21 (p. 93) the scarcity of hides: Mission herds were declining drastically in number as private rancheros (ranchers) bought land to raise cattle for the profitable hide trade. Adding to the decline was the fact that some mission administrators slaughtered cattle in large numbers to support the mission financially. One mission reportedly killed 2,000 cattle in a single day. In the upheaval of California mission life during the five years following Dana’s arrival on the coast, mission herds declined in number by almost half.
22 (p. 93) the Alert: According to the official ship’s registry that Dana’s son included in the Appendix of his 1911 edition, the Alert “was built in the year 1828 at Boston”—“has two decks, and three masts and that her length is 113 feet 4 inches, her breadth twenty eight feet, her depth fourteen feet and that she measures Three hundred and ninety eight & 18/95 tons”—“has a billet head, and a square stern, no galleries.”
23 (p. 118) Grey Friars: The first Californian missions were established by the Spanish Franciscan priest Junípero Serra, who in 1769 founded the first, San Diego de Alcalá, near present-day San Diego; it was the southernmost mission in what would become the state of California. Twenty other missions followed. The last and northernmost of the Californian missions, San Francisco Solano, at Sonoma, was founded in 1823. The English called the Franciscans the Grey Friars. Dana recognized the order’s distinctive attire of a grey tunic belted with a white cord.
24 (p. 123) Tom Cringle: The book Tom Cringle’s Log, by Michael Scott, was published in 1834. Dana may have known the story from installments that ran in Blackwood’s Magazine from 1829 to 1833.
25 (p. 125) The captain called him a “soger”: Soger (soldier) is the worst term of reproach that can be applied to a sailor. It signifies a skulk, a sherk,—one who is always trying to get clear of work, and is out of the way, or hanging back, when duty is to be done. “Marine” is the term applied more particularly to a man who is ignorant and clumsy about seaman’s work—a green-horn—a land-lubber. To make a sailor shoulder a handspike, and walk fore and aft the deck, like a sentry, is the most ignominious punishment that could be put upon him. Such a punishment inflicted upon an able seaman in a vessel of war, would break his spirit down more than a flogging. [Dana’s note]
26 (p. 128) he was from a slave state: In his unedited original manuscript, Dana noted Sam was from the District of Columbia. The Pilgrim’s crew list published in the 1911 edition by Dana’s son lists Samuel Sparks of Westmoreland County, Virginia.
27 (p. 131) impression of decayed grandeur: Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821 brought changes to the Franciscan mission structure of California. A decree in 1833 by the new Mexican Congress ordered the secularization of missions, and friars lost their temporal power. Dana was witness to the decline of the old mission buildings and the shifts in power.
28 (p. 149) Each Kanaka on the beach had a pipe ... which he always carried about with him: Dana explained the smoking paraphernalia in his revised edition of 1869: “Matches had not come into use then. I think there were none on board any vessels on the coast. We used the tinderbox in our forecastle.”
29 (p. 163) “Mandeville, a Romance, by Godwin, in five volumes”: William Godwin’s novel Mandeville: A Tale of the Seventeenth Century in England was published in 1817
30 (p. 165) “Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi”: Dana understood the Captain’s reference from Virgil’s Eclogues (I.1.252). The Latin line translates as “Tityrus, you lying down under the cover of a broad beech tree.”
31 (p. 185) lying at anchor inside of the kelp: Kelp forests or beds are found along the coast of California. The brownish kelp inhabits shallow waters. To sailors, live kelp marks the depth of the sea bottom; anchoring inside of the kelp means coming to anchor near to shore in waters no more than 12 fathoms deep.
32 (p. 205) the news was all over the ship that there was a war between the United States and France: In his Sixth Annual Message to Congress on December 1, 1834, President Andrew Jackson said, “It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform you that this pacific and highly gratifying picture of our foreign relations does not include those with France at this time.” He outlined the neglect on the part of the French government to make payments to the United States according to the stipulations of the Treaty of July 4, 1831. Jackson declared, “It is my conviction that the United States ought to insist on a prompt execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused or longer delayed take redress into their own hands.” The dispute was finally resolved early in 1836 through British mediation.
