washed
down by the second and third mates, the chief mate
walking the quarter-deck and keeping a general
supervision, but not deigning to touch a bucket or a
brush. There were five boats belonging to the ship
— launch, pinnace, jolly-boat, larboard quarter-boat
and gig — each of which had a coxswain, who had
charge of it, and was answerable for the order and
cleanness of it. The rest of the cleaning was divided
among the crew. When the decks were dry the lord
paramount made his appearance on the quarter-deck

TOM HARRIS. 163

and took a few turns, when eight hells were struck,
and all hands went to breakfast. Half an hour was
allowed for breakfast, when all hands were called
again; the kids, pots, bread-bags, &c, stowed away;
and, this morning, preparations were made for get-
ting under way.

We paid out on the chain by which we swung, hove
in on the other, catted the anchor, and hove short on
the first. This work was done in shorter time than
was usual on board the brig; for though everything
was more than twice as large and heavy yet there was
plenty of room to move about in, more discipline and
system, more men, and more good-will. Every one
seemed ambitious to do his best: officers and men
knew their duty, and all went well. As soon as she
was hove short, the mate, on the forecastle, gave the
order to loose the sails, and in an instant every one
sprung into the rigging, up the shrouds and out on
the yards, scrambling by one another, casi off the
yard-arm gaskets and bunt gaskets, and one man re-
mained on each yard, holding the bunt jigger with a
turn round the tye, all ready to let go, while the rest
laid down to man the sheets and halyards. The mate
then hailed the yards, "All ready forward?" "All
ready the cross-jack yards?" &c, &c; and "Ay, ay,
sir!" being returned from each, the word was given
to let go; and in the twinkling of an eye the ship,
which had shown nothing but her bare yards was

164 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

covered with her loose canvas from the royal-mast-
heads to the decks. Every one then laid down, except
one man in each top, to overhaul the rigging, and
the topsails were hoisted and sheeted home, all three
yards going to the mast-head at once, the larboard
\watch hoisting the fore, the starboard watch the
main, and five light hands (of whom I was one) picked
from the two watches, the mizzen. The yards were
then trimmed, the anchor weighed, the cat-block
hooked on, the fall stretched out, manned by "all
hands and the cook," and the anchor brought to the
head with "cheerily, men!" in full chorus. The
ship being now under way, the light sails were set,
one after another, and she was under full sail before
she had passed the sandy point. The fore royal,
which fell to my lot (being in the mate's watch), was
more than twice as large as that of the Pilgrim, and
though I could handle the brig's easily, I found my
hands 'till with this.

As soon as we were beyond the point, and all sail
out, the order was given, "Go below the watch!" and
the crew said that ever since they had been on the
coast they had had " watch and watch" while going
from port to port; and, in fact, everything showed
that, though strict discipline was kept, and the ut-
most required of every man in the way of his duty,
yet on the whole there was very £ood usage on board.

It being the turn of our watch to go below, the

TOM HARRIS. 165

men went to work, mending their clothes and doing
other little things for themselves.

While on deck the regular work of the ship went
on. The sailmaker and carpenter worked between
decks, and the crew had their work to do upon the
rigging, drawing yarns, making spun-yarn, &c, as
usual in merchantmen. The night watches were
much- more pleasant than on board the Pilgrim.
The sailmaker was the head man of the watch, and
was generally considered the most experienced seaman
on board. He was a thorough-bred old man-of-war's-
man, had been to sea twenty-two years in all kinds of
vessels — men-of-war, privateers, slavers, and mer-
chantmen— everything except whalers, which a thor-
ough sailor despises and will always steer clear of if he
can. He had, of course, been in all parts of the
world, and was remarkable for drawing a long-bow.
His yarns frequently stretched through a watch, and
kept all hands awake. They were always amusing
from their improbability, and, indeed, he never ex-
pected to be believed, but spun them merely for
amusement; and as he had some humour and a good
supply of man -of war slang and sailor's salt phrases
he always made fun.

Next to him in age and experience, and, of course,
in standing in the watch, was an Englishman named
Harris. Then came two or three Americans, who
had been the common run of European and South

166 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

American voyages, and one who had been in a
"spouter," and, of course, had all the whaling stories
to himself. Last of all was a broad-backed, thick-
headed boy from Cape Cod, who had been in mack-
erel schooners, and was making his first voyage in a
square-rigged vessel. The other watch was composed
of about the same number. A tall, fine-looking
Frenchman, with coal-black whiskers and curly hair,
a first-rate seaman, and named John, was the head
man of the watch. Then came two Americans, a
German, an English lad named Ben, and two Boston
boys just from the public schools. The carpenter
sometimes mustered in the starboard watch, and was
an old sea-dog, a Swede by birth, and accounted the
best helmsman in the ship. This was our ship's
company, beside cook and steward, who were blacks,
three mates, and the captain.

The second day out the wind drew ahead, and we
had to beat up the coast, so that, in tacking ship, I
could see the regulations of the vessel. Instead of
going wherever was most convenient, and running
from place to place, wherever work was to be done,
each man had his station. A regular tacking and
wearing bill was made out. The chief mate com-
manded on the forecastle, and had charge of the head
sails and the forward part of the ship. Two of the
best men in the ship — the sailmaker from our watch,
and John, the Frenchman, from the other — worked

TOM HARRIS. 167

the forecastle. The third mate commanded in the
waist, and, with the carpenter and one man, worked
the main tack and bowline; the cook, ecc-officio, the
fore sheet; and the steward the main. The second
mate had charge of the after yards, and let go the lee
fore and main braces. I was stationed at the weather
cross-jack braces, three other light hands at the lee,
one boy at the spanker-sheet and guy, a man and a
boy at the main topsail, top-gallant, and royal braces,
and all the rest of the crew— men and boys — tallied
on to the main brace.

As soon as all hands are at their stations, the cap-
tain, who stands on the weather side of the quarter-
deck, makes a sign to the man at the wheel to put it
down, and calls out, "Helm's a lee'!" "Helm's a
lee' !" answers the mate on the forecastle, and the
head sheets are let go. "Raise tacks and sheets!"
says the captain. " Tacks and sheets" is passed for-
ward, and the fore and tack and main sheet are let
go. The next thing is to haul taut for a swing.
The weather cross-jack braces and the lee main braces
are each belayed together upon two pins, and ready
to be let go, and the opposite braces hauled taut.
" Main topsail haul !" shouts the captain. The braces
are let go; and if he has taken his time well the
yards swing round like a top; but if he is too late or
too soon it is like drawing teeth. The after yards
are then braced up and belayed, the main sheet

168 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

hauled aft, the spanker eased over to leeward, and
the men from the braces stand by the head yards.
" Let go and haul !" says the captain. The second
mate lets go the weather fore braces, and the men
haul in to leeward. The mate on the forecastle looks
out for the head yards. " Well the fore topsail
yard!" "Top-gallant yard's well!" "Royal yard
too much! Haul in to windward! So! well that!"
"WellrtW/" Then the starboard watch board the
main tack, and the larboard watch lay forward and
board the fore tack and haul down the jib sheet,
clapping a tackle upon it if it blows very fresh.
The after yards are then trimmed, the captain gen-
erally looking out for them himself. " Well the
cross-jack yard !" "Small pull the mail, op-gallant
yard!" "Well that!" "Well the mizzen topsail!"
" Cross-jack yards all well!" " Well all aft!" M Haul
taut to windward!" Everything being now trimmed
and in order, each man coils up the rigging at his
own station, and the order is given, "Go below the
watch!"

Friday, September 11th. This morning, at four
o'clock, went below, San Pedro point being about
two leagues ahead, and the .hip going on under
studding-sails. In about an nour we were waked up
by the hauling of the chain about decks, and in a
few minutes "All hands ahoy!" was called; and we
were all at work, hauling in and making up the

TOM HARRIS. 169

studding-sails, overhauling the chain forward, and
getting the anchors ready. " The Pilgrim is there
at anchor," said some one as we were running about
decks; and taking a moment's look over the rail I
saw my old friend, deeply laden, lying at anchor
inside of the kelp.

From the moment of letting go the anchor, when
the captain ceases his care of things, the chief mate
is the great man. With a voice like a young lion
he was hallooing and bawling in all directions, mak-
ing everything fly, and at the same time doing every-
thing well. He was quite a contrast to the worthy,
quiet, unobtrusive mate of the Pilgrim : not so esti-
mable a man, perhaps, but a far better mate of a

vessel; and the entire change in Captain T 's

conduct since he took command of the ship was
owing, no doubt, in a great measure, to this fact.
Mr. Brown (the mate of the Alert) wanted no help
from anybody; took everything into his own hands;
and was more likely to encroach upon the authority
of the master than to need any spurring. Captain

T gave his directions to the mate in private,

and, except in coming to anchor, getting under way,
tacking, reefing topsails, and other "all-hands'-
work," seldom appeared in person. This is the
proper state of things; and while this lasts, and
there is a good understanding aft, everything will
go on well.

170 TH'O YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Having fin led all the sails, the royal yards were
next to be sent down. The English lad and myself
sent down the main; two more light hands the fore;
and one boy the mizzen. This order we always kept
while on the coast, sending them up and down every
time wo came in and went out of port. No sooner
was she all snug than tackles were got up on the
yards and stays and the long-boat and pinnace hove
out. The swinging booms were then guyed out, and
the boats made fast by geswarps, and everything in
harbour style. After breakfast the hatches were taken
off, and all got ready to receive hides from the Pil-
grim. All day boats were passing and repassing until
wu bad taken her hides from her and left her in ballast
trim. These hides made but little show in our hold,
though they had loaded the Pilgrim down to the
water's edge. This changing of the hides settled
the question of the destination of the two vessels,
which had been one of some speculation to us. We
were to remain in the leeward ports, while the Pil-
grim was to sail the next morning for San Fran-
cisco.

About seven o'clock the mate came down into the
steerage, in fine trim for fun, roused the boys out of
the berth, turned up the carpenter with his fiddle,
sent the steward with lights to put in the between-
clecks, and set all hands to dancing. The between-
decks were high enough to allow of jumping; and

TOM HARRIS. 171

beiDg clear and white from holy-stoning, made a fine
dancing-hall. Some of the Pilgrim's crew were in
the forecastle, and we all turned to and had a regu-
lar sailor's shuffle till eight bells. The Cape Cod boy
could dance the true fisherman's jig barefooted,
knocking with his heels, and slapping the decks with
his bare feet, in time with the music. This was a
favourite amusement of the mate's, who always stood
at the steerage door looking on.

The next morning, according to the orders of the
agent, the Pilgrim set sail for the windward, to be gone
three or four months. She got under way with very
little fuss, aud came so near us as to throw a letter on
board, Captain Faucon standing at the tiller himself,
and steering her as he would a mackerel smack.
When Captain T was in command of the Pil-
grim there was as much preparation and ceremony
as there would be in getting a seventy-four under way.
Captain Faucon was a sailor, every inch of him; he
knew what a ship was, and was as much at home in
one as a cobbler in his stall.

After the Pilgrim left us we lay three weeks at San
Pedro, from September 11 until October 2, engaged
in the usual port duties of landing cargo, taking off
hides, &c, &c. These duties were much easier, and
went on much more agreeably than on board the Pil-
grim. "The more the merrier" is the sailor's max-
im: and a boat's crew of a dozen could take off

172 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

all the hides brought down in a day without much
trouble by a division of labor; and on shore, as well
as on board, a good will, and no discontent or grum-
bling, make everything go well. The officer, too,
who usually went with us, the third mate, was a fine
young fellow, and made no unnecessary trouble; so
that Ave generally had quite a sociable time, and
were glad to be relieved from the restraint of the
ship. A light whale-boat, handsomely painted, and
fitted out with stern seats, yoke, tiller-ropes, &c,
hung on the starboard quarter, and was used as the
gig. The youngest lad in the ship, a Boston boy
about thirteen years old, was coxswain of this boat,
and had the entire charge of her, to keep her clean,
and have her in readiness to go and come at any
hour. Four light hands, of about the same size and
age, of whom I was one, formed the crew. Each had
his oar and seat numbered, and wo were obliged to
be in our places, have our oars scraped white, our
thole pins in, and the fenders over the side. Our
duty was to carry the captain and agent about and
passengers off and on, which last was no trifling
duty, as the people on shore have no boats, and every
purchaser was to be taken off and on in our boat.
Some days, when people were coming and going fast,
we were in the boat, pulling off and on, all day long,
making, as we lay nearly three miles from shore,
from forty to fifty miles rowing in a day. Still, we

TOM HARRIS. 178

thought it the best berth in the ship, for when the
gig was employed we had nothing to do with the
cargo. The rest of the crew never left the ship ex-
cept for bringing heavy goods and taking off hides;
and though we were always in the water, the surf
hardly leaving us a dry thread from morning to night,
yet we were young, and the climate was good, and we
thought it much better than the quiet, hum-drum
drag and pull on board ship.

The brig Catalina came in from San Diego, and
being bound up to windward, we both got under way
at the same time, for a trial of speed up to Santa
Barbara, a distance of about eighty miles. We hove
up and got under sail about eleven o'clock at night,
with a light land-breeze, which died away towards
morning, leaving us becalmed only a few miles from
our anchoring-place. The Catalina being less than
half our size, put out sweeps and got a boat ahead
and pulled out to sea during the night, so that she
had the sea-breeze earlier and stronger than we did,
and we had the mortification of seeing her standing
up the coast with a fine breeze, the sea all ruffled
about her, while we were becalmed in-shore. When
the sea-breeze died away she was out of sight; and,
toward the latter part of the afternoon, the regular
north-west wind set in fresh ; we braced sharp upon
it, took a pull at every sheet, tack, and halyard, and
stood after her in fine style, our ship being very good

174 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

upon a taut bowline. We had nearly five hours of
fine sailing, beating up to windward, by long stretches
in and off shore, and evidently gaining upon the
Caialina at every tack. Fortunately, the wind died
away when we were on our inward tack, and she on
her outward, so we were in-shore, and caught the
land-breeze first, which came off upon our quarter,
about the middle of the first watch. All hands were
turned up, and we set all sail, to the skysails and the
royal studding-sails; and with these, we glided
quietly through the water, leaving the Caialina
gradually astern, and by daylight were off St. Bue-
naventura, and our antagonist nearly out of sight.
The sea-breeze, however, favoured her again, while
we were becalmed under the headland, and labouring
slowly along, she was abreast of us by noon. Thus
we continued, ahead, astern, and abreast of one an-
other alternately; now far out at sea, and again close
in under the shore. On the third morning we came
into the great hay of Santa Barbara, two hours be-
hind the brig, and thus lost the bet; though, if the
race bad been to the point, we should have beaten
her by five or six hours. This, however, settled the
relative sailing of the vessels, for it was admitted
that although she could gain upon us in very light
winds, yet whenever there was breeze enough to set
us agoiniz. we walked away from her like hauling in
a line; and in beating to wind ward, which is the best

TOM HARRIS. 175

trial of a vessel, we had much the advantage of her.

Sunday, October Jfth. This was the day of our ar-
rival; and somehow or other, our captain always
managed not only to sail, but to come into port, on
a Sunday. The main reason for sailing on the Sab-
bath is not, as many people supposed, because Sunday
is thought a lucky day, but because it is a leisure day.*

Dnring the six days the crew are employed upon
the cargo and other ship's works, and, Sunday being
their only day of rest, whatever additional work can
be thrown into it is so much gain to the owners.
Thus it was with us, nearly all the time we were on
the coast, and many of our Sundays were lost entirely
to us. The Catholics on shore have no trading, and
make no journeys, on Sunday ; but the American has
no national religion, and likes to show his independ-
ence of priestcraft by doing as he chooses on the
Lord's day.

Santa Barbara looked very much as it did when I
left it five months before: the long sand beach, with
the heavy rollers breaking upon it in a continuous
roar, and the little town, imbedded on the plain, girt
by its amphitheatre of mountains. We had a few
visitors, and collected about a hundred hides; and
every night, at sundown, the gig was sent ashore to

♦English seamen like sailing on Sunday because they
have the prayers of the Church " for all- who travel by land
or water."

176 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

wait for the captain, who spent his evenings in the
town. We always took our monkey-jackets with us,
and flint and steel, and made a fire on the beach with
the driftwood and the bushes we pulled from the
neighbouring thickets, and lay down by it on the
sand. Sometimes earlier and sometimes later the
captain came down; when, after a good drenching in
the surf, we went aboard, changed our clothes, and
turned in for the night — yet not for all the night,
for there was an anchor watch to stand.

This leads me to speak of my watchmate for nine
months — and, taking him all in all, the most remark-
able man I have ever seen — Tom Harris. An hour
every night, while lying in port, Harris and myself
had the deck to ourselves, and walking fore and aft,
night after night, for months, I learned his whole
•character and history, and more about foreign na-
tions, the habits of different people, and especially
the secret of sailors' lives and hardships, and also of
practical seamanship, than I could ever have learned.
But the most remarkable thing about him was the
power of his mind. His memory was perfect; seem-
ing to form a regular chain, reaching from his ear-
liest childhood up to the time I knew him, without
jone link wanting. His power of calculation, too,
was remarkable. He carried in his head not only a
log-book of the whole voyage, in which everything was
complete and accurate, and from which no one ever

TOM HARRIS. 177

thought of appealing, but also an accurate registry
of all the cargo; knowing precisely where each thing
was, and how many hides we took in at every port.
One night he made a rough calculation of the num-
ber of hides that could be stowed in the lower hold^
between the fore and main mast, and the average
area and thickness of a hide; he came surprisingly
near the number, as it afterwards turned out. The
mate frequently came to him to know the capacity of
different parts of the vessel, and he could tell the
sailmaker very nearly the amount of canvas he would
want for each sail in the ship; for he knew the hoist
of every mast, and spread of every sail, on the head
and foot, in feet and inches. Calculation of all kinds
was his delight. I doubt if he ever forgot anything
that he read. The only thing in the way of poetry
that he ever read was Falconer's " Shipwreck," which
he was delighted with, and whole pages of which he
could repeat. He knew the name of every sailor that
had ever been his shipmate, and also of every vessel,
captain, and officer, and the principal dates of each
voyage. His reasoning powers were remarkable. I
have had harder work maintaining an argument with
him in a watch, even when I knew myself to be
right, and he was only doubting, than I ever had
before — not from his obstinacy, but from his acute-
ness. With an iron memory, he seemed to have your
whole past conversation at command, and if you said
12

178 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

a thiug now which ill agreed with something said
months before, lie was sure to have you on the hip.
In fact, I always felt, when with him, that I was
with no common man. I had a positive respect for
his powers of mind, and felt often that if half the
pains had been spent upon his education which are
thrown away yearly in our colleges, he would have
been a man of great weight in society. Like most
self-taught men, he over-estimated the value of an
education; and this I often told him, though I
profited by it myself; for he always treated me with
respect, and often unnecessarily gave way to me from
an over-estimate of my knowledge.

I recollect his posing me once on the subject of
the Corn Laws. He asked me my opinion about them,
which I gave him; and my reasons, my small stock
of which I set forth to the best advantage. When I
had got through ho took the liberty of differing from
me, and, to my surprise, brought arguments and
facts connected with the subject which were new to
me, and to which I was entirely unable to reply.
He knew every lunar star in both hemispheres, and
was a perfect master of his quadrant and sextant.
Such was the man who, at forty, was still a dog before
the mast, at twelve dollars a month. The reason of
this was to be found in his whole past life, as I had
it, at different times, from himself.

He was a native of Ilfracombe, in North Devon.

TOM HARRIS. 179

His father was skipper of a small coaster from Bris-
tol, and dying, left him, when quite young, to the
care of his mother, by whose exertions he received
a common-school education, passing his winters at
school and his summers in the coasting trade, until
his seventeenth year, when he left home to go upon
foreign voyages. Of his mother he often spoke with
the greatest respect, and said that she was a strong-
minded woman, and had the best system of educa-
tion he had ever known — a system which had made
respectable men of his three brothers, and failed only
in him from his own indomitable obstinacy. It was
no fault of hers that he was what I saw him; and so
great was his sense of gratitude for her efforts, though
unsuccessful, that he determined at the close of the
Toyage to embark for home with all the wages he
could get, to spend with and for his mother, if per-
chance he should find her alive.

After leaving home he had spent nearly twenty
years sailing all sorts of voyages, generally out of the
ports of New York and Boston. Twenty years of
vice! Every sin that a sailor knows he had gone to
the bottom of. Several times, from his known ca-
pacity, he had been promoted to the office of chief
mate, and as often his conduct when in port, espe-
cially his drunkenness, which neither fear nor ambi-
tion could induce him to abandon, put him back into
the forecastle. One night, when giving me an account

180 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

of his life, and lamenting the years of manhood he had
thrown away, he said that there, in the forecastle, at
the foot of the steps — a chest of old clothes — was the
result of twenty-two years' hard labor and exposure
— worked like a horse, and treated like a dog. As he
grew older he began to feel the necessity of some pro-
vision for his later years, and came gradually to the
conviction that rum had been his worst enemy. One
night, in Havana, a young shipmate of his was brought
aboard drunk, with a dangerous gash in his head, and
his money and new clothes stripped from him. Har-
ris had seen and been in hundreds of such scenes as
these, but in his then state of mind it fixed his deter-
mination, and he resolved never to drink another
drop of strong drink of any kind. He signed no
pledge and made no vow, but relied on his own
strength of purpose. The first thing with him was
a reason, and then a resolution, and the thing was
done. The date of his resolution he knew, of course,
to the very hour. It was three years before I knew
him, and during all that time nothing stronger than
cider or coffee had passed his lips. The sailors never
thought of enticing Tom to take a glass any more
than they would of talking to the ship's compass.

He understood the management of a ship upon
scientific principles, and could give the reason for
hauling every rope; and a long experience, added to
careful observation at the time, and a perfect mem-

THE STORY OF GEORGE MARSH. 181

ory, gave him a knowledge of the expedients and
resorts in times of hazard which was remarkable, and
for which I became much indebted to him, as he
took the greatest pleasure in opening his stores of
information to me in return for what I was enabled
to do for him.

In fact, taking together all that I learned from
him of seamanship, of the history of sailors' lives,
of practical wisdom, and of human nature under new
circumstances, I would not part with the hours I
spent in the watch with that man for any given
hours of my life past in study and social intercourse.

CHAPTER XX.

THE STORY OF GEORGE MARSH.

Sunday, October 11th. Set sail this morning for
the leeward, passed within sight of San Pedro, and
to our great joy, did not come to anchor, but kept
directly on to San Diego, where we arrived and moored
ship on.

Thursday, October 15th. Found here the Italian
ship La Rosa, from the windward, which reported the
brig Pilgrim at San Francisco, all well. We dis-
charged our hides, horns, and tallow, and were ready
to sail again on the following Sunday. I went
ashore to my old quarters, and found the gang at the

182 Tiro YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

hide-house going on in the even tenor of their way,
and spent an hour or two after dark at the oven, tak-
ing a whiff with my old Kanaka friends, who really
seemed glad to see me again, and saluted me as the
Aikane of the Kanakas.

Sunday was again, as usual, our sailing day; and
we got under way with a stiff breeze, which remiuded
us that it was the latter part of the autumn, and
time to expect south-easters once more. We beat up
against a strong head wind, under reefed topsails, as
far as San Juan, where we came to anchor nearly three
miles from the shore, with slip-ropes on our cablet,
in the old south-easter style of last winter.

Tuesday, October QOth. Having got everything
ready, we set the agent ashore, who went up t<» t ho
Mission to hasten down the hides for the next morn-
ing. This night we had the strictest orders to look
out for south-easters; and the long, low clouds a
rather threatening. But tho night passed over with-
out any trouble, and early the next morning we hove
out the long-boat and pinnace, lowered away the
quarter-boats, and went ashore to bring off our hides.
The captain sent me, who was the only one of the
crew that had ever been there before, to the top, to
count the hides and pitch them down. There I stood
again, as six months before, throwing off the hides,
and watching them pitching and scaling to the bot-
tom, while the men, dwarfed by the distance, were

THE STORY OF GEORGE MARSH. 183

walking to and fro on the beach, carrying the hides,
as they picked them up, to the distant1 boats upon
the tops of their heads. Two or three boatloads
were sent off, until at last all were thrown down, and
the boats nearly loaded again, when we were delayed
by a dozen or twenty hides which had lodged in the
recesses of the hill, and which we could not reach by
any missiles, as the general line of the side was ex-
actly perpendicular; and these places were caved in,
and could not be seen or reached from the top. The
captain sent on board for a pair of topgallant stud-
ding-sail halyards, and requested some one of the
crew to go to the top and come down by the halyards.
I offered my services, and went up, with one man to
tend the rope, and prepared for the descent.

We found a stake fastened strongly into the ground,
and apparently capable of holding my weight, to
which we made one end of the halyards well fast, and
taking the coil, threw it over the brink. Having
Boohing on but shirt, trousers, and hat, the common
sea-rig of warm weather, I had no stripping to do,
and began my descent by taking hold of the rope in
each hand, and slipping down, sometimes with hands
and feet round the rope, and sometimes breasting off
with one hand and foot against the precipice and
holding on the rope with the other. In this way I
descended until I came to a place shelved in, and in
which the hides were lodged. Keeping hold of the

184 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

rope with one hand, I scrambled in, and by the other
hand and feet succeeded in dislodging all the hides,
and continued on my way. Just below this place the
precipice projected again; and going over the pro-
jection I could see nothing below me but the sea, and
the rocks upon which it broke, and a few gulls flying
in midair. I got down in safety pretty well covered
with dirt; and for my pains was told, " What a fool
you were to risk your life for a half-dozen hides!"

While we were carrying the hides to the boat I
perceived, what I had been too busy to observe before,
that heavy black clouds were rolling up from seaward,
a strong swell heaving in, and every sign of a south-
easter. The captain hurried everything. The hides
were pitched into the boats; and with some difficulty
we got the boats through the surf and began pulling
aboard. Our gig's crew towed the pinnace astern of
the gig, and the launch was towed by six men in the
jolly-boat. The ship was lying three miles off, pitch-
ing at her anchor, and the further we pulled the
heavier grew the swell. We at length got alongside,
our boats half full of water; and now came the great-
est difficulty of all, — unloading the boats in a heavy
sea. With great difficulty we got all the hides aboard
and stowed under hatches, the yard and stay tackles
hooked on, and the launch and pinnace hoisted,
chocked and griped. The quarter-boats were then
hoisted up, and we began heaving in on the chain.

THE STORY OF GEORGE MARSH. 185

Getting the anchor was no easy work in such a sea,
but as we were not coming back to this port, the cap-
tain determined not to slip. The ship's head pitched
into the sea, and the water rushed through the hawse-
holes, and the chain surged so as almost to unship
the barrel of the windlass. "Hove short, sir!" said
the mate. "Aye, aye! Weather-bit your chain and
loose the top-sails! Make sail on her, men, — with a
will!" A few moments served to loose the top-sails,
which were furled with the reefs, to sheet them borne
and hoist them up. "Bear a hand!" was the order
of the day ; and every one saw the necessity ol it, for
the gale was already upon us. The ship br^ke out
her own anchor, which we catted and fished, after a
fashion, and stood off from the lee shore against a
heavy head sea, under reefed topsails, iota topmast
staysail and spanker. The fore course was given to
her, which helped her a little; but as she nardly held
her own against the sea, which was setting her to
leeward — "Board the main tack!" shouted the
captain; when the tack was carried forward and
taken to the windlass, and all hands called to the
handspikes. The great sail bellied out horizontally
as though it would lift up the mainstay; the blocks
rattled and flew about; but the force of machinery
was too much for her. "Heave ho! Heave and
pawl! Yo, heave, hearty, ho!" and, in time with
the song, by the force of twenty strong arms, the

186 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

windlass came slowly round, pawl after pawl, and the
weather clue of the sail was brought down to the
water-ways. The starboard watch hauled aft the
sheet, and the ship tore through the water like a
mad horse, quivering and shaking at every joint,
and dashing from its head the foam, which flew off
at every blow, yards and yards to leeward. A half
hour of such sailing served our turn, when the clues
of the sail were hauled up, the sail furled, and the
ship, eased of her press, went more quietly on her
way. Soon after the foresail was reefed, and we
mizzen-top nien were sent up to take another reef in
the tnizzen-top-sail.

Having cleared the point and got well out to sea,
we squared away the yards, made more sail, and stood
on, nearly before tho wind, for San Pedro. It blew
strong, with some rain, nearly all night, but fell calm
toward morning, aud tho galo having gone over, wo
came to —

Thursday, October $&a\ nt San Pedro, in the old
south-easter berth, a league from shore. Here we lay
ten days, with the usual boating, hide-carrying, roll-
ing of cargo up the steep hill, walking bare-footed
over stones, and getting drenched in salt water.

The third day after our arrival tho Horn came in
from San Juan, where she went the day after the
south-easter.

