Sea Captains ~ San Francisco: 1800s

Seabury

Several Captain Seabury's sailied during the 1800s. As they are sorted out, they will be separated to indicate which Captain Seabury sailed when.

Journal, April 1-September 21, 1849, of a voyage from New Bedford, Massachusetts to San Francisco, California in the ship America under the command of Captain Charles P. Seabury. Whaling Museum, New Bedford Massachusetts. Judging from the entry of June 4, 1849, this may well be the journal of Captain Seabury, for on that date the entry reads "At daylight went on shore and paid my bills and came on board, took our anchors and stood out to sea with a light land breeze." No entries exist during the stops at St. Catherines Island, May 27- June 3, or at Callao, August 5-8. The entries are very short, and there are numerous gaps between entries. The volume also contains a record of the voyage back to Boston from Valparaiso and of a whaling voyage in 1850-1851.

April 1-September 27, 1849, of a voyage from New Bedford, Massachusetts to San Francisco, California in the ship America under the command of Captain Charles P. Seabury. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California, # 77/155 c.

It seems that numbers of the passengers were whaling captains and mates from New Bedford, and the diarist frequently refers to individuals as captain. There appear to have been at least four separate companies on board as well as some passengers who were not members of companies.

The diarist makes reference to "my color boy Henry" being seasick on April 2 and describes in some detail the sermon of a Black preacher on April 8 and notes that most of those attending Religious services that day were "Darkies." Short and long poems are scattered throughout the journal. Some were copied from other works, but others appear to be original works. Has detailed descriptions of activities and scenery at St. Catherines Island and Callao and Lima. For several days after leaving the latter port, the diarist provides lengthy descriptions of the irreverent activities of many fellow passengers, some of whom he names. He consistently takes them to task for being Sunday Christians.

In 1854, Captain C.P. Seabury, who had been at the helm of the clipper ship America in 1849, was in command of the sidewheel steamer S.S. Brother Jonathan off the coast of Southern California, and assisted in the transport of survivors from the ill-fated S.S. Yankee Blade, which had struck a rock off Santa Barbara on October 1. Many lost their lives, and a cache of coins, including, perhaps, a few hundred 1854-S double eagles, went to the bottom of the sea.

October 15, 1854. The passengers who survived the wreck of the Yankee Blade, brought up on the Brother Jonathan, had a meeting on the Plaza, in which they passed several resolutions, condemning the conduct of Captain Randall and of the Independent Line, and others complimentary to the Nicaragua Line and Captain Seabury of the Brother Jonathan to whom they also made a present of a handsome gold chronometer and chain as a token of their appreciation of his kindness to them during the passage up.

Gold Rush Port

The Maritime Archaeology of San Francisco's Waterfront

James P. Delgado

Described as a "forest of masts," San Francisco's Gold Rush waterfront was a floating economy of ships and wharves, where a dazzling array of global goods was traded and transported. Drawing on excavations in buried ships and collapsed buildings from this period, James P. Delgado re-creates San Francisco's unique maritime landscape, shedding new light on the city's remarkable rise from a small village to a boomtown of thousands in the three short years from 1848 to 1851. Gleaning history from artifacts, such as preserves and liquors in bottles, leather boots and jackets, hulls of ships, even crocks of butter lying alongside discarded guns. Gold Rush Port paints a fascinating picture of how ships and global connections created the port and the city of San Francisco.

The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush

David Igler
The Pacific of the early eighteenth century was a place of baffling complexity, with 25,000 islands and seemingly endless continental shorelines. But with the voyages of Captain James Cook, global attention turned to the Pacific, and European and American dreams of scientific exploration, trade, and empire grew dramatically. By the time of the California gold rush, the Pacific's many shores were fully integrated into world markets-and world consciousness. The Great Ocean draws on hundreds of documented voyages as a window into the commercial, cultural, and ecological upheavals following Cook's exploits, focusing in particular on the eastern Pacific in the decades between the 1770s and the 1840s. Beginning with the expansion of trade as seen via the travels of William Shaler, captain of the American Brig Lelia Byrd, historian David Igler uncovers a world where voyagers, traders, hunters, and native peoples met one another in episodes often marked by violence and tragedy.

Rounding the Horn
Being the Story of Williwaws and Windjammers, Drake, Darwin, Murdered Missionaries and Naked Natives.
A Deck's-eye View of Cape Horn

Dallas Murphy

Fifty-five degrees 59 minutes South by 67 degrees 16 minutes West: Cape Horn, situated at the bottom of South America, is a place of forlorn and foreboding beauty that has captured the dark imaginations of explorers and writers from Francis Drake to Joseph Conrad. For centuries, the small stretch of water between Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula was the only gateway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Storms are bigger, winds stronger, and the seas rougher than anywhere else on earth. In Rounding the Horn, author Dallas Murphy undertakes the ultimate maritime rite of passage weaving together stories of his own nautical adventures with tales of those who braved the Cape before him from Spanish missionaries to Captain Cook and interspersing them with breathtaking descriptions of the surrounding wilderness.

"Master Under God"

Captains exercised absolute authority at sea and so were dubbed "Master Under God" by early insurance writs, agreements with ship owners and passengers and the Board of Trade.

The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag state policies.

All persons on board, including officers and crew, other shipboard staff members, passengers, guests and pilots, are under the captain's authority and are his ultimate responsibility.

Customs requirements can include the master providing a cargo declaration, a ship's stores declaration, a declaration of crewmembers' personal effects, crew lists and passenger lists.