USA > California > Santa Barbara County > History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111
" We afterwards learned that she was built at Guayaquil, and named the Ayacucho, after the place where the battle was fought that gave Pern her independence, and was now owned by a Scotchman named Wilson, who commanded her, and was en- gaged in the trade between Callao and other parts of South America and California. She was a fast sailer, as we frequently afterwards saw, and had a crew of Sandwich Islanders on board. Beside this vessel there was no object to break the surface of the bay.
" Two points ran out as the horns of the crescent, one of which, the one to the westward, was low and sandy, and is that to which vessels are obliged to give a wide berth when running out for a southeaster: the other is high, hold, and well wooded.
DESCRIPTION OF SANTA BARBARA.
" In the middle of this crescent, directly opposite the anchoring ground, lies the mission and town of Santa Barbara, on a low plain, but little above the level of the sea, covered with grass, though entirely without trees, and surrounded on three sides by an amphitheater of mountains, which slant off to the distance of fifteen 01 twenty miles. The mission stands a little baek of the town, and is a large build- ing, or rather collection of buildings, in the center of which is a high tower with a belfry of five bells. The whole, being plastered, makes quite a show at a distanee, and is the mark by which vessels come to anchor. The town lies a little nearer to the beach --- about half a mile from it-and is composed of one- story houses, built of sun-baked clay, or adobe, some of them whitewashed, with red tiles on the roofs. 1 should judge that there were about a hundred of them; and in the midst of them stands the presidio, or fort, built of the same material and apparently but little stronger. The town is finely situated, with a bay in front and amphitheater of hills behind. The only thing which diminishes its beauty is that the hills have no large trees upon them, they having been all burnt by a great fire which swept them off about a dozen years ago, and they have not yet grown again. The fire was described to me by an inhabit- ant as having been a very terrible and magnificent sight. The air of the valley was so heated that the people were obliged to leave town and take up their quarters for several days upon the beach.
METHOD OF LANDING.
"Just before sundown the mate ordered a boat's crew ashore, and I went as one of the number. We passed under the stern of the English brig, and had a long pull ashore. I shall never forget the impres- sion which our first landing on the beach of Califor- nia made upon me. The sun had just gone down; it was getting dusky; the damp night wind was begin-
ning to blow, and the heavy swell of the Pacific was setting in and breaking in loud and high " comb- ers" upon the beach. We lay on our oars in the swell, just outside the surf, waiting for a good chance to run in, when a boat which had put off from the Ayacucho came alongside of us with a crew of dusky Sandwich Islanders, talking and hallooing in their outlandish tongue. They knew that we were novices in this kind of boating and waited to see us go in. The second mate, however, who steered our boat, determined to have the advantage of their experi- ence, and would not go in first. Finding, at length, how matters stood, they gave a shout, and, taking advantage of a great comber which came swelling in, rearing its head and lifting up the sterns of our boats nearly perpendicular, and again dropping them in the trough, they gave three or four long and strong pulls and went in on the top of a great wave, throwing their oars overboard and as far from the boat as they could throw them, and jumping out the instant the boat touched the beach, they seized hold of her by the gunwale on each side and ran her up high and dry upon the sand. We saw at once how the thing was to be done, and also the necessity of keeping the boat stern out to the sea; for the instant the sea should strike upon her broadside, or quarter. she would be driven up broadside on and capsized. We pulled strongly in. and as soon as we felt that the sea had got hold of us, and was carrying us on with the speed of a race horse, we threw the oars as far from the boat as we could and took hold of the gunwales, ready to spring out and seize her when she struck. the officer using his utmost strength with his steering oar to keep her stern out. We were shot up on the beach, and, seizing the boat, ran her up high and dry, and picking up our oars stood by her, ready for the captain to come down.
" Finding that the captain did not eome immedi- ately, we put our oars in the boat, and leaving one to watch it walked along the beach to see what we eould of the place. The beach is nearly a mile in length between the two points, and of smooth sand. We had taken the only good landing-place, which was in the middle, it being more stony toward the ends. It is about twenty yards in width from high-water mark to a slight bank at which the soil begins, and so hard that it is a favorite place for run- ning horses. It was growing dark, so that we could just distinguish the dim outlines of the two vessels in the offing, and the great seas were rolling in in regular lines, growing larger and larger as they approached the shore, and hanging over the beach upon which they were to break, when their tops would eurl over and turn white with foam, and begin- unng at one extreme of the line break rapidly to the other, as a child's long card-house falls when a card is knocked down at one end.