While lying here we shipped one new hand, an

THE STORY OF GEORGE MARSH. 187

Englishman, of about two or three and twenty, who
was quite an acquisition, as he proved to be a good
sailor, could sing tolerably, and, what was of more
importance to me, had a good education, and a some-
what remarkable history. He called himself George
P. Marsh ; professed to have been at sea from a small
boy, and to have served his time in the smuggling
trade between Germany and the coasts of France and
England. Thus he accounted for his knowledge of
the French language, which he spoke and read as
well as he did English; but his cutter education
would not account for his English, which was far too
good to have been learned in a smuggler ; for he wrote
an uncommonly handsome hand, spoke with great
correctness, and frequently, when in private talk with
me, quoted from books, and showed a knowledge of
the customs of society which surprised me. Still, he
would give no other account of himself than that he
was educated in a smuggler. A man whom we after-
wards fell in with, who had been a shipmate of
George's a few years before, said that he heard at the
boarding-house, from which they shipped, that George
had been at a college, where he learned French and
mathematics. After he had been a little while on
board we learned from him his remarkable history
for the last two years. He sailed from New York in
the year 1833, if I mistake not, before the mast, in
th& brig Lascar for Canton. She was sold in the

18b TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

East Indies, and he shipped at Manila, in a small
schooner bound on a trading voyage among the La-
drone and Pelew Islands. On one of the latter islands
their schooner was wrecked on a reef and they were
attacked by the natives, and, after a desperate resist-
ance, in which all their number, except the captain,
George, and a boy were killed or drowned, they sur-
rendered, and were carried, bound, in a canoe, to a
neighbouring island. In. about a month after this
an opportunity occurred by which one of their num-
ber might get away. They yielded to the captain
upon his promising to send them aid if he escaped.
He was successful in his attempt; got on board an
American vessel, went back to Manila, and thence to
America, without making any effort at their rescue.
The boy that was with George died; and he, being
alone, and there being no chance for his escape, the
natives soon treated him with kindness, and
with attention. They painted him, tattooed his
body, and, in fact, made quite a pet of him. In this
way he lived for thirteen months, in a fine climate,
with plenty to eat, half-naked, and nothing to do.
One day he was out fishing in a small canoe with an-
other man when he saw a large sail to windward,
about a league and a half off, passing abreast of the
island and standing westward. With some difficulty
he persuaded the islander to go off with him to the
ship, promising to return with a £ood supply of rum

THE STORY OF GEORGE MARSH. lby

and tobacco. They paddled off in the track of the
ship, and lay-to until she came down to them.
George stepped on board the ship nearly naked,
painted from head to foot, and in no way distinguish-
able from his companion until he began to speak.
Upou this the people on board were not a little aston-
ished, and having learned his story, the captain had
him washed and clothed, and sending away the poor
astonished native with a knife or two and some to-
bacco, and calico, took George with him on the voy-
age. This was the ship Cabot of New York, Captain
Low. She was bound to Manila, from across the
Pacific, and George did seaman's duty i^ her until
her arrival in Manila, when he left her, and shipped
in a brig bound to the Sandwich Islands. From
Oahu he came, in the British brig Clementine, to
Monterey, as second officer, where, having some diffi-
culty with the captain, he left her, and coming down
the coast joined us at San Pedro.

George had an interesting journal of his adveh'
tures iu the Pelew Islands, which he had written out at
length, in a handsome hand, and in correct English

190 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER XXI.

A GALE.

Sunday, November 1st. Sailed this day for Santa
Barbara, where we arrived ou the 5th. Coming
round St. Buenaventura, and nearing the anchorage,
we saw two vessels in port, a large full-rigged, and a
small hermaphrodite brig. The former, the crew
said, must be the Pilgrim; but a few minutes put it
beyond a doubt, and we were lying by the side of the
Ayacucho, which had sailed from San Diego about
nine months before, while we were lying there in
the Pilgrim.

The other vessel which we found in port was the
hermaphrodite brig Avon, from the Sandwich Islands.
She was fitted up in handsome style, and appeared
rather like a pleasure yacht than a trader; yet, in
connection with the Loriotte, Clementine, Bolivar,
Convoy, and other small vessels, belonging to sundry
Americans at Oahu, she carried on a great trade —
legal and illegal — in otter skins, silks, teas, specie,
&c.

The second day after our arrival a full-rigged brig
came round the point from the northward, sailed
leisurely through the bay, and stood off again for the
south-east, in the direction of the large island of

A GALE. 191

Catalina. The next day the Avon got under way,
and stood in the same direction, bound for San Pedro.
The brig was never again seen on the coast, and the
Avon arrived at San Pedro in about a week, with a
full cargo of Canton and American goods.

This was one of the means of escaping the heavy
duties the Mexicans lay upon all imports. A vessel
comes on the coast, enters a moderate cargo at Mon-
terey, which is the only custom-house, and com-
mences trading. In a month or more, having sold a
large part of her cargo, she stretches over to Catalina,
or other of the large uninhabited islands which lie
off the coast, in a trip from port to port, and supplies
herself with choice goods from a vessel from Oahu,
which has been lying off and on the islands, waiting
for her. Two days after the sailing of the Avon, the
Loriotte came in from the leeward, and had without
doubt also had a snatch at the brig's cargo.

Tuesday, November 10th. Going ashore, as usual,
in the gig, just before sundown, to bring off the cap-
tain, we found, upon taking in the captain and pull-
ing off again, that our ship, which lay the farthest
out, had run up her ensign. This meant " Sail ho!"
of course, but as we were within the point we could
see nothing. "Give way, boys! Give way! Lay
out on your oars, and long stroke!" said the captain;
stretching to the whole length of our arms, bending
back again, so that our backs touched the thwarts, we

192 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

sent her through the water like a rocket. A few
minutes of such pulling opened the islands, one after
another, in range of the point, and gave us a view of
the Canal, where was a ship, under top-gallant sails,
standing in, with a light breeze, for the anchorage.
Putting the boat's head in the direction of the ship,
the captain told us to lay out again; and we needed'
no spurring for the prospect of boarding a new ship,
perhaps from home. Hearing the news was excite-
ment enough for us, and we gave way with a will.
In the meantime it fell flat calm, and being within a
couple of miles of the ship, we expected to board her
in a few moments, when a sudden breeze sprung up,
dead ahead for the ship, and she braced up and stood
off toward the islands, sharp on the larboard tack,
making good way through the water. This, of
course, brought us up, and we had only to go aboard
the Alert, with something very like a flea in the ear.
There was a light land breeze all night, and the ship
did not come to anchor until the next morning.

As soon as her anchor was down we went aboard,
and found her to be the whale-ship, Wilmington and
Liverpool Packet , of New Bedford, last from the
11 ofT-shore ground," with nineteen hundred barrels of
oil. A "spouter" we knew her to be as soon as we
saw her, by her cranes and boats, and by her stump
top-gallant masts, and a certain slovenly look to the
sails, rigging, spars, and hull; and when we got on

A GALE. 193

board, we found everything to correspond — spouter
fashion. She had a false deck, which was rough and
oily, and cut up in every direction hy the chimes of
oil-casks; her rigging was slack and turning white;
no paint on the spars or blocks; clumsy seizings and
straps without covers, and homeward-bound splices
in every direction. Her crew, too, were not in much
better order. Her captain was a Quaker, in a suit
of brown, with a broad-brimmed hat, and sneaking
about decks like a sheep, with his head down; and
the men looked more like fishermen and farmers than
they did like sailors.

We found they had been at sea six or eight months,
and had no news to tell us; so we left them, and
promised to get liberty to come on board in the even-
ing, for some curiosities, &c. Accordingly as soon
as we were knocked off in the evening and had got
supper, we obtained leave, took a boat, and went
aboard and spent an hour or two.

Thursday, Nov. 12th. — This day was quite cool
in the early part, and there were black clouds
about ; but as it was often so in the morning nothing
was apprehended, and all the captains went ashore
together to spend the day. Towards noon, the clouds
hung heavily over the mountains, coming half-way
down the hills that encircle the town of Santa Bar-
bara, and a heavy swell rolled in from the south-east.
The mate immediately ordered the gig's crew away,
13 Gt

194 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

and, at the same time, we saw boats pulling ashore
from the other vessels. Here was a grand chance for
a rowing-match, and every one did his best. We
passed the boats of the Ayacucho and Loriotte, but
could gain nothing upon, and indeed, hardly hold
our own with, the long six-oared boat of the whale-
ship. They reached the breakers before us; but here
we had the advantage of them, for, not being used to
the surf, they were obliged to wait to see us beach
our boat.

We had hardly got the boats beached, and their
heads out, before our old friend, Bill Jackson, who
steered the Loriotte's boat, called out that the brig
was adrift; and sure enough she was dragging her
anchors, and drifting down into the bight of the bay.
Without waiting for the captain, he sprang into the
boat, called the Kanakas together, and tried to put
off. But the Kanakas, though capital water-dogs,
were frightened by their vessel's being adrift, and by
the emergency of the case, and seemed to lose their
faculty. Then we came forward, told the Kanakas
to take their seats in the boat, and going two on each
side, walked out with her till it was up to our shoul-
ders, and gave them a shove, when, giving way with
their oars, they got her safely into the long regular
swell. In the meantime boats had put off from our
ship and the whaler, and coming all on board the brig
together, they let go the other anchor, paid out chain,

A GALE. 195

braced the yards to the wind, and brought the vessel
up.

In a few minutes the captains came hurrying down,
on the run; and there was no time to be lost, for the
gale promised to be a severe one, and the surf was
breaking upon the beach, three deep, higher and
higher every instant. The AyacucM s boat, pulled
by four Kanakas, put off first, and as they had no
rudder or steering-oar, would probably never have
got off had we not waded out with them as far as the
surf would permit. The next that made the attempt
was the whale-boat, for we, being the most experi-
enced "beach-combers," needed no help, and stayed
till the last. Whalemen make the best boat's crews
in the world for a long pull; but this landing was
new to them, and notwithstanding the examples they
had had, they slued round and were hove up — boat,
oars, and men-— all together, high and dry upon the
sand. The second time they filled, and had to turn
their boat over and set her off again. We could be
of no help to them, for they were so many as to be in
one another's way, without the addition of our num-
bers. The third time they got off, though not with-
out shipping a sea which drenched them all, and half
filled their boat, keeping them bailing until they
reached their ship. We now got ready to go off,
putting the boat's head out; English Ben and I, who
were the largest, standing on each side of the bows to

106 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

keep her "head on" to the sea, two more shipping
and manning the two after oars, and the captain tak-
ing the steering-oar. Two or three Spaniards, who
stood upon the beach looking at us, wrapped their
cloaks about them, 3hook their heads, and muttered,
"Caramba!" They had no taste for such doings; in
fact, the hydrophobia is a national malady, and shows
itself in their persons as well as their actions.

Watching for a "smooth chance," he determined
to show the other boats the way it should be done;
and, as soon as ours floated, ran out with her, keep-
ing her head on with all our strength and the help of
the captain's oar, and the two after oarsmen giving
way regularly and strongly, until our feet were off
the ground, we tumbled into the bows, keeping per-
fectly still from fear of hindering the others. For
some time it was doubtful how it would go. The
boat stood nearly up and down m the water, and the
sea, rolling from under her, let her fall upon the
water with a force which seemed almost to stave her
bottom in. By quietly sliding two oars forward along
the thwarts, without impeding the rowers, we shipped
two bow oars, and thus, by the help of four oars and
the captain's strong arm, we got safely off, though we
shipped several seas, which left us half full of water.
We pulled alongside of the Loriotte, put her skipper
on board, and found her making preparations for
slipping, and then pulled aboard our own ship. Here

A GALE. 197

Mr. Brown, always "on hand," had got everything
ready, so. that we had only to hook on the gig and
hoist it np, when the order was given to loose the
sails. While we were on the yards, we saw the
Loriotte under weigh, and before onr yards were
mast-headed, the Ayacucho had spread her wings,
and, with yards braced sharp up, was standing
athwart our hawse. There is no prettier sight in the
world than a full-rigged, clipper-built brig, sailing
sharp on the wind. In a moment our slip-rope was
gone, the head-yards filled away, and we were off.
Next came the whaler; and in half an hour from the
time when four vessels were lying quietly at anchor,
without a rag out, or a sign of motion, the bay was
deserted, and four white clouds were standing off to
sea. Being sure of clearing the point, we stood off
with our yards a little braced in, while the Ayacucho
went off with a taut bowline, which brought her to
windward of us.

During all this day, and the greater part of the
night, we had the usual south-easter entertainment.
At daybreak, the clouds thinned off and rolled awayr
and the sun came up clear. The wind, instead of
coming out from the northward, as is usual, blew
steadily and freshly from the anchoring-ground.
This was bad for us, for being "flying-light," with
little more than ballast trim, we were in no condition
for showing off on a taut bowline, and had depended

196 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

upon a fair wind, with which, by the help of our
light sails and studding-sails, we meant to have been
the first at the anchoring-ground; but the Ayacucho
was a good league to windward of us, and was stand-
ing in, in fine style, and when we reached the anchor-
ing-ground, she had got her anchor, furled her sails,
squared her yards, and was lying as quietly as if
nothing had happened for the last twenty-four hours.

"We had our usual good luck in getting our anchor
without letting go another, and were all snug, with
our boats at the boom-ends, in half an hour. In
about two hours more the whaler came in, and made
a clumsy piece of work in getting her anchor, being
obliged to let go her best bower, and finally to get out
a kedge and a hawser. They were heave -ho-ing,
stopping and unstopping, pawling, catting, and fish-
ing for three hours, and the sails hung from the yards
all the afternoon, and were not furled until sundown.
The Loriotte came in just after dark and let go her
anchor, making no attempt to pick up the other
until the next day.

This affair led to a great dispute as to the sailing
of our ship and the Ayacucho. Bets were made be-
tween the captains, and the crews took it up in their
own way; but as she was bound to leeward and we to
windward, and merchant captains cannot deviate, a
trial never took place; and perhaps it was well for us
that it did not, for the Ayacucho had been eight

A GALE. 199

years in the Pacific, in every part of it — Valparaiso,
Sandwich Islands, Canton, California, and all, and
was called the fastest merchantman that traded in
the Pacific, unless it was the brig John Gilpin, and
perhaps the ship Anne McKim, of Baltimore.

Saturday, Nov. 14-th. — This day we got under
weigh, with the agent and several Spaniards of note,
as passengers, bound up to Monterey. We went ashore
in the gig to bring them off with their baggage, and
found them waiting on the beach, and a little afraid
about going off, as the surf was running very high.
This was nuts to us; for we liked to have a Spaniard
wet with salt water ; and then the agent was very much
disliked by the crew, one and all; and we hoped, as
there was no officer in the boat, to have a chance to
duck them; for we knew that they were such
" marines" that they would not know whether it was
our fault or not. Accordingly, we kept the boat so
far from shore as to oblige them to wet their feet in
getting into her; and then waited for a good high
comber, and letting the head slue a little round, sent
the whole force of the sea into the stern-sheets,
drenching them from head to feet. The Spaniards
sprang out of the boat, swore, and shook themselves,
and protested against trying it again; and it was
with the greatest difficulty that the agent could pre-
vail upon them to make another attempt. The next
time we took care, and went off easily enough, and

200 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

pulled aboard. The crew came to the side to hoist
in their baggage, and we gave them the wink, and
they heartily enjoyed the half-drowned looks of the
company.

Everything being now ready, and the passengers
aboard, we ran up the ensign and broad pennant, and
the other vessels ran up their ensigns. Having hove
short, cast off the gaskets, and made the bunt of each
sail fast by the jigger, with a man on each yard; at
the word, the whole canvas of the ship was loosed,
and with the greatest rapidity possible, everything
was sheeted home and hoisted up, the anchor tripped
and cat-headed, and the ship under headway. The
royal yards were all crossed at once, and royals and
sky-sails set, and as we had the wind free, the booms
were run out, and every one was aloft, active as cats,
laying out on the yards and booms, reeving the stud-
ding-sail gear; and sail after sail the captain piled
upon her, until she was covered with canvas, her sails
looking like a great white cloud resting upon a black
speck. The breeze died away at night, and we were
becalmed all day on Sunday, about half-way between
Santa Barbara and Point Conception. Sunday night
wo had a light fair wind, which set us up again; and
having a fine sea-breeze on the first part of Monday,
we had the prospect of passing, without any trouble,
Point Conception. Towards the latter part of the
afternoon, however, the regular north-west wind, as

A GALE. 201

usual, set in, which gave us the chance of beating
round the Point, which we were now just abreast of.
A capful of wind will be a bagful here; and before
night our royals were furled, and the ship was labour-
ing hard under her top-gallant sails. At eight bells
our watch went below, leaving her with as much sail
as she could stagger under, the water flying over the
forecastle at every plunge.

We had been below but a short time before we had
the usual premonitions of a coming gale, seas wash-
ing over the whole forward part of the vessel, and
her bows beating against them with a force and
sound like the driving of piles. In a short time we
heard the top-gallant sails come in, one after another,
and then the flying jib. This seemed to ease her a
good deal, and we were fast going off to the land of
Nod, when bang, bang, bang on the scuttle and "All
hands reef topsails, ahoy!" started us out of our
berths, and, it not being very cold weather, we had
nothing extra to put on, and were soon on deck. I
shall never forget the fineness of the sight. It was a
clear and rather a chilly night, the stars were twink-
ling with an intense brightness, and as far as the eye
could reach there was not a cloud to be seen. Yet it
was blowing great guns from the north-west. One
reef after another we took in the top-sails, and before
we could get them hoisted up we heard a sound like
a short, quick rattling of thunder, and the jib was

202 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

blown to atoms out of the bolt-rope. We got the
top-sails set, and the fragments of the jib stowed
away, and the fore top-mast stay-sail set in its place,
when the great main-sail gaped open and the sail
ripped from head to foot. " Lay up on that main-
yard and furl the sail before it blows to tatters!"
shouted the captain; and in a moment we were up
gathering the remains of it upon the yard. We got
it wrapped round the yard, and passed gaskets over
it as snugly as possible, and were just on deck again
when, with another loud rent which was heard
throughout the ship, the foretop-sail, which had
been double-reefed, split in two athwart-ships, just
below the reef-band, from earing to earing. Here
again it was down yard, haul out reef-tackles, and
lay out upon the yard for reefing. By hauling the
reef-tackles chock-a-block we took the strain from
the other earings, and passing the close-reef earing
and knotting the points carefully we succeeded in
setting the sail close-reefed.

We had but just got the rigging coiled up, and
were waiting to hear " Go below the watch !" when
the main-royal worked loose from the gaskets and
blew directly out to leeward, flapping and shaking
the mast like a wand. Here was a job for somebody.
The royal must come in or be cut adrift, or the mast
would be snapped short on*. All the light hands in
the starboard watch were sent up one after another,

A GALE. 203

but they could do nothing with it. At length John,
the tall Frenchman, sprang aloft, and, by the help
of his long arms and legs, succeeded, after a hard
struggle, in smothering it and f rapping it with long
pieces of sinnet. He came very near being blown or
shaken from the yard several times, but he was a true
sailor, every finger a fish-hook. Having made the(
sail snug, he prepared to send the yard down, which
was a long and difficult job. The yard at length
came down safe, and after it the fore and mizzen
royal-yards were sent down. All hands were then
sent aloft, and for an hour or two we were hard at
work, making the booms well fast, unreeving the
studding-sail and royal and sky-sail gear, getting
rolling ropes on the yards, setting up the weather
breast-backstays, and making other preparations for
a storm. It was a fine night for a gale, just cool and
bracing enough for quick work without being cold,
and as bright as day.

In a few minutes the man at the wheel struck four
bells, and we found that the other watch was out and
our own half out. Accordingly the starboard watch
went below, and left the ship to us for a couple of^
hours, yet with orders to stand by for a call.

Hardly had they got below before away went the'
foretop-mast-staysail, blown to ribands. This was a
small sail, which we could manage in the watch, so
that we were not obliged to call up the other watch.

204 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

We laid out upon the bowsprit, where we were under
water half the time, and took in the fragments of the
sail, and as she must have some head sail on her,
prepared to bend another staysail. We got the new
one out into the nettings, but before it was half-way
up the stay it was blown all to pieces. When we
belayed the halyards there was nothing left but the
bolt -rope. Now large eyes began to show themselves
in the foresail, and knowing that it must soon go, the
mate ordered us upon the yard to furl it. Being
unwilling to call up the watch who had been on deck
all night, he roused out the carpenter, sailmaker,
cook, steward, and other idlers, and with their help we
manned the fore-yard, and, after nearly half an
hour's struggle, mastered the sail and got it well
furled round the yard. The force of the wind had
never been greater than at this moment. In going
up the rigging it seemed absolutely to pin us down to
the shrouds, and on the yard there was no such thing
as turning a face to windward. When we got on
deck the man at the wheel struck eight bells (four
o'clock in the morning), and "All starbowlines,
ahoy!" brought the other watch up. But there was
no going below for us. The gale was now at its
height; the captain was on deck; the ship, which
was light, rolling and pitching as though she would
lhake the long sticks out of her; and the sails gaping
open and splitting in every direction. The mizzen-

A GALE. 205

topsail, which was a comparatively new sail, and close-
reefed, split from head to foot in the bunt; the fore-
topsail went in one rent from clew to earing, and was
blowing to tatters ; one of the chain-bobstays parted ;
the sprit-sail yard sprung in the slings; the martin-
gale had slued away off to leeward; and, owing to the
long dry weather, the lee rigging hung in large
bights at every lurch. One of the main-top-gallant
shrouds had parted, and, to crown all, the galley had
got adrift and gone over to leeward, and the anchor
on the lee bow had worked loose and was thumping
the side. Here was work enough for all hands for
half a day. Our gang laid out on the mizzen topsail-
yard, and, after more than half an hour's hard work,
furled the sail, though it bellied out over our heads,
and again, by a slat of the wind, blew in under the
yard with a fearful jerk, and almost threw us off
from the foot-ropes.

Double gaskets were passed round the yards, rolling
tackles and other gear bowsed taut, and everything
made as secure as could be. Coming down, we found
the rest of the crew just laying down the fore-rig-
ging, having furled the tattered topsail, or rather
swathed it round the yard, which looked like a broken
limb bandaged. There was no sail now on the ship
but the spanker and the close reefed main-top-
sail, which still held good. But this was too much
after-sail, and order was given to furl the spanker.

206 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

The brails were hauled up, and all the light hands
in the starboard watch sent out on the gaff to pass
the gaskets, but they could do nothing with it. The
second mate swore at them for a parcel of "sogers,"
and sent up a couple of the best men; but they could
do no better, and the gaff was lowered down. All
hands were now employed in setting up the lee rig-
ging, fishing the sprit-sail yard, lashing the galley,
and getting tackles upon the martingale to bowse it
to windward. Three of us were out on the martin-
gale guys and back-ropes for more than half an hour,
carrying out, hooking and unhooking the tackles,
several times buried in the seas, until the mate or-
dered us in from fear of our being washed off.

Having got everything secure again, we were prom-
ising ourselves some breakfast — for it was now nearly
nine o'clock in the forenoon — when the main-topsail
showed evident signs of giving way. Some sail must
be kept on the ship, and the captain ordered the fore
and main spencer-gaffs to be lowered down, and the
two spencers to be got up and bent, leaving the
main-topsail to blow away, with a blessing on it if it
would only last until we could set the spencers. These
we bent on very carefully, and making tackles fast to
the clues, bowsed them down to the water-ways. By
this time the main topsail was among the things that
have been, and we went aloft to stow away the rem-
nant of the last sail of all those which were on the

A GALE. 207

ship twenty-four hours before. The spencers were
now the only whole sails on the ship, and being
strong and small and near the deck, presenting but
little surface to the wind above the rail, promised
to hold out well. Hove to under these, and eased by
having no sail above the tops, the ship rose and fell
and drifted off to leeward like a line-of-battle ship.

It was now eleven o'clock, and the watch was sent
below to get breakfast, and at eight bells (noon), as
everything was snug, although the gale had not in
the least abated, the watch was set, and the other
watch and idlers sent below. For three days and
three nights the gale continued with unabated fury
and with singular regularity. There were no lulls,
and very little variation in its fierceness. Our ship,
being light, rolled so as almost to send the fore-yard-
arm under water, and drifted off bodily to leeward.
All this time there was not a cloud to be seen in the
sky, day or night. Every morning the sun rose
cloudless from the sea, and set again at night in the
sea, in a flood of light. The stars, too, came out of
the blue, one after another, night after night, unob-
scured, and twinkled as clear as on a still frosty night
at home, until the day came upon them. All this
time the sea was rolling in immense surges, white
with foam, as far as the eye could reach on every
side, for we were now leagues and leagues from shore.

During these seventy-two hours we had nothing to

208 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

do but to turn in and out, four hours on deck and
four below, eat, sleep and keep watch. Once the
wheel-rope parted, which might have been fatal to us
had not the chief mate sprang instantly with a re-
lieving tackle to windward and kept the tiller up till
a new one could be rove. On the morning of the
20th, at daybreak, the gale had evidently done its
worst, and had somewhat abated — so much so that all
hands were called to bend new sails, although it was
still blowing as hard as two common gales. One at
a time, and with great difficulty and labour, the old
sails were unbent and sent down by the buntlines,
and three new topsails, made for the homeward pas-
sage round Cape Horn, and which had never been
bent, were got up from the sail-room and fitted for
bending, and sent up by the halyards into the tops,
and, with stops and frapping lines, were bent to the
yards, close reefed, sheeted home, and hoisted. Two
spare courses were got up and bent in the same man-
ner and furled, and a storm -jib, with the bonnet off,
bent and furled to the boom. Towards night a few
clouds appeared in the horizon, and as the gale moder-
ated, the usual appearance of driving clouds relieved
the face of the sky. The fifth day after the com-
mencement of the storm we shook a reef out of each
topsail, jib, and spanker; but it was not until after
eight days of reefed topsails that we had a whole
•ail on the ship.

SAN FRANCISCO. 209

Friday, December Jfth. After a passage of twenty
days we arrived at the mouth of the bay of San
Francisco.

CHAPTER XXII.

SAN FRANCISCO.

Our place of destination had been Monterey; but
as we were to the northward of it when the wind
hauled ahead, we made a fair wind for San Fran-
cisco. About thirty miles from the mouth of the
bay, and on the south-east side, is a high point upon
which the Presidio is built. Behind this is the har-
bour in which trading vessels anchor, and near it the
Mission of San Francisco, and a newly-begun settle-
ment mostly of Yankee Californians called Yerba
Buena. Here at anchor, and the only vessel, was a
brig under Russian colors, from Asitka, in Russian
America, which had come down to winter, and to
take in a supply of tallow and grain, great quantities
of which latter article are raised in the missions at
the head of the bay. The second day after our ar-
rival, it being Sunday, we went on board the brig as
a matter of curiosity; and there was enough there
to gratify it. Though no larger than the Pilgrim,
she had five or six officers, and a crew of between
twenty and thirty; and such a stupid and greasy-
14

210 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

looking set I certainly never saw before. Although it
was quite comfortable weather, and we had nothing
on but straw hats, shirts, and duck trousers, and were
barefooted, they had, every man of them, double-
soled boots, coming up to the knees, and well greased ;
thick woollen trousers, frocks, waistcoats, pea-jackets,
woollen caps, and everything in true Nova Zembla rig ;
and in the warmest days they made no change. The
clothing of one of these men would weigh nearly
as much as that of half our crew. They had brutish
faces, looked like the antipodes of sailors, and ap-
parently dealt in nothing but grease. They lived
upon grease — ate it, drank it, slept in the midst of
it, and their clothes were covered with it. To a
Russian, grease is the greatest luxury. They looked
with greedy eyes upon the tallow-bags as they were
taken into the vessel, and no doubt would have eaten
one up whole had not the officer kept watch over it.
The grease seemed actually coming through their
pores, and out in their hair, and on their faces. It
seems as if it were this saturation which makes them
stand cold and rain so well. If they were to go into
a warm climate they would all die of the scurvy.

The vessel was no better than the crew. Every-
thing was in the oldest and most inconvenient fash-
ion possible: running trusses on the yards, and large
hawser cables coiled all over the decks, and served
and parcelled in all directions. The top-masts, top-

SAN FRANCISCO. 211

gallant masts, and studding-sail booms were nearly
black for want of scraping, and the decks would
have turned the stomach of a man-of-war's man.
The galley was down in the forecastle; and there the
crew lived, in the midst of the steam and grease of
the cooking, in a place as hot as an oven and as dirty
as a pig-stye. Five minutes in the forecastle was
enough for us, and we were glad to get into the
open air. We made some trade with them, buying
Indian curiosities, of which they had a great num-
ber; such as bead-work, feathers of birds, fur moc-
casins, &c. I purchased a large robe, made of the
skins of some animal, dried and sewed nicely to-
gether, and covered all over on the outside with
thick downy feathers, taken from the breasts of vari-
ous birds and arranged with their different colorp
so as to make a brilliant show.

A few days after our arrival the rainy season set
in, and for three weeks it rained almost every hour
without cessation. This was bad for our trade, for
the collecting of hides is managed differently in thig
port from what it is in any other on the coast. The
Mission of San Francisco, near the anchorage, has no
trade at all, but those of San Jose, Santa Clara and
others situated on large creeks or rivers which run
into the bay and distant between fifteen and forty
miles from the anchorage, do a greater business in
hides than any in California. Large boats manned

212 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST

by Indians, and capable of carrying nearly a thousand
hides apiece, are attached to the missions, and sent
down to the vessels with hides, to bring away goods
in return.

One cold, rainy evening I received orders to get
ready to start for San Jose at four the next morning,
in one of these Indian boats, with four days' provis-
ions. I 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 *ight. 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 mis-
sion and left the men to their fate, making no provis-
ion 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 unpopu-
larity, and never after this could he get anything
done by any of t*ie <*rew ; and many a delay and vex-

SAN FRANCISCO. 213

ation, and many a good ducking in the surf, did he
get to pay up old scores, or " square the yards with
the dirty 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 anchor-
age, called by us "Wood Island," and by the Span-
iards "Islade 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 go
into the harbour, 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

214 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

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 col-
lecting a little wood, which we found by lifting up
the leaves and brush, and a few mussels, we put
aboard again and made the best preparations in our
power for passing the night. We unbent the main-
sail, 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 board 8, we kept up a small fire, by which
we cooked our mussels, and ate them, rather for an
occupation than from hunger.

