HONOLULU TO SAN FRANCISCO.
DEPARTURE FROM HONOLULU--WRECK OF THE 'SAGINAW'--THE 'MOSES
TAYLOR'--THE ACCOMMODATION--THE COMPANY ON BOARD--BEHAVIOUR OF THE
SHIP--DEATH OF A PASSENGER--FEELINGS ON LANDING IN A NEW
PLACE--APPROACH THE GOLDEN GATE--CLOSE OF THE PACIFIC LOG--FIRST SIGHT
OF AMERICA.
The departure of the 'Moses Taylor' was evidently regarded as a great
event at Honolulu. At the hour appointed for our sailing, a great
crowd had assembled on the wharf. All the notabilities of the place
seemed to be there. First and foremost was the King of the Sandwich
Islands himself, Kamehameha V.--a jolly-looking, portly old fellow,
standing about six feet high, and weighing over five-and-twenty
stone--every inch and ounce a king. Then there were the chief
ministers of his court, white, yellow, and dusky. There were also
English, Americans, and Chinese, with a crowd of full-blooded
Kanakas--all very orderly and admiring. And round the outskirts of the
throng were several carriages filled with native ladies.
Punctually at half-past 4 P.M., we got away from our moorings, with
"three cheers for Honolulu," which were raised by a shipwrecked crew
we had on board. Leaving the pier, we shortly passed through the
opening in the reef which forms the entrance to the harbour, and
steamed steadily eastward in the direction of San Francisco.
I must explain how it was that the "three cheers for Honolulu" were
raised. The 'Saginaw' was an American war-ship that had been sent with
a contract party to Midway Island in the North Pacific--some fifteen
hundred miles west-north-west of the Sandwich Islands--to blast the
coral-reef there, in order to provide a harbourage for the line of
large steamers running between San Francisco and China. The money
voted for the purpose by the Government having been spent, the
'Saginaw' was on its return voyage from the island, when the captain
determined to call at Ocean Island to see if there were any
shipwrecked crews there; but in a fog, the ship ran upon a coral-reef,
and was itself wrecked. The men, to the number of ninety-three,
contrived to reach the island, where they remained sixty-nine days,
during which they lived mostly on seal meat and the few stores they
had been able to save from their ship. The island itself is entirely
barren, containing only a few bushes and a sort of dry grass, with
millions of rats--supposed to have bred from rats landed from
shipwrecked vessels. Strict military discipline was preserved by the
officers, and the men as a body behaved remarkably well.
At length, no vessel appearing in sight, four of the sailors
volunteered to row in an open boat to the Sandwich Islands--more than
a thousand miles distant--for the purpose of reporting the wreck of
the ship, and sending relief to those on the island. The boat
departed, reached the reef which surrounds Kauai, an island to the
north-west of Oahu, and was there wrecked, only one of the men
succeeding in reaching the shore. So soon as the intelligence of the
wreck of the 'Saginaw' reached Honolulu, the Government immediately
dispatched a steamer to take the men off the desert island; and hence
the enthusiastic cheers for Honolulu, raised by the rescued officers
and men of the American ship, who are now all on board the 'Moses
Taylor,' on their way back to San Francisco.
I must now describe my new ship. She is called the 'Rolling Moses;'
but with what justice I am as yet unable to say. She certainly looks
singularly top-hampered,--altogether unlike any British ship that I
have ever seen. She measures twice as much in the beam as the 'City of
Melbourne;' is about 2000 tons register; is flat-bottomed, and draws
about fourteen feet of water when laden. She looks like a great big
house afloat, or rather a row of houses more than thirty feet high.
The decks seemed piled one a-top of the other, quite promiscuously.
First there is the dining-saloon, with cabins all round it; above is
the drawing-room, with more cabins; then above that is the hurricane
deck, with numerous deck-houses for the captain and officers; and
then, towering above all, there is the large beam-engine right between
the paddle-boxes. Altogether it looks a very unwieldy affair, and I
would certainly much rather trust myself to such a ship as the 'City
of Melbourne.' It strikes me that in a heavy sea, 'Moses's' hull would
run some risk of parting company with the immense structure above.
The cabin accommodation is, however, greatly superior to that of my
late ship,--there is so much more room, and the whole arrangements for
the comfort of the passengers are all that could be desired. The
Americans certainly do seem to understand comfort in travelling. The
stewards and people about are civil and obliging, and don't seem to be
always looking for a "tip," as is so customary on board an English
boat. This ship also is cleaner than the one I have left--there are
none of those hideous smells that so disgusted me on board 'The City.'
