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I knew that it would be hopeless to attempt to prevail upon any of the ship 's crew to take twelve months more upon the California in the brig . Arrived at San Pedro on the fourth day , and came-to in the old place , a league from shore , with no other vessel in port , and the prospect of three weeks , or more , of dull life , rolling goods up a slippery hill , carrying hides on our heads over sharp stones , and , perhaps , slipping for a south-easter . He was a Fin , but spoke English very well , and gave me long accounts of his country ; - the customs , the trade , the towns , what little he knew of the government , ( I found he was no friend of Russia ) , his voyages , his first arrival in America , his marriage and courtship ; - he had married a countrywoman of his , a dress-maker , whom he met with in Boston . The old women sat down in rows , clapping their hands to the music , and applauding the young ones . At four , P. M. ( it was then quite dark ) all hands were called , and sent aloft in a violent squall of hall and rain , to take in sail . - All the first part of a passage is spent in getting a ship ready for sea , and the last part in getting her ready for port . The darkness , and complete stillness of the night , and the solitude of the ocean , gave to the sound a dreadful and almost supernatural effect . A cloud of smoke came out of our bows ; the echoes of the gun rattled our farewell among the hills of California ; and the two ships were covered , from head to foot , with their white canvas . The top-gallant and royal yards were accordingly struck , the flying jib-boom rigged in , and the top-gallant masts sent down on deck , and all lashed together by the side of the long-boat . We probably were as fine a sight , with our studding-sails spread far out beyond the ship on either side , and rising in a pyramid to royal studding-sails and sky-sails , burying the hull in canvas , and looking like what the whale-men on the Banks under their stump top-gallant masts , call " a Cape Horner under a cloud of sail .