Toward morning the rain ceased, and the air be-
came sensibly colder, so that we found sleep impossi-
ble, and sat up, watching for daybreak. No sooner
was it light than we went ashore and began our
preparations for loading our vessel. We wire not
mistaken in the coldness of the weather, for a white
frost was on the ground, a thing we had never seen

SAN FRANCISCO. 215

before in California, and one or two little puddles of
fresh water were skimmed over with a thin coat of
ice. In this state of the weather, and before sunrise,
in the grey of the morning, we had to wade off, nearly
up to our hips in water, to load the skiff with the
wood by armfuls. We were all day at this work, and
toward sundown, having loaded the vessel as deep as
she would bear, we hove up our anchor and made
sail, beating out of 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 leeward-
most point of the island, where we came-to and pre-
pared 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 out to
unload and stow away the wood, which took till
night.

Having now taken in all our wood, the next morn-
ing 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

216 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

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.

While not off on these wood and water parties, or
up the rivers to the missions, we had very easy times
on board the ship. We were moored, stem and stern,
within a cable's length of the shore, safe from south-
easter, and with very little boating to do; and as it
rained nearly all the time, awnings were put over the
hatchways, and all hands sent down between decks,
where we were at work day after day picking oakum,
until we got enough to caulk the ship all over, and
to last the whole voyage. Then we made a whole
suit of gaskets for the voyage home, a pair of wheel-
ropes from strips of green hide, great quantities of
spun-yarn, and everything else that could be made
between decks. It being now mid-winter and in high
latitude, the nights were very long, so that W(
not turned to until seven in the morning, and were
obliged to knock off at five in the evening, when wo
got supper, which gave us nearly three hours before
eight bells, at which time the watch was set.

As we had now been about a year on the coast, it
was time to think of the voyage home; and knowing
that the last two or three months of our stay would
be very busy ones, and that we should never have so

SAN FRANCISCO. 211

good an opportunity to work for ourselves as the
present, we all employed our evenings in making
clothes for the passage home, and more especially fo*
Cape Horn. Industry was the order of the day, and
every one did something for himself; for we knew
that as the season advanced, and we went further
south, we should have no evenings to work in.

Friday, December 25th. — This day was Christmas;
and as it rained all day long, and there were no hides
to take in, and nothing especial to do, the captain
gave us a holiday and plum duff for dinner.

Sunday, December 27th. — Having finished all our
business at this port, we unmoored ship and got
under weigh.

We sailed down this magnificent bay with a light
wind, the tide, which was running out, carrying us
at the rate of four or five knots.

If California ever becomes a prosperous country
this bay will be the centre of its prosperity. The
abundance of wood and water, the extreme futility
of its shores, the excellence of its climate, wrJch is
as near to being perfect as any in the world, t*od its
facilities for navigation, affording the best antjJjoring-
grounds in the whole western coast of America, all fit
it for a place of great importance.

The tide leaving us, we came to anchor near the
mouth of the bay, under a high and beautifully slop-
ing hill, upon which herds of hundreds of r°J deer?

218 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

and the stag, with his high-branching antlers, were
bounding about, looking at us for a moment, and
then starting off, affrighted at the noises which we
made for the purpose of seeing the variety of their
beautiful attitudes and motions.

At midnight, the tide having turned, we hove up
our anchor and stood out of the bay, with a fine starry
heaven above us. Before the light northerly winds,
which blow here with the regularity of trades, we
worked slowly along, and made point Aflo Nuevo,
the northerly point of the bay of Monterey, on Mon-
day afternoon. It was ten o'clock on Tuesday morn-
ing when we came to anchor.

CHAPTER XXIII.

A WEDDING.

The only other vessel in the harbour was a Russian
government barque, from Asitka, mounting eight
guns, and having on board the ex-governor, who was
going in her to Mazatlan, and thence overland to
Vera Cruz.

The brig Pilgrim had been lying in Monterey
through the latter part of November, according to
orders, waiting for us. Day after day Captain Fau-
con went up to the hill to look out for us, and at last
gave us up, thinking wo must have gone down in the

A WEDDING. 219

gale which we experienced off Point Conception, and
which had blown with great fury over the whole coast,
driving ashore several vessels in the snuggest ports.

As we were to be here over Sunday, and we had
had no liberty day for nearly three months, every one
was for going ashore. On Sunday morning, as soon
as the decks were washed and we had got breakfast,
those who had obtained liberty began to clean them-
selves, as it is called, to go ashore. A bucket of fresh
water apiece, a cake of soap, a large coarse towel, and
we went to work scrubbing one another on the fore-
castle. Having gone through this, the next thing
was to get into the head — one on each side — with a
bucket apiece, and duck one another by drawing up
water and heaving over each other, while we were
stripped to a pair of trousers. Then came the rig-
ging-up. The usual outfit of pumps, white stockings,
loose white duck trousers, blue jackets, clean checked
shirts, black kerchiefs, hats well varnished, with a
fathom of black ribbon over the left eye, a silk hand-
kerchief flying from the outside jacket pocket, and
four or five dollars tied up in the back of the necker-
chief, and we were "all right." One of the quarter-
boats pulled us ashore, and we streamed up to the
town. I tried to find the church, in order to see the
worship, but was told that there was no service, ex-
cept a mass early in the morning, so we went about
the town, visiting the Americans and English, and

«20 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

the natives whom we had known when we were her*
before. Toward noon we procured horses, and rode
out to the Carmel Mission, where we got something
in the way of a dinner — beef, eggs, frijoles, tortillas,
and some middling wine — from the mayordomo, who,
of course, refused to make any charge, yet received
our present as a gratuity.

After this repast we had a fine run, scouring the
whole country on our fleet horses, and came into town
soon after sundown. Here we found our compan-
ions who had refused to go to ride with us. They
were moored, stem and stern, in a grog-shop, making
a great noise, with a crowd of Indians and hungry
half-breeds about them, and with a fair prospect of
being stripped and dirked, or left to pass the night
in the calabozo. With a great deal of trouble we
managed to get them down to the boats, though not
without many angry looks and interferences from the
Spaniards, who had marked them out for their prey.
Nothing worthy of remark happened while we were
here, except a little boxing-match on board our own
ship, which gave us something to talk about. A
broad-backed, big-headed Cape Cod boy, about six-
teen years old, had been playing the bully for the
whole voyage over a slender, delicate-looking boy from
one of the Boston schools, and over whom he had
much the advantage in strength, age, and experience
in the ship's duty. The latter, however, had

A WEDDING. 221

"picked up his crumbs," was learning his duty, and
getting strength and confidence daily, and began to
assert his rights against his oppressor. Still the other
was his master, and always tackled with him and
threw him down. One afternoon before we were
ftturned-to, these boys got into a violent squabble in
the between decks, when George (the Boston boy)
'said he would fight Nat, if he could have fair play.
The chief mate heard the noise, dove down the hatch-
way, hauled them both up on deck, and told them to
shake hands and have no more trouble for the voyage,
or else they should fight till one gave in for beaten.
Finding neither willing to make an offer of reconcili-
ation, he called all hands up, ranged the crew in the
waist, marked a line on the deck, brought the two
boys up to it, making them "toe the mark." And
there they stood, one on each side of it, face to face,
and went at it like two game-cocks.

The Cape Cod boy, Nat, put in his double-fisters,
starting the blood, and bringing the black and blue
spots all over the face and arms of the other, whom
we expected to see give in every moment; but the
more he was hurt the better he fought. Time after
time he was knocked nearly down, but up he came
again and faced the mark, as bold as a lion, again to
take the heavy blows, which sounded so as to make
one's heart turn with pity for him. At length he
came up to the mark the last time, his shirt torn

«22 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

from his body, his face covered with blood and
bruises, and his eyes flashing fire, and swore he would
Atand there until the one or the other was killed, and
pet to like a young fury. "Hurrah in the bow!"
«aid the men, cheering him on. Nat tried to close
with him, knowing his advantage, but the mate
stopped that, saying there should be fair play and no
fingering. Nat then came up to the mark, but
looked white about the mouth, and his blows were
not given with half the spirit of his first. He was
evidently cowed. He had always been master, and
had nothing to gain and everything to lose; while
the other fought for honour and freedom, and under
a sense of wrong. It would not do. It was soon
over. Nat gave in; not so much beaten, as cowed
and mortified ; and never afterwards tried to act the
bully on board. We took George forward, washed
him in the deck-tub, complimented his pluck, and
from this time he became somebody on board, having
fought himself into notice.

Wednesday, January 6th. Set sail from Monterey
with a number of Spaniards as passengers, and shaped
our course for Santa Barbara. Among our passen-
gers was a young man who was the best representation
of a decayed gentleman I had ever seen. He was of
the aristocracy of the country, his family being of
pure Spanish blood, and once of great importance in
Mexii o. His father had been governor of the prov-

A WEDDING. 223

ince, and having amassed a large property settled at
San Diego, where he built a large house, kept a great
retinue of Indians, and set up for the grandee of that
part of the country. His son was sent to Mexico,
where he received the best education, and went into
the first society of the capital. Misfortune, extrava-
gance, and the want of funds soon ate the estate up,
and Don Juan Bandini returned from Mexico accom-
plished, poor, and proud, and without any office or
occupation, to lead the life of most young men of the
better families — dissolute and extravagant when the
means are at hand. He had a slight and elegant
figure, moved gracefully, danced and waltzed beauti-
fully, spoke the best of Castilian, with a pleasant and
refined voice and accent, and had throughout the
bearing of a man of high birth and figure. Yet here
he was, with his passage given him, for he had not
the means of paying for it, and living upon the char-
ity of our agent. I could not but feel a pity for him,
especially when I saw him by the side of his fellow-
passenger and townsman, a fat, coarse, vulgar, pre-
tending fellow of a Yankee trader, who had made
money in San Diego, and was eating out the very
vitals of the Bandinis, fattening upon their extrava-
gance, grinding them in their poverty; having mort-
gages on their lands, forestalling their cattle, and
already making an inroad upon their jewels, which
were their last hope.

224 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Don Juan had with him a retainer, who was as
much like many of the characters of Gil Bias as his
master. He called himself a private secretary, though
there was no writing for him to do, and he lived in
the ste«*^ge with the carpenter and sailmaker. He
was cerr inly a character; could read and write ex-
tremely 'veil, spoke good Spanish, had been all over ,
Spanish America, and lived in every possible situa-
tion, and served in every conceivable capacity, though
generally in that of confidential servant to some man
of figure.

The second morning after leaving Monterey we
were off Point Conception. It was a bright, sunny
day, and the wind, though strong, was fair; and
everything was in striking contrast with our experi-
ence in the same place two months before, when we
were drifting off from a north-wester, under a fore
and main spencer. "Sail ho!" cried a man who was
rigging out a top-gallant studding-sail boom.
"Where away?" — "Weather beam, sir!" — and in a
few minutes a full-rigged brig was seen standing out
from under Point Conception. The studding-sail
halyards were let go and the yards boom-ended, the
after-yards braced aback, and we waited her coming
down. She rounded to, backed her main top-sail,
and showed her decks full of men, four guns on a
side, hammock nettings, and everything man-of-war
fashion, except that there was no boatswain's whistle,

Two Years RefY»e tlie Mas-

A WEDDING. 225

and no uniforms on the quarter-deck. A short,
square-built man, in a rough grey jacket, with a
speaking-trumpet in hand, stood in the weather
hammock nettings. "Ship ahoy!" — "Hello!" —
"What ship is that, pray?"— "Alert."—" Where are
you from, pray?" &c, &c. She proved to be the
brig Convoy, from the Sandwich Islands, engaged in
otter-hunting among the islands which lie along the
coast. Her armament was from her being an illegal
trader. The otter are very numerous among these
islands, and being of great value, the government
require a heavy sum for a license to hunt them, and
lay a high duty upon every one shot or carried out
of the country. This vessel had no license and paid
no duty, besides being engaged in smuggling goods
on board other vessels trading on the coast, and be-
longing to the same owners in Oahu. Our captain
told him to look out for the Mexicans; but he said
they had not an armed vessel of his size in the whole
Pacific. This was, without doubt, the same vessel
that showed herself off Santa Barbara a few months
before. These vessels frequently remain on the coast
for years without making port, except at the islands
for wood and water, and an occasional visit to Oahu
for a new outfit.

Sunday, January 10th. — Arrived at Santa Bar-
bara, and on the following Wednesday slipped our
cable and went to sea, on account of a south-easter.
15 II

8W TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Returned to our anchorage the next day. We wert
the only vessel in the port.

Great preparations were making on shore for the
marriage of our agent, who was to marry Donna
Anneta De G — De N — y C — , youngest daughter of
Don Antonio N — , the grandee of the place, and the
4 head of the first family in California. On the day
appointed for the wedding we took the captain ashore
in the gig, and had orders to come for him at night,
with leave to go up to the house and see the fandango.
At ten o'clock the bride went up with hsr sister to
the confessional, dressed in deep black. Nearly an
hour intervened, when the great doors of the mission-
church opened, the bells rang out a loud, discordant
peal, a private signal for us was run up by the cap-
tain ashore, the bride, dressed in complete white,
came out of the church with the bridegroom, followed
by a long procession. Just as she stepped from the
church-door, a small white cloud issued from the
bows of our ship, which was full in sight, a loud re-
port echoed among the surrounding hills and over the
bay, and instantly the ship was dressed in flags and
pennants from stem to stern. Twenty-three guns
followed in regular succession, with an interval of
fifteen seconds between each, when the cloud cleared
away, and the ship lay dressed in her colours all day.
At sundown another salute of the same number of
guns was fired, and all the flags run down.

A WEDDING. 227

After supper we rowed ashore, dressed in our uni-
form, beached the boat, and went up to the fandango.
As we drew near we heard the accustomed sound of
violins and guitars, and saw a great motion of the
people within. Going in, we found nearly all the
people of the town — men, women, and children —
collected and crowded together, leaving barely room
for the dancers; for on these occasions no invitations
are given, but every one is expected to come, though
there is always a private entertainment within the
house for particular friends. The old women sat
down in rows, clapping their hands to the music, and
applauding the young ones.

In the dancing I was much disappointed. The
women stood upright with their hands down by their
sides, their eyes fixed upon the ground before them,
and slid about without any perceptible means of
motion; for their feet were invisible, the hem of their
dresses forming a perfect circle about them, reaching
to the ground. They looked as grave as though they
were going through some religious ceremony; and on
the whole, instead of the spirited, fascinating Span-
ish dances which I had expected, I found the Cali-
fornian fandango, on the part of the women at least,
a lifeless affair. The men did better. They danced
with grace and spirit, moving in circles round their
nearly stationary partners, and showing their figures
to great advantage.

228 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

A great deal was said about our friend Don Juan
Bandini; and when he did appear, which was toward
the close of the evening, he certainly gave us the
most graceful dancing that I had ever seen. He was
dressed in white pantaloons, neatly made, a short
jacket of dark silk gaily figured, white stockings and
'thin morocco slippers upon his very small feet. After
the supper the waltzing began, which was confined to
a very few of the "gente de razon," and was con-
sidered a high accomplishment and a mark of aristoc-
racy. The great amusement of the evening — which
I suppose was owing to its being carnival — was the
breaking of eggs filled with cologne, or other essences,
upon the heads of the company. One end of the egg
is broken and the inside taken out, then it is partly
filled with cologne, and the hole sealed up. The
women bring a great number of these secretly about
them, and the amusement is, to break one upon the
head of a gentleman when his back is turned. II. is
bound in gallantry to find out the lady and return
the compliment, though it must not be done if the
person sees you. A tall, stately don, with immense
grey whiskers and a look of great importance, was
standing before me, when I felt a light hand "ii my
shoulder, and turning round saw Donna Angustfa
(whom we all knew, as she had been up t<« Mi nterey
and down again in the Alert), with her finger upon
her lip, motioning me gently aside. I stepped back

A WEDDING. 229

a little, when she went up behind the don, and with
one hand knocked off his huge sombrero, and at the
same instant, with the other, broke the egg upon his
head, and springing behind me was out of sight in a
moment. The don turned slowly round, the cologne
running down his face and over his clothes, and a
loud laugh breaking out from every quarter. He
looked round in vain for some time, until the direc-
tion of so many laughing eyes showed him the fair
offender. She was his niece, and a great favourite
with him, so old Don Domingo had to join in the
laugh. A great many such tricks were played, and
many a war of sharp manoeuvring was carried on
between couples of the younger people; and at every
successful exploit a general laugh was raised.

The captain sent for us about ten o'clock, and we
went aboard in high spirits, having enjoyed the new
scene much, and were of great importance among the
crew, from having so much to tell, and from the
prospect of going every night until it was over; for
these fandangos generally last three days. The next
day two of us were sent up to the town, and took
care to come back by way of Captain Noriego's. The
musicians were still there, upon their platform, scrap-
ing and twanging away, and a few people, apparently
of the lower classes, were dancing. The dancing is
kept up at intervals throughout the day, but the
crowd, the spirit, and the elite come in at night.

230 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

The next night, which was the last, we went ashore
in the same manner, until we got almost tired of the
monotonous twang of the instruments, and the drawl-
ing sounds which the women kept up as an accom-
paniment.

This last night they kept it up in great style, and
were getting into a high-go, when the captain called
us off to go aboard, for, it being south-easter season,
he was afraii to remain on shore long; and it was
well he did not, for that very night we slipped our
cable:; as a crowner to our fun ashore, and stood off
before a south-easter, which lasted twelve hours.

CHAPTER XXIV.

PREPARING FOR THE HOME VOYAGE.

Monday ', Feb. 1st. — After having been in port
twenty-one days we sailed for San Pedro, where we
arrived on the following day. Here we found the
AyacucJw and the Pilgrim, which last we had not
seen since the 11th of September — nearly five months;
and I really felt something like an affection for the
old brig which had been my first home, and in which
I had spent nearly a year, and got the first rough and
tumble of a sea-life. I went on board the first
night, after supper; found the old cook in the galley,
playing upon the fife which I had given him as a

PREPARING FOR THE HOME VOYAGE. 231

parting present ; and dove down into the forecastle,
where were my old shipmates, the same as ever, glad
to see me, for they had nearly given us up as lost.
We both got under weigh on the 4th, she bound up
to San Francisco again, and we to San Diego, where
we arrived on the 6th.

We were always glad to see San Diego, it being the
depot, and a snug little place, and seeming quite like
home, especially to me, who had spent a summer
there. We discharged our hides, and in four days
were ready to sail again for the windward, and,
to our great joy, for the last time! Over thirty
thousand hides had been already collected, cured,
and stowed away in the house, which, together
with what we should collect and the Pilgrim would
bring down from San Francisco, would make out
our cargo.

I spent one evening, as had been my custom, at
the oven with the Sandwich Islanders; but it was far
from being the usual noisy, laughing time. It has
been said that the greatest curse to each of the South
Sea Islands was the first man who discovered it. The
white men, with their vices, have brought in diseases
before unknown to the islanders, which are now
sweeping off the native population of the Sandwich
Islands at the rate of one-fortieth of the entire popu-
lation annually. The curse of a people calling them-
selves Christian seems to follow them everywhere; and

232 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

even here, in this obscure place, lay two young island-
ers, whom I had left strong, active youug men, in the
vigor of health, wasting away under a disease which
they would never have known but for their inter-
course with Christianized Mexico and people from
Christian America. One of them was not so ill, and
was moving about, smoking his pipe and talking, and
trying to keep up his spirits; but the other, who was
my friend, and aikane — Hope — was the most dread-
ful object I had ever seen in my life; his eyes sunken
and dead, his cheeks fallen in against his teeth, his
hands looking like claws; a dreadful cough, which
seemed to rack his whole shattered system, a hollow,
whispering voice, and an entire inability to move
himself. There he lay, upon a mat on the ground,
which was the only floor of the oven, with no medi-
cine, no comforts, and no one to care for or help him
but a few Kanakas, who were willing enough, but
could do nothing. The sight of him made me sick
and faint. Poor fellow! During the four months
that I lived upon the beach we were continually to-
gether, both in work and in our excursions in the
woods and upon the water. I really felt a strong
affection for him, and preferred him to any of my
own countrymen there. When I came into the oven
he looked at me, held out his hand, and said in a low
voice, but with a delightful smile, "Aloha, Aiktuie!
Aloha nuil " I comforted him as well as I could, and

PREPARING FOR THE HOME VOYAGE. 233

promised to ask the captain to help him from the
medicine-chest.

I could not get the thought of the poor fellow out
of my head all night; his horrible suffering, and his
apparently inevitable, horrible end.

The next day I told the captain of Hope's state,
and asked him if he would be so kind as to go and
see him.

"What! a Kanaka?"

"Yes, sir," said I; "but he has worked four yeara
for our vessels."

The captain used a brutal expression and walked
off.

This same man died afterwards of a fever on the
deadly coast of Sumatra. God grant he had better
care taken of him in his sufferings than he ever gave
to any one else !

Finding nothing was to be got from the captain, I
went to the mate and told him the case. Mr. Brown
had been intrusted with the general care of the
medicine-chest, and, although a driving fellow, he
had good feelings, and was always inclined to be kind
to the sick. He said that Hope was not strictly one
of the crew; but as he was in our employ when taken
sick he should have the necessary medicines; and
he got them and gave them to me, with leave to go
ashore at night. Nothing could exceed the delight
of the Kanakas when I cair.e bringing the medicines.

234 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Poor Hope was so much revived at the bare thought
of anything being done for him that he was already
stronger and better. I knew he must die as he was,
and he could but die under the medicines, and any
chance was worth running. The applications, in-
eternal and external, were powerful, and I gave him
'strict directions to keep* warm and sheltered, telling
him it was his only chance for life. Twice after this
I visited him, having only time to run up while wait-
ing in the boat. He promised to take his medicines
regularly until we returned, and insisted upon it that
he was doing better.

We got under weigh on the 10th, bound up to San
Pedro, and had three days of calm and head-winds,
making but little progress. Arrived at San Pedro
on the fourth day, and came-to in the old place a
league from shore, with no other vessel in port, and
the prospect of three weeks or more of dull life,
rolling goods up a slippery hill, carrying hides on our
heads over sharp stones, and perhaps slipping for a
south-easter.

There was but one man in the only house here, and
him I shall always remember as a good specimen of a
California ranger. He had been a tailor in Phila-
delphia, and getting intemperate and in debt he
joined a trapping party, and went to the Columbia
river, and thence down to Monterey, where he spent
•verything, left his party, and came to the Pueblo de

PREPARING FOR THE HOME VOYAGE. 235

log Angelos to work at his trade. Here he went dead
to leeward among the pulperias, gambling-rooms,
&c., and came down to San Pedro to be moral by
being out of temptation. He had been in the house
several weeks, working hard at his trade upon orders
which he had brought with him, and talked much of
his resolution, and opened his heart to us about his
past life.

After we had been here some time he started off
one morning in fine spirits, well dressed, to carry the
clothes which he had been making to the Pueblo, and
saying he would bring back his money and some
fresh orders the next day. The next day came, and
a week passed, and nearly a fortnight, when one day,
going ashore, we saw a tall man, who looked like our
friend the tailor, getting out of the back of an
Indian's cart, which had just come down from the
Pueblo. He stood for the house, but we bore up after
him, when, finding that we were overhauling him,
he hove to and spoke us. Such a sight I never saw
before. Barefooted, with an old pair of trousers tied
round his waist by a piece of green hide, a soiled
cotton shirt, and a torn Indian hat — "cleaned out"
to' the last real, and completely "used up." He con-
fessed the whole matter; acknowledged that he was
on his back; and now he had a prospect of a fit of
the horrors for a week, and of being worse than use«
less for months.

236 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

One of the same stamp was Russell, who was master
of the hide-house at San Diego while I was there, and
afterwards turned away for his misconduct. He
spent his own money and nearly all the stores* among
the half-bloods upon the beach, and, being turned
away, went up to the Presidio, where he lived the life
of a desperate "loafer," until some rascally deed sent
him off "between two days," with men on horseback,
dogs, and Indians in full cry after him among the
hills. One night he burst into our room at the hide-
house, breathless, pale as a ghost, covered with mud,
and torn by thorns and briers, nearly naked, and
begged for a crust of bread, saying he had neither
eaten nor slept for three days. Here was the great
Mr. Russell begging food and shelter of Kanakas and
sailors. He stayed with us till he gave himself up
and was dragged off to the calabozo.

Saturday y Feb. 13th. — Were called up at mid-
night to slip for a violent north-easter. We went off
with a flowing sheet, and hove-to under the lee of
Catalina island, where we lay three days, and then
returned to our anchorage.

Tuesday, Feb. 23d. — This afternoon a signal was
made from the shore, and we went off in tfie gig,
and found the agent's clerk, who had been up to
the Pueblo, waiting at the landing-place, with a
package under his arm, covered with brown paper,
and tied carefully with twine. No sooner had we

PREPARING FOR THE HOME VOYAGE. 237

shoved off than he told us there was good news from
Santa Barbara.

"What's that?" said one of the crew; "has the
agent slipped off the hooks?" "No; better than
that. The California has arrived." Letters, papers,
news, and, perhaps — friends, on board! Our hearts
were all up in our mouths, and we pulled away like
good fellows; for the precious packet could not be
opened except by the captain. As we pulled under
the stern the clerk held up the package, and called
out to the mate who was leaning over the taffrail that
the California had arrived.

"Hurrah!" said the mate so as to be heard fore
apd aft; " California come, and news from Bos-
ton!"

Instantly there was a confusion on board which no
one could account for who has not been in the same
situation. All discipline seemed for a moment re-
laxed.

The packet was sent down into the cabin, and
every one waited to hear of the result. As nothing
came up, the officers began to feel that they were
acting rather a child's part, and turned the crew to
again; and the same strict discipline was restored,
which prohibits speech between man and man while
at work on deck; so that when the steward came for-
ward with letters for the crew, each man took his
letters, carried them down to his chest, and came up

238 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

again immediately; and not a letter was read until
we had cleared up decks for the night.

An overstrained sense of manliness is the charac-
teristic of seafaring men, or, rather, of life on board
ship. This often gives an appearance of want of
feeling, and even of cruelty. From this, if a man
comes within an ace of breaking his neck, and es-
capes, it is made a joke of; and no notice must be
taken of a bruise or a cut; and any expression of
pity or any show of attention would look sisterly,
and unbecoming to a man who has to face the rough
and tumble of such a life. From this, too, the sick
are neglected at sea, and whatever sailors may be
ashore, a sick man finds little sympathy or attention,
forward or aft. A man, too, can have nothing pecul-
iar or sacred on board ship; for all the nicer feelings
they take pride in disregarding, both in themselves
and others. A thin-skinned man could not live an
hour on shipboard. One would be torn raw unless
he had the hide of an ox. A moment of natural feel-
ing forborne and friends, and then the frigid routine
of sea-life returned. Jokes were made upon those
who showed any interest in the expected news, and
everything near and dear was made common stock for
rude jokes and unfeeling coarseness, to which no
exception could be taken by any one.

Sapper, too, must be eaten before the letters were
read; and when at last they were brought out, they

PREPARING FOR THE HOME VOYAGE. 239

all got round any one who had a letter, and expected
to have it read aloud and have it all in common. If
any one went by himself to read it was—" Fair play
there; and no skulking!" I took mine and went
into the sailmaker's berth, where I could read it
without interruption.

Thursday, Feb. 25th.— Set sail for Santa Barbara,
where we arrived on Sunday, the 28th. We just
missed seeing the California, for she had sailed three
days before bound to Monterey, to enter her cargo
and procure her license, and thence to San Francisco,
&c.

Saturday, March 5th. — This was an important day
in our almanac, for it was on this day that we were
first assured that our voyage was really drawing to a
close. The captain gave orders to have the ship
ready for getting under weigh, and observed that
there was a good breeze to take us down to San Pedro.
Then we were not going up to windward. Thus
much was certain, and was soon known fore and aft;
and when we went in the gig to take him off, he shook
hands with the people on the beach, and said that he
never expected to see Santa Barbara again. This
settled the matter, and sent a thrill of pleasure
through the heart of every one in the boat. We
pulled off with a will, saying to ourselves, " Good-bye,
Santa Barbara! — this is the last pull here. No more
duckings in your breakers, and slipping from your

«4C TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

confounded south-easters!" The news was soon known
aboard, and put life into everything when we were
getting uuder weigh; and when all hands tallied on
to the cat-fall the chorus of "Time for us to go!" was
raised for the first time, and joined in with full
swing by everybody.

We left here the young Englishman, George Marsh,
who left us to take the berth of second mate on board
the Ayacucho, which was lying in port. I felt really
sorry to part from him. The situation was offered
him only a few hours before we sailed; and though
he must give up returning to America, yet I have no
doubt that the change from a dog's berth to an
officer's was too agreeable to his feelings to be de-
clined. Had I known an hour sooner that he was
going to leave us, I would have made an effort to get
from him the true history of his early life. He
knew that I had no faith in the story which he told
the crew, and perhaps in the moment of parting from
me, probably for ever, he would have given me the
true account.

Two days brought us to San Pedro, and two days
more, to our no small joy, gave us our last view of
that place, which was universally called the hell of
California, and seemed designed in every way for the
wear and tear of sailors. Not even the last view
could bring out one feeling of regret. Having kept
close iu-shore for the land breeze, we passed the

PREPARING FOR THE HOME VOYAGE. 241

Mission of San Juan Campestrano the same night,
and saw distinctly by the bright moonlight the hill
which I had gone down by a pair of halyards in search
of a few paltry hides.

"Forsitan et hsec olim,"

thought I, and took my last look of that place too.
And on the next morning we were under the high
point of San Domingo. The flood-tide took ui
swiftly in, and we came-to opposite our hide-house,
and prepared to get everything in trim for a long
Btay. This was our last port. Here we were to dis-
charge everything from the ship, clean her out,
smoke her, take in our hides, wood, water, &c, and
set sail for Boston.

