Tuesday, September 8th, 1835. This was my first day's duty on
board the ship; and though a sailor's life is a sailor's life
wherever it may be, yet I found everything very different here
from the customs of the brig Pilgrim. After all hands were called
at daybreak, three minutes and a half were allowed for the men to
dress and come on deck, and if any were longer than that, they
were sure to be overhauled by the mate, who was always on deck,
and making himself heard all over the ship. 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. Inside
and out, fore and aft, upper deck and between-decks, steerage and
forecastle, rail, bulwarks, and water-ways, were washed, scrubbed,
and scraped with brooms and canvas, and the decks were wet and
sanded all over, and then holystoned. The holystone is a large,
soft stone, smooth on the bottom, with long ropes attached to each
end, by which the crew keep it sliding fore and aft over the wet
sanded decks. Smaller hand-stones, which the sailors call
``prayer-books,'' are used to scrub in among the crevices and
narrow places, where the large holystone will not go. An hour or
two we were kept at this work, when the head-pump was manned, and
all the sand washed off the decks and sides. Then came swabs and
squilgees; and, after the decks were dry, each one went to his
particular morning job. 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; one having the brass and
composition work about the capstan; another the bell, which was of
brass, and kept as bright as a gilt button; a third, the
harness-cask; another, the man-rope stanchions; others, the steps
of the forecastle and hatchways, which were hauled up and
holystoned. Each of these jobs must be finished before breakfast;
and in the mean time the rest of the crew filled the
scuttled-butt, and the cook scraped his kids (wooden tubs out of
which sailors eat), and polished the hoops, and placed them before
the galley to await inspection. When the decks were dry, the lord
paramount made his appearance on the quarter-deck, and took a few
turns, eight bells 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 getting 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, the cat-block being as much as
a man could lift, and the chain as large as three of the
Pilgrim's, yet there was a plenty of room to move about in, more
discipline and system, more men, and more good-will. Each 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
all sprung into the rigging, up the shrouds, and out on the yards,
scrambling by one another,-- the first up, the best fellow,-- cast
off the yard-arm gaskets and bunt gaskets, and one man remained 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 ``Aye, aye,
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 covered with her loose canvas, from the
royal-mast-heads to the decks. All then came down, except one man
in each top, to overhaul the rigging, and the topsails were
hoisted and sheeted home, the 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 ``cheerly, 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 (as I was 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 full with this,
especially as there were no jacks to the ship, everything being
for neatness, and nothing left for Jack to hold on by but his
``eyelids.''
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, all things showed
that, though strict discipline was kept, and the utmost was
required of every man in the way of his duty, yet, on the whole,
there was good usage on board. Each one knew that he must be a
man, and show himself such when at his duty, yet all were
satisfied with the treatment; and a contented crew, agreeing with
one another, and finding no fault, was a contrast indeed with the
small, hard-used, dissatisfied, grumbling, desponding crew of the
Pilgrim.
It being the turn of our watch to go below, the men set themselves
to work, mending their clothes, and doing other little things for
themselves; and I, having got my wardrobe in complete order at San
Diego, had nothing to do but to read. I accordingly overhauled the
chests of the crew, but found nothing that suited me exactly,
until one of the men said he had a book which ``told all about a
great highwayman,'' at the bottom of his chest, and, producing it,
I found, to my surprise and joy, that it was nothing else than
Bulwer's Paul Clifford. I seized it immediately, and, going to my
hammock, lay there, swinging and reading, until the watch below
was out. The between-decks clear, the hatchways open, a cool
breeze blowing through them, the ship under easy way,-- everything
was comfortable. I had just got well into the story when eight
bells were struck, and we were all ordered to dinner. After dinner
came our watch on deck for four hours, and at four o'clock I went
below again, turned into my hammock and read until the dog watch.
As lights were not allowed after eight o'clock, there was no
reading in the night watch. Having light winds and calms, we were
three days on the passage, and each watch below, during the
daytime, I spent in the same manner, until I had finished my book.
