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This was a " temperance ship , " and , like too many such ships , the temperance was all in the forecastle . Not four hours had we been standing on in this course , before it fell dead calm ; and in half an hour it clouded up ; a few straggling blasts , with spits of snow and sleet , came from the eastward ; and in an hour more , we lay hove-to under a close-reefed main topsail , drifting bodily off to leeward before the fiercest storm that we had yet felt , blowing dead ahead , from the eastward . It was an interesting sight , too , to see our noble ship , dismantled of all her top-hamper of long tapering masts and yards , and boom pointed with spear-head , which ornamented her in port ; and all that canvas , which a few days before had covered her like a cloud , from the truck to the water 's edge , spreading far out beyond her hull on either side , now gone ; and she , stripped , like a wrestler for the fight . I felt all this , and saw the necessity of being determined . Her armament was from her being an illegal trader . Here then our progress was stopped , and we wore ship , and once more stood to the northward and eastward ; not for the straits of Magellan , but to make another attempt to double the Cape , still farther to the eastward ; for the captain was determined to get round if perseverance could do it ; and the third time , he said , never failed . Being so deep and heavy , she wanted the buoyancy which should have carried her over the seas , and she dropped heavily into them , the water washing over the decks ; and every now and then , when an unusually large sea met her fairly upon the bows , she struck it with a sound as dead and heavy as that with which a sledge-hammer falls upon the pile , and took the whole of it in upon the forecastle , and rising , carried it aft in the scuppers , washing the rigging off the pins , and carrying along with it everything which was loose on deck . 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 . We took him aboard , landed him at the gangway , and went about our work , keeping an eye upon the quarter-deck , where the captain was walking . We had now finished all our business at this port , and it being Sunday , we unmoored ship and got under weigh , firing a salute to the Russian brig , and another to the Presidio , which were both answered . " says another , " and we 'll get an afternoon watch below , by this scrape ; " but in this they were disappointed , for at two bells , all hands were called and set to work , getting lashings upon everything on deck ; and the captain talked of sending down the long top-gallant masts ; but , as the sea went down toward night , and the wind hauled abeam we left them standing , and set the studding-sails . One reef after another we took in , until the sail was close-reefed , when we went down and hoisted away at the halyards . This , of course , put an end to the project , for the present ; for a thick fog and a gale blowing dead ahead are not the most favorable circumstances for the passage of difficult and dangerous straits . Nearly two hundred hours ( as we had calculated it ) had we walked the ship 's deck together , at anchor watch , when all hands were below , and talked over and over every subject which came within the ken of either of us . Indeed , during all the time we were upon the coast , our principal food was fresh beef , and every man had perfect health ; but this was a time of especial devouring ; and what we should have done without meat , I cannot tell . The ship wore round fairly , the yards were steadied , and we stood off on the other tack , leaving behind us , directly under our larboard quarter , a large ice island , peering out of the mist , and reaching high above our tops , while astern ; and on either side of the island , large tracts of field-ice were dimly seen , heaving and rolling in the sea . We killed one of the bullocks every four days , so that they did not last us up to the line . One has to stand his wheel , and another his lookout , and the sooner he gets on deck again , the better . It blew a tremendous gale from the eastward , with sleet and snow , and there was every promise of a dangerous and fatiguing night . It corresponded , too , with the desolate character of her situation ; - alone , as she was , battling with storms , wind , and ice , at this extremity of the globe , and in almost constant night . was asked by every one ; and from questions , it soon grew into complaints and murmurings . 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 .