While all this was doing we were to lie still in one
place, and the port was a safe one, and there was no
fear of south-easters. Accordingly, having picked
out a good berth in the stream, with a good smooth
beach opposite for a landing-place, and within two
cables' length of our hide-house, we moored ship,
unbent all the sails, sent down the top-gallant-yards,
and all the studding-sail-booms, and housed the top-
gallant-masts. The boats were then hove out, and
all the sails, the spare spars, the stores, the rigging
not rove, and, in fact, everything which was not in
daily use, sent ashore, and stowed away in the house.
Then went all our hides and horns, and we left
16

S42 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

hardly anything in the ship but her ballast, and this
we made preparation to heave out next day. Six
weeks or two months of the hardest work we had yet
seen was before us, and then — " Good-bye to Califor-
nia r

CHAPTER XXV.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

We turned in early, knowing that we might expect
an early call ; and sure enough, before the stars had
quite faded, " All hands ahoyl" and we were turned*
to, heaving out ballast.

Friday, and a part of Saturday, we were engaged
in this work, until we had thrown out all but what
we wanted under our cargo on the passage home;
when as the next day was Sunday, and a good day for
smoking ship, we cleared everything out of the cabin
and forecastle, made a slow fire of charcoal, birch
bark, brimstone, and other matters, on the ballast in
the bottom of the hold, caulked up the hatches and
every open seam, and pasted over the cracks of the
windows and the slides of the scuttles and companion-
way. The captain and officers slept under the awn-
ing which was spread over the quarter-deck, and we
stowed ourselves away under an old studding-sail,
which we drew over one side of the forecastle. The

HOMEWARD BOUND. 843

next day, from fear that something might happen,
orders were given for no one to leave the ship, and as
the decks were lumbered up with everything we could
not wash them down, so we had nothing to do all day
long.

The next morning we took the battens from the
hatches, and opened the ship. A few stifled rats
were found; and what bugs, cockroaches, fleas, and
other vermin there might have been on board must
have unrove their life-lines before the hatches were
opened. The ship being now ready, we covered the
bottom of the hold over, fore and aft, with dried
brush, for dunnage, and having levelled everything
away, we were ready to take in our cargo. All the
hides that had been collected since the California left
the coast, amounting to about forty thousand, were
cured, dried, and stowed away in the house, waiting
for our good ship to take them to Boston.

Now began the operation of taking in our cargo,
which kept us hard at work from the grey of the
morning till starlight for six weeks, with the excep-
tion of Sundays. To carry the work on quicker a
division of labour was made. Two men threw the
hides down from the piles in the house, two more
picked them up and put them on a long horizontal
pole raised a few feet from the ground, where they
were beaten by two more with flails, somewhat like
those used in threshing wheat. When beaten, they

244 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

were taken from this pole by two more, and placed
upon a platform of boards; and ten or a dozen men,
with their trousers rolled up, were constantly going
backwards and forwards from the platform to the
boat, which was kept off where she would just float,
with the hides upon their heads. The older men of
the crew, whom it would have been dangerous to have
kept in the water, remained on board with the mate
to stow the hides away as fast as they were brought
off by the boats.

Having filled the ship up, in this way, to within
four feet of her beams, the process of steeving com-
menced, by which a hundred hides are got into a place
where one could not be forced by hand, and which
presses the hides to the utmost, sometimes starting
the beams of the ship, resembling in its effects the
jack-screws which are used in stowing cotton. Each
morning we went ashore, and beat and brought off
as many hides us we could steeve in the course of the
day, and after breakfast went down into the hold,
where we remained at work until night. The whole
length of the hold, from stem to stern, was floored
ofT level, and we began with raising a pile in the after
part, hard against the bulkhead of the run, and fill-
ing it up to the beams, crowding in as many as we
could by hand and pushing in with oars; when a
large " book" was made of from twenty-five to fifty
hides, doubled at the backs, and put into one another,

HOMEWARD BOUND. aw

like the leaves of a book. An opening wa>> chexi
made between two hides in the pile, and the b*ck of
the outside hide of the book inserted. Two long,
heavy spars called steeves, made of the strongest wood,
and sharpened off like a wedge at one end, w«re placed
with their wedge ends into the inside or the hide
which was the centre of the book, and to the other
end of each straps were fitted, into which Varge tack-
les were hooked, composed each of two huge purchase-
blocks, one hooked to the strap on the end of the
steeve, and the other into a dog, fastened into one of
the beams, as far aft as it could be got. When this
was arranged, and the ways greased upon which the
book was to slide, the falls of the tackle were stretched
forward, and all hands tallied on, and bowsed away
until the book was well entered ; when these tackles
were nippered, straps and toggles clapped upon the
falls, and two more luff tackles hooked on, with dogs,
in the same manner; and thus, by luff upon luff, the
power was multiplied, until into a pile in which one
hide more could not be crowded by hand, a hundred
or a hundred and fifty were often driven in by this
complication of purchases. When the last luff was
hooked on, all hands were called to the rope— cook,
steward, and all — and ranging ourselves at the falls,
one behind the other, sitting down on the hides, with
our heads just even with the beams, we set taut
upon the tackles, and striking up a song, and all lying

246 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

back at the chorus, we bowsed the tackles home, and
drove the large books chock in out of sight.

The sailor's soDgs for capstans and falls are of a
peculiar kind, having a chorus at the end of each line.
The burden is usually sung by one alone, and at the
chorus all hands join in, — and the louder the noise
the better. With us the chorus seemed almost to
raise the decks of the ship, and might be heard at a
great distance ashore. A song is as necessary to
sailors as the drum and fife to a soldier. They can't
pull in time or pull with a will without it. Many a
time, when a thing goes heavy, with one fellow yo-
ho-ing, a lively song, like "Heave, to the girls!"
"Nancy, oh," "Jack Crosstree," &c, has put life
and strength into every arm. We often found a
great difference in the effect of the different songs in
the driving in the hides. Two or three songs would
be tried, one after the other, with no effect; — not an
inch could be got upon the tackles — when a new song
struck up seemed to hit the humour of the moment,
and drove the tackles " two blocks" at once. " Heave
round, hearty!" "Captain gone ashore!" and the
like might do for common pulls, but on an emer-
gency, when we wanted a heavy, " raise-the-dead"
pull, which should start the beams of the ship, there
was nothing like " Time for us to go!" " Round the
corner," or "Hurrah! hurrah! my hearty bullies!"

This was the most lively part of our work. A

HOMEWARD BOUND. 247

little boating and beach work in the morning; then
twenty or thirty men down in a close hold, where we
were obliged to sit down and slide about, passing
hides, and rowsing about the great steeves, tackles,
and dogs, singing out at the falls, and seeing the ship
filling up every day. The work was as hard as it
could well be. There was not a moment's cessation
from Monday morning till Saturday night, when we
were generally beaten out, and glad to have a full
night's rest, a wash and shift of clothes, and a
quiet Sunday. During all this time we lived upon
almost nothing but fresh beef: fried beefsteaks three
times a day — morning, noon, and night. At morn-
ing and night we had a quart of tea to each man;
and an allowance of about a pound of hard bread a
day; but our chief article of food was the beef. A
mess, consisting of six men, had a large wooden kid
piled up with beefsteaks, cut thick, and fried in fat,
with the grease poured over them. Bound this we
sat, attacking it with our jack-knives and teeth, and
with the appetite of young lions, and sent back an
empty kid to the galley. Whatever theories may be
started by sedentary men, certainly no men could
have gone through more hard work and exposure for
sixteen months in more perfect health, and without
ailings and failings, than our ship's crew, let them
have lived upon Hygeia's own baking and dressing.
Friday, April 15th.— Arrived, brig Pilgrim, from

248 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

the windward. It was a sad sight for her crew to sett
us getting ready to go off the coast, while they, who
had been longer on the coast than the Alert, were
condemned to another year's hard service. I spent
an evening on board, and found them making the
best of the matter, and determined to rough it out as

they might; but my friend S was determined to

go home in the ship, if money or interest could bring
it to pass. After considerable negotiating and work-
ing, he succeeeded in persuading my English friend,
Tom Harris, for thirty dollars, some clothes, and an
intimation from Captain Faucon that he should want
a second mate before the voyage was up to take his
place in the brig as soon as she was ready to go up to
windward.

The first opportunity I could get to speak to Cap-
tain Faucon, I asked him to step up to the oven and
look at Hope, whom he knew well, having had him
on board his vessel. He went to see him, but said
that he had so little medicine, and expected to be so
long on the coast, that he could do nothing for him,
but that Captain Arthur would take care of liim when
he came down in the California, which would be in
a week or more. I had been to see Hope the first
night after we got into San Diego this last time, and
had frequently since spent the early part of a night
in the oven. I hardly expected, when I left him to
go to windward, to find him alive upon my return.

HOMEWARD BOUND. 249

I was not a little rejoiced, therefore, and relieved to
see him decidedly better. The medicines were strong,
and took hold and gave a check to the disorder which
was destroying him; and, more than that, they had
begun the work of exterminating it. I shall never
forget the gratitude that he expressed. My medi-
cines, however, were gone, and no more could be got
from the ship, so that his life was left to hang upon
the arrival of the California.

Sunday \ April 2Jftli. — We had now been nearly
seven weeks in San Diego, and had taken in the
greater part of our cargo and were looking out every
day for the arrival of the California, which had oui
agent on board, when, this afternoon, some Kanakas,
who had been over the hill for rabbits, came running
down the path, singing out "Sail ho!" with all their
might. Mr. H., our third mate, was ashore, and
asking them particularly about the size of the sail,
&c, and learning that it was " Moku — Nui Molcu*
hailed our ship, and said that the California was on
the other side of the point. Instantly all hands were
turned up, the bow guns run out and loaded, the
ensign and broad pennant set, the yards squared by
lifts and braces, and everything got ready to make a
good appearance. The instant she showed her nose
round the point we began our salute. She came in
under top-gallant-sails, clewed up and furled her sails
in good order, and came-to within good swinging

850 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

distance of us. It being Sunday, and nothing to do,
all hands were on the forecastle criticising the new-
comer.

At night some of us got a boat and went on board,
and found a large, roomy forecastle, and a crew of a
dozen or fifteen men and boys sitting around on their
chests, smoking and talking, and ready to give a
welcome to any of our ship's company. It was just
seven months since they left Boston, which seemed
but yesterday to us.

Among her crew were two English man-of-war's
men, so that, of course, we soon had music. They
sang in the true sailor's style, and the rest of the crew
joined in the choruses. They had many of the latest
sailor songs which had not yet got about among our
merchantmen, and which they were very choice of.
Battle songs, drinking songs, boat songs, love songs,
and everything else, they seemed to have a complete
assortment of; and I was glad to find that "All in
the Downs," " Poor Tom Bowling," "The Bay of
Biscay," "List, ye landsmen!" and all those classical
songs of the sea, still held their places.

The next day the California commenced unloading
her cargo; and her boats' crews, in coining and going,
sang their boat-songs, keeping time with their oars.
This they did all day long for several days, until their
hides were all discharged, when a gang of them were
sent on board the Alert to help us steeve our hides.

HOMEWARD BOUND. 251

This was a windfall for us ; for they had a set of new
songs for the capstan and fall, and ours had got nearly
worn out by six weeks' constant use. I have no
doubt that this timely reinforcement of songs hast-
ened our work several days.

Our cargo was now nearly all taken in; and my old
friend, the Pilgrim, having completed her discharge,
unmoored, to set sail the next morning on another
long trip to windward. I was just thinking of her
hard lot, and congratulating myself upon my escape
from her, when I received a summons into the cabin.
I went aft, and there found seated round the cabin
table my own captain, Captain Faucon of the Pil-
grim, and Mr. K , the agent. Captain T ■

turned to me, and asked abruptly

" Dana, do you want to go home in the ship?"

* Certainly, sir," said I; "I expect to go home in
the ship."

" Then," said he, " you must get some one to go in
your place on board the Pilgrim."

I was so completely " taken aback" by this sudden
'intimation, that for a moment I could make no
reply. As soon as I had got my wits about me I put
on a bold front, and told him plainly that I had a
letter in my chest informing me that he had been
written to by the owners in Boston to bring me home
in the ship, and moreover, that he had told me that
I was to go in the ship.

252 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

To have this told him, and to be opposed id such
a manner, was more than my lord paramount had
been used to. He turned fiercely upon me, and tried
to look me down and face me out of my statement;
but finding that that wouldn't do, and that I was
enteri«g upon my defence in such a way as would
show to the other two that he was in the wrong, he
changed his ground, and pointed to the shipping
papers of the Pilgrim, from which my name had
never been erased, and said that there was my name
— that I belonged to her — that he had an absolute
discretionary power; and, in short, that I must be on
board the Pilgrim by the next morning with my
chest and hammock, or have some one ready to go in
my place, and that he would not hear another word
from me. I saw the necessity of being determined.
I repeated what I had said, and insisted on my right
to return in the ship.

But it would have all availed me nothing, had I
been "some poor body," before this absolute, domi-
neering tribunal. But they saw that I would not go
unless "vi et armis," and they knew that I had
frionds and interest enough at home to make them
suffer for any injustice they might do me. It was
probably this that turned the matter; for the captain
changed his tone entirely, and asked me if in case
any one went in my place I would give him the same
sum that S gave Harris to exchange with him.

HOMEWARD BOUND. 268

I told him that if any one was sent on board the brig
I should pity him, and be willing to help him to that
Or almost any amount; but would not speak of it as
an exchange.

"Very well," said he. "Go forward about your
business, and send English Ben here to me."

I went forward with a light heart, but feeling as
angry and as much contempt as I could well contain
between my teeth. English Ben was sent aft, and in
a few moments came forward, looking as though he
had received his sentence to be hung. The captain
had told him to get his things ready to go on board
the brig the next morning; and that I would give
him thirty dollars and a suit of clothes. The hands
had "knocked off" for dinner, and were standing
about the forecastle, when Ben came forward and told
his story. I could see plainly that it made a great
excitement, and that unless I explained the matter
to them the feeling would be turned against me.
"Oh, yes!" said the crew, "the captain has let you
off because you are a gentleman's son, and have got
friends, and know the owners; and taken Ben be-
cause he is poor, and has got nobody to say a word
for him!" I knew that this was too true to be an-
swered ; but I excused myself from any blame, and
told them that I had a right to go home at all events.
This pacified them a little, but Jack had got a notion
that a poor lad was to be imposed upon, and did not

§54 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

distinguish very clearly; and though I knew that I
■was in no fault, and in fact had barely escaped the
grossest injustice, yet I felt that my berth was gutting
to be a disagreeable one. But far stronger than any
feeling for myself was the pity I felt for the poor lad.
He had depended upon going home in the ship; and
from Boston was going immediately to Liverpool to
see his friends.

From this consideration I did my best to get some
one to go voluntarily. I offered to give an order
upon the owners in Boston for six months' wages,
and also all the clothes, books, and other matters
which I should not want upon the voyage home.
When this offer was published in the ship, several,
who would not have dreamed of going themselves,
were busy in talking it up to others, who they thought
might be tempted to accept it; and, at length, a
harum-scarum lad, who did not care what country
or ship he was in if he had clothes enough and money
enough, came forward, and offered to go and " sling
his hammock in the hooker." I signed an order for
the sum upon the owners in Boston, gave him all the
clothes I could spare, and sent him aft to the captain
to let him know what had been done. The skipper
accepted the exchange. At the same time he cashed
the order, which was endorsed to him, and the next
morning the lad went aboard the brig, apparently in
good spirits.

HOMEWARD BOUND. 255

The same boat brought on board S , my friend,

who, like me, was going back to his family and to the
society which we had been born and brought up in.
.None on board the ship were more glad than our-
selves to see the old brig standing round the point
under full sail. As she passed abreast of us we all
collected in the waist and gave her three loud hearty
cheers, waving our hats in the air. Her crew sprang
into the rigging and chains and answered us with
three as loud, to which we, after the nautical custom,
gave one in return. The crew flew aloft to loose the
top-gallant sails and royals; the two captains waved
their hands to one another; and in ten minutes we
saw the last inch of her white canvas as she rounded
the point.

Relieved as I was to see her well off (and I felt like
one who had just sprung from an iron trap which
was closing upon him), I had yet a feeling of regret
at taking the last look at the old craft in which I
had spent a year, and the first year, of my sailor's
life — which had been my first home in the new world
into which I had entered — and with which I had
associated so many things — my first leaving home,
my first crossing the equator, Cape Horn, Juan Fer-
nandez, death at sea, and other things, serious and
common. Yet, with all this, and the feeling I had
for my old shipmates, condemned to another term of
Californian life, the thought that we were done with

856 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

it, and that one week more would see us on our way
to Boston, was a cure for everything.

Friday, May 6tlii completed the taking in of our
cargo, and was a memorable day in our calendar.
The time when we were to take in our last hide we
had looked forward to for sixteen months as the first
bright spot. When the last hide was stowed away
und the hatches caulked down, the tarpaulins bat-
Semd on to them, the long-boat hoisted in and se-
cured, and the decks swept down for the night, the
*hief mate sprang upon the top of the long-boat,
called all hands into the waist, and giving us a signal
by swinging his cap over his head, we gave three
long, loud cheers, which came from the bottom of
our hearts, and made the hills and valleys ring again.
In a moment we heard three, in answer, from the
Calijornia'8 crew, who had seen us taking in our
long-boat.

The last week we had been occupied in taking in
a supply of wood and water for the passage home, and
in bringing on board the spare spars, sails, &c. This
being all done with, we gave one day to bending our
sails; and at night every sail, from the courses to the
sky-Bails, was bent, and every studding-sail ready for
setting.

Soon after the arrival of the California, I spoke to
Captain Arthur about Hope; and as he had known
him on the voyage before, he immediately went to

STANDING THE WATCH.

HOMEWARD BOUND. 357

see him, and gave him proper medicines; and under
such care he began rapidly to recover. The Satur-
day night before our sailing I spent an hour in the
oven, and took leave of my Kanaka friends; and,
really, this was the only thing connected with leaving
California which was in any way unpleasant. Hope
shook me by the hand ; said he should soon be well
again, and ready to work for me when I came upon
the coast next voyage as officer of the ship ; and told
me not to forget, when I became captain, how to be
kind to the sick.

Sunday, May 8th. — This promised to be our last
day in California. All our spare spars were taken
on board and lashed ; our water-casks secured ; and
our live stock, consisting of four bullocks, a dozen
sheep, a dozen or more pigs, and three or four dozen
of poultry, were all stowed away in their different
quarters — the bullocks in the long-boat, the sheep in
a pen on the fore hatch, and the pigs in a sty under
the bows of the long-boat, and the poultry in their
proper coop; and the jolly-boat was full of hay for
the sheep and bullocks. Our unusually large cargo,
together with the stores for a five months' voyage,
brought the ship's channels down into the water. In
addition to this, she had been steeved so thorough-
ly, and was so bound by the compression of her
cargo, forced into her by so powerful machinery,
that she was like a man in a strait jacket, and
17 I

268 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

would be but a dull sailor until she had worked her-
self loose.

The California had finished discharging her cargo,
and was to get under weigh at the same time with us.
Having washed down decks and got our breakfast,
the two vessels lay side by side, in complete readiness
for sea, our tall spars reflected from the glassy surface
of the river, which, since sunrise, had been unbroken
by a ripple. At length a few whiffs came across the
water and by eleven o'clock the regular north-west
wind set steadily in. All eyes were aft upon the
captain, who was walking the deck, with every now
and then a look to windward. He made a sign to
the mate, who came forward, took his station de-
liberately between the knight-heads, cast a glance
aloft, and called out, " All hands lay aloft and loose
the sails!" We were half in the rigging before the
order came. "All ready forward, sir!" "All ready
the main !" " Cross-jack yards all ready, sir !" " Lay
down, all hands but one on each yard!" The yard-
arm and bunt gaskets were cast off; and each sail
hung by the jigger, with one man standing by the
tie to let it go.

At the same moment that we sprang aloft a dozen
hands sprang into the rigging of the California, and
in an instant were all over her yards; and her sails,
too, were ready to be dropped at the word. In the
meantime our bow-gun had been loaded and run out,

HOMEWARD BOUND. 259

and its discharge was to be the signal for dropping
the sails. A cloud of smoke came out of her bows;
the echoes of the gun rattled our farewell among the
hills of California; and the two ships were covered
from head to foot with their white canvas. For a
few minutes all was uproar and apparent coufusion:
men flying about like monkeys in the rigging; ropes
and blocks flying; orders given and answered; and
the confused noises of men singing out at the ropes.
The top-sails came to the mast-heads with " Cheerily,
men!" and in a few minutes every sail was set, for
the wind was light. The head sails were backed, the
windlass came round " slip — slap" to the cry of the
sailors. " Hove short, sir," said the mate; " up with
him !" " Ay, ay, sir." A few hearty and long heaves
and the anchor showed its head. "Hook cat!"
The fall was stretched along the decks; all hands laid
hold. " Hurrah, for the last time!" said the mate,
and the anchor came to the cathead to the tune of
" Time for us to go," with a loud chorus. The head
yards were filled away, and our ship began to move
through the water on her homeward-bound course.

The California had got under weigh at the same
moment; and we sailed down the narrow bay abreast,
and were just off the mouth, and finding ourselves
gradually shooting ahead of her, were on the point of
giving her three parting cheers, when suddenly we
found ourselves stopped short, and the California

260 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

ranging fast ahead of ns. A bar stretches across the
mouth of the harbour, with water enough to float com-
mon vessels; but being low in the water, and having
kept well to leeward, as we were bound to the south-
ward, we had stuck fast, while the California, being
light, had floated over.

We kept all sail on, in the hope of forcing over,
but failing in this we hove aback, and lay waiting
for the tide, which was on the flood, to take us back
into the channel. This was somewhat of a damper
to us, and the captain looked not a little mortified
and vexed. In a few minutes the force of the wind
and the rising of the tide backed us into the stream,
and we were on our way to our old anchoring-plaoe,
the tide setting swiftly up, and the ship barely man-
ageable in the light breeze. We came to in our old
berth, opposite the hide-house, whose inmates were
not a little surprised to see us return.

In about half an hour, which was near high-water,
the order was given to man the windlass, and again
the anchor was catted. The California had come
back on finding that we had returned, and was hove-
to, waiting for us, off the point. This time we passed
the bar safely, and were soon up with the California,
who filled away, and kept us company. She seemed
desirous of a trial of speed, and our captain accepted
the challenge, although we were bound so taut with
our cargo that we were no more fit for a race than »

HOMEWARD BOUND. 261

man in fetters. Being clear of the point, the breeze
became stiff, and the royal masts bent under our sails ;
but we would not take them in until we saw three
boys spring aloft into the rigging of the California,
when they were all furled at once, but with orders to
stay aloft at the top-gallant mast-heads and loose them
again at the word. The California was to windward of
us, and had every advantage, yet, while the breeze was
stiff, we held our own. As soon as it began to*
slacken she ranged a little ahead, and the order was
given to loose the royals. In an instant the gaskets
were off and the bunt dropped. " Sheet home the
fore-royal !" " Weather sheet's home !" " Lee sheet's
home!" "Hoist away, sir!" is bawled from aloft.
" Overhaul your clewlines!" shouts the mate. " Ayy
ay, sir! all clear!" "Taut leech! belay! Well the
lee-brace ; haul taut to windward"— and the royals are
set. These brought us up again ; but the wind con-
tinuing light the California set hers, and it was soon
evident that she was walking away from us. Or.r
captain then hailed and said that he should keep off
to his course, adding, "She isn't the Alert now.
If I had her in your trim she would have been out of
sight by this time." This was good-naturedly an-
swered from the California, and she braced sharp up,,
and stood close upon the wind up the coast; while-
we squared our yards and stood before the wind to
the south-south-west.

262 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

As soon as we parted company with the California
all hands were sent aloft to set the studding-sails.
Booms were rigged out, tacks and halyards rove, sail
after sail packed npon her, until every available inch
of canvas was spread, that we might not lose a breath
of the fair wind. We could now see how much she
was cramped and deadened by her cargo, for, with a
good breeze on her quarter, and every stitch of can-
vas spread, we could not get more than six knots out
of her. We had hardly patience with her, but the
older sailors said, "Stand by; you'll see her work
herself loose in a week or too, and then she'll walk
up to Cape TTorn like a race-horse."

When all sail had been set and the decks cleared
up the California was a speck in the horizon, and the
coast lay like a low cloud along the north-east. At
sunset they were both out of sight and we were once
more upon the ocean, where sky and water meet

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE VOYAGE.

At eight o'clock all hands were called aft and the
watches sot for the voyage. Some changes were
made, but I was glad to find myself still in the lar-
board watch. Our crew was somewhat diminished,
and we were short-handed for a voyage round Cape

THE VOYAGE. 263

Horn in the dead of winter. Beside S and my-

self, there were only five in the forecastle, who, to-
gether with four boys in the steerage, the sailmaker,
carpenter, &c, composed the whole crew. In addi-
tion to this, we were only three or four days out,
when the sailmaker, who was the oldest and best sea-
man on board, was taken with the palsy, and was
useless for the rest of the voyage. By the loss of the
sailmaker our watch was reduced to five, of whom
two were boys, who never steered but in fine weather,
so that the other two and myself had to stand at the
wheel four hours apiece out of every twenty-four;
and the other watch had only four helmsmen.
"Never mind; we're homeward bound!" was the
answer to everything; and we should not have minded
this were it not for the thought that we should be
off Cape Horn in the very dead of winter.

During our watches below we overhauled our
clothes, and made and mended everything for bad
weather. Thus we took advantage of the warm sun
and fine weather of the Pacific to prepare for its other
face. In the forenoon watches below our forecastle
looked like the workshop of what a sailor is — a Jack
at all trades. Even the cobbler's art was not out of
place.

There was one difficulty, however, which nothing
that we could do would remedy, and that was the
leaking of the forecastle, which made it very uncom-

264 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

fortable in bad weather, and rendered half the berths
tenantless. The tightest ships, on a long voyage,
from the constant strain which is upon the bowsprit,
will leak more or less round the heel of the bowsprit
and the bitts, which come down into the forecastle;
but, in addition to this, we had an unaccountable
leak on the starboard bow, near the cat-head, which
drove us from the forward berths on that side, and
indeed, when she was on the starboard tack, from all
the forward berths. One of the after berths, too,
leaked in very bad weather; so that in a ship which
was in other respects as tight as a bottle, and brought
her cargo to Boston perfectly dry, we had, after every
effort made to prevent it in the way of caulking and
leading, a forecastle with only three dry berths for
seven of us. However, as there is never but one
watch below at a time, by "turning in and out" we
did pretty well; and there being in our watch but
three of us who lived forward, we generally had a dry
berth apiece in bad weather.

All this, however, was but anticipation. We were
still in fine weather in the North Pacific, running
down the north-east trades, which we took on the
second day after leaving San Diego.

Sunday, May loth, one week out, we were in lat.
14° 50' n., long. llrt° 14' w., having gone, by
reckoning, over thirteen hundred miles in seven days.
In fact, ever since leaving San Diego, we had had a

THE VOYAGE 365

fair wind, and as much as we wanted of it. For
seven days our lower and topmast studding-sails were
set all the time, and our royals and topgallant stud-
ding-sails whenever she could stagger under them.
In this way we frequently made three degrees of lati-
tude, besides something in longitude, in the course
of twenty-four hours. Every wave that we threw
aside brought us nearer home, and every day's obser-
vation at noon showed a progress which, if it con-
tinued, would in less than five months take us into
Boston Bay. This is the pleasure of life at sea — fine
weather, day after day, without interruption, fair
wind and plenty of it, and homeward bound. Every
one was in good humour, things went right, and all
was done with a will.

Every night, after the kids and pots were put
away, and we had lighted our pipes and cigars at the
galley, and gathered about the windlass, the first ques-
tion was

"Well, Tom, what was the latitude to-day?"

"Why, fourteen north, and she has been going
seven knots ever since."

" Well, this will bring us up to the line in five
days?"

"Yes, but these trades won't last twenty-four hours
longer," says an old salt; "I know that by the look
of the clouds."

Then came all manner of calculations and conjee

266 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

tures as to the continuance of the wind, the weather
nnder the line, the south-east trades, &c, and rough
guesses as to the time the ship would be up with the
Horn.

Rumors also of what had been said in the cabins,
as usual, found their way forward. The steward had
heard the captain say something about the Straits of
Magellan ; and the man at the wheel fancied he had
heard him tell the " passenger" that, if he found the
wind ahead and the weather very bad off the Cape,
he should stick her off for New Holland, and come
home round the Cape of Good Hope.

This passenger was no one else than a gentleman
whom I had known in my better days, and the last
person I should have expected to have seen on the

coast of California — Professor N , of Cambridge.

I had left him quietly seated in the chair of botany
and ornithology in Harvard University; and the next
I saw of him was strolling about San Diego beach, in
a sailor's pea-jacket, with a wide straw hat, and bare-
footed, picking up stones and shells. He had
travelled overland to the North-west Coast, and come
down in a small vessel to Monterey. There he
learned that there was a ship at the leeward, about to
sail for Boston; and, taking passage iu the Pihjrim,
which was then at Monterey, he came slowly down,
visiting the immediate ports, and examining the trees,
plants, earths, birds, &c*and joined us at San Diego

THE VOYAGE. 267

shortly before we sailed. I was often amused to see
the sailors puzzled to know what to make of him, and
to hear their conjectures about him and his business.
They were as much puzzled as our old sailmaker was
with the captain's instruments in the cabin. He
said there were three: — the c^ro-nometer, the chre-
nometer, and the ^e-nometer. (Chronometer,
barometer, and thermometer.) The Pilgrim's crew
christened Mr. IS". "Old Curious," from his zeal for
curiosities ; and some of them said that he was crazy,
and that his friends let him go about and amuse him-
self in this way. Why else a rich man should leave
a Christian country, and come to such a place as
California, to pick up shells and stones, they could
not understand.