" The Sandwich Islanders, in the meantime, had turned their boat round, and ran her down into the water, and were loading her with hides and tallow. As this was the work in which we were soon to be engaged, we looked on with some curiosity. They ran the boat so far into the water that every large sea might float her, and two of them, with their trousers rolled up, stood by the bows, one on each side, keeping her in the right position. This was hard work, for beside the force they had to use upon the boat, the large seas nearly took them off their feet. The others were running from the boat to the bank, upon which, out of the reach of the water, was a pile of dry bulloek's hides, doubled lengthwise in the middle, and nearly as stiff as boards. These
RESIDENCE OF W RICHO BROOME SANTA BARBARA CAL.
RANCH"SANTA ROSA' OF J. W. COOPER, SANTA BARBARA CO. CAL.
57
SANTA BARBARA AS SEEN BY DANA.
they took upon their heads, one or two at a time. and carried down to the boat. in which one of their number stowed them away. They were obliged to carry them on their heads to keep them out of the water, and we observed that they had on thick woolen caps. 'Look here, Bill, and see what you are com- ing to!' said one of our men to another who stood by the boat. . Well. Dana,' said the second mate to me. ' this does not look much like Harvard College, does it? But it is what I call head work, head work.' ' To tell the truth. it does not look very encouraging.' After they had got through with their hides, the Kanakas laid hold of the bags of tallow (the bags are made of hide and are about the size of a common meal bag), and lifted each upon the shoulders of two men, one at each end, who walked off with them to the boat, when all prepared to go aboard. Here too. was something for us to learn. The man who steered shipped his oar, and stood up in the stern, and those that pulled the two after oars, sat upon their benches. with their oars shipped, ready to strike out as soon as she was afloat. The two men remained standing at the bows, and when, at length, a large sea came in and floated her, seized hold of the gunwales, and ran out with her until they were up to their armpits, and then tumbled over the gunwales into the bows, dripping with water. The men at the oars struck out, but it wouldn't do, the sea swept back, and left them nearly high and dry. The two fellows jumped ont again. and the next time, they succeeded better, and, with the help of a deal of outlandish hallooing and bawling, got her well off. We watched them till they were out of the breakers, and saw them steer- ing for their vessel, which was now hidden in the darkness. The sand of the beach began to be cold to our bare feet, the frogs set up their eroaking in the marshes, and one solitary owl, from the end of the distant point, gave out his melancholy note, mel- lowed by the distance, and we began to think it was high time for ' the old man,' as a ship-master is com- monly called, to come down. In a few minutes we heard something coming towards us. It was a man on horseback. He came on the full gallop, reined up near us, addressed a few words to us, and receiving no answer, wheeled round, and galloped off again. He was nearly as dark as an Indian, with a large Spanish hat, blanket cloak or serapa, and leather leg- gins, with a long knife stuck in them. This is the seventh city that ever I was in, and no Christian one neither,' said Bill Brown. 'Stand by!' said John, 'you haven't seen the worst of it yet.' In the midst of this conversation the captain appeared, and we winded the boat round, shoved her down, and pre- pared to go off. The captain, who had been on the coast before, and ' knew the ropes,' took the steering oar, and we went off in the same way as the other boat. I, being the youngest, had the pleasure of standing at the bow and getting wet through. We went off though the seas were high. Some of them lifted us up, and sliding from under us. seemed to let us drop through the air like a flat plank upon the body of the water. In a few minutes we were in the low, regular swell, and pulled for a light, which, as we neared it. we found had been run up to our try- sail gaff.
" Coming aboard, we hoisted up all the boats. and diving down into the forecastle, changed our wet clothes, and got our supper. After supper the sail- ors lighted their pipes (eigars, those of us who had them), and we had to tell all we had seen ashore. Then followed conjectures about the people ashore, the length of the voyage, carrying hides, ete., etc.,
until eight bells, when all hands were called aft, and the ' anchor watch' set.