I shall never forget the enjoyment I derived from it. To come
across anything with the slightest claims to literary merit was so
unusual that this was a feast to me. The brilliancy of the book,
the succession of capital hits, and the lively and characteristic
sketches, kept me in a constant state of pleasing sensations. It
was far too good for a sailor. I could not expect such fine times
to last long.
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. There, there were so few in a watch,
that, one being at the wheel and another on the lookout, there was
no one left to talk with; but here we had seven in a watch, so
that we had long yarns in abundance. After two or three night
watches, I became well acquainted with the larboard watch. 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 at sea twenty-two
years, in all kinds of vessels,-- men-of-war, privateers, slavers,
and merchantmen,-- everything except whalers, which a thorough
man-of-war or merchant seaman looks down upon, and will always
steer clear of if he can. He had, of course, been in most 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 amusing from their improbability, and, indeed, he never
expected to be believed, but spun them merely for amusement; and
as he had some humor 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, of whom I shall have more to say
hereafter. Then came two or three Americans, who had been the
common run of European and South 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, Cape
Cod[1] boy, who had been in mackerel schooners, and was making his
first voyage in a square-rigged vessel. He was born in Hingham,
and of course was called ``Bucket-maker.'' 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,
named John (one name is enough for a sailor), was the head man of
the watch. Then came two Americans (one of whom had been a
dissipated young man of some property and respectable connections,
and was reduced to duck trousers and monthly wages), a German, an
English lad, named Ben, who belonged on the mizzen-topsail yard
with me, and was a good sailor for his years, 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 commanded 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 the forecastle. The third mate
commanded in the waist, and, with the carpenter and one man,
worked the main tack and bowline; the cook, ex 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. Every one here knew his station, must be there when all
hands were called to put the ship about, and was answerable for
the ropes committed to him. Each man's rope must be let go and
hauled in at the order, properly made fast, and neatly coiled away
when the ship was about. As soon as all hands are at their
stations, the captain, 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 forward, and the fore 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 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 chosen 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
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!'' ``Well all!'' 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
generally looking out for them himself. ``Well the cross-jack[2]
yard!'' ``Small pull the main top-gallant yard!'' ``Well that!''
``Well the mizzen topsail yard!'' ``Cross-jack yards all well!''
``Well all aft!'' ``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!''
During the last twenty-four hours of the passage, we beat off and
on the land, making a tack about once in four hours, so that I had
sufficient opportunity to observe the working of the ship; and
certainly it took no more men to brace about this ship's lower
yards, which were more than fifty feet square, than it did those
of the Pilgrim, which were not much more than half the size; so
much depends upon the manner in which the braces run, and the
state of the blocks; and Captain Wilson, of the Ayacucho, who was
afterwards a passenger with us, upon a trip to windward, said he
had no doubt that our ship worked two men lighter than his brig.
This light working of the ship was owing to the attention and
seamanship of Captain Faucon. He had reeved anew nearly all the
running rigging of the ship, getting rid of useless blocks,
putting single blocks for double wherever he could, using pendent
blocks, and adjusting the purchases scientifically.
Friday, September 11th. This morning, at four o'clock, went below,
San Pedro point being about two leagues ahead, and the ship going
on under studding-sails. In about an hour 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 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. In coming to anchor, as well as in tacking
ship, each one had his station and duty. The light sails were
clewed up and furled, the courses hauled up, and the jibs down;
then came the topsails in the buntlines, and the anchor let go. As
soon as she was well at anchor, all hands lay aloft to furl the
topsails; and this, I soon found, was a great matter on 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, sailmaker, and the
larboard watch, went upon the fore topsail yard; the second mate,
carpenter, and the starboard watch, upon the main; and I, and the
English lad, and the two Boston boys, and the young Cape Cod man,
furled the mizzen 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 knight-heads to ``twig''
the fore, on the windlass to twig the main, and at the foot of the
mainmast for the mizzen; 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 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 a more estimable man, perhaps, but a far better mate
of a vessel; and the entire change in Captain Thompson'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, and 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 (a Marblehead man) 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 Thompson 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.