Wednesday, May 18th.— Lat. 9° 54' »., long. 113°
T w. The north-east trades had now left us, and
we had the usual variable winds which prevail near
the line, together with some rain. So long as we
were in these latitudes we had but little rest in our
watch on deck at night ; for, as the winds were light
and variable, and we could not lose a breath, we were
all the watch bracing the yards, and taking in and
making sail, and "humbugging" with our flying
kites. A little puff of wind on the larboard quarter,
and then— " Larboard fore braces!" and studding-
booms were rigged out, studding-sails set alow and
aloft, the yards trimmed and jibs and spanker in;

268 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

when it would come as calm as a duck-pond and the
man at the wheel stand with the palm of his hand
up, feeling for the wind. "Keep her off a little!"
"All aback forward, sir!" cries a man from the fore-
castle. Down go tho braces again; in come the stud-
ding-sails all in a mess, which half an hour won't set
right; yards braced sharp up, and she's on the star-
board tack, close-hauled. The studding-sails must
now be cleared away, and sent up in the tops and on
the booms. By the time this is done, and you are
looking out for a soft plank for a nap, — "Lay aft
here, and square in the head yards!" and the stud-
ding-sails are all set again on the starboard side. So
it goes until it is eight bells, — call the watch, heave
the log, — relieve the wheel, and go below the larboard
watch.

Sunday, May 22d.— Lat. 5° 14' N., long. 166°
45.' w. We were now a fortnight out, and within
five degrees of the line, to which two days of good
breeze would take us; but we had for the most part
what the sailors call " an Irishman's hurricane, — right
up and down." This day it rained nearly all day,
and being Sunday, and nothing to do, we stopped up
the scuppers and filled the decks with rain-water, and
bringing all on deck, had a grand wash fore and aft.
When this was through we stripped to our drawers,
and taking pieces of soap, with strips of canvas for
towels, we turned to, and soaped, washed, and

THE VOYAGE. 269

scrubbed one another down, to get off, as we said,
the Calif ornian dust; for the common wash in salt
water, which is all that Jack can get, being on an
allowance of fresh, had little efficacy, and was more
for taste than utility. The next day, the sun rising,
the ship was covered fore and aft with clothes of all
sorts, hanging out to dry.

As we approached the line the wind became more
easterly and the weather clearer, and in twenty days
from San Diego, —

Saturday, May 28th, at about three p.m., with a
fine breeze from the east-south-east, we crossed the
equator. In twenty-four hours after crossing the
line, which was very unusual, we took the regular
south-east trades. With us they blew directly from
the east-south-east, which was fortunate for us, for
our course was south-by-west, and we could go thus
one point free. For twelve days this breeze blew
steadily, not varying a point, and just so fresh that
we could carry our royals; and, during the whole
time, we hardly started a brace. Such progress did
we make, that at the end of seven days from the time
we took the breeze, on

Sunday, June 5th, we were in lat. 19° 29' s., and
long. 118° 10' w., having made twelve hundred miles
in seven days, very nearly on a taut bowline. Our
good ship had increased her rate of sailing more than
one-third since leaving San Diego. The crew ceased

270 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

complaining of her, and the officers hove the log
every two hours with evident satisfaction. This was
glorious sailing. Already we had sunk the north
star and the Great Bear in the northern horizon, and
all hands looked out sharp to the southward for the
Magellan Clouds, which, each succeeding night, we
expected to make. " The next time we see the north
star," said one, "we shall be standing to the north-
ward, the other side of the Horn."

These trades were the same that, in the passage
out in the Pilgrim, lasted nearly all the way from
Juan Fernandez to the lines, blowing steadily on our
starboard quarter for three weeks, without our start-
ing a brace or even brailing down the sky -sails.
Though wo had now the same wind, and were in the
same latitude with the Pilgrim on her passage out,
yet we were nearly twelve hundred miles to the west-
ward of her course; for the captain, depending upon
the strong south-west winds which prevail in high
southern latitudes during the winter months, took
the full advantage of the trades, and stood well to the
westward, so far that we passed within about two
hundred miles of Ducie's Island.

It was this weather and sailing that brought to my
mind a little incident that occurred on board the
Pilgrim while we were in the same latitude. We
were going along at a great rate, dead before the
wind, with studding-sails out on both sides, alow and

THE VOYAGE. %1\

aloft, on a dark night, just after midnight, and every-
thing as still as the grave, except the washing of the
water by the vessel's side; for, being before the wind,
with a smooth sea, the little brig covered with canvas
was doing great business with very little noise. The
other watch was below, and all our watch except my-
§elf and the man at the wheel were asleep under the lee
of the boat. The second mate, who came out before
the mast, and was always very thick with me, had
been holding a yarn with me, and just gone aft to his
place on the quarter-deck, and I had resumed my
usual walk to and from the windlass-end, when sud-
denly we heard a loud scream coming from ahead,
apparently directly from under the bows. The dark-
ness and complete stillness of the night, and the soli-
tude of the ocean, gave to the sound a dreadful and
almost supernatural effect. I stood perfectly still,
and my heart beat quick. The sound woke np the
rest of the watch, who stood looking at one another
fearfully. "What in thunder is that?" said the
second mate, coming slowly forward. The first
thought I had was that it might be a boat, with the
crew of some wrecked vessel, or perhaps the boat of
some whale-ship out over-night, and we had run them
down in the darkness. Another scream, but less loud
than the first. This started us, and we ran forward
and looked over the bows, and over the sides to lee-
ward, but nothing was to be seen or heard. What

272 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

was to be done? Call the captain, and heave the
ship aback? Just at this moment, in crossing the
forecastle one of the men saw a light below, and look-
ing down into the scuttle, saw the watch all out of
their berths, and afoul of one poor fellow, dragging
him out of his birth, and shaking him to wake him
out of a nightmare. They had been waked out of
their sleep, and as much alarmed at the scream as we
were, and were hesitating whether to come on deck,
when the second sound, coming directly from one of
the berths, revealed th' cause of the alarm. The
fellow got a good shaking for the trouble he had
given. We made a joke of the matter, and we could
well laugh, for our minds were not a little relieved
by its ridiculous termination.

We were now close upon the southern tropical line,
and, with so fine a breeze, were daily leaving the sun
behind us, and drawing nearer to Cape Horn, for
which it behooved us to make every preparation. Our
rigging was all examined and overhauled and mended,
or replaced with new where it was necessary; new
and strong bobstays fitted in the place of the chain
ones, which were worn out, and other preparations
made, in good season, that the ropes might have time
to stretch and become limber before we got into cold
weather.

Sunday, June 12th.— Lat. 26° 04' s., long. 116°
%V w. We had now lost the regular trades, and had

BAD PROSPECTS. 273

the winds variable, principally from the westward,
and kept on, in a southerly course, sailing very nearly
upon a meridian, and at the end of the week—

Sunday, June 19th, were in lat. 34° 15' s., and
long. 116° 38' w.

CHAPTER XXVII.

BAD PEOSPEOTS.

There began now to be a decided change in the
appearance of things. The days became shorter and
shorter, the sun running lower in its course each day,
and giving less and less heat, and the nights so cold
as to prevent our sleeping on deck; the Magellan
Clouds in sight of a clear night; the skies looking
cold and angry ; and at times a long, heavy, ugly sea,
setting in from the southward, told us what we were
coming to. Toward the middle of the week, the
wind hauled to the southward, which brought us
upon a taut bowline, made the ship meet, nearly
head-on, the heavy swell which rolled from that
direction; and there was something not at all encour-
aging in the manner in which she met it. Being so
deep and heavy, she wanted the buoyancy which
should have carried her over the seas, and she dropped
heavily into them, the water washing over the decks;
and every now and then, when an unusually large
18

274 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

sea met her fairly upon the bows, she struck it with
a sound as dead and heavy as that with which a
■ledge-hammer falls upon the pile, and took the
whole of it in upon the forecastle, and, rising, carried
it aft in the scuppers, washing the rigging off the pins,
and carrying along with it everything which was loose
on deck. She had been acting in this way all of our
forenoon watch below, as we could tell by the wash-
ing of the water over our heads. At eight bells the
watch was called, and we came on deck, one hand
going aft to take the wheel, and another going to
the galley to get the grub for dinner. I stood on the
forecastle, looking at the seas, which were rolling
high, as far as the eye could reach, their tops white
with foam, and the body of them of a deep indigo
blue, reflecting the bright rays of the sun. Our ship
rose slowly over a few of the largest of them, until
one immense fellow came rolling on, threatening to
cover her. I sprang upon the knight-heads, and
seizing hold of the forestay with my hands, drew
myself up upon it. My feet were just off the stanch-
ion, when she struck fairly into the middle of the
sea, and it washed her fore and aft, burying her in
the water. As soon as she rose out of it I looked aft,
and everything forward of the mainmast, except the
long-boat, which was griped and double-lashed down
to the ring-bolts, was swept off clear. The galley,
the pigsty, the hencoop, and a large sheep-pen which

BAD PROSPECTS. 275

had been built upon the fore-hatch, were all gone, in
the twinking of an eye, leaving the deck as clean as
a chin new reaped, and not a stick left to show where
they had stood. In the scuppers lay the galley, bot-
tom np, and a few boards floating about — the wreck
of the sheep-pen — and half a dozen miserable sheep
floating among them, wet through, and not a little
frightened at the sudden change that had come upon
them. As soon as the sea had washed by, all hands
sprung up out of the forecastle to see what had be-
come of the ship; and in a few moments the cook
and old Bill crawled out from under the galley, where
they had been lying in the water, nearly smothered,
with the galley over them. When the water ran off,
we picked the sheep up, and put them in the long-
boat, got the galley back in its place, and set things
a little to rights; but, had not our ship had uncom-
monly high bulwarks and rail, everything must have
been washed overboard. "This will never do!" was
what some said, and every one felt. Here we were,
not yet within a thousand miles of the latitude of
Cape Horn, and our decks swept by a sea not one-
half so high as we must expect to find there. Some
blamed the captain for loading his ship so deep,
when he knew what he must expect; while others
said that the wind was always south-west off the Cape
in the winter, and that, running before it, we should
not mind the seas so much. At two bells all hands

276 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

were called and set to work, getting lashings upon
everything on deck; and the captain talked of send-
ing down the long topgallant- mast; but as the sea
went down toward night, and the wind hauled
abeam, we left them standing, and set the studding-
sails.

Through the rest of the week we continued on
with a fair wind, gradually, as we got more to the
southward, keeping a more easterly course, and bring-
ing the wind on our larboard quarter, until —

Sunday, June 26th, when, having a fine, clear day,
the captain got a lunar observation as well as his
meridian altitude, which made us in lat. 47° 50' S.,
long 113° 49' w; Cape Horn bearing, according to
my calculation, e.s.e. -£ e., and distant eighteen hun-
dred miles.

Monday, June 27th. — During the first part of this
day the wind continued fair, and, as we were going
before it, it did not feel very cold, so that we kept at
work on deck in our common clothes and round
jackets. Our watch had an afternoon watch below,
for the first time since leaving San Diego, and having
inquired of the third mate what the latitude was at
noon, and made our usual guesses as to the time she
would need to be up with the Horn, we turned in for
a nap. We were sleeping away "at the rate of
knots," when three knocks on the scuttle, and "All
hands ahoy!" started us from our berths. What

I

BAD PROSPECTS. 277

could be the matter? It did not appear to be blow-
ing hard, and looking up through the scuttle, we
could see that it was a clear day overhead ; yet the
watch were taking in sail. We thought there must
be a sail in sight, and that we were about to heave-to
and speak her; and were just congratulating our-
selves upon it, when we heard the mate's voice on
deck, singing out to the men who were taking in the
studding-sails, and asking where his watch were.
We did not wait for a second call, but tumbled up the
ladder; and there, on the starboard bow, was a bank
of mist, covering sea and sky, and driving directly
for us. I had seen the same before, in my passage
round in the Pilgrim, and knew what it meant, and
that there was no time to be lost. We had nothing
on but thin clothes, yet there was not a moment to
spare, and at it we went.

The boys of the other watch were in the tops, tak-
ing in the topgallant studding-sails, and the I*)wer
and topmast studding-sails were coming down by the
run. It was nothing but "haul down and clew up,"
until we got all the studding-sails in, and the royals,
flying-jib, and mizzen topgallant-sail furled, and the ,
ship kept off a little to take the squall. The fore
and main topgallant-sails were still on her, for the
"old man" did not mean to be frightened in broad
daylight, and was determined to carry sail till the
last minute. We all stood waiting for its coming,

278 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

•when the first blast showed us that it was not to be
trifled with. Rain, sleet, snow, and wind, enough
to take our breath from us, and make the toughest
turn his back to windward ! The ship lay nearly over
upon her beam-ends; the spars and rigging snapped
and cracked, and her topgallant-masts bent like
whipsticks. " Clew up the fore and main topgallant-
sails!" shouted the captain, and all hands sprang to
the clew-lines. The decks were standing nearly at
an angle of forty-five degrees, and the ship going like
a mad steed through the water, the whole forward
part of her in a smother of foam. The halyards were
let go, and the yard clewed down, and the sheets
started, and, in a few minutes, the sails smothered
and kept in by clewlines and buntlines. " Furl 'em,
sir?" asked the mate. " Let go the topsail-halyards,
fore and aft!" shouted the captain, in answer, at the
top of his voice. Down came the topsail-yards, the
reef- tackles were manned and hauled out, and we
climbed up to windward, and sprang into the weather-
rigging.

The violence of the wind, and the hail and sleet,
driving nearly horizontally across the ocean, seemed
actually to pin us down to the rigging. It was hard
work making head against them. One after another
we got out upon the yards. And here we had work
to do; for our new sails, which had hardly been bent
long enough to get the starch out of them, were as

BAD PROSPECTS. 279

stiff as boards, and the Dew earings and reef -points,
stiffened with the sleet, knotted like pieces of iron-
wire. Having only our round jackets and straw hats
on, we were soon wet through, and it was every mo-
ment growing colder. Our hands were soon stiffened
and numbed, which, added to the stiffness of every-
thing else, kept us a good while on the yard. After
we had got the sail hauled upon the yard, we had
to wait a long time for the weather earing to be
passed ; but there was no fault to be found, for French
John was at the earing, and a better sailor never laid
out on a yard ; so we leaned over the yard, and beat
our hands upon the sail, to keep them from freezing.
At length the word came — " Haul out to leeward !" —
and we seized the reef -points and hauled the band
taut for the lee earing. "Taut band — knot away!"
and we got the first reef fast, and were just going to
lay down, when — "Two reefs — two reefs!" shouted
the mate, and we had a second reef to take in the
same way. When this was fast, we went down on
deck, manned the halyards to leeward, nearly up to
our knees in water, set the topsail, and then laid
aloft on the main topsail-yard, and reefed that sail in
the same manner. From the main topsail-yard, we
went upon the main yard, and took a reef in the
mainsail. No sooner had we got on deck than — " Lay
aloft there, mizzen-topmen, and close-reef the mizzen
topsail!" This called me; and being nearest to the

280 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST

rigging, I got first aloft, and out to the weather ear*
in^/English Ben was on the yard just after me, and
took the lee earing, and the rest of our gang were
soon on the yard, and began to fist the sail, when the
mate considerately sent up the cook and steward to
help us. I could now account for the long time it
took to pass the other earings, for to do my best,
with a strong hand to help me at the dog's ear, I
could not get it passed until I heard them beginning
to complain in the bunt. One reef after another we
took in, until the sail was close-reefed, when we went
down and hoisted away at the halyards. In the
meantime the jib had been furled and the staysail
set, and the ship, under her reduced sail, had got
more upright, and was under management; but the
two topgallant-sails were still hanging in the bunt-
lines, and slatting and jerking as though they would
take the masts out of her. We gave a look aloft, and
knew that our work was not done yet; and sure
enough, no sooner did the mate see that we were on
deck, than — " Lay aloft there, four of yon, and furl
the topgallant-sails!" Two of us went aloft, up the
fore-rigging, and two more up the main, upon the
topgallant-yards. When we got upon the yard, my
hands were so numb that I could not have cast off the
knot of the gasket to have saved my life. We both
lay over the yard for a few seconds, beating our
hands upon the sail, until we started the blood into

BAD PEOSPECTS. 281

our fingers' ends, and at the next moment our hands
were in a burning heat. We fisted the sail together,
and after six or eight minutes of hard hauliDg and
pulling and beating down the sail, which was as stiff
as sheet iron, we managed to get it furled.

I had been on the look-out for a moment to jump
below and clap on a thick jacket and south-wester;
but when we got on deck we found that eight bells
had been struck and the other watch gone below, so
that there were two hours of dog watch for us and
plenty of work to do. The decks were covered with
snow, and there was a constant driving of sleet. In
fact, Cape Horn had set in with good earnest. In
the midst of all this, and before it became dark, we
had all the studding-sails to make up and stow away,
and then to lay aloft and rig in all the booms, fore
and aft, and coil away the tacks, sheets, and halyards.
It was after dark when we got through, and we were
not a little pleased to hear four bells struck, which
sent us below two hours, and gave us each a pot of
j hot tea with our cold beef and bread, and, what war
better yet, a suit of thick, dry clothing fitted for the
weather in place of our thin clothes, which were wet
through and now frozen stiff.

This sudden turn, for which we were so little pre-
pared, was as unacceptable to me as to any of the rest;
for I had been troubled for several days with a slight
toothache, and this cold weather, and wetting and

282 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

freezing, were not the best things in the world for it.
I soon found that it was getting strong hold and run-
ning over all parts of my face; and before the watch
was out I went aft to the mate, who had charge of
the medicine-chest, to get something for it. But the
chest showed like the end of a long voyage, for there
was nothing that would answer but a few drops of
laudanum, which must be saved for any emergency;
bo I had only to bear the pain as well as I could.

When we went on deck at eight bells, it had stopped
snowing, and there were a few stars out, but the
clouds were still black and it was blowing a steady
gale. The next four hours below were but little re-
lief to me, for I lay awake in my berth the whole
time, from the pain in my face, and heard every bell
strike, and at four o'clock turned out with the watch,
feeling little spirit for the hard duties of the day.
There was, however, too much to do to allow time
to think; for the gale of yesterday, and the heavy
seas we met with a few days before, while we had yet
ten degrees more southing to make, had convinced
the captain that we had something before us which
was not to be trifled with ; and orders were given to
Bend down the long topgallant-masts. The topgallant
and royal yards were accordingly struck, the Hying
jib-boom rigged in, and the topgallant-masts sent
down on deck, and all lashed together by the side
of the long-boat. The rigging was then sent down

BAD PROSPECTS. 283

and coiled away below, and everything made snug
aloft.

Friday, July 1st. —We were now nearly np to the
latitude of Cape Horn, and having over forty degrees
of easting to make, we squared away the yards before
a strong westerly gale, shook a reef out of the fore
topsail, and stood on our way east -by -south, with the
prospect of being up with the Cape in a week or ten
days. As for myself, I had had no sleep for forty-
eight hours; and the want of rest, together with con-
stant wet and cold, had increased the swelling so that
my face was nearly as large as two, and I found it
impossible to get my mouth open wide enough to eat.
In this state, the steward applied to the captain for
some rice to boil for me; but he only got a — " Tell
him to eat salt junk and hard bread like the rest of
them !" For this, of course, I was much obliged to
him; and in truth it was just what I expected.
However, I did not starve; for the mate, who was a
man as well as a sailor, and had always been a good
friend to me, smuggled a pan of rice into the galley,
and told the cook to boil it for me, and not let the
" old man" see it.

Saturday, July 2d.— This day the sun rose fair,
but it ran too low in the heavens to give any heat, or
thaw out our sails and rigging; yet the sight of it
was pleasant, and we had a steady " reef- topsail
breeze" from the westward. The atmosphere, which

284 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

had previously been clear and cold, for the last few
hours grew damp, and had a disagreeable wet chilli-
ness in it; and the man who came from the wheel
said he heard the captain tell " the passenger" that
the thermometer had fallen several degrees since
morning, which he could not account for in any
other way than by supposing that there must be ice
near us, though such a thing had never been heard
of in this latitude at this season of the year. At
twelve o'clock we went below, and had just got
through dinner, when the cook put his head down
the scuttle, and told us to come on deck and see the
finest sight that we had ever seen. " Where away,
cook?" asked the first man who was up. "On the
larboard bow." And there lay, floating in the ocean,
several miles off, an immense irregular mass, its top
and points covered with snow, and ite centre of a
deep indigo colour. This was an iceberg, and of the
largest size. As far as the eye could reach the sea in
every direction was of a deep blue colour, the waves
running high and fresh, and sparkling in the light;
and in the midst lay this immense mountain-island,
ita cavities and valleys thrown into deep shade, and
its points and pinnacles glittering in the sun. But
no description can give any idea of the strangeness,
splendour, and, really, the sublimity of the sight.
Its great size — for it must have been from two to
three miles in circumference, and several hundred

BAD PROSPECTS. 285

feet in height; its slow motion, as its base rose and
sank in the water, and its high points nodded against
the clouds; the dashing of the waves upon it, which,
breaking high with foam, lined its base with a white
crust; and the thundering sound of the cracking
of the masts, and the breaking and tumbling down
of huge pieces; together with its nearness and ap-
proach, which added a slight element of fear — all
combined to give it the character of true sublimity.
The main body of the mass was, as I have said, of an
indigo colour, its base crusted with frozen foam; and
as it grew thin and transparent towards the edges and
top, its colour shaded off from a deep blue to the
whiteness of snow. Toward morning a strong breeze
sprang up, and we filled away and left it astern, and
at daylight it was out of sight. The next day, which
was

Sunday, July 3d, the breeze continued strong, the
air exceedingly chilly, and the thermometer low. In
the course of the day we saw several icebergs of differ-
ent sizes, but none so near as the one which we saw
the day before. Toward night the wind hauled to
the southward, and headed us off our course a little,
and blew a tremendous gale; but this we did not
mind, as there was no rain nor snow, and we were
already under close sail.

Monday, July jth.— This was " Independence Day"
in Boston. This, to be sure, was no place to keep

286 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

the 4th of July. To keep ourselves warm and the
ship out of ice was as much as we could do. Yet no
oue forgot the day; and many were the wishes, and
conjectures, and comparisons, both serious and ludi-
crous, which were made among all hands. The sun
shone bright as long as it was up, only that a scud of
black clouds was ever and anon driving across it. At
noon we were in lat, 54° 57' s., and long. 85 p 5' w.,
having made a good deal of easting, but having lost in
our latitude by the heading of the wind. Between
daylight and dark we saw thirty-four ice-islands of
various sizes, some no bigger than the hull of our
vessel, and others apparently nearly as large as the
one that we first saw; though as we went on the
islands became smaller and more numerous; and at
sundown of this day a man at the mast-head saw
large fields of floating ice at the south-east. A con-
stant look-out was necessary; for any of these pieces
coming with the heave of the sea was large enough to
have knocked a hole in the ship, and that would have
been the end of us; for no boat could have lived in
such a sea. To make our condition still worse, the
wind came out due east just after sundown, and it
blew a gale dead ahead, with hail and sleet and a thick
fog, so that we could not see half the length of the
ship. Our chief reliance, the prevailing westerly
gales, was thus cut off; and hero we were, nearly seven
hundred miles to the westward of the Cape, with a

BAD PROSPECTS. 287

gale dead from the eastward, and the weather so thick
that we could not see the ice with which we were sur-
rounded until it was directly under our bows. At four
p.m. all hands were called and sent aloft, in a violent
squall of hail and rain, to take in sail. Our ship was
now all cased with ice, and the running rigging so stiff
that we could hardly bend it so as to belay it, or,
still worse, make a knot with it, and the sails nearly
as stiff as sheet-iron. One at a time we furled the
courses, mizzen topsail, and fore topmast staysail, and
close-reefed the fore and main topsails, and hove the
ship to under the fore, with the main hauled up by
the clewlines and buntlines, and ready to be sheeted
home, if we found it necessary to make sail to get to
windward of an island. A regular look-out was then
set, and kept by each watch in turn, until the morn-
ing. The captain was on deck nearly the whole
night, and kept the cook in the galley, with a roaring
fire, to make coffee for him, which he took every few
hours, and once or twice gave a little to his officers ;
but not a drop of anything was there for the crew.
The captain, who sleeps all the daytime, and comes
and goes at night as he chooses, can have his hot
coffee at the galley; while Jack, who has to stand
through everything and work in wet and cold, can
have nothing to wet his lips or warm his stomach.
This was a " temperance ship;" and, like too many
such ships, the temperance was all in the forecastle.

288 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

I never knew a sailor in my life who would not
prefer a pot of hot coffee or chocolate in a cold night
to all the rum afloat. They all say that rum only
warms them for a time; yet if they can get nothing
better, they will miss what they have lost. On my
passage round Cape Horn before, the vessel I was in
was not under temperance articles, and grog was
served out every middle and morning watch, and
after every reefing of topsails; and though I had
never drunk rum before, and never intend to again,
I took my allowance then at the capstan, as the rest
did, merely for the momentary warmth it gave the
system, and the change in our feelings and aspect of
our duties on the watch. At the same time, as I
have stated, there was not a man on board who would
not have pitched the rum to the dogs for a pot of
coffee or chocolate, or even for our common bever-
age— " water bewitched and tea begrudged" as it
was.

Eight hours of the night our watch was on deck;
and during the whole of that time wo kept a bright
look-out. The chief mate was everywhere, and com-
manded the ship when the captain was below.

In the meantime the wet and cold had brought my
face into such a state that I could neither eat nor
sleep; and though I stood it out all night, yet when
it became light I was in such a state that all handi
told mo I must go below, and lie by for a day or two,

BAD PROSPECTS. 289

or I should be laid up for a long time, and perhaps
have the lock-jaw. When the watch was changed I
went into the steerage, and took off my hat and com-
forter, and showed my face to the mate, who told me
to go below at once, and stay in my berth until the
swelling went down, and gave the cook orders to make
a poultice for me, and said he would speak to the
captain.

I went below and turned in, covering myself over
with blankets and jackets, and lay in my berth nearly
twenty-four hours, half-asleep and half-awake, stupid
from the dull pain. At the end of twenty-four hours
the pain went down, and I had a long sleep, which
brought me back to my proper state; yet my face was
so swollen and tender that I was obliged to keep to
my berth for two or three days longer. At the end
of the third day, the ice was very thick ; a complete
fog-bank covered the ship. It blew a tremendous
gale from the eastward, with sleet and snow, and
there was every promise of a dangerous and fatiguing
night. At dark, the captain called all hands aft, and
told them that not a man was to leave the deck that
night; that the ship was in the greatest danger; any
cake of ice might knock a hole in her, or she might
run on an island and go to pieces. The look-outs
were then set, and every man was put in his station.
When I heard what was the state of things, I began
to put on my clothes to stand it out with the rest of
19 K

290 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

them, when the mate came below, and looking at my
face ordered me back to my berth, saying that if we
went down we should all go down together, but if I
went on deck I might lay myself up for life.

In obedience to the mate's orders, I went back to
my berth; but a more miserable night I never wish
to spend. Several times in the course of the night I
got up, determined to go on deck ; but the silence,
which showed that there was nothing doing, and the
knowledge that I might make myself seriously ill for
nothing, kept me back. It was a dreadful night for
those on deck. A watch of eighteen hours, with wet
and cold, and constant anxiety, nearly wore them out;
and when they came below at nine o'clock for break-
fast, they almost dropped asleep on their chests; and
some of them were so stiff that they could with diffi-
culty sit down. By a constant look-out, and a quick
shifting of the helm, as the islands and pieces came
in sight, the ship went clear of everything but a few
small pieces, though daylight showed the ocean cov-
ered for miles. At daybreak it fell a dead calm, and
with the sun the fog cleared a little, and a breeze
sprang up from the westward, which soon grew into
a gale. We had now a fair wind, daylight, and
comparatively clear weather; yet to the surprise of
every one, the ship continued hove-to. Why does
not he run? What is the captain about? was asked
by every one; and from questions it soon grew into

BAD PROSPECTS. 291

complaints and murmurings. As hour followed hour,
and the captain showed no sign of making sail, the
crew became impatient ; and there was a good deal
of talking and consultation together on the forecastle.
They had been beaten out with the exposure and
hardship, and impatient to get out of it; and this
unaccountable delay was more than they could bear
in quietness in their excited and restless state.
Some said that the captain was frightened, completely
cowed by the dangers and difficulties that surrounded
us — and was afraid to make sail ; while others said
that in his anxiety and suspense he had made a free
use of brandy and opium, and was unfit for his duty.
The carpenter, who was an intelligent man, and a
thorough seaman, and had great influence with the
«rew, came down into the forecastle, and tried to in-
duce the crew to go aft and ask the captain why he
did not run, or request him, in the name of all hands,
to make sail. This appeared to be a very reasonable
request, and the crew agreed that if he did not make
eail before noon, they would go aft. Noon came, and
no sail was made. A consultation was held again,
and it was proposed to take the ship from the cap-
tain and give the command of her to the mate. And
so irritated and impatient had the crew become, that
even this proposition, which was open mutiny, was
entertained; and the carpenter went to his berth,
leaving it tacitly understood that something serious

292 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

would be done if things remained as they were many
hours longer. When the carpenter left, we talked it
all over, and I gave my advice strongly against it.
S , who soon came down, joined us, and we de-
termined to have nothing to do with it. By these
means, they were soon induced to give it up for the
present, though they said they would not lie where
they were much longer without knowing the reason.
The affair remained in this state until four o'clock,
when an order came forward for all hands to come
aft upon the quarter-deck. In about ten minutes
they came forward again, and the whole affair had
been blown. The carpenter, very prematurely, and
without any authority from the crew, had sounded
the mate as to whether he would take command of
the ship, and intimated an intention to displace the
captain; and the mate, as in duty bound, had told
the whole to the captain, who immediately sent for
all hands aft. Instead of violent measures, or, at
least, an outbreak of quarter-deck bravado, threats,
and abuse, which they had every reason to expect, a
sense of common danger and common suffering
seemed to have tamed his spirit, and begotten some-
thing like a humane fellow-feeling; for he received
the crew in a manner quiet, and even almost kind.
He told them what he had heard, and said that he
did not believe that they would try to do any such
thing as was intimated ;. that they had always been

BAD PROSPECTS. 2»3

good men, obedient, and knew their duty, and he
had no fault to find with them; and asked them
what they had to complain of— said that no one could
say that he was slow to carry sail (which was true
enough), and that, as soon as he thought it was safe
and proper, he should make sail.