" We were to stand two in a watch. and as the nights were pretty long, two hours were to make a watch. The second mate was to keep the deck until eight o'clock. AAll hands were to be called at day - break, and the word was passed to keep a bright lookout, and to call the mute if it should come on to blow from the southeast. We had, also, orders to strike the bells every half hour through the night, as at sea. My watchmate was John, the Swedish sailor, and we stood from twelve till two, he walking the larboard side, and I the starboard. At daylight all hands were called, and we went through the usual process of washing down, swabbing, etc., and got breakfast at eight o'clock. In the course of the forencon. a boat went aboard ot the Ayacucho, and brought off a quarter of beef, which made us a fresh bite for dinner. This we were glad enough to have. While at dinner. the cook called, ' Sail ho !' and, com- ing on deck, we saw two sails bearing round the point. One was a large ship under top-gallant sails, and the other, a small hermaphrodite brig. They both backed their top-sails, and sent boats aboard of us. The ship's colors had puzzled us, and we found that she was from Genoa, with an assorted cargo. and was trading on the coast. She filled away again, and stood out, being bound up the coast to San Francisco. The crew of the brig's boat were Sandwich Island- ers, but one of them, who spoke a little English, told us that she was the Loriotte, Captain Nye, from Oahu, and was engaged in the hide and tallow trade. She was a lump of a thing, what the sailors call a butter box. This vessel, as well as the Ayacucho, and others which we afterwards saw engaged in the same trade, have English or Americans for officers, and two or three before the mast to do the work upon the rigging, and to be relied upon for seamenship, while the rest of the crew are Sandwich Islanders. who are active, and very useful in boating.
A SOUTHEASTER.
" This night, after sundown, it looked black at the southward and eastward, and we were told to keep a a bright lookout. Expecting to be called, we turned in early. Waking about midnight, I found a man who had just come down from his watch striking a light. He said that it was beginning to puff from the southeast, that the sea was rolling in, and he bad ealled the captain; and as he threw himself down on his chest with all his clothes on, I knew that he expected to be called. I felt the vessel pitching at her anchor and the chain surging and snapping, and lay awake prepared for an instant summons. In a few minutes it came-three knocks at the seuttle and . all hands ahoy! bear a hand, up and make sail!'
" We sprang for our clothes, and were about half dressed when the mate called out, down the scuttle, · Tumble up here men, tumble up, before she drags her anchor!' We were on deck in an instant.
""' Lay aloft and loose the sails!' shouted the capt- ain, as soon as the first man showed himself. Spring- ing into the rigging, I saw that the Ayacucho's topsails were loosed, and heard her crew singing out at the sheets as they were hauling them home. This had probably started our captain, as . Old Wil- son,' the captain of the Ayacucho, had been many years on the coast and knew the signs of the weather. We soon had the topsails loosed; and one band remaining, as usual, in each top, to overhaul the rigging and light the sail out, the rest of us came down to man the sheets.
58
HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
" While sheeting home, we saw the Ayacucho stand- ing athwart our hawse, sharp upon the wind, cutting through the head seas like a knite, with her raking masts and her sharp bows running up like the head of a greyhound. It was a beautiful sight. She was like a bird which had been frightened and had spread ber wings in flight. After our top-sails had been sheeted home, the head yards braced aback, the fore- topmast stay-sail hoisted, and the buoys streamed, and all ready forward for shipping, we went aft and manned the slip-rope, which came through the stern port with a turn round the timber heads. 'All ready forward?' asked the captain. 'Aye, aye, sir!' an- swered the mate. 'Let go!' 'All gone, sir,' and the chain cable grated over the windlass and through the hawse-hole, and the little vessel's head swinging off from the wind under the force of her backed head sails brought the strain upon the slip-rope. 'Let go aft!' Instantly all was gone, and we were under way. As soon as she was well off from the wind we filled away the head yards, braeed all up sharp, set the foresail and try-sail, and left our anchorage well astern, giving the point a good berth. 'Nye's off, too,' said the captain to the mate; and looking astern we could just see the little hermaphrodite brig under sail, standing after us.