33 (p. 209) Thus a crew of thirty men were half an hour ... fifteen or twenty minutes: Dana apologized for this slight to the whaler’s crew, by way of a footnote in the 1869 edition.I have been told that this description of a whaleman has given offense to the whale-trading people of Nantucket, New Bedford, and the Vineyard. It is not exaggerated; and the appearance of such a ship and crew might well impress a young man trained in the ways of a ship of the style of the Alert. Long observation has satisfied me that there are no better seamen, so far as handling a ship is concerned, and none so venturous and skillful navigators, as the masters and officers of our whalemen. But never, either on this voyage, or in a subsequent visit to the Pacific and its islands, was it my fortune to fall in with a whaleship whose appearance, and the appearance of whose crew, gave signs of strictness of discipline and seamanlike neatness. Probably these things are impossibilities, from the nature of the business, and I may have made too much of them.
34 (p. 254) “Foristan et hæc olim”: “Perhaps even these things someday” (Latin) is a partial line from Virgil’s Aeneid (1.203). The full line is “Forsitan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit,” meaning “Perhaps someday it will be pleasant to remember even these things.” Dana’s erudite aside—akin to using a partial phrase such as “When in Rome ...”—puts the onus on the reader to complete the Latin phrase.
35 (p. 260) tackles: In the 1869 edition, Dana added this footnote: “This word, when used to signify a pulley or purchase formed by blocks and a rope, is always by seamen pronounced tā-kl.”
36 (p. 268) he cashed the order, which was endorsed to him: When the crew were paid off in Boston, the owners answered the order, but generously refused to deduct the amount from pay-roll, saying that the exchange was made under compulsion. They also allowed S——[Stimson] his exchange money. [Dana’s note]
37 (p. 273) the hatches calked down: In the 1869 edition, Dana added this footnote: “We had also a small quantity of gold dust, which Mexicans or Indians had brought down to us from the interior. It was not uncommon for our ships to bring a little, as I have since learned from the owners. I heard rumors of gold discoveries, but they attracted little or no attention, and were not followed up.”
38 (p. 280) we generally had a dry berth apiece in bad weather: On removing the cat-head, after the ship arrived at Boston, it was found that there were two holes under it which had been bored for the purpose of driving treenails, and which, accidentally, had not been plugged up when the cat-head was placed over them. This was sufficient to account for the leak, and for our not having been able to discover and stop it. [Dana’s note]
39 (p. 284) these never come into Jack’s mess: The customs as to the allowance of “grub” are very nearly the same in all American merchantmen. Whenever a pig is killed, the sailors have one mess from it. The rest goes to the cabin. The smaller live stock, poultry, etc., they never taste. And, indeed, they do not complain of this, for it would take a great deal to supply them with a good meal, and without the accompaniments, (which could hardly be furnished to them,) it would not be much better than salt beef. But even as to the salt beef, they are scarcely dealt fairly with; for whenever a barrel is opened, before any of the beef is put into the harness-cask, the steward comes up, and picks it all over, and takes out the best pieces, (those that have any fat in them) for the cabin. This was done in both the vessels I was in, and the men said that it was usual in other vessels. Indeed, it is made no secret
, but some of the crew are usually called to help in assorting and putting away the pieces. By this arrangement, the hard, dry pieces, which the sailors call “old horse,” come to their share.There is a singular piece of rhyme, traditional among sailors, which they say over such pieces of beef. I do not know that it ever appeared in print before. When seated round the kid, if a particularly bad piece is found, one of them takes it up, and addressing it, repeats these lines:
“Old horse! Old horse! What brought you here?”
—“From Sacarap to Portland pier
I’ve carted stone this many a year:
Till, killed by blows and sore abuse,
They salted me down for sailors’ use.
The sailors they do me despise:
They turn me over and damn my eyes;
Cut off my meat, and pick my bones,
And pitch the rest to Davy Jones.”