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 mizzen. This order we 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 mizzen 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 everything 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 with 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 Stimson 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. Stimson was determined to go home in the Alert, by
begging or buying. If Captain Thompson 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 good
dancing-hall. Some of the Pilgrim's crew were in the forecastle,
and they 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 used to stand at the steerage door,
looking on, and if the boys would not dance, hazed them round with
a rope's end, much to the entertainment 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 way with no 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 Thompson was in command of the Pilgrim, 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. 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 him thoroughly, 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 usually ready to admit. To find fault with
the seamanship of the captain is a crew's reserved store for
grumbling.
After the Pilgrim left us, we lay three weeks at San Pedro, from
the 11th of September until the 2d of October, 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 Pilgrim. ``The more the merrier'' is the
sailor's maxim, and, by a division of labor, a boat's crew of a
dozen could take off all the hides brought down in a day without
much trouble; 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 pleasant
young fellow, and made no unnecessary trouble; so that we
generally had 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, 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 and tiller-ropes, hung on the starboard quarter, and
was used as the gig. The youngest lad in the ship, a Boston boy
about fourteen 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 her 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 bowman 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, was to be
brought off and taken ashore 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 off shore, from thirty to forty 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 with small bundles which the passengers took with
them, and no hides to carry. Besides, we had the opportunity of
seeing everybody, making acquaintances, and hearing the news.
Unless the captain or agent was 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 to the
nearest house, or spend the time in strolling about the beach,
picking up shells, or playing hop-scotch, and other games, on the
hard sand. The others 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, humdrum drag and
pull on board ship. We made the acquaintance of nearly half
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, there was nothing to see and no company.
All the variety that I had was riding, once a week, to the nearest
rancho,[3] to order a bullock down to the ship.
The brig Catalina came in from San Diego, and, being bound 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 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 northwest wind setting 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 taut bowline. We
had nearly five hours of splendid 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 water, leaving the Catalina, which could not spread so much
canvas as we, gradually astern, and, by daylight, were off Santa
Buenaventura, and our competitor nearly out of sight. The
sea-breeze, however, favored her again, while we were becalmed
under the headland, and laboring slowly along, and she was abreast
of us by noon. Thus we continued, ahead, astern, and abreast of
each other, alternately; now far out at sea, and again close in
under the shore. On the third morning we came into the great bay
of Santa Barbara two hours behind the brig, and thus lost the bet;
though if the race had 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,
being small and light, could gain upon us in very light winds, yet
whenever there was breeze enough to set us agoing, we walked away
from her like hauling in a line; and, in beating to windward,
which is the best trial of a vessel, had much the advantage.
Sunday, October 4th. This was the day of our arrival; and, somehow
or other, our captain seemed to manage, not only to sail, but to
come into port, on a Sunday. The main reason for sailing on Sunday
is not, as many people suppose, because it is thought a lucky day
but because it is a leisure day. During 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. This is the reason of our
coasters and packets generally sailing on Sunday. 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 do not,
as a general thing, do regular trading or make journeys on Sunday,
but the American has no national religion, and likes to show his
independence 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 continual roar, and the little town,
embedded on the plain, girt by its amphitheatre of mountains. Day
after day the sun shone clear and bright upon the wide bay and the
red roofs of the houses, everything being as still as death, the
people hardly seeming to earn their sunlight. Daylight was thrown
away upon them. We had a few visitors, and collected about a
hundred hides, and every night, at sundown, the gig was sent
ashore to 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 which we pulled from the neighboring thickets, and lay down
by it, on the sand. Sometimes we would stray up to the town, if
the captain was likely to stay late, and pass the time at some of
the houses, in which we were almost always well received by the
inhabitants. 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 the anchor watch to stand.
