As we already have seen, Captain Waterman had taken the Pacific Mail steamship _Northerner_ from New York to San Francisco in 1850, and fully intended at that time to retire from the sea. He was then forty-two years old, and had passed thirty-two years upon the ocean; he possessed ample means, with a portion of which he bought four leagues of land in Solano County, California, and it was only at the earnest solicitation of N. L. & G. Griswold, the owners of the _Challenge_, that he consented to take her from New York to San Francisco in this year. He was now free to attend to his own affairs. Together with Captain A. A. Richie, he founded the town of Fairfield, California. In 1852, he was appointed Port Warden and Inspector of Hulls at the port of San Francisco, a position he held for twenty-eight years. He then retired to his farm, where he died in 1884, at the age of seventy-six. Probably no man in California was more widely known or more highly respected. One of the best ocean races of 1851 was that between the _Raven_, Captain Henry; the _Typhoon_, Captain Salter, and the _Sea Witch_, Captain Frazer. These clippers sailed for San Francisco nearly together: the _Sea Witch_ passed out by Sandy Hook on August 1st, followed by the _Typhoon_ on August 4th, while the _Raven_ passed Boston Light on August 6th. All had able commanders, who carried Maury’s wind and current charts to assist them. In this month of light and baffling breezes a quick run to the equator was hardly to be expected, but these clippers threaded their way across the calm belt of Cancer, ran down the northeast trades, and drifted through the doldrums, with surprising speed. The _Sea Witch_ still kept her lead at the equator, crossing on August 30th, closely followed by the _Raven_ and the _Typhoon_, which crossed together on the 31st, so that the _Raven_ had gained four and the _Typhoon_ two days on their swift competitor. They all weathered Cape St. Roque and stood away to the southward for a splendid dash of over three thousand miles through the southeast trades and the strong westerly winds further south, all crossing the parallel of 50° S. in the same longitude, 64° W. The _Raven_ had gained another day on the _Sea Witch_ and these two clippers were now side by side, with the _Typhoon_ only two days astern.