Two Years Before the Mast
board this ship; for every sailor knows that a vessel is judged of, a
good deal, by the furl of her sails. The third mate, a sailmaker, and
the larboard watch went upon the fore topsail yard; the second mate,
carpenter, and the starboard watch upon the main; and myself and the
English lad, and the two Boston boys, and the young Cape-Cod man,
furled the mizen topsail. This sail belonged to us altogether, to reef
and to furl, and not a man was allowed to come upon our yard. The mate
took us under his special care, frequently making us furl the sail
over, three or four times, until we got the bunt up to a perfect cone,
and the whole sail without a wrinkle. As soon as each sail was hauled
up and the bunt made, the jigger was bent on to the slack of the
buntlines, and the bunt triced up, on deck. The mate then took his
place between the knightheads to "twig" the fore, on the windlass to
twig the main, and at the foot of the mainmast, for the mizen; and if
anything was wrong,--too much bunt on one side, clews too taut or too
slack, or any sail abaft the yard,--the whole must be dropped again.
When all was right, the bunts were triced well up, the yard-arm gaskets
passed, so as not to leave a wrinkle forward of the yard--short gaskets
with turns close together.
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, making
everything fly, and, at the same time, doing everything well. He was
quite a contrast to the worthy, quiet, unobtrusive mate of the Pilgrim;
not so estimable 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. If
the chief officer wants force, discipline slackens, everything gets out
of joint, the captain interferes continually; that makes a difficulty
between them, which encourages the crew, and the whole ends in a
three-sided quarrel. But 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 weigh, 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.
Having furled all the sails, the royal yards were next to be sent down.
The English lad and myself sent down the main, which was larger than
the Pilgrim's main top-gallant yard; two more light hands, the fore;
and one boy, the mizen. This order, we always kept while on the coast;
sending them up and down every time we came in and went out of port.
They were all tripped and lowered together, the main on the starboard
side, and the fore and mizen, to 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 harbor style. After
breakfast, the hatches were taken off, and all got ready to receive
hides from the Pilgrim. All day, boats were passing and repassing,
until we had 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 Pilgrim was to sail, the next morning, for San
Francisco. After we had knocked off work, and cleared up decks for the
night, my friend S---- came on board, and spent an hour with me in our
berth between decks. The Pilgrim's crew envied me my place on board the
ship, and seemed to think that I had got a little to windward of them;
especially in the matter of going home first. S---- was determined to
go home on the Alert, by begging or buying; if Captain T---- would not
let him come on other terms, he would purchase an exchange with some
one of the crew. The prospect of another year after the Alert should
sail, was rather "too much of the monkey." 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-decks, and set all hands to
dancing. The between-decks were high enough to allow of jumping; and
being clear, and white, from holystoning, made a fine dancing-hall.
Some of the Pilgrim's crew were in the forecastle, and we all turned-to
and had a regular 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 favorite amusement of the mate's, who always stood
at the steerage door, looking on, and if the boys would not dance, he
hazed them round with a rope's end, much to the amusement of the men.
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
weigh with very little fuss, and 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 Pilgrim, there was as much preparation and ceremony as there would
be in getting a seventy-four under weigh. 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. I wanted no better proof of this than
the opinion of the ship's crew, for they had been six months under his
command, and knew what he was; and if sailors allow their captain to be
a good seaman, you may be sure he is one, for that is a thing they are
not always ready to say.
After the Pilgrim left us, we lay three weeks at San Pedro, from the
11th of September until the 2nd of October, engaged in the usual port
duties of landing cargo, taking off hides, etc., etc. These duties
were much easier, and went on much more agreeably, than on board the
Pilgrim. "The more, the merrier," is the sailor's maxim; and a boat's
crew of a dozen could take off all the hides brought down in a day,
without much trouble, by division of labor; and on shore, as well as on
board, a good will, and no discontent or grumbling, 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 we
generally had quite a sociable time, and were glad to be relieved from
the restraint of the ship. While here, I often thought of the
miserable, gloomy weeks we had spent in this dull place, in the brig;
discontent and hard usage on board, and four hands to do all the work
on shore. Give me a big ship. There is more room, more hands, better
outfit, better regulation, more life, and more company. Another thing
was better arranged here: we had a regular gig's crew. A light
whale-boat, handsomely painted, and fitted out with stern seats, yoke,
tiller-ropes, etc., 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 we were
obliged to be in our places, have our oars scraped white, our tholepins
in, and the fenders over the side. The bow-man had charge of the
boat-hook and painter, and the coxswain of the rudder, yoke, and
stern-sheets. 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, from the boy who buys his
pair of shoes, to the trader who buys his casks and bales, were 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, with
hardly time for our meals; making, as we lay nearly three miles from
shore, from forty to fifty miles' rowing in a day. Still, we thought it
the best berth in the ship; for when the gig was employed, we had
nothing to do with the cargo, except small bundles which the passengers
carried with them, and no hides to carry, besides the opportunity of
seeing everybody, making acquaintances, hearing the news, etc. Unless
the captain or agent were in the boat, we had no officer with us, and
often had fine times with the passengers, who were always willing to
talk and joke with us. Frequently, too, we were obliged to wait
several hours on shore; when we would haul the boat up on the beach,
and leaving one to watch her, go up to the nearest house, or spend the
time in strolling about the beach, picking up shells, or playing
hopscotch, and other games, on the hard sand. The rest of the crew
never left the ship, except 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 till 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. We made the acquaintance of
nearly half of California; for, besides carrying everybody in our
boat,--men, women, and children,--all the messages, letters, and light
packages went by us, and being known by our dress, we found a ready
reception everywhere.
At San Pedro, we had none of this amusement, for, there being but one
house in the place, we, of course, had but little company. All the
variety that I had, was riding, once a week, to the nearest rancho, to
order a bullock down for the ship.
The brig Catalina came in from San Diego, and being bound up to
windward, we both got under weigh 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 toward morning, leaving us becalmed only a
few miles from our anchoring-place. The Catalina, being a small
vessel, of 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 nearly 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 upon a
tautened 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 Catalina at every tack. When this breeze left us, we
were so near as to count the painted ports on her side. 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