" It now began to blow fresh; the rain fell fast, and it grew black; but the captain would not take in sail until we were well clear off the point. As soon as we left this on our quarter, and were standing out to sea, the order was given and we went aloft, double- reefed each top-sail, furled the foresail, and double- reefed the try-sail, and were soon under easy sail. In these cases of slipping for southeasters there is nothing to be done, after you have got clear of the coast, but to lie-to under easy sail and wait for the gale to be over, which seldom lasts more than two days, and is sometimes over in twelve hours; but the wind never comes back to the southward until there has a good deal of rain fallen. 'Go below the wateh,' said the mate; but here was a dispute which watch it should be. The mate soon settled it by sending bis watch below, saying that we should bave our turn the next time we got under way. We remained on deck till the expiration of the watch, the wind blowing very fresh and the rain coming down in torrents.
" When the watch came up, we wore ship and stood on the other taek, in towards land. When we came up again, which was at four in the morning, it was very dark, and there was not much wind, but it was raining as I thought I had never seen it rain before. We had on oil-cloth suits and southwester caps, and had nothing to do but to stand bold upright and let it pour down on us. There are no umbrellas and no sheds to go under at sea.
"While we were standing about on deck, we saw the little brig drifting by us, hove to under her fore- top sail double reefed, and she glided by like a phan- tom. Not a word was spoken, and we saw no one on deck but the man at the wheel. Toward morning the captain put his head ont of the companion-way and told the second mate, who commanded our watch, to look out for a change of wind, which usually followed a calm with heavy rain. It was well that he did, for in a few minutes it fell dead ealm, the vessel lost her steerage way, the rain ceased, we hauled up the try-sail and courses, squared the after yards, and waited for the ehange, which came in a few minutes, with a vengeance, from the north west, the opposite point of the compass. Owing to our precautions, we were not taken aback, but
ran before the wind with square yards. The captain eoming on deck, we braced up a little and stood back for our anchorage. With the change of wind came a change of weather, and in two hours the wind moderated into a light, steady breeze, which blows down the coast the greater part of the year. and, from its regularity, might be called a trade wind. The sun eame up bright, and we set royals, sky-sails, and studding-sails, and were under fair way for Santa Barbara. The little Loriotte was astern of us, nearly out of sight, but we saw nothing of the Ayacucho. In a short time she appeared, standing out from Santa Rosa Island, under the lee of which she had been hove to all night. Our eapt- ain was eager to get in before her, for it would be a great credit to us, on the coast, to beat the Ayacucho, which had been called the best sailer in the North Pacific, in which she had been known as a trader for six years or more. We had an advantage over her in light winds, from our royals and sky-sails, which we earried, both at the fore and main, and also from our studding-sails when on the coast.
" As the wind was light and fair, we held our own for some time, when we were both obliged to brace up and come upon a taut bowline after rounding the point; and here he had us on his own ground, and walked away from us as you would haul in a line. He afterward said that we sailed well enough with the wind free, but that give him a taut bowline and he would beat us if we had all the canvas of the Royal George.
"The Ayacucho got to the anchoring ground about half an hour before us, and was furling ber sails when we eame-to it. This picking up your cables is a niee piece of work. It requires some seamanship to do it, and to come-to at your former moorings with- out letting go another anebor. Captain Wilson was remarkable among the sailors on the coast for his skill in doing this, and our captain never let go a second anchor during all the time that I was with him. Coming a little to windward of our buoy, we clewed up the light sails, backed our main top-sail, and lowered a boat, which pulled off, and made fast a spare hawser to the buoy on the end of the slip- rope. We brought the other end to the capstan, and hove in upon it until we came to the slip-rope, which we took to the windlass and bitted, the slip-rope taken round outside and brought into the stern port, and she is safe in her old berth.
" After we had got through, the mate told us that this was a small touch of California, the like of which we must expeet to have through the winter. After we had furled the sails and got dinner, we saw the Loriotte nearing, and she had her anebor before night. At sundown we went ashore again, and found the Loriotte's boat waiting on the beach. The Sandwich Islander who could speak English, told us that he had been up to the town: that our agent, Mr. Robinson, and some passengers were going to Mon- terey with us, and that we were to sail the same night.
TAKING ON PASSENGERS.
