Arrive San Francisco
August 5, 1849SS Pacific
Captain Hall J. Tibbetts (from New York to Rio de Janeiro)
Captain George T. Estabrooks(from Rio de Janeiro to San Francisco)
From New York via Rio de Janeiro
Passage
191 days from New York.Along with the list was a letter of commendation was published in the Alta California to Captain George T. Estabrooks expressing "some small degree of the gratitude we owe you for the kindness shown us, on all occasions, during your command of that ship from Rio de Janeiro to this port. We assure you we shall ever carry with us a pleasing recollection of a voyage that, though often attended by trials and dangers, has been a source of so much pleasure to us through your humanity and unsurpassed seamanship."
James P. Delgado, in To California by Sea, cites Stillman from Around the Horn to California, as follows:
Jacob D.B. Stillman, aboard Pacific, said the captain would not even discuss passenger complaints. When a committee of passengers complained about the food, the captain "abused us roundly, and told us if he had any more trouble with us, he would fire the magazine and blow us all to hell together. On another occasion the captain told Stillman he was withholding pickles and vegetables until the passengers got scurvy. Stillman also complained about the way the ship was worked: �The master damns the mate, the mate damns the second mate, and the second mate damns the sailors, who damn each other and the cook. . . In short, kindness is a thing I have not seen on board our ship . . . Our Captain, having passed his life among seamen, is incapable of treating passengers any other way
. . . If a ship-master ever exhibits any gentlemanly spirit, he owes it to something else than the education he receives at sea.� Stillman and his fellow passengers triumphed over their captain, who was removed from the ship by the American Consul at Rio de Janeiro, where more than one skipper was removed from command.
Captain Estabrooks joined the ship at Rio, and thus the letter to the
Alta California.
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California has a typescript coipy of a journal
by passenger Charles Williams from January 22-August 5, 1849, of this voyage.
The Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts holds the original (MS. K.1.9.)
Both versions include a list of the passengers in the first cabin. There are
a number of transcription errors in the typescript.
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, is holding an Anonymous.
Journal, January 22-August 5, 1849, of this voyage (# C-F 216). On basis of
the type of paper used and the uniformness and quality of the writing, it is
probable that this is a holograph copy rather than the original journal. There
is no indication of when or by whom the copy might have been made.
When they
stopped at Rio de Janeiro, a large portion of the first class passengers protested
to the U. S. Consul Gorham D. Parks that Captain Tibbetts was insane and intemperate.
After a delay of several days, Parks removed Tibbetts from command and appointed
Easterbrook in his place. Estabrook refused to allow Tibbetts to continue in
the vessel to San Francisco even though Tibbetts was half owner of the vessel.
Tibbetts returned to New York, where he created a stir among the shipping and
insurance interests, arranged for transportation to San Francisco via Panama,
and met the Pacific to resume command when she arrived.
Alta California
August 10, 1849
A CARD
San Francisco. Aug 10, 1849To Capt. Geo. T. Estabrooks, Dear Sir:
The undersigned, passengers recently arrived
on board the ship Pacific from New York, beg
leave to use this method of expressing to you
some small degree of the gratitude we owe
you for the kindness shown us, on all occasions,
during your command of that ship from
Rio Janeiro to this port. We assure you we
shall ever carry with us a pleasing recollection
of a voyage that, though often attended bv
trials and dangers, has been a source of so much pleasure to us through your humanity
and unsurpassed seamanship:
J. D. B. StilJman, M.D., D.W.C. Brown, James A. Morgan, N. Y. Addison S. Clark, Geo.; J. C. Angel, John Cheney, Edward W. Leffrts, N. Y.; Ezra A. Hopkins, Mich.; Hiram Bingham, Chas H. Williams, Elihu Matton, B.F. Reed, E.H. Millner, Jr., P.E. Walden, John S. Dunham, N.Y., Warren S. Smith, Augustine W. Hale, J. Lawrence Pool, N. J.; W. K. Sherwood, N. Y.; B.R.W. Strong, N. J.; W.J. Bigelow, Wm. T. Emmons, J. F. Stacy, Richard Westlake, Z. Snyder, Horatio Emmons, J. Van Wagener, Harvey Caswell, Charles Thomas, Levi M. Kellog, W, H. Barrett, N. Y.; H. A. H. Morris, N.J.; Hart Benton, Richard M. Gulick, Geo. Higgins, Jr., Jacob Drake, Geo. L Powers, Philip H. Stout, Jas. W. Bingham, Wm. Dill, Wm. B. Jones, Henry W. Jones, M.D.; A.S. Marvin, Jr., N.Y.; J. Ross Brown, Lieut. U. S. R.; Mark Hopkins, John Sowen, J. S. Layton, Samuel McKenney, John S. Fisk, N.Y.; John Ingalls, O.N. Humphrey, Con.; John Bettis, Jr., N.Y.; James B. Packard, Con.; Arthur M. Ebbets, Samuel H. Thompson, N. R. Mastein, Benj. palmer, Frederick Griffing, Mrs. C.F.J. Griffing, Gilbert Reynolds, N.Y.; J.W. Allen, Ohio; James H. Gager, John Mattoon, A. W. Gay, J.L.G. Cannon, Henry D. Cook, F. Squre, J.A. Aeschimann, E. Slatzmann, J.D. Bell, W.H. Julius, J. Peeler, N.D. Morgan, N.Y.; G.W. Adams, Con.; F.A.P. Stedman, John J. Jones, James Guernsey, E.C. Matthewson, Jesse Griffin, N.Y., Abm. Sulger, Phil.; Wm. Lackerman, Dr. H.H. Beals, N.Y.
