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In our first attempt to double the Cape , when we came up to the latitude of it , we were nearly seventeen hundred miles to the westward , but , in running for the straits of Magellan , we stood so far to the eastward , that we made our second attempt at a distance of not more than four or five hundred miles ; and we had great hopes , by this means , to run clear of the ice ; thinking that the easterly gales , which had prevailed for a long time , would have driven it to the westward . I do not refer to those occasions when it is necessarily broken in upon ; but , for months , during fine weather , in many merchantmen , all hands are kept , throughout the day , and , then , there are eight hours on deck for one watch each night . I spent an evening on board , and found them making the best of the matter , and determined to rough it out as they might ; but my friend S - - - was determined to go home in the ship , if money or interest could bring it to pass . However , " a miss is as good as a mile ; " a saying which sailors very often have occasion to use . On Sunday morning , as soon as the decks were washed , and we had got breakfast , those who had obtained liberty began to clean themselves , as it is called , to go ashore . Yet , with all this , and the feeling I had for my old shipmates , condemned to another term of California life , the thought that we were done with it , and that one week more would see us on our way to Boston , was a cure for everything . Going in , we found nearly all the people of the town - men , women , and children - collected and crowded together , leaving barely room for the dancers ; for on these occasions no invitations are given , but every one is expected to come , though there is always a private entertainment within the house for particular friends . The forecastle , shut up tight to keep out the water and cold air ; - the watch either on deck , or asleep in their berths ; - no one to speak to ; - the pale light of the single lamp , swinging to and fro from the beam , so dim that one can scarcely see , much less read by it ; - the water dropping from the beams and carlines , and running down the sides ; and the forecastle so wet , and dark , and cheerless , and so lumbered up with chests and wet clothes , that sitting up is worse than lying in the berth !