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" Battle-songs , drinking-songs , boat-songs , love-songs , and everything else , they seemed to have a complete assortment of , and I was glad to find that " All in the Downs , " " Poor Tom Bowline , " " The Bay of Biscay , " " List , ye Landsmen ! No sooner had we come-to , than a strong south-easter , which had been threatening us all day , set in , with heavy rain and a chilly atmosphere . " I comforted him as well as I could , and promised to ask the captain to help him from the medicine-chest , and told him I had no doubt the captain would do what he could for him , as he had worked in our employ for several years , both on shore and aboard our vessels on the coast . " Having collected nearly all the hides that were to be procured , we began our preparations for taking in a supply of wood and water , for both of which , San Francisco is the best place on the coast . At night , some of us got a boat and went on board , and found a large , roomy forecastle , ( for she was squarer forward than the Alert , ) and a crew of a dozen or fifteen men and boys , sitting around on their chests , smoking and talking , and ready to give a welcome to any of our ship 's company . As we were to be here over Sunday , and Monterey was the best place to go ashore on the whole coast , and we had had no liberty-day for nearly three months , every one was for going ashore . Reduced , too , to her top-masts , she had altogether a most forlorn and crippled appearance . In addition to this , she had been steeved so thoroughly , and was so bound by the compression of her cargo , forced into her by so powerful machinery , that she was like a man in a straight-jacket , and would be but a dull sailer , until she had worked herself loose . We were going along at a great rate , dead before the wind , with studding-sails out on both sides , alow and aloft , on a dark night , just after midnight , and everything was as still as the grave , except the washing of the water by the vessel 's side ; for , being before the wind , with a smooth sea , the little brig , covered with canvas , was doing great business , with very little noise . As soon as she rose out of it , I looked aft , and everything forward of the main-mast , except the long-boat , which was griped and doublelashed down to the ring-bolts , was swept off clear . This was a windfall for us , for they had a set of new songs for the capstan and fall , and ours had got nearly worn out by six weeks ' constant use . She danced for some time with the hat on , when she threw it off , which called forth a general shout ; and the young man was obliged to go out upon the floor and pick it up . She rounded to , backed her main topsail , and showed her decks full of men , four guns on a side , hammock nettings , and everything man-of-war fashion , except that there was no boatswain 's whistle , and no uniforms on the quarter-deck . We both lay over the yard for a few seconds , beating our hands upon the sail , until we started the blood into our fingers ' ends , and at the next moment our hands were in a burning heat . The chief mate heard the noise , dove down the hatchway , hauled them both up on deck , and told them to shake hands and have no more trouble for the voyage , or else they should fight till one gave in for beaten . Upon the whole , ours was the best berth ; for though the water was nipping cold , early in the morning and late at night , and being so continually wet was rather an exposure , yet we got rid of the constant dust and dirt from the beating of the hides , and being all of us young and hearty , did not mind the exposure . The situation was offered him only a few hours before we sailed ; and though he must give up returning to America , yet I have no doubt that the change from a dog 's berth to an officer 's , was too agreeable to his feelings to be declined . He knew that I had no faith in the story which he told the crew , and perhaps , in the moment of parting from me , probably forever , he would have given me the true account .