One day at sundown the captain said as he looked at his watch, “At five
minutes past nine this evening we shall see Farralone light.” We had
altered our course several times that day; the current was strong, the
wind was aft, so that only one course of sails drew; therefore we paid
little attention to the remark, supposing it to be a guess, or at best
a hope, rather than an opinion.
At nine o’clock P. M. Feb. 11, a man was sent aloft to see if there
was a lighthouse visible. At twenty minutes after nine he called out,
“Light, ho! three points on the port bow.” In five or ten minutes we
saw it from the deck. We felt that this part of the voyage was over.
We had been to 59° S., being five degrees south of Cape Horn, and had
sailed back to 37° N. and were also now far west of Boston.
We dropped anchor at San Francisco Feb. 12th, making the voyage in
111 days, one day less than the good ship had logged before. We took
pleasure in reading on shore the record which I give below.[6]