For two days more the wind blew from the south-
ward and eastward ; or in the short intervals when it
was fair, the ice was too thick to run ; yet the weather
was not so dreadfully bad, and the crew had watch
and watch. I still remained in my berth, fast re-
covering, yet still not well enough to go safely on
deck. And I should have been perfectly useless ; for,
from having eaten nothing for nearly a week except
a little rice which I forced into my mouth the last
day or two, I was as weak as an infant. Fortunately,
I needed no help from any one, and no medicine;
and if I had needed help, I don't know where I
should have found it.

Accordingly, as soon as I could possibly go back to
my duty, I put on my thick clothes and boots, and
south-wester, and made my appearance on deck. The;
ship was cased in ice— decks, sides, masts, yards, and
rigging. Two close-reefed topsails were all the sail
*he had on, and every sail and rope was frozen so stiff
in its place that it seemed as though it would be im-
possible to start anything. The sun had come up
brightly; the snow was swept off the decks, and ashes

294 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

w thrown upon them, so that we could walk. Tha
wind was still ahead, and the whole ocean, to the
eastward, covered with islands and field-ice. At four
bells the order was given to square away the yards;
and the man who came from the helm said that the
captain had kept her off to n.n.e. What could this
mean? Soon it leaked out, and we found that we
were running for the Straits of Magellan. Having
made a fair wind of it, we were going off at a good
rate, and leaving the thickest of the ice behind us.
This, at least, was something.

Sunday, July 10th.— hat. 54° 10', long. 79Q 07'.
This was our position at noon. The sun was out
bright; the ice was all left behind, and things had
quite a cheering appearance. After dinner, all hands
were turned-to to get the anchors over the bows, bend
on the chains, &c. The fish-tackle was got up, fish-
davit rigged out; and, after two or three hours of
hard and cold work, both the anchors were ready for
instant use, a hawser coiled away upon the fore hatch,
and the deep-sea lead -line overhauled and got ready.
Our spirits returned with having something to do;
and when the tackle was manned to bowse the anchor
home, notwithstanding the desolation of the scene,
we struck up " Cheerily ho!" in full chorus. This
pleased the mate, who rubbed his hands and cried
out— "That's right, my boys! That sounds like
the old crew!"

BAD PROSPECTS. 295

This preparation of the cable and anchors was for
the passage of the straits; for, being very crooked,
and with a variety of currents, it is necessary to come
frequently to anchor. This was not by any means a
pleasant prospect, for of all the work that a sailor is
called upon to do in cold weather, there is none so
bad as working the ground-tackle. The heavy chain
cables to be hauled and pulled about decks with bare
hands; wet hawsers, slip-ropes, and buoy-ropes to be
hauled aboard, dripping in water; clearing hawse
under the bows; getting under weigh and coming-to,
at all hours of the night and day; and a constant
look-out for rocks and sands and turns of tides;—
these are some of the disagreeables of such a naviga-
tion to a common sailor. The next day, when we
must have been near the Cape of Pillars, which is the
south-west point of the mouth of the straits, a gale
set in from the eastward, with a heavy fog, so that
we could not see half of the ship's length ahead.
This, of course, put an end to the project for the
present; for a thick fog, and a gale blowing dead
ahead, are not the most favourable circumstances for
the passage of difficult and dangerous straits; so we
braced up on the larboard tack, put the ship's head
due south, and stuck her off for Cape Horn again.

296 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

DOUBLING CAPE HORN.

In our first attempt to double the Cape, when we
came up to the latitude of it, we were nearly seven-
teen hundred miles to the westward ; but, in running
for the Straits of Magellan, we stood so far to the
eastward, that we made our second attempt at a dis-
tance of not more than four or five hundred miles;
and we had great hopes, by this means, to run clear
of the ice; thinking that the easterly gales, which
had prevailed for a long time, would have driven it
to the westward. With the wind about two points
free, we made great way toward the southward; and,
almost every watch, when we came on deck, the air
seemed to grow colder, and the sea to run higher.
Still wo saw no ice, and had great hopes of going
clear of it altogether, when, one afternoon, about
three o'clock, "All hands!" was called in a loud and
fearful voice. We sprang out of our berths and hur-
ried upon deck. The loud, sharp voice of the cap-
tain was heard giving orders, as though for life or
death, and we ran aft to the braces, not waiting to
look ahead, for not a moment was to be lost. The
helm was hard up, the after yards shaking, and the
ship in the act of wearing. Slowly, with the stiff

DOUBLING CAPE HORN. 297

ropes and iced rigging, we swung the yards round,
everything coming hard. The ship wore round
fairly, the yards were steadied, and we stood off on the
other tack, leaving behind us, directly under our
larboard quarter, a large ice island, peering out of the
mist, and reaching high above our tops, while asteru,
and on either side of the island, large tracts of field-
ice were dimly seen, heaving and rolling in the sea.
"We were now safe, and standing to the northward;
but, in a few minutes more, had it not been for the
sharp look-out of the watch, we should have been
fairly upon the ice, and left our ship's old bones
adrift in the Southern Ocean. After standing to the
northward a few hours, we wore ship, and the wind
having hauled, we stood to the southward and east-
ward. During our watch on deck, which was from
twelve to four, the wind came out ahead, with a
pelting storm of hail and sleet; and we lay hove-to,
under a close-reefed fore topsail, the whole watch.
During the next watch it fell calm, with a drenching
rain, until daybreak, when the wind came out to the
westward, and the weather cleared up, and showed
us the whole ocean, in the course which we should
have steered had it not been for the head wind and
calm, completely blocked up with ice. Here then
our progress was stopped; and we wore ship, and
once more stood to the northward and eastward, not
for the Straits of Magellan, but to make another at-

286 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

tempt to double the Cape, still farther to the east-
ward.

With a fair wind we soon ran clear of the field-
ice, and by noon had only the stray islands floating
far and near upon the ocean. The sun was out
• bright, the sea of a deep blue, fringed with the white
foam of the waves, which ran high before a strong
south- wester; our solitary ship tore on through the
water as though glad to be out of her confinement;
and the ice islands lay scattered upon the ocean here
and there, of various sizes and shapes, reflecting the
bright rays of the sun, and drifting slowly northward
before the gale. It was a contrast to much that we
had lately seen, and a spectacle not only of beauty,
but of life.

From a north-east course we gradually hauled to
the eastward; and after sailing about two hundred
miles, which brought us as near to the western coast
of Terra del Fuego as was safe, and having lost sight
•f the ice altogether, for the third time we put the
■hip's head to the southward, to try the passage of
the Cape. The weather continued clear and cold,
and we were fast getting up with the latitude of the
Cape, with a prospect of soon being round. One fine
afternoon, a man who had gone into the fore-top to
shift the rolling tackles sung out, at the top of his
voice, — "Sail ho!" Any one who has traversed the
length of a whole ocean alone, can imagine what an

DOUBLING CAPE HORN. 29*

excitement such an announcement produced on board.
Beside the pleasure of seeing a ship and human beings
in so desolate a place, it was important for us to
speak a vessel, to learn whether there was ice to the
eastward, and to ascertain the longitude; for we
had no chronometer, and had been drifting about so
long that we had nearly lost our reckoning. For
these various reasons, the excitement in our little
community was running high, when the man aloft
snng out — " Another sail, large on the weather bow P*
At length the man in the top hailed, and said he
believed it was land after all. "Land in your eye!**
said the mate, who was looking through the tele-
scope; "they are ice islands;" and a few moments
showed the mate to be right, and instead of what we
most wished to see, we had what we most dreaded.
We soon, however, left these astern, and at sundown
the horizon was clear in all directions.

Having a fine wind, we were soon up with and
passed the latitude of the Cape ; and having 8tood far
enough to the southward to give it a wide berth, we
began to stand to the eastward, with a good prospect
of being round, and steering to the northward on
the other side in a very few days. But not four
hours had we been standing on in this course before
it fell dead calm ; and in an hour more we lay hove-to
under a close-reefed main topsail drifting bodily off
to leeward before the fiercest storm that we had yei

800 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

felt, blowing dead ahead from the eastward. It
seemed as though the genius of the place had been
roused at finding that we had nearly slipped through
his fingers, and had come down upon us with tenfold
fury.

For eight days we lay drifting about in this man-
ner. Sometimes — generally towards noon — it fell
calm; once or twice a round copper ball showed itself
for a few moments in the place where the sun ought
to have been ; and a puff or two came from the west-
ward, giving some hope that a fair wind had come at
last. During the first two days we made sail for these
puffs, shaking the reefs out of the topsails, and board-
ing the tacks of the courses; but finding that it only
made work for us when the gale set in again, it was
soon given up, and we lay-to under our close-reefs.
We had less snow and hail than when we were farther
to the westward ; but we had an abundance of what
is worse to a sailor in cold weather — drenching rain.
Snow is blinding, and very bad when coming upon a
coast, but for genuine discomfort give me rain with
ifreezing weather. A snowstorm is exciting, and it
does not wet through the clothes (which is important
to a sailor), but a constant rain there is no escaping
from. It wets to the skin, and makes all protection
vain. Wo had long ago run through all our dry
clothes, and as sailors have no other way of drying
th*m than by the sun, we had nothing to do but to

DOUBLING CAPE HORN. 301

put on those which were the least wet. At the end
of each watch, when we came below, we took off our
clothes and wrung them out, two taking hold of a
pair of trousers, one at each end, and jackets in the
same way. Stockings, mittens, and all were wrung
out also, and then hung up to drain and chafe dry
against the bulk-heads. Then, feeling all our clothes,
we picked out those which were the least wet, and
put them on, so as to be ready for a call, and turned
in, covered ourselves up with blankets, and slept until
three knocks on the scuttle, and the dismal sound of
"All starbowlines ahoy! Eight bells, there below!
Do you hear the news?" drawled out from on deck,
and the sulky answer of " Ay, ay !" from below, sent
us up again.

On deck all was as dark as pitch, and either a dead
calm with the rain pouring steadily down, or more
generally a violent gale dead ahead, with rain pelting
horizontally, and occasional variations of hail and
sleet ; and constantly wet feet — for boots could not be
wrung out like drawers, and no composition could
stand the constant soaking. Few words were spoken
between the watches as they shifted, the wheel was
relieved, the mate took his place on the quarter-deck,
the look-outs in the bows, and each man had his nar-
row space to swing himself forward and back in, from
one belaying-pin to another— for the decks were too
slippery with ice and water to allow of much walking.

302 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

The bells seemed to be an hour or two apart, instead
of half an hour, and an age to elapse before the wel-
come sound of eight bells.

I commenced a deliberate system of time-killing,
which united some profit with a cheering up of the
heavy hours. As soon as I came on deck, and took
my place and regular walk, I began with repeating
over to myself a string of matters which I had in my
memory, in regular order. In this way, with an
occasional break by relieving the wheel, heaving the
log, and going to the scuttle-butt for a drink of
water, the longest watch was passed away ; and I was
bo regular in my silent recitations, that if there was
no interruption by ship's duty, I could tell very
nearly the number of bells by my progress.

Our watches below were no more varied than the
watch on deck. All washing, sewing, and reading
was given up; and we did nothing but eat, sleep, and
stand our watch, leading what might be called a
Cape-IJorn life. At every watch, when we came
below, before turning-in, the bread-barge and beef-
kid were overhauled. Each man drank his quart of
hot tea night and morning: and glad enough we
were to get it, for no nectar and ambrosia were
sweeter to the lazy immortals than was a pot of hot
tea, a hard biscuit, and a slice of cold salt beef to us,
after a watch on deck.

After about eight days of constant easterly gales,

UUUtSJLlJS(J (JAfE HORN. 303

the wind hauled occasionally a little to the southward,
and blew hard, which, as we were well to the south-
ward, allowed us to brace in a little and stand on,
under all the sail we could carry. These turns lasted
but a short while, and sooner or later it set in again
from the old quarter. One night, after one of these
shifts of the wind, and when all hands had been up a
great part of the time, our watch was left on deck,
with the mainsail hanging in the buntlines, ready to
be set, if necessary. It came on to blow worse and
worse, with hail and snow beating like so many furies
upon the ship. The mainsail was blowing and slat-
ting with a noise like thunder, when the captain
came on deck and ordered it to be furled. The mate
was about to call all hands, when the captain stopped
him, and said that the men would be beaten out if
they were called up so often; that as our watch must
stay on deck, it might as well be doing that as any-
thing else. Accordingly we went upon the yard;
and never shall I forget that piece of work. Our
watch had been so reduced by sickness, that, with one
man at the wheel, we had only the third mate and
three beside myself to go aloft; so that, at most, we
could only attempt to furl one yard-arm at a time.
We manned the weather yard-arm, and set to work
to make a furl of it. Our lower masts being short,
and our yards very square, the sail had a head of
nearly fifty feet, and a short leach made still shorter

304 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

by the deep reef which was in it, which brought the
clew away out on the quarters of the yard, and made
a bunt nearly as square as the mizzen royal-yard.
Besides this difficulty, the yard over which we lay
was cased with ice, the gaskets and rope of the foot
and leach of the sail as stiff and hard as a piece of
suction-hose, and the sail itself about as pliable as
though it had been made of sheets of shea thing-
copper. It blew a perfect hurricane, with alternate
blasts of snow, hail, and rain. Several times we got
the sail upon the yard, but it blew away again before
we could secure it. Frequently we were obliged to
leave off altogether, and take to beating our hands
upon the sail, to keep them from freezing.

After some time we got the weather side stowed
after a fashion, and went over to leeward for another
trial. This was still worse, for the body of the sail
had been blown over to leeward ; and as the yard was
a cock-bill by the lying over of the vessel, we had to
light it all up to windward. When the yard-arms
were furled, the bunt was all adrift again, which
made more work for us. We got all secure at last;
but we had been nearly an hour and a half upon the
yard, and it seemed an age. We were glad enough
I to get on deck, and still more to go below.

During the greater part of the next two days the
wind was pretty steady from the southward. We
had evidently made great progress, and had good

DOUBLING CAPE HORN. 305

hope of being soon up with the Cape, if we were not
there already. We could put but little confidence in
our reckoning, as there had been no opportunities
for an observation, and we had drifted too much to
allow of our dead reckoning being anywhere near the
mark. If it would clear off enough to give a chance
for an observation, or if we could make land, we
should know where we were ; and upon these, and the
chances of falling in with a sail from the eastward, we
depended almost entirely.

Friday, July 22d. — This day we had a steady gale
from the southward, and stood on under close sail,
"with the yards eased a little by the weather braces,
the clouds lifting a little, and showing signs of break-
ing away. In the afternoon I was below with the
thhrd mate, and two others, filling the bread-locker
in the steerage from the casks, when a bright gleam
of sunshine broke out and shone down the companion-
way and through the skylight, lighting up everything
below, and sending a warm glow through the heart of
every one. It was a sight we had not seen for weeks.
Even the roughest and hardest face acknowledged its
influence. Just at that moment we heard a loud
shout from all parts of the deck, and the mate called
out down the companion-way to the captain, who was
sitting in the cabin. What he said we could not
distinguish; but the captain kicked over his chair,
and was on deck at one jump. We could not tell
20

806 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

what it was; and, anxious as we were to know, the
discipline of the ship would not allow of our leaving
our places. Yet, as we were not called, we knew
there was no danger. We hurried to get through
with our job, when, seeing the steward's black face

peering out of the pantry, Mr. H hailed him,

" to know what was the matter. " Lan' o, to be sure,
sir! De cap'em say Mm Cape Horn!"

This gave us a new start, and we were soon through
our work, and on deck ; and there lay the land, fair
upon the larboard beam, and slowly edging away upon
the quarter.

The land was the island of Staten Land, just to the
eastward of Cape Horn ; and a more desolate-looking
spot I never wish to set eyes upon. Yet, dismal as
it was, it was a pleasant sight to us; not only a*
being the first land we had seen, but because it told
us that we had passed the Cape, were in the Atlantic,
and that, with twenty-four hours of this breeze, might
bid defiance to the Southern Ocean. It told us, too,
our latitude and longitude better than any observa-
tion.

We left the land gradually astern ; and at sundown
had the Atlantic Ocean clear before us.

SAILING NORTHWARD. 307

CHAPTER XXIX.

SAILING NORTHWARD.

It is usual in voyages round the Cape from the
Pacific to keep to the eastward of the Falkland
Islands; but as it had now set in a strong, steady,
and clear south-wester, with every prospect of its
lasting, and we had had enough of high latitudes,
the captain determined to stand immediately to the
northward, running inside the Falkland Islands.
Accordingly, when the wheel was relieved at eight
o'clock, the order was given to keep her due north,
and all hands were turned up to square away the
yards and make sail. The wind was now due south-
west, and blowing a gale to which a vessel close-hauled
could have shown no more than a single close-reefed
sail; but as we were going before it, we could carry
on. Accordingly, hands were sent aloft, and a reel
shaken out of the topsails, and the reefed foresail set,
When we came to mast-head the topsail-yards, with
all hands at the halyards, we struck up " Cheerily,
men," with a chorus which might have been heard
half-way to Staten Land. Under her increased sail,
the ship drove on through the water. Yet she could
bear it well; and the captain sang out from the quar-
ter-deck, "Another reef out of that foretopsail!"

308 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Two hands sprang aloft; the frozen reef-points and
earnings were cast adrift, the halyards manned, and
the sail gave ont her increased canvas to the gale. It
was as much as she could well carry, and with a heavy
sea astern, it took two men at the wheel to steer her.
Still everything held.

The captain walked the deck at a rapid stride, looked
aloft at the sails, and then to windward ; the mate
stood in the gangway rubbing his hands, and talking
aloud to the ship — "Hurrah, old bucket! the Boston
girls have got hold of the tow-rope!" and the like;
and we were on the forecastle, looking to see how the
spars stood it, and guessing the rate at which she was
going, when the captain called out — "Mr. Brown,
get up the top-mast studding-sail! what she can't
carry she may drag!" The mate looked a moment;
but he would let no one be before him in daring. He
sprang forward — "Hurrah, men! rig out the top-
mast studding-sail boom! lay aloft, and I'll send the
rigging up to you!"

We sprang aloft into the top; lowered a girt-line
down, by which we hauled up the rigging; rove the
tacks and halyards; ran out the boom and lashed it
fast; and sent down the lower halyards as a pre-
venter. It was a clear starlight night, cold and blow-
ing; but everybody worked with a will.

While we were aloft the sail had been got out,
bent to the yard, reefed, and ready for hoisting.

SAILING NORTHWARD. 309

Waiting for a good opportunity, the halyards were
manned and the yard hoisted fairly up to the block ;
but when the mate came to shake the catspaw out of
the downhaul, and we began to boom-end the sail, it
shook the ship to her centre. The boom buckled up
and bent like a whip-stick, and we looked every mo-
ment to see something go; but, being of the short,
tough, upland spruce, it bent like whalebone, and
nothing could break it. The strength of all hands
soon brought the tack to the boom-end, and the slieet
was trimmed down, and the preventer and the
weather-brace hauled taut to take off the strain.
Every rope-yarn seemed stretched to the utmost and
every thread of canvas ; and with this sail added to
her the ship sprang through the water like a thing
possessed. The sail being nearly all forward, it lifted
her out of the water, and she seemed actually to jump
from sea to sea.

Finding that she would bear the sail the hands
were sent below and our watch remained on deck.
Two men at the wheel had as much as they could do
to keep her within three points of her course, for she
steered as wild as a young colt. At four bells we
hove the log, and she was going eleven knots fairly;
and had it not been for the sea from aft which sent
the log-ship home, and threw her continually off her
course, the log would have shown her to have been
going much faster. I went to the wheel with a

810 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

young fellow from the Kennebec, who was a good
helmsman ; and for two hours we had our hands full.
A few minutes showed us that our monkey-jackets
muBt come off; and cold as it was, we stood in our
shirt-sleeves, in a perspiration, and were glad enough
to have it eight bells and the wheel relieved.

At four o'clock we were called again. The same
sail was still on the vessel, and the gale, if there was
any change, had increased a little. No attempt was
made to take the studding-sail in, and, indeed, it
was too late now. If we had started anything
towards taking it in, either tack or halyards, it would
have blown to pieces and carried something away
with it. For more than an hour she was driven on
at such a rate that she seemed actually to crowd the
*ea into a heap before her; and the water poured over
the sprit-sail yard as it would over a dam. Toward
daybreak the gale abated a little, and she was just
beginning to go more easily along, relieved of the
pressure, when Mr. Brown determined to give her no
respite, and depending upon the wind's subsiding as
the sun rose told us to get along the lower studding-
sail. This was an immense sail, and held wind
enough to last a Dutchman a week — hove-to. It was
soon ready, the boom topped up, preventer guys rove,
and the idlors called up toman the halyards; yet
such was still the force of the gale that we were
nearly an hour setting the sail. No sooner was it set

SAILING NORTHWARD. 311

than the ship tore on again like one that was mad,
and began to steer as wild as a hawk. The men at
the wheel were puffing and blowing at their work,
and the helm was going hard up and hard down con-
stantly. Add to this, the gale did not lessen as the
day came on, but the sun rose in clouds. A sudden
lurch threw the man from the weather wheel across
the deck and against the side. The mate sprang to
the wheel, and the man, regaining his feet, seized the
spokes, and they hove the wheel up just in time to
save her from broaching-to, though nearly half the
studding-sail went under water; and as she came-to,
the boom stood up at an angle of forty-five degrees.
She had evidently more on her than she could bear;
yet it was in vain to try to take it in — the clewline
was not strong enough ; and they were thinking of
cutting away when another wide yaw and a come-to
snapped the guys, and the swinging boom came in
with a crash against the lower rigging. The outhaul-
block gave way, and the topmast studding-sail boom
bent in a manner which I never before supposed a
stick could bend. The clewline gave way at the first
pull ; the cleat to which the halyards were belayed
was wrenched off, and the sail blew round the sprit-
sail yard and head guys, which gave us a bad job to
get it in.

Sunday, July 2tfh, we were in latitude 50° 27' s.,
longitude 62° 13' w., having made four degrees of

812 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

latitude in the last twenty-four hours. Being now
to the northward of the Falkland Islands, the ship
was kept off, north-east, for the equator; and with
her head for the equator, and Cape Horn over her
taffrail, she went gloriously on. Every one was in the
highest spirits, and the ship seemed as glad as any of
us at getting out of her confinement. Each day the sun
rose higher in the horizon, and the nights grew shorter ;
and at coming on deck each morning there was a sen-
sible change in the temperature. As we left the gale
behind us the reefs were shaken out of the topsails,
and sail made as fast as she could bear it; and every
time all hands were sent to the halyards a song was
called for, and we hoisted away with a will.

Sail after sail was added as we drew into fine
weather; and in one week after leaving Cape Horn
the long topgallant-masts were got up, topgallant and
royal yards crossed, and the ship restored to her fair
porportions.

Sunday, July 81st. — At noon we were in lat
36° 41' 8., long. 38° 08' w., having traversed the dis-
tance of two thousand miles, allowing for changes of
course, in nine days.

Soon after eight o'clock the appearance of the ship
gave evidence that this was the first Sunday we had yet
had in fine weather. As the sun came up clear, with
the promise of a fair, warm day, and, as usual on Sun-
day, there was no work going on, all hands turned-to

SAILING NORTHWARD. 313

upon clearing out the forecastle. The wet and soiled
clothes which had accumulated there during the past
month were brought up on deck; the chests moved;
brooms, buckets of water, swabs, scrubbing-brushes,
and scrapers carried down and applied, until the fore-
castle floor was as white as chalk and everything neat
and in order. The bedding from the berths was then
spread on deck and dried and aired; the deck- tub
filled with water, and a grand washing begun of all
the clothes which were brought up. After we had
done with our clothes we began upon our own per-
sons. A little fresh water which we had saved from
our allowance, was put in buckets, and with soap
and towels, we had what sailors call a fresh-water
wash. After this came shaving and combing and
brushing; and when, having spent the first part of
the day in this way, we sat down on the forecastle in
the afternoon, with clean duck trousers and shirts on,
washed, shaved, and combed, and looking a dozen
shades lighter for it, reading, sewing, and talking at
our ease, with a clear sky and warm sun over our
heads, a steady breeze over the larboard quarter,
studding-sails out alow and aloft, and all the flying
kites abroad — we felt that we had got back into the
pleasantest part of a sailor's life.

One night, while we were in these tropics, I weDt
out to the end of the flying jib-boom upon some duty,
4nd having finished it turned round and lay over the

314 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

boom for a long time, admiring the beauty of the
eight before me. Being so far out from the deck I
could look at the ship as at a separate vessel, and
there rose up from the water, supported only by the
small black hull, a pyramid of canvas, spreading out
far beyond the hull, and towering up almost, as it
seemed in the indistinct night air, to the clouds.
The sea was as still as an inland lake ; the light trade-
wind was gently and steadily breathing from astern;
there was no sound but the rippling of the water
under the stem ; and the sails were spread out wide
and high — the two lower studding-sails stretching, on
each side, far beyond the deck; the top-mast stud-
ding-sails, like wings to the top-sails; the topgallant
studding-sails spreading fearlessly out above them;
still higher, the two royal studding-sails, looking like
two kites flying from the same string ; and, highest of
all, the little skysail, the apex of the pyramid, seem-
ing actually to touch the stars and to be out of reach
of human hand. Not a ripple upon the surface of
the canvas, not even a quivering of the extreme edges
of the sail, so perfectly were they distended by the
breeze.

The fine weather brought work with it, as the ship
was to be put in order for coming into port. The
new, strong sails, which we had up off Cape Horn,
were to be sent down, and the old set, which were
still serviceable in fine weather, to be bent in their

. SAILING NORTHWARD. 315

place; all the rigging to be set up, fore and aft; the
masts stayed ; the standing rigging to be tarred down ;
lower and top-mast rigging rattled down, fore and
aft; the ship scraped, inside and out, and painted;
decks varnished; new and neat knots, seizings, and
Coverings to be fitted ; and every part put in order,
to look well to the owner's eye on coming into Boston.

In merchant vessels the captain gives his orders, as
to the ship's work, to the mate, in a general way,
and leaves the execution of them, with the particular
ordering, to him. This has become so fixed a custom
that it is like a law, and is never infringed upon by
a wise master unless his mate is no seaman. This,
however, could not be said of our chief mate; and he
was very jealous of any encroachment upon the
borders of his authority.

On Monday morning the captain told him to stay
the fore top-mast plumb. He accordingly came for-
ward, turned all hands to, with tackles on the stays
and backstays, coming up with the seizings, hauling
here, belaying there, and full of business, standing
between the knight-heads to sight the mast, when
the captain came forward, and also began to give
orders. This made confusion; and the mate, finding
that he was all aback, left his place and went aft,
saying to the captain :

"If you come forward, sir, I'll go aft. One is
enough on the forecastle."

816 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST

This produced a reply and another fierce answer;
and the words flew, fists were doubled up, and things
looked threateningly.

" I'm master of this ship."

"Yes, sir, and I'm mate of her, and know my
place! My place is forward, and yours is aft!"

"My place is where I choose! I command the
whole ship; and you are mate only so long as I
choose!"

"Say the word, Captain T., and I'm done! I can
do a man's work aboard! I didn't come through the
cabin windows! If I'm not mate I can be man."

This was all fun for us, who stood by, winking at
each other, and enjoying the contest between the
higher powers. The captain took the mate aft; and
they had a long talk, which ended in the mate's re-
turning to his duty. The captain had broken
through a custom, which is a part of the common
law of a ship, and without reason, for he knew that
his mate was a sailor, and needed no help from him,
and the mate was excusable for being angry. Yet
he was wrong, and the captain right.

A TROPICAL THUNDERSTORM. 317

CHAPTEE XXX.

A TROPICAL THUNDERSTORM.

The same day I met with one of those narrow es-
capes which are so often happening in a sailor's life.
I had been aloft nearly all the afternoon at work,
standing for as much as an hour on the fore top-
gallant-yard, which was hoisted up, and hung only
by the tie, when, having got through my work, I
balled up my yarns, took my serving-board in my
hand, laid hold deliberately of the topgallant rigging,
took one foot from the yard, and was just lifting the
other when the tie parted and down the yard fell. I
was safe, by my hold upon the rigging, but it made
my heart beat quick.

Had the tie parted one instant sooner, or had I
stood an instant longer upon the yard, I should in-
evitably have been thrown violently from the height
of ninety or a hundred feet overboard, or, what is
worse, upon the deck. An escape is always a joke
on board ship. A man would be ridiculed who
should make a serious matter of it. One of our boys,
when off Cape Horn, reefing topsails of a dark night,
and when there were no boats to be lowered away,
and where, if a man fell overboard, he must be left
behind, lost his hold of the reef-point, slipped from

818 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

the foot-rope, and would have been in the water in a
moment, when the man who was next to him on the
yard, caught him by the collar of his jacket and
hauled him up upon the yard, with, "Hold on an-
other time, you young monkey," and that was all
that was heard about it.