To the Passengers of the ship Pacific, Dear Sirs,
I received your note, dated Aug. 10, expressing your gratitude to me for kindness shown you during your passage from Rio to San Francisco. Gentlemen, it was with pleasure that I received your letter; for it enables
me to feel that I have the good wishes
of you all, and I hope I shall retain it when
we are all bountifully supplied with the gold
of California. It would give me more pleasure
to look forward to our return, if I could
have the honor of commanding a ship, and
taking you all back to New York, and land
you with the same good feeling that now exists,
and I trust has existed throughout our passage,
GEO. T. ESTABROOKS
Cargo
Not listed.Passengers
Adams, G.W., Con.Aeschimann, J.A.
Allen, J.W., Ohio
Angel, J.C.
Barrett, W.H., N.Y.
Beals, Dr. H.H., N.Y.
Bell, J.D.
Benton, ?
Bettis, John, Jr., N.Y.
Bigelow, W.J.
Bingham, Hiram
Bingham, Jas. W.
Bowen, John
Brown, D.W.C.
Brown, J. Ross, Lieut., U.S.R.
Cannon, J.L.G.
Cartwright, A.D.
Caswell, Harvey
Cheney, John
Clark, Addison S. , Geo. (sic)
Cook. Henry D.
Dill, Wm.
Drake, Jacob
Dunham, John S., N.Y.
Ebbets, Arthur M.
Emmons, Horatio
Emmons, Wm. T.
Fisk, John S., N.Y.
Gager, James H.
Gay, A.W.
Griffin, Jesse, N.Y.
Griffing, Frederick
Griffing, Mrs. C.F.J.
Guernsey, James
Gulick, Richard M.
Hale, Augustine W.
Hall, Edwards, M.D.
Hall, R.B., M.D.
Higgins, George, Jr.
Hopkins, Ezra. A., Michigan
Hopkins, Mark
Humphrey, O.N., Con.
Ingalls, John
Jones, Henry W., M.D.
Jones, John J.
Jones, Wm. B.
Julius, W.H.
Kellog, Levi M.
Lackerman, Wm.
Layton, J.S.
Leffrts?, Edward W., N.Y.
Marvin, A.S., Jr., N.Y.
Masten, N.R.
Matroon, Elilas(?)
Matthewson, E.C.
Matthewson, R.
Mattoon, John
McKenney, Samuel
Miller, E.H., Jr.
Morgan, James A. , N.Y.
Morgan, N.D., N.Y.
Morris, H.A.H., N.J.
Packard, James B., Con.
Palmer, Benj.
Peeter, J.
Pool, J. Lawrence, N.J.
Powers, Geo. I.
Powers, Ten Eyck
Reed, B.F.
Reynolds, Gilbert, N.Y.
Saltzmann, E.
Smith, Warren S.
Snyder, Z.
Square, F.
Stacy, J.F.
Stedman, F.A.P.
Stillman, J.D.B., M.D.
Stout, Philip H.
Sulger, Abm., Phil.
Thomas, Charles
Thompson, Samuel H.
Van Wagener, J.
Van Wagener, U.
Walden, P.E.
Westlake, Richard
Williams, Chas. H.