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She was a good , substantial ship , not quite so long as the Alert , and wall-sided and kettle-bottomed , after the latest fashion of south-shore cotton and sugar wagons ; strong , too , and tight , and a good average sailor , but with no pretensions to beauty , and nothing in the style of a " crack ship . The account was given by the captain , and the representation was as favorable as possible . Among our passengers was a young man who was the best representation of a decayed gentleman I had ever seen . Our ship rose slowly over a few of the largest of them , until one immense fellow came rolling on , threatening to cover her , and which I was sailor enough to know , by " the feeling of her " under my feet , she would not rise over . I told him that if any one was sent on board the brig , I should pity him , and be willing to help him to that , or almost any amount ; but would not speak of it as an exchange . Four of our men , a few days afterwards , went up in one of the quarter-boats to Santa Clara , to carry the agent , and remained out all night in a drenching rain , in the small boat , where there was not room for them to turn round ; the agent having gone up to the mission and left the men to their fate , making no provision for their accommodation , and not even sending them anything to eat . From this , if a man comes within an ace of breaking his neck and escapes , it is made a joke of ; and no notice must be taken of a bruise or cut ; and any expression of pity , or any show of attention , would look sisterly , and unbecoming a man who has to face the rough and tumble of such a life . They sang in the true sailor 's style , and the rest of the crew , which was a remarkably musical one , joined in the choruses . But far stronger than any feeling for myself , was the pity I felt for the poor lad . Relieved as I was to see her well off , ( and I felt like one who had just sprung from an iron trap which was closing upon him ) I had yet a feeling of regret at taking the last look at the old craft in which I had spent a year , and the first year , of my sailor 's life - which had been my first home in the new world into which I had entered - and with which I had associated so many things , - my first leaving home , my first crossing the equator , Cape Horn , Juan Fernandez , death at sea , and other things , serious and common . Time after time he was knocked nearly down , but up he came again and faced the mark , as bold as a lion , again to take the heavy blows , which sounded so as to make one 's heart turn with pity for him . This is sailor 's pleasure . It was after dark when we got through , and we were not a little pleased to hear four bells struck , which sent us below for two hours , and gave us each a pot of hot tea with our cold beef and bread , and , what was better yet , a suit of thick , dry clothing , fitted for the weather , in place of our thin clothes , which were wet through and now frozen stiff . I could not but feel a pity for him , especially when I saw him by the side of his fellow-passenger and townsman , a fat , coarse , vulgar , pretending fellow of a Yankee trader , who had made money in San Diego , and was eating out the very vitals of the Bandinis , fattening upon their extravagance , grinding them in their poverty ; having mortgages on their lands , forestalling their cattle , and already making an inroad upon their jewels , which were their last hope .