Sunday, Aug. 7th.— L&t 25° 59' s., long. 27° tf w.
Spoke the English barque Mary Catherine from Bahia,
bound to Calcutta. This was the first sail we had
fallen in with. She was an old, damaged-looking
craft, with a high poop and topgallant forecastle,
and sawed off square, stem and stern, like a true
English "tea-waggon," and with a run like a sugar-
box. She had studding-sails out alow and aloft, with
a light but steady breeze; and her captain said he
could not get more than four knots out of her. We
were going six on an easy bowline.

The next day, about three p.m., passed a large
corvette-built ship, close upon the wind, with royals
and skysails set fore and aft, under English colours.
She had men in her tops, and black mast-heads,
heavily sparred, with sails cut to a/, and other marks
of a man-of-war. She sailed well, and presented a
fine appearance, the proud, aristocratic banner of St.
George — the cross on a blood-red field — waving from ^
the mizzen.

Friday, Aug. 12th. — At daylight made the island
of Trinidad, situated in lat. 20° 28' s., long. 29°

A TROPICAL THUNDERSTORM. 319

08' w. At twelve m. it bore N.w. -£ n., distant
twenty-seven miles. It was a beautiful day, the sea
hardly ruffled by the light trades, and the island
looking like a small blue mound rising from a field
of glass.

Thursday , Aug. 18th. — At three p.m. made the
island of Fernando Noronha, lying in lat. 3° 55' s.,
long. 32° 35' w. ; and between twelve o'clock Friday
night and one o'clock Saturday morning crossed the
equator, in long. 35° w., having been twenty-seven
days from Staten Land — a distance by the course we
had made of more than four thousand miles.

For a week or ten days after crossing the line we
had the usual variety of calms, squalls, head winds,
and fair winds; at one time braced sharp upon the
wind, with a taut bowline, and in an hour after slip-
ping quietly along with a light breeze over the taff-
rail, and studding-sails out on both sides, until we fell
in with the north-east trade-winds, which we did on
the afternoon of

Sunday, Aug. 28th, in lat. 12° N. The trade-
wind clouds had been in sight for a day or two previ-
ously, and we expected to take them every hour.
The light southerly breeze, which had been blowing
languidly during the first part of the day, died away
toward noon, and in its place came puffs from the
north-east, which caused us to take our studding-sails
in and brace up ; and in a couple of hours more we

820 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

were bowling gloriously along, with the cool, steady,
north-easterly trades freshening up the sea, and giving
us as much as we could carry our royals to.

Sunday, Sept. 4th, they left us, in lat. 22° N.,
Ion. 51° w., directly under the tropic of Cancer.

For several days we lay "humbugging about" in
the Horse latitudes, with all sorts of winds and
weather, and occasionally, as we were iu the latitude
of the West Indies, a thunderstorm. The first night
after the trade-winds left us, while we were in the
latitude of the island of Cuba, we had a specimen of
a true tropical thunderstorm. Before midnight it
was dead calm, and a heavy black cloud had shrouded
the whole sky. When our watch came on deck at
twelve o'clock it was as black as Erebus; not a breath
was stirring; the sails hung heavy and motionless
from the yards; and the perfect stillness, and the
darkness, which was almost palpable, were truly
appalling. Not a word was spoken, but every one
stood as though waiting for something to happen.
In a few minutes the mate came forward, and in a
low tone which was almost a whisper, told us to haul
down the jib. The fore and mizzen topgallant
were taken in, in the same silent manner; and we lay
motionless upon the water, with an uneasy expecta-
tion, which, from the long suspense, became actually
painful. Soon the mate came forward again and
gave an order to clew up the main topgallant-sail;

A TROPICAL THUNDERSTORM. 3?l

and so infectious was the awe and silence that the
clewlines and buntlines were hauled up without any
of the customary singing out at the ropes. An
English lad and myself went up to furl it; and we
had just got the bunt up when the mate called out
to us something, we did not hear what; but, suppos-
ing it to be an order to bear a hand, we hurried, and
made all fast, and came down, feeling our way among
the rigging. When we got down we found all hands
looking aloft, and there, directly over where we had
been standing, upon the main topgallant mast-head,
was a ball of light, which the sailors name a corposant
(corpus sancti). They were all watching it carefully,
for sailors have a notion that if the corposant rises
in the rigging it is a sign of fair weather, but if it
comes lower down there will be a storm. Unfortu-
nately, as an omen, it came down, and showed itself
on the topgallant yard-arm.

In a few minutes it disappeared and showed itself
again on the fore topgallant-yard, and, after playing
about for some time, disappeared again, when the
man on the forecastle pointed to it upon the flying-jib-
boom-end. But our attention was drawn from watch-
ing this by the falling of some drops of rain. In a
few minutes low grumbling thunder was heard, and
some random flashes of lightning came from the
south-west. Every sail was taken in but the topsail.
A few puffs lifted the topsails, but they fell again to
21 L

322 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

the mast, and all was as still as ever. A moment
more and a terrific flash and peal broke simultane-
ously upon us, and a cloud appeared to open directly
over our heads, and let down the water in one body
like a falling ocean. We stood motionless and almost
stupefied, yet nothing had been struck. Peal after
peal rattled over our heads with a sound which actu-
ally seemed to stop the breath in the body. The
violent fall of the rain lasted but a few minutes, and
was succeeded by occasional drops and showers ; but
the lightning continued incessant for several hours,
breaking the midnight darkness with irregular and
blinding flashes.

During all this time hardly a word was spoken, no
bells were struck, and the wheel was silently relieved.
The rain fell at intervals in heavy showers, and we
stood drenched through, and blinded by the flashes,
which broke the Egyptian darkness with a brightness
which seemed almost malignant; while the thunder
rolled in peals, the concussion of which appeared to
shake the very ocean. A ship is not often injured by
lightning, for the electricity is separated by the great
number of points she presents, and the quaniity of
iron which she has scattered in various parts. The
electric fluid ran over our anchors, topsail-sheets,
and ties; yet no harm was done to us. We went
below at four o'clock, leaving things in the same state.
It is not easy to sleep when the very next flash may

IN THE GULF STREAM. 323

tear the ship in two or set her on fire ; or where the
death-like calm may be broken by the blast of a hur-
ricane taking the masts out of the ship. But a man
is no sailor if he cannot sleep when he turns in, and
turn out when he's called. And when, at seven bells,
the customary "All the larboard watch, ahoy!"
brought us on deck, it was a fine, clear, sunny morn-
ing, the ship going leisurely along, with a good
breeze, and all sail set.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Itf THE GULF STREAM.

From the latitude of the West Indies, until we got
inside the Bermudas, where we took the westerly and
south-westerly winds, which blow steadily off the
coast of the United States early in the autumn, we
had every variety of weather, and two or three
moderate gales, which came on in the usual manner,
and of which one is a specimen of all. — A fine after-
noon ; all hands at work, some in the rigging, and
others on deck; a stiff breeze, and ship close upon the
wind, and skysails brailed down. Latter part of the
afternoon, breeze increases, ship lies over to it, and
clouds look windy. Spray begins to fly over the fore-
castle, and wets the yarns the boys are knotting; —
ball them up and put them below. — Mate knocks off

824 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

work, and orders a man who has been employed aloft
to send the royal halyards over to windward, as he
comes down. One of the boys furls the mizzen
royal. — Mate gives orders to get supper by the watch,
instead of all hands, as usual. — While eating supper,
hear the watch on deck taking in the royals. — Com-
ing on deck, find it is blowing harder, and an ugly
head sea is running. — Instead of having all hands on
the forecastle in the dog watch, one watch goes below
and turns in, saying that it's going to be an ugly
night, and two hours' sleep is not to be lost. Clouds
look black and wild; wind rising, and ship working
hard against a heavy head sea, which breaks over the
forecastle, and washes aft through the scuppers.
Still no more sail is taken in. At eight bells the
watch go below, with orders to "stand by for a call."
We turn in " all standing," and keep ourselves awake,
saying there is no use in going to sleep to be waked
up again. — Wind whistles on deck, and ship works
hard, groaning and creaking, and pitching into a
heavy head sea, which strikes against the bows with
a noise like knocking upon a rock.— By and by, an
order is u;iven ; — " Ay, ay, sir!" from the forecastle; —
rigging is heaved down on deck; — the noise of a sail
is heard fluttering aloft, and the short, quick cry
which Bailors make when hauling upon clewlines.—
"Here comes his foro topgallant-sail in!" — We are
wide awake, and know all tf"it'« «oin<r on as well as

IN THE GULF STREAM. 325

if we were on deck.— A well-known voice is heard
from the mast-head singing out to the officer of the
watch to haul taut the weather brace. — Next thing,
rigging is heaved down directly over our heads, and
a long-drawn cry and a rattling of hanks announce
that the flying-jib has come in. — The second mate
holds on to the main topgallant-sail until a heavy sea
is shipped, and washes over the forecastle as though
the whole ocean had come aboard; when a noise fur-
ther aft shows that that sail, too, is taking in. — By
and by, — bang, bang, bang, on the scuttle — "All
ha-a-ands aho-o-y!" — We spring out of our berths,
clap on a monkey-jacket and south-wester, and tum-
ble up the ladder. — Mate up before us, and on the
forecastle, singing out like a roaring bull; the captain
singing out on the quarter-deck; and the second
mate yelling, like a hyena, in the waist. The ship
is lying over half upon her beam ends; lee scuppers
under water, and forecastle all in a smother of
foam. — Kigging all let go, and washing about decks;
topsail-yards down upon the caps, and sails flapping
and beating against the masts; and starboard watch
hauling out the reef-tackles of the main topsail. Our
watch haul out the fore, and lay aloft and put two
reefs into it, and reef the foresail, and race with the
starboard watch, to see which will mast-head its top-
sail first. All hands tally-on to the main tack, and
while some are furling the jib and hoisting the stay-

326 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

sail, we mizzen topmen double-reef the mizzen top-
sail and hoist it up. All being made fast — "Go
below, the watch!" and we turn in to sleep out
the rest of the time, which is perhaps an hour and a
half.

Beside the natural desire to get home, we had an-
other reason for urging the ship on. The scurvy had
begun to show itself on board. One man had it so
badly as to be disabled and off duty; and the English
lad, Ben, was in a dreadful state, and was daily grow-
ing worse. His legs swelled and pained him so that
he could uot walk; his flesh lost its elasticity, so that
if it was pressed in, it would not return to its shape;
and his gums swelled until he could not open his
mouth. His breath, too, became very offensive; he
lost all strength and spirit; could eat nothing; grew
worse every day; and, in fact, unless something was
done for him, would be a dead man in a week at the
rate at which he was sinking. The medicines were
all, or nearly all, gone; and if we had had a chest-
full, they would have been of no use; for nothing but
fresh provisions and terra Jirma has any effect upon
the scurvy.

Depending upon the westerly winds, which prevail
off the coast in the autumn, the captain stood well to
the westward, to run inside of the Bermudas, and in
hope of falling in with some vessel bound to the W< .-t
Indies or the Southern States. The scurvy had spread

IN THE GULF STREAM. 327

no farther among the crew, bnt there was danger it
might; and these cases were bad ones.

Sunday, Sept. 11th.— Lat. 30° 04' sr., long. 63° 23'
W. ; the Bermudas bearing north-north-west, distant
one hundred and fifty miles. The next morning,
about ten o'clock, "Sail ho!" was cried on deck, and
all hands turned up to see the stranger. As she drew
nearer, she proved to be an ordinary-looking herm-
aphrodite brig, standing south-south-east. She
hove-to for us, seeing that we wished to speak her;
and we ran down to her, boom-ended our studding-
sails, backed our main top-sail, and hailed her —
"Brig ahoy!" — "Hallo!" — "Where are you from,
pray?" — "From New York, bound to Curacoa." —
" Have you any fresh provisions to spare?" — "Ay, ay,
plenty of them!" We lowered away the quarter-boat
instantly; and the captain and four hands sprang in,
and were soon dancing over the water, and alongside
the brig. In about half an hour they returned with
half a boat-load of potatoes and onions, and each
vessel filled away, and kept on her course. She
proved to be the brig Solon, of Plymouth, from the
Connecticut river, and last from New York, bound
to the Spanish Main, with a cargo of fresh provisions,
mules, tin bake-pans, and other notions.

It was just dinner-time when we filled away; and
the steward, taking a few bunches of onions for the
cabin, gave the rest to us, with a bottle of vinegar.

<J28 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

We carried them forward, stowed them away in the
forecastle, refusing to have them cooked, and ate
them raw, with our beef and bread. And a glorious
treat they were. The freshness and crispness of the
raw onion, with the earthy taste, give it a great,
relish to one who has been a long time on salt pro-
visions. We were perfectly ravenous after them.
We ate them at every meal, by the dozen; and filled
our pockets with them, to eat in our watch on deck.
The chief use, however, of the fresh provisions was
for the men with the scurvy. One of them was able
to eat, and he soon brought himself to by gnawing
upon raw potatoes; but the other, by this time, was
hardly able to open his month; and the cook took
the potatoes raw, pounded them in a mortar, and
gave him the juice to drink. The strong earthy
taste and smell of this extract of the raw potatoes at
first produced a shuddering through his whole frame,
and after drinking it, an acute pain, which ran
through all parts of his body; but knowing by this
that it was taking strong hold, he persevered, drink-
ing a spoonful every hour or so, until, by the effect.
of this drink, and of his own restored hope, he
became so well as to be able to move about, and open
his mouth enough to eat the raw potatoes and onions
pounded into a soft pulp. This course soon restored
ds appetite and strength ; and ten days after we
spoke the So1o}i, so rapid was his recovery that, from

IN THE GULF STREAM, 329

lying helpless and almost hopeless in his berth, he was
at the mast-head, furling a royal.

With a fine south-west wind we passed inside of
the Bermudas; and notwithstanding the old couplet,
which was quoted again and again by those who
ith ought we should have one more touch of a storm
before our voyage was up —

" If the Bermudas let you pass,
You must beware of Hatteras—"

we were to the northward of Hatteras, with good
weather, and beginning to count, not the days, but
the hours, to the time when we should be at anchor
in Boston harbour.

Thursday, Sept. 15th. — This morning the tempera-
ture and peculiar appearance of the water, the quan-
tities of gulf-weed floating about, and a bank of
clouds lying directly before us, showed that we were
on the border of the Gulf stream. This remarkable
current, running north-east, nearly across the ocean,
is almost constantly shrouded in clouds, and is the
region of storms and heavy seas. Vessels often run
from a clear sky and light wind, with all sail, at once
into a heavy sea and cloudy sky, with double-reefed
topsails. As we drew into it the sky became cloudy,
the sea high, and everything had the appearance of
the going off, or the coming on, of a storm. It was
blowing no more than a stiff breeze ; yet the wind,

830 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

being north-east, which is directly against the course
of the current, made an ugly, chopping sea, which
heaved and pitched the vessel about, so that we were
obliged to send down the royal-yards, and to take in
our light sails. At noon the thermometer, which had
been repeatedly lowered into the water, showed the
temperature to be seventy, which was considerably
above that of the air — as is always the case in the centre
of the Stream. A few hours more carried us through ;
and when we saw the sun go down upon our larboard
beam in the direction of the continent of North
America, we had left the bank of dark, stormy clouds
astern in the twilight.

CHAPTER XXXII.

IN HARBOUR.

Friday, Sept. 16th.— Lat. 38° N. ; long. 69° 00*
w. A tine south-west wind; every hour carrying us
nearer in toward the land. All hands on deck at the
dog-watch, and nothing talked about but our getting
in. Every one was in the best spirits; and the voy-
age being nearly at an end, the strictness of discipline
was relaxed; for it was not necessary to order in a
cross tone what every one was ready to do with a
will. The little differences and quarrels which a
long voyage breeds on board a ship were forgotten,

IN HARBOUR. 331

and every one was friendly. When the mate came
forward he talked to the men, and said we should be
on George's Bank before to-morrow noon; and joked
with the boys, promising to go and see them, and to
take them down to Marblehead in a coach.

Saturday, 17th.— The wind was light all day, which
kept us back somewhat; but a fine breeze springing
up at nightfall, we were running fast in toward the
land. At six o'clock we expected to have the ship
hove-to for soundings, as a thick fog coming up
showed we were near them; but no order was given,
**nd we kept on our way. Eight o'clock came, and
the watch went below; and, for the whole of the first
hour, the ship was tearing on with studding-sails out,
alow and aloft, and the night as dark as a pocket.
At two bells the captain came on deck, and said a
word to the mate, when the studding-sails were hauled
into the tops, or boom-ended, the after-yards backed,
the deep-sea lead carried forward, and everything
got ready for sounding. A man on the sprit-sail
yard with the lead, another on the cat-head with a
handful of the line coiled up, another in the fore-
chains, another in the waist, and another in the
main-chains — each with a quantity of the line coiled
away in his hand. "All ready there, forward?"
" Ay, ay, sir!" "He-e-ave!" " Watch ! ho! watch!"
ainprs out the man on the sprit-sail yard, and the
heavy load drops in the water. "Watch! ho!

832 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

watch!" bawls the man on the cat-head, as the last
fake of the coil drops from his hand; and u Watch!
ho! watch!" is shouted by each one as the line falls
from his hold, until it comes to the mate, who
tends the lead, and has the line in coils on the quarter-
deck. Eighty fathoms, and no bottom! The line is
snatched in a block upon the swifter, and three or
four men haul it in and coil it away. The after-
yards are braced full, the wfudding-sails hauled out
again, and in a few minutes more the ship has her
whole way upon her. At four bells, backed again,
hove the lead, and — soundings! at sixty fathoms!
Hurrah for Yankee land ! Hand over hand we hauled
the lead in, and the captain, taking it to the light,
found black mud on the bottom. Studding-sails
taken in; after-yards filled, and ship kept on under
easy sail all night, the wind dying away.

Being off Block Island, our course was due east to
Nantucket Shoals and the South Channel; but the
wind died away, and left us becalmed in a thick fog,
in which we lay all Sunday. At noon,

Sunday, 18th, Block Island bore, by calculation,
N.w. \ w. fifteen miles; but the fog was so thick
all day that we could see nothing.

Having got through the ship's duty, and washed
and shaved, we went below, and had a fine time over
hauling our chests, laying aside the clothes we meant
to go ashore in, and throwing overboard all that were

IN HARBOUR. 333

worn out and good for nothing. We got our chests
all ready for going ashore; ate the last "duff" we
expected to have on board the ship Alert; and talked
as confidently about matters on shore as though our
anchor were on the bottom.

Toward night a moderate breeze sprang up, the
fog, however, continuing as thick as before; aud we
kept on to the eastward. AJDOut the middle of the
first watch a man on tut forecastle sung out, iu a
tone which showed that there was not a moment to
be lost, " Hard up the helm !" and a great ship loomed
up out of the fog, coming directly down upon us.
She luffed at the same moment, and we just passed
one another — our spanker-boom grazing over her
quarter. The fog continued through the night, with
a very light breeze, before which we ran to the east-
ward, literally feeling our way along. The lead was
hove every two hours, and the gradual change from
black mud to sand showed that we were approaching
Nantucket South Shoals.

On Monday morning the increased depth and deep
blue colour of the water, and the mixture of shells
and white sand which we brought up, upon sounding,
showed that we were in the channel and nearing
George's, Accordingly, the ship's head was put
directly to the northward, and we stood on, with per-
fect confidence in the soundings, though we had not
taken an observation for two days, nor seen land.

334 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

Throughout the day a provokingly light wind pre-
vailed, and at eight o'clock a small fishing schooner,
which we passed, told us we were nearly abreast of
Chatham lights. Just before midnight a light land-
breeze sprang up, which carried us well along; and
at four o'clock, thinking ourselves to the northward
of Uace Point, we hauled upon the wind, and stood
into the bay, north-northwest, for Boston light, and
commenced firing guns for a pilot. Our watch went
below at four o'clock, but could not sleep, for the
watch on deck were banging away at the guns every
few minutes.

We turned out at daybreak to get a sight of land.
In the grey of the morning, one or two small fishing
smacks peered out of the mist; and when the broad
day broke upon us, there lay the low sand-hills of
Cape Cod over our larboard quarter, aud before us
the wide waters of Massachusetts Bay, with here and
there a sail gliding over its smooth surface. As we
drew in toward the mouth of the harbour the vessels
began to multiply, until the bay seemed actually alive
with sails gliding about in every direction — some on
the wind, others before it, as they were bound to or
from the emporium of trade and centre of the bay.
It was a stirring sight for us, who had been months
on the ocean without seeing anything but two solitary
flails, and over two years without seeing more than
the three or four traders on an almost desolate coast.

IN HARBOUR. 335

About ten o'clock a little boat came bobbing over the
water, and put a pilot on board. Being now within
the scope of the telegraph stations, our signals were
run up at the fore; and in half an hour afterwards
the owner on 'Change, or in his counting-room, knew
that his ship was below.

The -wind continuing very light, all hands were
sent aloft to strip off the chafing gear; and battens,
parcellings, roundings, hoops, mats, and leathers
came flying from aloft, and left the rigging neat and
clean, stripped of all its sea bandaging. The last
touch was put to the vessel by painting the skysail
poles, and I was sent up to the fore, with a bucket of
white paint and a brush, and touched her off, from
the truck to the eyes of the royal rigging. At noon
we lay becalmed off the lower light-house, and it
being about slack water, we made little progress.
About two o'clock a breeze sprang up ahead, from
the westward, and we began beating up against it.
A full-rigged brig was beating in at the same time,
and we passed one another in our tacks, sometimes
one and sometimes the other working to windward,
as the wind and tide favoured or opposed. It was
my trick at the wheel from two till four, and I stood
my last helm, making between nine hundred and a
thousand hours which I had spent at the helms of
our two vessels. The tide beginning to set against
us, we made slow work ; and the afternoon was nearly

830 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

spent before we got abreast of the inner light.
Towards sundown the wind came off in flaws, some-
times blowing very stiff, so that the pilot took in the
royals, and then it died away — wheu, in order to get
us in before the tide became too strong, the royals
were set again. As this kept us running up and
down the rigging all the time, one hand was sent
aloft at each mast-head, to stand by to loose and furl
the sails at the moment of the order.

"We had all set our hearts upon getting up to town
before night, and going ashore; but the tide, begin-
ning to run strong against us, and the wind being
ahead, we made but little by weather-bowing the tide,
and the pilot gave orders to cock-bill the anchor and
overhaul the chain. Making two long stretches,
which brought us into the roads, under the iee of the
Castle, lie clewed up the topsails and let go the
anchor; and for the first time since leaving San
Diego — one hundred and thirty-five days — our anchor
was upon bottom. In half an hour more we were
lying snugly, with all sails furled, safe in Boston har-
bour, our long voyage ended.

We had just done furling the sails, when a beauti-
ful little pleasure-boat luffed up into the wind, under
our quarter, and the junior partner of the firm, to
which our ship belonged, jumped on board. I saw
him from the mizzen topsail-yard, and knew him
well. He shook the captain by the hand, and went

IN HARBOUR. 337

down into the cabin, and in a few moments came up
and inquired of the mate for me. The last time I
had seen him I was in the uniform of an under*
graduate of Harvard College, and now, to his aston-
ishment, there came down from aloft a " rough alley"
looking fellow, with duck trousers and red shirt, long
hair, and face burnt as black as an Indian's. He
shook me by the hand, congratulated me upon my
return, and my appearance of health and strength,
and said my friends were all well.

The captain went up to town in the boat with Mr.

H , and left us to pass another night on board

ship, and to come up with the morning's tide under
command of the pilot.

So much did we feel ourselves to be already at
home, in anticipation, that our plain supper of hard
bread and salt beef was barely touched; and many ot
board, to whom this was the first voyage, could
scarcely sleep.

About ten o'clock a sea-breeze sprang up, and the
pilot gave orders to get the ship under weigh. All
hands manned the windlass; and the long-drawn
" Yo, heave, ho !" which we had last heard dying
away among the desolate hills of San Diego, soon
brought the anchor to the bows; and, with a fair
wind and tide, a bright sunny morning, royals and
skysails set, ensign, streamer, signals, and pennant
flying, and with our guns firing, we came swiftly and
22

*88 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

handsomely up to the city. Off the end of the wharf,
we rounded-to and let go our anchor; and no sooner
was it on the bottom than the decks were filled with
people — custom house officers; Topliff's agent, to
inquire for news; others inquiring for friends on
board, or left upon the coast; and last and chief,
boarding-house runners, to secure their men. The
city bells were just ringing one when the last turn
was made fast, and the crew dismissed ; and in five
minutes more, not a soul was left on board the good
ship Alert but the old ship-keeper, who had come
down from the counting-house to take charge of her.

Abaft — Towards the stern.

Astern— hi the direction of the stern.

Athwart ships — Across the line of a ship's length.

Athwart hawse — Across the direction of a ship's bow.

Bale — To pump or lift out the water.

Ballast — Weight taken aboard to keep a vessel steady.

Bare poles — No sail set.

Beam ends — Turned over to one side.

Bear down — To come after a vessel from windward.

Bear up, or bear away — To bring a vessel round to the

leeward.
Belay — Fastening ropes around pins.
Bend — Make fast.

Binnacle — Box near helm enclosing compass.
Bitts — Pieces of wood to which cables are fastened.
Blocks— Wooden wheels through which tackle passes.
Boatswain — Officer in charge of rigging, and whose duty it is

to summon crew.
Boom — Spar on which foot of studding-sail is extended.
Bow — Front or prow.
Bower — An anchor.

Bowline — Rope extending from edge of square sail.
Bowsprit — Spar protruding beyond bow.

340 SEA TERMS.

Brace— Rope by which yards are turned about.
Bulwarks— Woodwork around vessel above deck.
Bunt— Middle of a sail.
Buntine — Thin woolen stuff used for flags.
Buntlincs — Ropes for hauling up sails.

Capstan — Machine placed perpendicularly on deck for heav-
ing or hoisting.

Careen — Lie over.

Cat-head — Piece of wood projecting from ship's side to xhich
anchor is secured.

CaCx-paw — Light current during calm.

Caulk — Closing of seams.

Chafing-gear — Covering put on rigging to prevent rubbing.

Cliock — A wedge.

Chock-a-block— When lower block of tackle is hauled cloc»
up to the upper.

('/> //—Lower corner of square sails.

Close-hauled — Yards braced up so as to sail as much as
possible to windward.

Cock-bill — Applied to yards when hauled up at an angle
with deck, and to anchor when hanging to oat-head by
ring only.

Coxswain — Steersman of a boat, and who has charge of it.

Fathom— b\x feet.

Fid — Wooden pin for splicing ropes ; a block of wood or

iron resting on trestle-trees, supporting mast.
Fore-and-aft — Lengthwise with vessel.
Fore-castle — Part of deck in front of foremast.
"Full and by " — Order to helmsman to keep sails full and

sail close to wind.
Furl — Rolling up a sail on boom yard.
Oaff— Spar to which head of a fore-and-aft sail is attached.
Galley— Cooking department.

SEA TERMS. Ml

"Give way"— Order to commence rowing, or to pull hard.
Grapnel— Small boat anchor with claws.
Gunwale (gunnel)— Upper rail of a boat or ship.

Hand over hand— Pulling a rope by placing one hand

rapidly before the other alternately.
Heave to — To lie to.

"Heave in stays " — To turn round in tacking.
Heel over, (to) — To lie over on one side.
Hogged— Strained at each end.
"Hold water" — To keep oars in water and thus impede

boat's way.
Holy stone— Large stone used for cleaning deck.
Hull — Body of a vessel.
Jib — Triangular sail near bow.
— Flying — Sail beyond jib.
Jolly-boat — Small boat hoisted at the stern.

Kink — Hard twist in a rope.

"Knock off" — Order to leave off work.

Knot — A mile.

Larboard — Left side. Now changed to port.

Launch — The long boat.

' Launch ho I " — High enough.

"Lay / "-r-Come or go — as lay aloft.

Lee — Quiet side in contradistinction to weather side.

Leeward— Opposite of windward.

Leeway — Space lost by a vessel drifting to leeward.

"Lie to ! "—Order to stop progress in sailing.

"Light out to windward ! " — Haul sail over to windward.

LigUer— Boat used in loading and unloading.

List— Inclination of vessel to one side— as " list to port."

Log or log-book— Ship' 's journal.

Log — Line used to ascertain rate of ship's sailing.

Long boat — Large boat.

342 SEA TERMS.

Loof— Part of ship where planks bend towards stern.
Loom — Part of oar resting between the pins or row-locks.
Luff— as spring-a-luff— Order to helmsman to keep nearer

to wind.
"Luff and touch her!" — Order to bring vessel up and see

how near she can sail to wind.
Lugger — Small vessel carrying lug-sails.
Lug-sail — Sail which hangs obliquely to mast.
Lurch — Kolling of vessel to one side.
Marlingsplke — An iron pin.
Mate — Officer next to captain.
Midships-^Iiddle or broadest part of ship.
''Miss stay* " — Missing the tack.
Mizen-mas* — One nearest stern.

Moon-sail — Small sail sometimes carried above skysail.
Moor — Anchoring by two anchors.

Neap tides — Low tides occurring at middle of moon's second

and fourth quarters.
"Near I " — Order to steersman when too near wind.

Oakum— T^w used for caulking and filling up holes.

Off-and-w*— Tacking to and from the land.

Off no— Distance from shore.

Overhaul — To slacken as applied to ropes.

Pain'cr— Cope at boat's bow for making fast on capstan or

windlass.
Paid — Iron check-bar to prevent turning back.
Pay off— When vessel's head falls off from wind.
Pay out — To let cable run out.
Pinnace — Largish boat between launch and cutter.
Poop — High deck at stern. "Pooped" sea breaking over

sterw.
Port — Let side. Same as larboard. "Port the ?ielm!"-~

Put it to left side.

SEA TERMS. 343

Quarter-deck — Part beyond the main mast.

Rake — Inclination of mast from the perpendicular.

Range of cable — A coil ready to pay out.

Reef— Curtailing sail by tying up the reef bands.