This leads me to speak of my watchmate for nine months,-- and,
taking him all in all, the most remarkable man I had ever seen,--
Tom Harris. An hour, every night, while lying in port, Harris and
I had the deck to ourselves, and walking fore and aft, night after
night, for months, I learned his character and history, and more
about foreign nations, the habits of different people, and
especially the secrets of sailors' lives and hardships, and also
of practical seamanship (in which he was abundantly capable of
instructing me), than I could ever have learned elsewhere. His
memory was perfect, seeming to form a regular chain, reaching from
his earliest childhood up to the time I knew him, without a link
wanting. His power of calculation, too, was extraordinary. I
called myself pretty quick at figures, and had been through a
course of mathematical studies; but, working by my head, I was
unable to keep within sight of this man, who had never been beyond
his arithmetic. He carried in his head, not only a log-book of the
voyage, which was complete and accurate, and from which no one
thought of appealing, but also an accurate registry of the cargo,
knowing where each thing was stowed, and how many hides we took in
at each port.
One night he made a rough calculation of the number of hides that
could be stowed in the lower hold, between the fore and main
masts, taking the depth of hold and breadth of beam (for he knew
the dimensions of every part of a ship before he had been long on
board), and the average area and thickness of a hide; and 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 each sail, on the
head and foot, in feet and inches. When we were at sea, he kept a
running account, in his head, of the ship's way,-- the number of
knots and the courses; and, if the courses did not vary much
during the twenty-four hours, by taking the whole progress and
allowing so many eights southing or northing, to so many easting
or westing, he would make up his reckoning just before the captain
took the sun at noon, and often came very near the mark. He had,
in his chest, several volumes giving accounts of inventions in
mechanics, which he read with great pleasure, and made himself
master of. I doubt if he forgot anything that he read. The only
thing in the way of poetry that he ever read was Falconer's
Shipwreck, which he was charmed with, and pages of which he could
repeat. He said he could recall 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; and a sailor whom
we afterwards fell in with, who had been in a ship with Harris
nearly twelve years before, was much surprised at having Harris
tell him things about himself which he had entirely forgotten. His
facts, whether dates or events, no one thought of disputing; and
his opinions few of the sailors dared to oppose, for, right or
wrong, he always had the best of the argument with them. His
reasoning powers were striking. 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 acuteness. Give him only a little
knowledge of his subject, and, among all the young men of my
acquaintance at college, there is not one whom I had not rather
meet in an argument than this man. I never answered a question
from him, or advanced an opinion to him, without thinking more
than once. With an iron memory, he seemed to have your whole past
conversation at command, and if you said a thing now which ill
agreed with something you had said months before, he was sure to
have you on the hip. In fact, I felt, when with him, that I was
with no common man. I had a positive respect for his powers of
mind, and thought, often, that if half the pains had been spent
upon his education which are thrown away yearly, in our colleges,
he would have made his mark. Like many self-taught men of real
merit, he overrated the value of a regular education; and this I
often told him, though I had profited by his error; for he always
treated me with respect, and often unnecessarily gave way to me,
from an overestimate of my knowledge. For the intellectual
capacities of all the rest of the crew,-- captain and all,-- he
had a sovereign contempt. He was a far better sailor, and probably
a better navigator, than the captain, and had more brains than all
the after part of the ship put together. The sailors said, ``Tom's
got a head as long as the bowsprit,'' and if any one fell into an
argument with him, they would call out: ``Ah, Jack! you had better
drop that as you would a hot potato, for Tom will turn you inside
out before you know it!''
I recollect his posing me once on the subject of the Corn Laws. I
was called to stand my watch, and, coming on deck, found him there
before me; and we began, as usual, to walk fore and aft, in the
waist. He talked about the Corn Laws; 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, supposing his knowledge on the
subject must be less than mine, if, indeed, he had any at all.