" In a few minutes Capt. A. B. Thompson, with two gentlemen and a lady, came down, and we got ready to go off. They had a good deal of baggage, which we put into the bows of the boat, and then two of us took the Señora in our arms, and waded with her through the water, and put her down safely in the stern. She appeared much amused with the transaction, and her husband was perfeetly satisfied, thinking my arrangement good, which saved his wetting his feet.
59
SANTA BARBARA AS SEEN BY DANA.
I pulled the after oar, so that I heard the conversa- tion, and learned that one of the men, who, as well as I could see in the darkness, was a young looking man. in the European dress, and covered up in a large cloak. was the agent of the firm to which our vessel belonged; and the other who was dressed in the Spanish dress of the country, was a brother of our captain, who had been many years a trader on the coast, and that the lady was his wife. She was a delicate, dark complex- ioned young woman, of one of the respectable families* of California. I also found that they were to sail the same night.
As soon as we got on board the boats were hoisted up, the sails loosened, the windlass manved. the ship- ropes and gear cast off. and after about twenty min- utes of heaving at the windlass, making sail, and bracing yards, we were well under way, and going with a fair wind up the coast to Monterey. The Loriotte got under way at the same time and was also bound up to Monterey, but as she took a differ- ent course from us, keeping the land aboard, while we kept well out to sea, we soon lost sight of her.
" We had a fair wind, which is something unusual when going up, as the prevailing wind is the north, which blows directly down the coast, whence the northern are called the windward, and the southern the leeward ports."
CHAPTER XIII.
SANTA BARBARA AS SEEN BY DANA.
Voyage to Monterey-Character of the Coast-General Style of the Dress of the People-Pure and Mixed Blood-Fine Voices- California Money-Methods of Travel - Amuse- ments-Return to Santa Barbara-Dull Town-Another Southeaster - A Day Ashore-Singular Funeral - Cock Fighting-Horse Race-Dancing-Among the Breakers- Festival January 10, 1836-Curious Custom-Love's Offer- ing.
"WE got clear of the islands before sunrise the next morning, and by twelve o'clock were out of the canal and off Point Concepcion, the place where we first made the land upon our arrival. This is the largest point on the coast, and is an inhabited head- land stretching out into the Pacific, and has the reputation of being very windy. Any vessel does well which gets by it without a gale, especially in the winter season. We were going along with stud- ding-sails set on both sides, when, as we came round the point, we had to hanl our wind and take in the lee studding-sails.
"As the brig came more upon the wind she felt it more, and we doused the sky-sails, but kept the weather studding-sails on her, bracing the yards for- ward so that the swinging-boom nearly touched the sprit-sail yard. She now lay over to it. the wind was freshening, and the captain was evidently . drag- ging on to her.' His brother and Mr. Robinson looked a little disturbed, said something to him, but he only answered that he knew the vessel and what she would earry. He was evidently showing off, and letting them know how he could carry sail. He stood up to windward, holding on by the backstays and looking up at the sticks to see how much they would bear, when a puff came which settled the matter. Then it was . haul down' and . clew up' royals, flying jib, and studding-sails all at once.
" There was what the sailors call a 'mess ' - everything let go, nothing hauled in, and everything flying. The poor Mexican woman came to the com- panion-way, looking as pale as a ghost and nearly frightened to death. The mate and some men for- ward were trying to haul in the lower studding-sail, which had blown over the sprit-sail yard-arm and round the guys, while the topmast-studding-sail boom, after buckling up and springing out again like a piece of whalebone, broke off at the boom-iron. 1 jumped aloft to take in the main top-gallant studding- sail, but before I got to the top the tack parted and away went the sail, swinging forward the top- gallant-sail and tearing and slatting itself to pieces. The halyards were at this moment let go by the run, and such a piece of work I never had before in taking in a sail. After great exertions I got it, or the remains of it, into the top, and was making it fast, when the captain, looking up, called out to me, Lay aloft there, Dana, and furl that main royal.' Leaving the studding-sail I went up to the eross trees, and here it looked rather squally. The foot of the top-gallant mast was working between the cross and trussel trees, and the mast lay over at a fearful angle, with the topmast below, while everything was working and cracking, strained to the utmost.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.