Reeve — To pass the end of a rope through a block or hole.

Riding at anchor — Lying at anchor.

"Right the helm/" — Put it amidships — straight with ship.

"Round in /" — Haul in on a rope.

"Round up / " — Haul up on a tackle.

Rowlocks or Rollocks — Apertures or pins in gunwale ot

boats for oars to rest in.
Royal — Light sail above top-gallant.
Rudder — Helm of small boat.
Run or to let go "by the run " — To let go at once instead of

slacking off.

Sag— To drift.

"Sail ho ! "—Exclamation when stranger ship comes in sight.

Scud — To drive before gale without sail.

Scull— Short oar. "To scull"— To row with one oar from

stern of boat.
Scuttle— "To scuttle a ship "—To sink her by boring holes in

her bottom.
Seize — To fasten rope.
Sheet anchor— Main anchor.
Shrouds— Ropes supporting masts extending from top of

masts to sides of ship.
Skysail— Light sail above the royal.
Slack— The loose or hanging part of rope or sail.
Slue — To turn round or over.
Snub— To check a rope suddenly.
"So /"—Order to stop pulling rope in.
Spanker— The after fore-and-aft sail.
Spar — Mast, yard or boom.

344 SEA TERMS.

Spell— Portion of time given to any work.

Spell, to— To relieve another at work.

tlSpell ho /"—Exclamation to be relieved from work by

another.
Spencer— A fore-and-aft sail abaft fore and main masts.
Splice — Joining two ropes together.
Square, as to "Square yards"— To make them horizontal

with keel.
Square sail— A temporary sail at the foremast.
"Stand by ! " — Be in readiness.

Standing — Applied to part of rope or rigging made fast.
Starboard — Right side.
Starbowlines— When in starboard watch.
Stay — To put about a vessel on other tack.
Stays — Thick ropes fastening masts from top of one to foot

of another.
"SU ady /"—Order to keep helm straight, in same position.
Strike— To lower.

Studding-sails — Set outside the square sails.
"Surge ho /" — To slack up a rope quickly.
Sv:ab— Mop of old rope.

Tack— To put about by bringing head round, opposed to

wearing. Starboard-tuck — When wind is on starboard

side.
Taffrail— Railing round stern.
Tail up or down — Swinging up or down with tide when At

anchor, opposed to heading.
11 Tail on.'" or " Tatty on/"— Order to take hold of mpe

and pull.
Tauni-U'igh or tall. "All a-taunt " — When all the light

masts and spars are aloft.
Ta ut— Tight.
Thole-pins— Pins of wood or metal inserted in gunwale of boat

for holding oars— same as Rollocks.

SEA TERMS. 345

Thwarts— Oarsmen's seats across boats.
Tiller— Spoke handle for rudder of sailing boat.
Timber-heads— Projecting pieces of wood to which ropes are

made fast.
Top— Platform on mast resting on trestle-trees.
Top-light— Signal lantern carried aloft.
Top-mast — Second above deck.
Top-gallant mast—Third above deck.
Touch — Applied to sail flapping.
Transoms— Pieces of wood across the sternport.
Trestle-trees— Timbers at mast-head to support cross-trees and

top.
Trice— To haul up by means of a rope.
Trick — Man's time at helm.

Truck— Knot of wood on the top of highest mast.
Trysail — A fore and aft sail set behind.
" Turn up /" — Order to summon men from below.
Vang— Rope used for steadying gaff.
Veer — To change.

Veer and haul — To pull and slack alternately.
Warp— To moor a vessel from one place to another by

means of a rope made fast to some fixed object.
Wear— Turning a vessel round by the stern so as to catch

wind. Opposed to tacking.
Weather — Direction from which the wind blows.
Weatherly ship— One that works well to windward.
Weigh— To lift up or to weigh the anchor.
Windlass— Rotary machine for same purpose as capstan but

placed horizontally, used in merchant ships to weigh

the anchor, etc.
Yard — Long spar to which sail is attached.
Yard-arm — Extremity of a yard.
Yoke— Wooden handle to rudder in rowing boat with lines

for each hand to steer by.

0

'A

O

o

M

P-1

P

<
GO

hi
H

«l
DC

go

ft

H

w

C
3

111

fa

d a

a> o >. s

N n F ;£
o

a © bo O

A Q « O

1 3

m Q

-a

5

d q

t'.O
R

5 GO

M dj .-j oJ

o, CD f*> <U

o H .9 H

M

5 o

gg^flhPhPhP

H

d 6 d 6

..-i •*- .^ -*3 .-h •+»

^ P ^ P g ft

ft

o

ft

o .

ft

Si bO ""3 H
r2 9* Cb Z* PS 13

bO CO m

.S © «"

^ o "*

h H S

© £

S ©

5, o

CO P^

S « S ?

2 £ 2 •§

O O O l5

Ph Ph Ph ^

H h « co

g 03 P* '
r^ f>> O P*
P ^J f_t O

d d

.s s

a 3

9

i

9

d. g

b o d © b & b ^2 -~ o 8

H W M Tf »C (O

CO 0> O i-H CM

b £

fe

&7

PUBLICATIONS OF

Henry Altemus Company

PHILADELPHIA

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED VADEMECUM SERIES.

Containing the most popular works of standard
authors. Handy Volume, Large Type editions,
with appropriate text and full-page Illustrations.
Superior paper and printing. Illuminated title
pages, etched portraits, and original aquarelle
frontispieces in eight colors.

Full cloth, ivory finish , embossed gold and inlaid
colors, with side titles, boxed, 40 cents.

1 Abbe Constant in. Halevy.

2 Adventures of a Brownie. Mulock.

3 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Carroll.

4 American Notes. Kipling.

5 Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

6 Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. Holmes.

7 A Son of the Carol inas. Salter thwaite.

8 Antony and Cleopatra. Shakespeare

9 A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakes-

peare.

11 Bab Ballads and Savoy Songs. Gilbert.

12 Bacon's Essays.

13 Balzac's Shorter Stories.

14 Barrack-Room Ballads and Ditties.

Kipling.

15 Battle of Life. Dickens.

16 Biglow Papers. Lowell.

17 Black Beauty. Sewell.

18 Blith^dale Romance, The. Hawthorne.

19 Bracebridge Hail. Irving.

20 Bryant's Poems

Altemns' New Illustrated Vademecum Serles.-Gontiimed

... 3i Beecher's Addresses.

... 22 Best Thoughts. Henry Drummond.

... 23 Brook's Addresses.

... 26 Cam i He. Dumas, Jr.

... 27 Carmen. Merimee.

... 28 Charlotte Temple. Rowson.

... 29 Chesterfield's Letters, Sentences and

Maxims.
... 30 Child's Garden of Verses. Stevenson.
... 31 Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Byron.
... 32 Chimes, The. Dickens.
... 33 Christie's Old Organ. Walton.
... 34 Christmas Carol, A. Dickens.
... 35 Confessions of an Opium Eater. De

Quincy.
... 36 Cranford. Gasket I.
... 37 Cricket on the Hearth. Dickens.
... 38 Crown of Wild Olive, The. Ruskin.
... 39 Comedy of Errors. Shakespeare.
... 4P Crucifixion of Philip Strong. Sheldon.
... 43 Day Breaketh, The. Shugeri.
... 44 Days with Sir Roger De Covertey.

Addison.
... 45 Discourses, Eplctetus.
... 46 Dog of Flanders, A. Ouida.
... 47 Dream Life. Mitchell.
... 48 Dally Food for Christians.
... 49 Drummond's Addresses.
... 51 Emerson's Essays, First Series.
... 52 Emerson's Essays, Second Series.
... 53 Endymion. Keats.
... 54 Essays of Ella. Lamb.
... 55 Ethics of the Dust. Ruskin.
... 56 Evangeline. Longfellow.

Attemos' New Illustrated Vademecum Series.— Continued

... 61 Fairy Land of Science. Buckley.

m. 62 Fanchon. Sand.

... 63 For Daily Bread. Sienkiewicz.

... 67 Grammar of Palmistry. St. Hill.

... 68 Greek Heroes. Kingsley.

... 69 Gulliver's Travels. Swift.

... 70 Gold Dust.

... 73 Hamlet. Shakespeare.

... 74 Hania. Sienkiewicz.

... 75 Haunted Man, The. Dickens.

... 76 Heroes and Hero Worship. Carlyle.

... 77 Hiawatha, The Song of. Longfellow.

... 78 Holmes' Poems.

... 79 House of the Seven Gables. Hawthorne.

... 80 House of the Wolf. Weyman.

... 81 Hyperion. Longfellow.

M 87 Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, ferotne.

... 88 Idylls of the King. Tennyson.

... 89 Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture.

Gladstone.
... 90 In Black and White. Kipling.
... 91 In Memoriam. Tennyson.
... 92 Imitation of Christ. A'Kempis.
... 93 In His Steps. Sheldon.
... 95 Julius Caesar. Shakespeare.
... 96 Jessica's First Prayer. Stretton.
... 97 J. Cole. Gellibrand.
... 98 John Ploughman's Pictures. Spurgeon,
... 99 John Ploughman's Talk. Spurgeon.
...100 King Richard III. Shakespeare.
...101 Kavanagh. Longfellow.
...102 Kidnapped. Stevenson.
~io3 Knickerbocker's History of New York.

Altemus' New Illustrated Vudcmecum Series.- Continued

..104 Keble's Christian Year.

.105 Kept for the Master's Use. Ilavergal.

..106 King Lear. Shakespeare.

..107 La Belle Nivernaise. Daudet.

..10S Laddie and Miss Toosey's Mission.

..109 Lady of the Lake. Scott.

..no Lalla Rookh. Moore.

..in Last Essays of Elia. Lamb.

..112 Lays of Ancient Rome, The. MacatUay.

..113 Let Us Follow Him. SienkiewicM.

..114 Light of Asia. Arnold.

..115 Light That Failed, The. Kipling.

..116 Little Lame Prince. Mulock.

..117 Longfellow's Poems, Vol. I,

..118 Longfellow's Poems, Vol. II.

..119 Lowell's Poems.

..120 Lucile. Meredith.

..121 Line Upon Line.

..126 Magic Nuts, The. Moleswortk.

..127 Manon Lescaut. Prevost.

..128 Marmion. Scott.

.129 Master of Ballantrae, The. Stevenson.

.130 Milton's Poems.

.131 Mine Own People. Kipling.

.132 Minister of the World, A. Mason.

.133 Mosses from an Old Manse. Hawthorne.

.134 Mulvaney Stories. Kipling.

.135 Macbeth. Shakespeare.

.140 Natural Law in the Spiritual World.
Drummovd.

.141 Nature, Addresses and Lectures.

Emerson .

.145 Old Christmas. Irving.

AKemus' New Illustrated Vademecum Series.— Continued

...146 Outre- Mer. Longfellow.

...147 Othello, the Moor of Venice. Shakespeare.

...150 Paradise Lost. Milton.

...151 Paradise Regained. Milton.

...152 Paul and Virginia. Sainte Pierre.

...153 Peter Schlemihl. Chamisso.

...154 Phantom Rickshaw. Kipling.

...155 Pilgrim's Progress, The. Bunyan,

...156 Plain Tales from the Hills. Kipling.

...157 Pleasures of Life. Lubbock.

...158 Plutarch's Lives.

...159 Poe's Poems.

...160 Prince of the House of David. Ingraham.

...161 Princess and Maud. Tennyson.

...162 Prue and I. Curtis.

...163 Peep of Day.

...164 Precept Upon Precept.

...169 Queen of the Air. Ruskin.

...172 Rab and His Friends. Brown.

...173 Representative Men. Emerson.

...174 Reveries of a Bachelor. Mitchell.

...175 Rip Van Winkle. Irving.

...176 Romance of a Poor Young Man. FeuilUU

...177 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

...178 Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare.

...179 Robert Hardy's Seven Days. Sheldon,

...182 Samantha at Saratoga. Holley.

...183 Sartor Resartus. Carlyle.

...r8|. Scarlet Letter, The. Hawthorne.

...185 School for Scandal. Sheridan.

...186 Sentimental Journey, A. Sterne.

...187 Sesame and Lilies. Ruskin.

...188 Shakespeare's Heroines. Jameson.

...189 She Stoops to Conquer. Goldsmith,

Altemus' New Illustrated Vsdemecum Series. -Continued

.190 Silas Marner. Eliot.
.191 Sketch Book, The. Irving.
.192 Snow Image, The, Hawthorne.
199 Tales from Shakespeare. Lamb.
.200 Tanglewood Tales. Hawthorne.
.201 Tartarln of Tarascon. Daudet.
.202 Tartarln on the Alps. Daudet.
.203 Ten Nights in a Bar-Room. Arthur.
.204 Things Will Take a Turn. Harradew.
.205 Thoughts. Marcus Aurelius.
.206 Through The Looking Glass. Carroll.
.2c; Tom Brown's School Days. Hughes.
.2(8 Treasure Island. Stevenson.
.209 Twice Told Tales. Hawthorne.
.210 Two Years Before the Mast. Dana.
.211 The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare.
.212 The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Shakespeare.

.217 Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe.
2i3 Undine. Fouque.
.222 Vic, the autobiography of a fox-terrtei

Marsh.
.223 Vicar of Wakefield. Goldsmith.
.22b Walden. Thoreau.
.2.7 Water- Babies. Kingsley.
.22$ Weird Tales. Poe.
.229 What is Art. Tolstoi.
.230 Whittier's Poems, Vol. I.
.231 Whittier's Poems, Vol II.
• 2jj Window In Thrums. Barrie.
.233 Women's Work in the Home. Farrar.
.234 Wonder Book, A. Hawthorne,
.241 Yellowplush Papers. 'I he. Thackeray.
.244 Zoe. By author of Laddie, etc.

Henry Altemus' Publications.

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED
ONE SYLLABLE SERIES FOR YOUNG READERS.

Embracing popular works arranged for the
young folks in words of one syllable.

Printed from extra large clear type on fine en-
amelled paper and fully illustrated by famous
artists. The handsomest line of books for young
children before the public.

Fine English cloth ; handsome, new, original
designs. 50 cents.

1. yEsop's Fables. 62 illustrations.

2. A Child's Life of Christ. 49 illustrations.
5. A Child's Story of the Bible. 72 illus-
trations.

4. The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. 70

illustrations.

5. Bun yan's Pilgrim's Progress. 46 illus-

trations.

6. Swiss Family Robinson. 50 illustrations.

7. Gulliver's Travels. 50 illustrations.

8. Bible Stories for Little Children. 80 illus-

trations.

ALTEMUS'
YOUNQ PEOPLES' LIBRARY.

PRICE, SO CENTS EACH.

Robinson Crusoe. (Chiefly in words of one
syllable.) His life and strange, surprising
adventures, with 70 beautiful illustrations by
Walter Paget.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. With 42
illustrations by John Tenniel. " The most de-
lightful of children's stories. Elegc2- and
delicious nonsense." — "Saturday Review."

Through the Looking-glass and what Alice
Found There. A companion to "Alice in
Wonderland," with 50 illustrations by John
Tenniel.

Altemus' Young Peoples' Library.- Continued.

Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Arranged for
young readers. With 50 full-page aud text
illustrations.

A Child's Story of the Bible. With 72 full-page
illustrations.

A Child's Life of Christ. With 49 illustration*.
Non-sectarian. Children are early attracted
and sweetly riveted by the wonderful Story of
the Master from the Manger to the Throne.

Swiss Family Robinson. With 50 illustrations.
The father of the family tells the tale of the
vicissitudes through which he and his wife and
children pass, the wonderful discoveries made
and dangers encountered. The book is full of
interest and instruction.

Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of
America. With 70 illustrations. Every Am-
erican boy and girl should be acquainted with
the story of the life of the great discoverer,
with its struggles, adventures and trials.

The Story of Exploration and Discovery in
Africa. With 80 illustrations. Records the
experiences of adventures and discoveries in
developing the "Dark Continent."

The Fables of /Esop. Compiled from the best
accepted sources. With 62 illustrations. The
fables of JEsop are among the very earliest
compositions of thin kind, and probably have
never been surpassed for point and brevity.

Gulliver's Travels. Adapted for young readers,
with 50 illustrations.

Moth r Goose's Rhymes, Jingles and Fairy
Tales. With 234 illustrations.

Lives of the Presidents of th -■ United States.

By Prescott Holmes. With portraits of the
Presidents and also of the unsuccessful camtt-

Altemus' Young Peoples' Library.— Gontinued.

dates for the office ; as well as the ablest of the
Cabinet officers. Revised and up-to-date.
The Story of Adventure in the Frozen Seas.

With 70 illustrations. By Prescott Holmes.
The book shows how much can be accomplished
by steady perseverance and indomitable pluck.

Illustrated Natural History. By the Rev. J. G.
Wood, with 80 illustrations. This author has
done more to popularize the study of natural
history than any other writer. The illustrations
are striking and life-like.

A Child's History of England. By Charles
Dickens, with 50 illustrations. Tired of listen-
ing to his children memorize the twaddle of old-
fashioned English history, the author covered
the ground in his own peculiar and happy style
for his own children's use. When the work
was published its success was instantaneous.

Black Beauty : The Autobiography of a Horse.
By Anna Sewell, with 50 illustrations. This
work is to the animal kingdom what '* Uncle
Tom's Cabin " was to the Afro-American.

The Arabian Nights Entertainments. With
130 illustrations. Contains the most favorably
known of the stories.

Grimm's Fairy Tales. With 55 illustrations.
The tales are a wonderful collection, as in-
teresting, from a literary point of view, as they
are delightful as stories.

Flower Fables. By Louisa May Alcott. With
numerous illustrations, full-page and text.

A series of very interesting fairy tales by the
most charming of American story-tellers.

Andersen's Fairy Tales. By Hans Christian
Andersen. With 77 illustrations.

These wonderful tales are not only attractive
to the young, but equally acceptable to those
of mature years.

Altemus* Youno Peoples* Library.— Continued.

Grandfather's Chair ; A History for Youth. By

Nathaniel Hawthorne. With 60 illustrations.
The story of America from the landing of the
Puritans to the acknowledgement without re-
serve of the Independence of the United States.

Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard. By Mary and
Elizabeth Kirby, with 60 illustrations. Stories
about Tea, Coffee, Sugar, Rice and Chinaware,
and other accessories of the well-kept Cupboard.

Battles of the War for Independence. By
Prescott Holmes, with 70 illustrations. A
graphic and full history of the Rebellion of the
American Colonies from the yoke and oppres-
sion of England. Including also an account of
the second war with Great Britain, and the
War with Mexico.

Battles of the War for the Union. By Prescott
Holmes, with 80 illustrations. A correct and
impartial account of the greatest civil war in
the annals of history. Both of these histories
of American wars are a necessary part of the edu-
cation of all intelligent American boys and girls.

Water Babies. By Charles Kingsley, with 84
illustrations. A charming fairy tale.

Young People's History of the War with Spain.
By Prescott Holmes, with 86 illustrations. The
story of the war for the freedom of Cuba,
arranged for young readers.

Heroes of the United States Navy. By Hart-
well James, with 65 illustrations. From the
days of the Revolution until the end of the
War with Spain.

Military Heroes of the United States. By
Hartwell James, with nearly 100 illustrations.
Their brave deeds from Lexington to Santiago,
told in a captivating manner.

Uncle Toin's Cabin. By Harriet Beecher Stowe,
with 50 illustrations. Arranged for young
readers.

Sea kings and Naval Heroes. By Hartwell
James, with 50 illustrations.

Altemus' Illustrated Editions.

Abbott's Historical Series.

PRICE, 50 CENTS EACH.

A well-known and popular series of biographical histories,
"by Jacob Abbott, containing the lives and deeds of foun ers
of Empires, Her es and Heroines of History, Kings, Queens
and Conquerors.

Handsomely printed from large, clear type, on extra-fine
super-calendered paper and embellished with half-tone
frontispieces, numerous full-page and text illustrations and
maps

. i Romulus, the Founder of Rome. With 49

illustrations.
. 2 Cyrus the Great, the Founder of the

Persian Empire. With 40 illustrations.
. 3 Darius the Great, King of the Medes and

Persian. With 34 illustrations.
. 4 Xerxes the Great, King of Persia. With

39 illustrations.
. 5 Alexander the Great, King of Macedon.

With 51 illustrations.
. 6 Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. With 45 illus-
trations.
. 7 Hannibal, the Carthaginian. With 37 illus-
trations.
. 8 Julius Cajsar, the Roman Conqueror.

With 44 illustrations.
. 9 Alfred the Great, of England. With 40

illustrations.
.10 William the Conqueror, of England. With

43 illustrations.
.11 Hernando Cortez, the Conqueror of

Mexico. With 30 illustrations.
.12 Mary, Queen of Scots. With 45 illustrations.
.13 Queen Elizabeth, of England. With 49

illustrations.
.14 King Charles the First, of England. With

41 illustrations.
.15 King Charles the Second, of England.

With 38 illustrations.
.16 Maria Antoinette, Queen of France. With

41 illustrations.

Altemus' Illustrated Editions.— Continued.

.17 Madam Roland, A Heroine of the French

Revolution. With 42 illustrations.
.18 Josephine, Empress of France. Witk 40

illustrations.

Altemus* Dainty Series of
Choice Gift Books.

PRICE, 50 CENTS.

Bound in half-white Vellum, illuminated sides,
unique design in gold, with numerous half-tone
illustrations. Size, 6^ x 8 inches.

... i The Silver Buckle. By M. Nataline Crump-
ton. With 12 illustrations.
... 2 Charles Dickens' Children Stories. Witk

30 illustrations.
... 3 The Children's Shakespeare. With 30

illustrations
... 4 Young Robin Hood. By G. Manville Fenn.

With 30 illustrations.
... s Honor Bright. By Mary C. Rowsell. With

24 illustrations.
... 6 The Voyage of the Mary Adair. By Frances

E. Crompton. With 19 illustrations.
... 7 The Kingfisher's Egg. By h. T. Meade.

With 24 illustrations.
... 8 Tattine. By Ruth Ogden. With 24 illus-
trations.
... 9 The Doings of a Dear Little Couple By

Mary D. Brine. With 20 illustrations.
Our Soldier Boy. By G. Manville Fenn.

With 23 illustrations.
...11 The Little Skipper. By G. Manville Fenn.

With 22 illustrations.
...12 Little Gervaise and other Stories. With

22 illustrations.
...13 The Christmas Fairy. By John Strange

Winter. With 24 illustrations.

ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED DEVOTIONAL SERIES

An entirely new line of popular Religious Litera-
ture, carefully printed on fine paper, daintily and
durably bound in handy volume size.

Full White Vellum, handsome new mosaic design
in gold and colors, gold edges, boxed, 50 cents.

1 Abide in Christ. Murray.

3 Beecher's Addresses.

4 Best Thoughts. From Henry Drummond.

5 Bible Birthday Book.

6 Brooks' Addresses.

7 Buy Your Own Cherries, Kirton.

8 Changed Cross, The.

9 Christian Life. Oxenden.
10 Christian Living. Meyer.

12 Christie's Old Organ. Walton,

13 Coming to Christ. Havergal.

14 Daily Food for Christians.

15 Day Breaketh, The. Shugert.

17 Drummond's Addresses.

18 Evening Thoughts. Havergal.

19 Gold Dust.

20 Holy in Christ.

21 Imitation of Christ, The. A'Kempis.

22 Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture.

Gladstone*

23 Jessica's First Prayer. Stretton.

24 John Ploughman's Pictures. Spurgeon.

25 John Ploughman's Talk. Spurgeon.

26 Kept for the Master's Use. Havergal.

27 Keble's Christian Year.

28 Let Us Follow Him. Sienkiewicz.

29 Like Christ. Murray.

30 Line Upon Line.

31 Manliness of Christ, The. Hughes.

Henry Altemus' Publications.

32 Message of Peace, The. Church,

33 Morning Thoughts. Havergal.

34 My King and His Service. Havergal.

35 Natural Law in the Spiritual World.

_ ^ _ _ . Drummond.

37 Pathway or Promise.

38 Pathway of Safety. Oxend^n.

39 Peep of Day.

40 Pilgrim's Progress, The. Bunyan.

41 Precept Upon Precept.

42 Prince of the House of David. Ingrahatn.

44 Shepherd Psalm. Meyer.

45 Steps Into the Blessed Life. Meyer.

46 Stepping Heavenward. Prentiss.

47 The Throne of Grace.
50 With Christ. Murray.

Tho Rise of the Dutch Republic (a History). By John Loch-
rop Motley. 55 full-page halftone Engravings. Complete in
two volumes — over 1,600 pages. Crown 8vo. Cloth, per set,
$3.00. Half Morocco, gilt top, per set, $3 35.

Quo Vadls. A tale of the time of Nero, by Henryk Sienkiewict.
Complete and unabridged Translated by Dr. S. A. Binion.
Illustrated by M. De Lipman. Crown 8vo. Cloth, ornamen-
tal, 515 pages, $1.25.

With Fire and Sword By the author ot "Quo Vadit." A
tale of the past. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. &i$ pages, $1.00.

Pan Michael. By the author of " Quo Vadis." A historical
tale. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 530 pages, fi.oo,

Julian, the Apostate. By S. Mereshkovski. Illustrated. Clotn
laino. 450 pages, f, 1.00.

Manual of flythology. For the use of Schools, Art Students,
and General Keaders, by Alexander S. Murray. With Notes,
Revisions, and Additions by William H. Klapp. With 200
illustrations and an exhaustive Index. Large ismo. Over
400 pages, $1.35.

The Acre of Pable ; or Beauties of Mythology. By Thomas
Buffinch, with Notes, Revisions, and Additions by William H.
Klapp. With aoo illustrations and an exhaustive Index. Large
ismo. 450 pages, $1.25.

Stephen. A Soldier of the Cross. By Florence Morse
Kingsley, author of " Titus, a Comrade of the Cross." Cloth,
ismo. 369 pages, $1.00.

Henry Altemus' Publications.

The Cross Triumphant. By Florence Morse Kingsley, author
of ** Paul and Stephen." Cloth, 1211. o. 364 pages, $1 00.,

Paul. A Herald of the Cross. By Florence Morse Kingsley.
Cloth, xamo. 450 page*, $1.00.

The Pilgrim's Progress, as John Bunyan wrote it. A fac-
simile- reproduction of the first edition, published in 167ft
Antique cloth, nmo, #1.25.

The Fairest of the Fair. By Hildegarde Hawthorne. Cloth.
i6mo. $1.25.

Around the World In Eighty Minutes. Contains over io#

photographs of the most famous places and edifices, with des*

criptive text. Cloth, 50 cents.
Shakespeare's Complete Works. With 64 Boydell, and

numerous oiher illustrations, four volumes, over 2,000 pages.

Half Morocco, 12010. Boxed, per set. $3.00.

The Care of Children. By Elizabeth R. Scovil. Cloth, 12m*.
£1.00

Preparation for Motherhood. By Elizabeth R. Scova. Cloth,

xamo. 320 pages, #1.00.

Baby's Requirements. By Elizabeth R. Scovil. Limp bind-
ing, leatherette. 25 cents.

Names for Children. By Elizabeth Robinson Scovil. Cloth,
izmo. 40 cents.

Trlf and Trlxy. By John Habberton, author of " Helen's

Babies." Cloth, 1 21110. 50 cents.
She Who Will Not When She May. By Eleanor G. Walton.

Half-tone illustrations by C P. M. Rumford. "An exquisite

prose idyll." Cloth, gilt top, deckle edges. $j .00.
A Son of the Carolinas. By C. E. Satterthwaite. Cloth,

i2!«o. »8o pages, 50 cents.
What Women Should Know. By Mrs. E. B. Duffy. Cloth,

3*o pages, 75 cents.

Dore Masterpieces.

The Dore Bible Gallery. Containing 100 full-page engravings

by Gustave Dore.
Milton** Paradise Lost* With 50 full-page engravings by Gus-

tave Dore.

Dante's Inferno. With 75 full-page engravings by Gustave
Dor*.

Dante's Purgatory and Paradise. With 60 full-page engrav-
ings by Gustave Dore.

Tennyson's Idylls of the King. With 37 full-page engravings
by Gustave Dore.

The Rime of the Ancient flarlner. By Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, with 46 full-page engravings by Gustave Dore.
Cloth, ornamental, large quarto (9 x 12). Each j$».oo.

ALTEWUS' EDITION SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.
HANDY VOLUME SIZE.

With a historical and critical introduction to each
volume, by Professor Henry Morley.

Limp cloth binding, gold top, illuminated title

and frontispiece 35 cts.

Paste-grain roan, flexible, gold top ... 50 cts.

1. All's Well that Ends Well.

2. Antony and Cleopatra.

3. A Midsummer Night's Dream.

4. As Vou Like It.

5. Comedy of Errors.

6. Coriolanus.

7. Cymbeline.

8. Hamlet.

9. Julius Caesar,
xo. King Henry IV. (Part I.)
11 King Henry IV. (Part II.),
i3 King Henry V.
13. King Henry VI. (Part I.)
14- King Henry VI. (Part II.)
is King Henry VI. (Part III.)

16. King Henry VIII.

17. King John.

18. King Lear.

19. King Richard II.

30. King Richard III.

31. Love's Labour's Lost.
33. Macbeth.

33. Measure for Measure.

34. Much Ado About Nothing.

35. Othello.

36. Pericles.
97. Romeo and Juliet.

38. Ths Merchant of Venice.

39. The Merry Wives of Windsor.

30. 1 he Taming of the Shrew.

31. The Tempest.

33. The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
31. The Winters Tale.

34. Timon of Athens.
IS. Tiius Andrnnicus.

36. Troilus and Cressida.

37. Twelfth rvlghr.

38. Venus and Adonis and Lucrece.

39. Sonnets, Passionate Pilgrim, Etc

0

G

D2
1895

Dana, Richard Henry

Two years before the mast

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY