Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882; Sailors; Seafaring life; Voyages and travels
He was a fine, promising pup, with four white paws, and all the
rest of his body of a dark brown. I built a little kennel for him, and
kept him fastened there, away from the other dogs, feeding and
disciplining him myself. In a few weeks, I got him in complete
subjection, and he grew finely, was very much attached to me, and bid
fair to be one of the leading dogs on the beach. I called him Bravo,
and the only thing I regretted at the thought of leaving the beach, was
parting with him.
Day after day, we went up the hill, but no ship was to be seen, and we
began to form all sorts of conjectures as to her whereabouts; and the
theme of every evening's conversation at the different houses, and in
our afternoon's paséo upon the beach, was the ship--where she could
be--had she been to San Francisco?--how many hides she would bring,
etc., etc.
Tuesday, August 25th. This morning, the officer in charge of our house
went off beyond the point a fishing, in a small canoe, with two
Kanakas; and we were sitting quietly in our room at the hide-house,
when, just before noon, we heard a complete yell of "Sail ho!" breaking
out from all parts of the beach, at once,--from the Kanakas' oven to
the Rosa's house. In an instant, every one was out of his house; and
there was a fine, tall ship, with royals and skysails set, bending over
before the strong afternoon breeze, and coming rapidly round the point.
Her yards were braced sharp up; every sail was set, and drew well; the
Yankee ensign was flying from her mizen-peak; and having the tide in
her favor, she came up like a race-horse. It was nearly six months
since a new vessel had entered San Diego, and of course, every one was
on the qui-vive. She certainly made a fine appearance. Her light sails
were taken in, as she passed the low, sandy tongue of land, and clewing
up her head sails, she rounded handsomely to, under her mizen topsail,
and let go the anchor at about a cable's length from the shore. In a
few minutes, the topsail yards were manned, and all three of the
topsails furled at once. From the fore top-gallant yard, the men slid
down the stay to furl the jib, and from the mizen top-gallant yard, by
the stay, into the maintop, and thence to the yard; and the men on the
topsail yards came down the lifts to the yard-arms of the courses. The
sails were furled with great care, the bunts triced up by jiggers, and
the jibs stowed in cloth. The royal yards were then struck, tackles
got upon the yard-arms and the stay, the long-boat hoisted out, a large
anchor carried astern, and the ship moored. Then the captain's gig was
lowered away from the quarter, and a boat's crew of fine lads, between
the ages of fourteen and eighteen, pulled the captain ashore. The gig
was a light whale-boat, handsomely painted, and fitted up with
cushions, etc., in the stern sheets. We immediately attacked the boat's
crew, and got very thick with them in a few minutes. We had much to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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