When I had got through, he took the liberty of differing from me,
and brought arguments and facts which were new to me, and to which
I was unable to reply. I confessed that I knew almost nothing of
the subject, and expressed my surprise at the extent of his
information. He said that, a number of years before, while at a
boarding-house in Liverpool, he had fallen in with a pamphlet on
the subject, and, as it contained calculations, had read it very
carefully, and had ever since wished to find some one who could
add to his stock of knowledge on the question. Although it was
many years since he had seen the book, and it was a subject with
which he had had no previous acquaintance, yet he had the chain of
reasoning, founded upon principles of political economy, fully in
his memory; and his facts, so far as I could judge, were correct;
at least, he stated them with precision. The principles of the
steam-engine, too, he was familiar with, having been several
months on board a steamboat, and made himself master of its
secrets. He knew every lunar star in both hemispheres, and was a
master of the quadrant and sextant. The men said he could take a
meridian altitude of the sun from a tar bucket. 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 past life, as I
had it, at different times, from himself.
He was an Englishman, a native of Ilfracomb, in Devonshire. His
father was skipper of a small coaster from Bristol, 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
this mother he spoke with the greatest respect, and said that she
was a woman of a strong mind, and had an excellent system of
education, which had made respectable men of his three brothers,
and failed in him only from his own indomitable obstinacy. One
thing he mentioned, in which he said his mother differed from all
other mothers that he had ever seen disciplining their children;
that was, that when he was out of humor and refused to eat,
instead of putting his plate away, saying that his hunger would
bring him to it in time, she would stand over him and oblige him
to eat it,-- every mouthful of it. 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, when the
voyage should end, to embark for home with all the wages he should
get, to spend with and for his mother, if perchance he should find
her alive.
After leaving home, he had spent nearly twenty years sailing upon
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 he had been hauled up in
the hospitals, and as often the great strength of his constitution
had brought him out again in health. Several times, too, from his
acknowledged capacity, he had been promoted to the office of chief
mate, and as often his conduct when in port, especially his
drunkenness, which neither fear nor ambition could induce him to
abandon, put him back into the forecastle. One night, when giving
me an account of his life, and lamenting the years of manhood he
had thrown away, ``There,'' said he, ``in the forecastle, at the
foot of those steps, a chest of old clothes, is the result of
twenty-two years of hard labor and exposure-- worked like a horse,
and treated like a dog.'' As he had grown older, he began to feel
the necessity of some provision 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. Harris had been in hundreds of such
scenes as these, but in his then state of mind it fixed his
determination, and he resolved never to taste a 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 became acquainted with 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 was
now a temperate man for life, and capable of filling any berth in
a ship, and many a high station there is on shore which is held by
a meaner man.
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, gave him a
knowledge of the expedients and resorts for times of hazard, 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. Stories of tyranny and hardship
which had driven men to piracy; of the incredible ignorance of
masters and mates, and of horrid brutality to the sick, dead, and
dying; as well as of the secret knavery and impositions practised
upon seamen by connivance of the owners, landlords, and officers,--
all these he had, and I could not but believe them; for he made
the impression of an exact man, to whom exaggeration was
falsehood; and his statements were always credited. I remember,
among other things, his speaking of a captain whom I had known by
report, who never handed a thing to a sailor, but put it on deck
and kicked it to him; and of another, who was highly connected in
Boston, who absolutely murdered a lad from Boston who went out
with him before the mast to Sumatra, by keeping him hard at work
while ill of the coast fever, and obliging him to sleep in the
close steerage. (The same captain has since died of the same fever
on the same coast.)
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 and strange forms of
life,-- a great history from which many are shut out,-- I would
not part with the hours I spent in the watch with that man for the
gift of many hours to be passed in study and intercourse with even
the best of society.
[1] Sailors call men from any part of the coast of Massachusetts
south of Boston Cape Cod men.
[2] Pronounced croj-ac.
[3] This was Sepulveda's rancho, where there was a fight, during our
war with Mexico in 1846, between some United States troops and the
Mexicans, under Don Andréas Pico.