The meals are better, and there is much greater variety--lots of
different little dishes--of meat, stews, mashed potatoes, squashes,
hominy or corn-cake, and such like. So far as the living goes,
therefore, I think I shall get on very well on board the 'Moses
Taylor.'
The weather is wet and what sailors call "dirty," and it grows
sensibly colder. As there is no pleasure in remaining on deck, I keep
for the most part below. I like my company very much--mostly
consisting of the shipwrecked men of the 'Saginaw.' They are nice,
lively fellows; they encourage me to talk, and we have many a hearty
laugh together. Some of them give me no end of yarns about the late
war, in which they were engaged; and they tell me (whether true or
not, I have no means of knowing), that the captain of the ship we are
in was first lieutenant of the "pirate" ship 'Florida.' I have not
found amongst my companions as yet any of that self-assertion or pride
of nationality said to distinguish the Yankee; nor have I heard a word
from them of hostility to John Bull. Indeed, for the purpose of
drawing them out, I began bragging a little about England, but they
let me have my own way without contradiction. They say nothing about
politics, or, if they allude to the subject, express very moderate
opinions. Altogether, I get on with them; and like them very much.
The 'Moses Taylor' proves a steadier sea-boat than I expected from her
built-up appearance. She certainly gives many a long steady roll; but
there is little pitching or tossing. When the sea strikes her, she
quivers all over in a rather uncomfortable way. She is rather an old
ship; she formerly ran between Vancouver and San Francisco, and is
certainly the worse for wear. The huge engine-shafts shake the beams
which support them; the pieces of timber tremble under the heavy
strokes of the engine, and considerable apertures open from time to
time in the deck as she heaves to and fro. The weather, however, is
not stormy; and the ship will doubtless carry us safely to the end of
our voyage,--going steadily, as she does, at the rate of about eight
knots an hour. And as the distance between Honolulu and the American
coast is about 2100 miles, we shall probably make the voyage in about
ten days.
On the eighth day after leaving Honolulu, an incident occurred which
made a startling impression on me. While we were laughing and talking
in the cabin--kept down there by the rain--we were told that a poor
man, who had been ailing since we left port, had breathed his last. It
seemed that he had some affection of the gullet which prevented his
swallowing food. The surgeon on board did not possess the necessary
instrument to enable him to introduce food into his stomach, so that
he literally died of starvation. He occupied the berth exactly
opposite mine, and though I knew he was ill, I had no idea that his
end was so near. He himself; however, had been aware of it, and
anxiously wished that he might survive until he reached San Francisco,
where his wife was to meet him at the landing. But it was not to be;
and his sudden decease gave us all a great shock.
We had our breakfast and dinner that day whilst the body was lying in
the cabin. We heard the carpenter busy on the main deck knocking
together a coffin for its reception. Every time he knocked a nail in,
I thought of the poor dead fellow who lay beside us. I began to
speculate as to the various feelings with which passengers land in a
new place. Some are mere passing visitors like myself, bent on seeing
novel sights; some are going thither, full of hope, to make a new
settlement in life; some are returning home, expecting old friends
waiting on the pier-head to meet and welcome them. But there are sad
meetings, too; and here there will be an anxious wife waiting at the
landing-place, only to receive the dead body of her husband.
But a truce to moralizing; for we are approaching the Golden Gate. I
must now pack up my things, and finish my log. I have stuck to it at
all hours and in all weathers; jotted down little bits from time to
time in the intervals of sea-sickness, toothache, and tic douloureux;
written under a burning tropical sun, and amidst the drizzle and
down-pour of the North Pacific; but I have found pleasure in keeping
it up, because I know that it will be read with pleasure by those for
whom it is written, and it will serve to show that amidst all my
wanderings, I have never forgotten the Old Folks at Home.
At half-past four on the morning of the tenth day from our leaving
Honolulu, we sighted the lighthouse at the Golden Gate, which forms
the entrance to the spacious bay or harbour of San Francisco.
Suddenly, there is a great scampering about of the passengers, a
general packing up of baggage; a brushing of boots, hats, and clothes;
and a dressing up in shore-going "togs." The steward comes round to
look after his perquisites, and every one is in a bustle about
something or other.
I took a last rest in my bunk--for it was still early morning--until I
was told that we were close along-shore; and then I jumped up, went on
deck, and saw America for the first time.