Two Years Before the Mast
them on the head. We had to take them from the ground, and as they
were often very heavy, and as wide as the arms could stretch and easily
taken by the wind, we used to have some trouble with them. I have
often been laughed at myself, and joined in laughing at others,
pitching themselves down in the sand, trying to swing a large hide upon
their heads, or nearly blown over with one in a little gust of wind.
The captain made it harder for us, by telling us that it was
"California fashion" to carry two on the head at a time; and as he
insisted upon it, and we did not wish to be outdone by other vessels,
we carried two for the first few months; but after falling in with a
few other "hide-droghers," and finding that they carried only one at a
time we "knocked off" the extra one, and thus made our duty somewhat
easier.
After we had got our heads used to the weight, and had learned the true
California style of tossing a hide, we could carry off two or three
hundred in a short time, without much trouble; but it was always wet
work, and, if the beach was stony, bad for our feet; for we, of course,
always went barefooted 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.
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 daylight, 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 chief mate is always on deck, but
takes no active part, all the duty coming upon the second mate, who has
to roll up his trowsers and paddle about decks barefooted, like the
rest of the crew. The washing, swabbing, squilgeeing, etc., 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 ges-warps, and the crew are turned-to upon their day's work. This
is various, and its character depends upon circumstances. There is
always more or less of boating, in small boats; and if heavy goods are
to be taken ashore, or hides are brought down to the beach 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 to be shifted, to make room for hides, or to keep the trim of
the vessel. In addition to this, the usual work upon the rigging must
be done. There is a good deal of the latter kind of work which can
only be done when the vessel is in port;--and then everything must be
kept taut and in good order; spun-yarn made; chafing gear repaired;
and all the other ordinary work. The great difference between sea and
harbor duty is in the division of time. Instead of having a watch on
deck and a watch below, as at sea, all hands are at work together,
except at meal times, from daylight till dark; and at night an
"anchor-watch" is kept, which consists of only two at a time; the whole
crew taking turns. 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, (standing watch only about two hours,) but have no time to
themselves in the day; so that reading, mending clothes, etc., 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. This is a good
arrangement, and does much toward creating the preference sailors
usually show for religious vessels. 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; and as we now lived
on fresh beef, and ate one bullock a week, the animal was almost always
brought down on Sunday, and we had to go ashore, kill it, dress it, and
bring it aboard, which was another interruption. Then, too, our
common day's work was protracted and made more fatiguing by hides
coming down late in the afternoon, which sometimes kept us at work in
the surf by star-light, with the prospect of pulling on board, and
stowing them all away, before supper.
But all these little vexations and labors would have been
nothing,--they would have been passed by as the common evils of a
sea-life, which every sailor, who is a man, will go through without
complaint,--were it not for 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 of the earth, and with a prospect of remaining an indefinite
period, two or three years at the least. When we left Boston we
supposed that it was to be a voyage of eighteen months, or two years,
at most; but upon arriving on the coast, we learned something more of
the trade, and found that in the scarcity of hides, which was yearly
greater and greater, it would take us a year, at least, to collect our
own cargo, beside the passage out and home; and that we were also to
collect a cargo for a large ship belonging to the same firm, which was
soon to come on the coast, and to which we were to act as tender. We
had heard rumors of such a ship to follow us, which had leaked out from
the captain and mate, but we passed them by as mere "yarns," till our
arrival, when they were confirmed by the letters which we brought from
the owners to their agent. The ship California, belonging to the same
firm, had been nearly two years on the coast; had collected a full
cargo, and was now at San Diego, from which port she was expected to
sail in a few weeks for Boston; and we were to collect all the hides we
could, and deposit them at San Diego, when the new ship, which would
carry forty thousand, was to be filled and sent home; and then we were
to begin anew, and collect our own cargo. Here was a gloomy prospect
before us, indeed. The California had been twenty months on the coast,
and the Lagoda, a smaller ship, carrying only thirty-one or thirty-two
thousand, had been two years getting her cargo; and we were to collect
a cargo of forty thousand beside our own, which would be twelve or
fifteen thousand; and hides were said to be growing scarcer. Then,
too, this ship, which had been to us a worse phantom than any flying
Dutchman, was no phantom, or ideal thing, but had been reduced to a
certainty; so much so that a name was given her, and it was said that
she was to be the Alert, a well-known India-man, which was expected in
Boston in a few months, when we sailed. There could be no doubt, and
all looked black enough. Hints were thrown out about three years and
four years;--the older sailors said they never should see Boston again,
but should lay their bones in California; and a cloud seemed to hang
over the whole voyage. Besides, we were not provided for so long a
voyage, and clothes, and all sailors' necessaries, were excessively
dear--three or four hundred per cent. advance upon the Boston prices.
This was bad enough for them; but still worse was it for me, who did
not mean to be a sailor for life; having intended only to be gone
eighteen months or two years. Three or four years would make me a
sailor in every respect, mind and habits, as well as body--nolens
volens; and would put all my companions so far ahead of me that college
and a profession would be in vain to think of; and I made up my mind
that, feel as I might, a sailor I must be, and to be master of a
vessel, must be the height of my ambition.
Beside the length of the voyage, and the hard and exposed life, we were
at the ends of the earth; on a coast almost solitary; 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 (as
the first mate is always called, par excellence) 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 merchantman. He was not the man to call a
sailor a "son of a b---h," and knock him down with a handspike. He
wanted the energy and spirit for such a voyage as ours, and for such a
captain. Captain T---- was a vigorous, energetic fellow. As sailors
say, "he hadn't a lazy bone in him." He was made of steel and
whalebone. He was a man to "toe the mark," and to make every one else
step up to it. 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 discipline was
getting relaxed, and began to interfere in everything. He drew the
reins tauter; and as, in all quarrels between officers, the sailors
side with the one who treats them best, he became suspicious of the
crew. He saw that everything went wrong--that nothing was done "with a
will;" and in his attempt to remedy the difficulty by severity, he made
everything worse. We were in every respect unfortunately situated.
Captain, officers, and crew, entirely unfitted for one another; and
every circumstance and event was like a two-edged sword, and cut both
ways. The length of the voyage, which made us dissatisfied, made the
captain, at the same time, feel the necessity of order and strict
discipline; and the nature of the country, which caused us to feel that
we had nowhere to go for redress, but were entirely at the mercy of a
hard master, made the captain feel, on the other hand, that he must
depend entirely upon his own resources. Severity created discontent,
and signs of discontent provoked severity. Then, too, ill-treatment
and dissatisfaction are no "linimenta laborum;" and many a time have I
heard the sailors 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 to make things lighter and
easier. We felt as though our situation was a call upon our superiors
to give us occasional relaxations, and to make our yoke easier. But
the contrary policy was pursued. We were kept at work all day when in
port; which, together with a watch at night, made us glad to turn-in as
soon as we got below. Thus we got no time for reading, or--which was of
more importance to us--for washing and mending our clothes. And then,
when we were at sea, sailing from port to port, instead of giving us
"watch and watch," as was the custom on board every other vessel on the
coast, we were all kept on deck and at work, rain or shine, making
spun-yarn and rope, and at other work in good weather, and picking
oakum, when it was too wet for anything else. All hands were called to
"come up and see it rain," and kept on deck hour after hour in a