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Chapter IX
Chapter IX
California - A South-Easter
California extends along nearly the whole of the western coast of Mexico,
between the gulf of California in the south and the bay of Sir Francis Drake
on the north, or between the 22nd and 38th degrees of north latitude. It is
subdivided into two provinces - Lower or Old California, lying between the
gulf and the 32nd degree of latitude, or near it; (the division line running,
I believe, between the bay of Todos Santos and the port of San Diego;) and New
or Upper California, the southernmost port of which is San Diego, in lat. 32
degrees 39`, and the northernmost, San Francisco, situated in the large bay
discovered by Sir Francis Drake, in lat. 37 degrees 58`, and called after him
by the English, though the Mexicans call it Yerba Buena. Upper California has
the seat of its government at Monterey, where is also the custom-house, the
only one on the coast, and at which every vessel intending to trade on the
coast must enter its cargo before it can commence its traffic. We were to
trade upon this coast exclusively, and therefore expected to go to Monterey at
first; but the captain`s orders from home were to put in at Santa Barbara,
which is the central port of the coast, and wait there for the agent who lives
there, and transacts all the business for the firm to which our vessel
belonged.
The bay, or, as it was commonly called, the canal of Santa Barbara, is
very large, being formed by the main land on one side, (between Point
Conception on the north and Point St. Buena Ventura on the south,) which here
bends in like a crescent, and three large islands opposite 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 exposed to the
south-east and northwest 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 in to the shore during the south-easter
season, that is, between the months of November and April.
This wind (the south-easter) is the bane of the coast of California,
Between the months of November and April, (including a part of each), which is
the rainy season in this latitude, 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, in eleven fathoms water, and bent a slip-rope and buoys to our
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. We spent the day on
board in the usual avocations; but as this was the first time we had been
without the captain, we felt a little more freedom, and looked about us to see
what sort of a country we had got into, and were to spend a year or two of our
lives in.
In the first place, it was a beautiful day, and so warm that we had on
straw hats, duck trowsers, and all the summer gear; and as this was
mid-winter, it spoke well for the climate; and we afterwards found that the
thermometer 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 300 tons, with raking masts and very
square yards, and English colors at her peak. We afterwards learned that she
was built at Guayaquil, and named the Ayacucho, after the place where the
battle was fought that gave Peru her independence, 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 afterwards perceived, and had a crew of Sandwich Islanders on
board. Beside this vessel there was no object to break the surface of the bay.
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 mission upon it, called St.
Buenaventura, from which the point is named. In the middle of this crescent,
directly opposite the anchoring ground, lie the mission and town of Santa
Barbara, on a low, flat plain, but little above the level of the 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. The mission stands a little back of the town, and is a large
building, or rather collection of buildings, in the center of which is a high
tower, with a belfry of five bells; and the whole, being plastered, makes
quite a show at a distance, and is the mark by which vessels come to anchor.
The town lies a little nearer to the beach - about half a mile from it - and
is composed of one-story houses built of brown clay - some of them plastered -
with red tiles on the roofs. I should judge that there were about an hundred
of them; and in the midst of them stands the Presidio, or fort, built of the
same materials, and apparently but little stronger. The town is certainly
finely situated, with a bay in front, and an amphitheatre of hills behind. The
only thing which diminishes its beauty is, that the hills have no large trees
upon them, they having been all burnt by a great fire which swept them off
about a dozen years before, and they had not yet grown up again. The fire was
described to me by an inhabitant, as having been a very terrible and
magnificent sight. The air of the whole valley was so heated that the people
were obliged to leave the town and take up their quarters for several days
upon the beach.
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 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
experience, 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 broad-side or quarter, she would
be driven up broad-side 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 of a race horse, 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 an 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 immediately, we put our oars in the
boat, and leaving one to watch it, walked about the beach to see what we
could, of the place. The beach is nearly a mile in length between the two
points, and of smooth sand. We had taken the only good landing-place, which
is in the middle; it being more stony toward the ends. It is about twenty
yards in width from high-water mark to a slight bank at which the soil
begins, and so hard that it is a favorite place for running horses. It was
growing dark, so that we could just distinguish the dim outlines of the two
vessels in the offing; and the great seas were rolling in, in regular lines,
growing larger and larger as they approached the shore, and hanging over the
beach upon which they were to break, when their tops would curl over and turn
white with foam, and, beginning at one extreme of the line, break rapidly to
the other, as a long cardhouse falls when the children knock down the cards at
one end. The Sandwich Islanders, in the mean time, 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 trowsers 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 off 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 bullocks`
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
boat, where one of their number, stowed them away. They were obliged to carry
them on their heads, to keep them out of the water, and we observed that they
had on thick woolen caps. "Look here, Bill, and see what you`re coming to!"
said one of our men to another who stood by the boat. "Well, D___," said the
second mate to me, "this does not look much like Cambridge college, does it?
This is what I call `head work.` "To tell the truth it did not look very
encouraging.
After they had got through with the hides, they laid hold of the bags of
tallow, (the bags are made of hide, and are about the size of a common meal
bag,) and lifting each upon the shoulders of two men, one at each end, walked
off 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 at
the bows kept their places; and when, at length, a large sea came in and
floated her seized hold of the gunwales, 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
outlandish hallooing and bawling, got her well off. We watched them till they
were out of the breakers, and saw them steering for their vessel, which was
now hidden in the darkness.
The sand of the beach began to be cold to our bare feet; the frog 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 for "the old man," as the captain is
generally called, to come down. In a few minutes we heard something coming
towards us. It was a man on horseback. He came up on the full gallop, reined
up near us, addressed a few words to us, and receiving no answer, wheeled
round and galloped off again. He was nearly as dark as an Indian, with a large
Spanish hat, Blanket cloak or serapa, and leather leggins, with a long knife
stuck in them. "This is the seventh city that ever I was in, and no Christian
one neither," said Bill Brown. "Stand by!" said Tom, "you haven`t seen the
worst of it yet." In the midst of this conversation the captain appeared; and
we winded the boat round, shoved her down, and prepared to go off. The
captain, 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. I, being the
youngest, had the pleasure of standing at the bow, and getting wet through. 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, (cigars, those of us who had them,) and we had to
tell all we had seen ashore. Then followed conjectures about the people
ashore, the length of the voyage, carrying hides, etc., etc., until eight
bells, when 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, and
all hands were 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
southeast. We had also orders to strike the bells every half hour through
the night, as at sea. My watchmate was John, the Swedish sailor, and we stood
from twelve to two, he walking the larboard side, and I the starboard. At
daylight all hands were called, and we went through the usual process of
washing down, swabbing, etc., 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 top sails 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, Captain Nye, from Oahu, and was
engaged in this trade. She was a lump of a thing - what the sailors call a
butter-box. This vessel, as well as the Ayacucho, and others which we
afterwards saw engaged in the same trade, have English or Americans for
officers, and two or three before the mast to do the work upon the rigging,
and to rely upon for seamanship, while the rest of the crew are Sandwich
Islanders, who are active, and very useful in boating.
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 good-natured
man and not very strict. So it was for a time, but we were worse off in the
end; for wherever the captain 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 anticipate. 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. When this is the case, and the captain suspects
that his chief officer is too easy and familiar with the crew, then he begins
to interfere in all the duties, and to draw the reins taughter, and the crew
has to suffer.
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