There is a story current among seamen, that a beef-dealer was convicted, at Boston, of having sold old horse for ship’s stores, instead of beef, and had been sentenced to be confined in jail, until he should eat the whole of it; and that he is now lying in Boston jail. I have heard this story often, on board other vessels beside those of our own nation. It is very generally believed, and is always highly commended, as a fair instance of retaliatory justice. [Dana’s note]
40 (p. 302) “water bewitched, and tea begrudged,” as it was: The proportions of the ingredients of the tea that was made for us, (and ours, as I have before stated, was a favorable specimen of American merchantmen) were, a pint of tea, and a pint and a half of molasses, to about three gallons of water. These are all boiled down together in the “coppers,” and before serving it out, the mess is stirred up with a stick, so as to give each man his fair share of sweetening and tea-leaves. The tea for the cabin is, of course, made in the usual way, in a tea-pot, and drank with sugar. [Dana’s note]
41 (p. 302) I fear Jack might have gone to ruin on the old road: I do not wish these remarks, so far as they relate to the saving of expense in the outfit, to be applied to the owners of our ship, for she was supplied with an abundance of stores, of the best kind that are given to seamen; though the dispensing of them is necessarily left to the captain. Indeed, so high was the reputation of “the employ” among men and officers, for the character and outfit of their vessels, and for their liberality in conducting their voyages, that when it was known that they had a ship fitting out for a long voyage, and that hands were to be shipped at a certain time,—a half hour before the time, as one of the crew told me, numbers of sailors were steering down the wharf, hopping over the barrels, like flocks of sheep. [Dana’s note]
42 (p. 312) “thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice”: The phrase is from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (act 3, scene 1). Claudio’s somber soliloquy on the nature of death resonated with Dana, as he and his shipmates faced the deadly consequences of making one wrong move while sailing in the treacherous icy seas off Cape Horn.
43 (p. 344) “If the Bermudas let you pass, / You must beware of Hatteras— ”:In his 1886 book Wakulla: A Story of Adventure in Florida, Kirk Munroe identifies these lines as being from a song that sailors sang when returning from the West Indies. Cape Hatteras, on the North Carolina coast, is a hazardous cape for mariners.
44 (p. 361) the provisions are not good enough to make a meal anything more than a necessary part of a day’s duty: I am not sure that I have stated, in the course of my narrative, the manner in which sailors eat, on board ship. There are neither tables, knives, forks, nor plates, in a forecastle; but the kid (a wooden tub, with iron hoops) is placed on the floor, and the crew sit round it, and each man cuts for himself with the common jack-knife or sheath-knife, that he carries about him. They drink their tea out of tin pots, holding little less than a quart each.These particulars are not looked upon as hardships, and, indeed, may be considered matters of choice. Sailors, in our merchantmen, furnish their own eating utensils, as they do many of the instruments which they use in the ship’s work, such as knives, palms and needles, marline-spikes, rubbers, etc. And considering their mode of life in other respects, the little time they would have for laying and clearing away a table with its apparatus, and the room it would take up in a forecastle, as well as the simple character of their meals, consisting generally of only one piece of meat,—it is certainly a convenient method, and, as the kid and pans are usually kept perfectly clean, a neat and simple one. I had supposed these things to be generally known, until I heard, a few months ago, a lawyer of repute, who has had a good deal to do with marine cases, ask a sailor upon the stand whether the crew had “got up from table” when a certain thing happened. [Dana’s note]
45 (p. 381) Vigilance Committee: A San Francisco citizens’ group first banded together in 1851 and again in 1856 with a mission to maintain peace and good social order and a determination to bring criminals to justice.
46 (p. 383) Robert E. Lee: Dana’s last author-revised edition was in 1876 and was published in Boston by Osgood and Company. He added this footnote: “The journal was of 1859 before Colonel Robert E. Lee became the celebrated General Lee in command of the Confederate forces in the Civil War.”
