On March 29, 1848, we arrived in Valparaiso, making the passage from the Capes of Virginia to the harbour of the above mentioined port in ninety-three days.The Rhone was the first American vessel that reached California after the ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the U.S. and Mexico, according to the journal written by Charles Henry Johnson during the voyage.
We were on the Equator January 29th, off the Rio de la Plate February 18th and on the 12th of March, we were off Cape Horn-fifty-six degrees and 42 minutes—the farthest south I've ever been.
The Rhone departed Callao Peru and arrived in Honolulu on the 18th of July 1848.
On the 31st of July we set sail for California. We arrived in the harbour of San Francisco on the 11th of August AD 1848.
The journal has been transcribed and published by Charles Henry Johnson's great great grandaughter, Patricia Volk. A copy of the published journal is available in the California Pioneer Museum.
December 30, 1848. A printed shipping receipt is signed in San Francisco by Benjamin Hill, master of the ship Rhone, bound for China.
It indicates that William Heath Davis shipped one bag containing $2,000 in gold dust on Hill's ship and directed that it be delivered to J. M. Finley.
By his signature, Hill agrees to carry out this directive, "the dangers of the seas only excepted".