47 (p. 393) “The legislature of a thousand drinks”: California’s State Legislature in San Jose was given the title because Senator Thomas Jefferson Green ended each session of 1850 with the call “Come, let us take a thousand drinks.”
APPENDIX
Plates and Dictionary of Sea Terms
From The Seaman’s Friend: Containing a Treatise on Practical Seamanship, with Plates; A Dictionary of Sea Terms; Customs and Usages of the Merchant Service; Laws Relating to the Practical Duties of Master and Mariners, by Richard H. Dana Jr. (1841).
PLATE I.
THE SPARS AND RIGGING OF A SHIP.
INDEX OF REFERENCES.
1 Head.
2 Head-boards.
3 Stem.
4 Bows.
5 Forecastle.
6 Waist.
7 Quarter-deck.
8 Gangway.
9 Counter.
10 Stern.
11 Tafferel.
12 Fore chains.
13 Main chains.
14 Mizzen chains.
15 Bowsprit.
16 Jib-boom.
17 Flying jib-boom.
18 Spritsail yard.
19 Martingale.
20 Bowsprit cap.
21 Foremast.
22 Fore topmast.
23 Fore topgallant mast.
24 Fore royal mast.
25 Fore skysail mast.
26 Main mast.
27 Main topmast.
28 Main topgallant mast.
29 Main royal mast.
30 Main skysail mast.
31 Mizzen mast.
32 Mizzen topmast.
33 Mizzen topgallant mast.
34 Mizzen royal mast.
35 Mizzen skysail mast.
36 Fore spencer gaff.
37 Main spencer gaff.
38 Spanker gaff.
39 Spanker boom.
40 Fore top.
41 Foremast cap.
42 Fore topmast cross-trees.
43 Main top.
44 Mainmast cap.
45 Main topmast cross-trees.
46 Mizzen top.
47 Mizzenmast cap.
48 Mizzen topmast cross-trees.
49 Fore yard.
50 Fore topsail yard.
51 Fore topgallant yard.
52 Fore royal yard.
53 Main yard.
54 Main topsail yard.
55 Main topgallant yard.
56 Main royal yard.
57 Cross-jack yard.
58 Mizzen topsail yard.
59 Mizzen topgallant yard.
60 Mizzen royal yard.
61 Fore truck.
62 Main truck.
63 Mizzen truck.
64 Fore stay.
65 Fore topmast stay.
66 Jib stay.
70 Fore skysail stay.
71 Jib guys.
72 Flying-jib guys.
73 Fore lifts.
74 Fore braces.
75 Fore topsail lifts.
76 Fore topsail braces.
77 Fore topgallant lifts.
78 Fore topgallant braces.
79 Fore royal lifts.
80 Fore royal braces.
81 Fore rigging.
82 Fore topmast rigging.
83 Fore topgallant shrouds.
84 Fore topmast backstays.
85 Fore topgallant backstays.
86 Fore royal backstays.
87 Main stay.
88 Main topmast stay.
89 Main topgallant stay.
90 Main royal stay.
91 Main lifts.
68 Flying-jib stay.
69 Fore royal stay.
92 Main braces.
93 Main topsail lifts.
94 Main topsail braces.
95 Main topgallant lifts.
96 Main topgallant braces.
97 Main royal lifts.
98 Main royal braces.
99 Main rigging.
100 Main topmast rigging.
101 Main topgallant rigging.
102 Main topmast backstays.
103 Main topgallant backstays.
104 Main royal backstays.
105 Cross-jack lifts.
106 Cross-jack braces.
107 Mizzen topsail lifts.
108 Mizzen topsail braces.
109 Mizzen topgallant lifts.
110 Mizzen topgal’t braces.
111 Mizzen royal lifts.
112 Mizzen royal braces.
113 Mizzen stay.
114 Mizzen topmast stay.
115 Mizzen topgallant stay.
116 Mizzen royal stay.
117 Mizzen skysail stay.
118 Mizzen rigging.
119 Mizzen topmast rigging.
120 Mizzen topgal.shrouds.
Two Years Before the Mast (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 52