A Six Month Voyage Chasing For Gold

When gold was first discovered at Sutters Mill in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, a mad dash like this country has never seen was put in motion. Thousands of people in the eastern United States, not to mention the world in general, suddenly wanted to be in California. The gold discovery of 1849 was like no other and it just happened to occur at the same time that California was taken over, thanks to the end of the Mexican American War, from it's former Mexican rulers. Not only had the U.S. taken possession of the Southwest and California, but now this new land so far away from the east promised riches of the kind that Coronado had hoped for during his Spanish expedition of 1540. The timing for the United States and it's citizens couldn't have been better.

The problem or difficulty in the year 1849 was simply how to get there. There were really three ways to accomplish this and all three were filled with danger. It was basically a case of choosing your own poison. The first was overland. The second was by ship to Panama crossing the jungle of Central America and then again by ship up the west coast of North America and into San Francisco Bay. The third option was also by ship, sailing down the Atlantic Ocean, navigating around Cape Horn, and then sailing north all the way to San Francisco. All three presented perilous journeys and there wasn't one option which was clearly better than the other.

The overland option exposed one to Indian attacks, breakdown on the remote trail or mountains and of course the elements. In the 1850's the Indian situation in the west was volatile as diaries from Oregon Trail pioneers detail quite well. One only had to recall the fate of the Donner party in the snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. A trip by steamer via Panama meant a trek through the jungles which also could mean malaria and other afflictions. The third option, a sea voyage around Cape Horn meant two things. Probably a six month journey ( average was about 200 days) and the very good chance of trying to ride out ocean storms not to mention the dangerous passage around Cape Horn. The exception was the Clipper Ship which started the California run in early 1849 and reportedly could make the voyage to San Francisco in about 120 days. It was thought that a regular vessel at the time could make about 4-5 knots where a clipper ship might be able to do 6-7 knots. The clipper ships however carried mostly valuable freight and not many passengers. The gold certainly was enticing, the work to get oneself there most likely wasn't. Amazingly, people from all walks of life headed to the gold fields. Farmers left their farms, storekeepers closed up their shops, doctors left their practices, clergymen left their flocks and many other people simply left home. It was reported that in the United States during the year 1849 alone about 42,000 people struck out to California by land and about 25,000 by sea. Another interesting fact is that people from all of the then 31 states headed to the gold fields as well as people from 25 different nations.

Sailing to the Gold Fields

Let's just say you really were hit with the gold bug to decide to journey to California from the American east coast in 1849 or 1850 and for several years beyond. Some bought passage on the next steamers bound for the Pacific and others actually signed on as seamen to gain passage west. There was another endeavor which was the creation on cooperatives to send vessels to California. The dual purpose was to journey to the California gold fields and also to carry supplies, if possible, from the east to sell to the thousands now in California.

One exceptional story which really illustrates the frantic scramble to make it to the California gold fields concerns the vessel "California Packet". Captain George Kimball, working out of the seacoast town of Cutler Maine, lacking the funds to purchase a vessel, went into the Maine woods and cut the timber necessary to build his ship. Kimball's project became a cooperative. Meat and provisions were gathered together by farmers who would join the expedition. While other companies were already underway on their voyages to California, Kimball of course was still putting his vessel together. The sheer adventure of such a project as Kimball's attracted experienced joiners and shipwrights. In place of wages for these workers, shares of the cooperative were issued. The 144 foot long California Packet with a 15 foot beam was finally launched off the Maine coast on November 29, 1849.

The passengers on this historic voyage were a bit different than those on some of the ships that had departed earlier. The California Packet carried one hundred people including twelve married women, sixteen unmarried women and fifteen children. The remaining passengers were young males eagerly heading to California to find their fortune. The wide variety of passengers were most likely due to the ship being a cooperative rather than a commercial vessel simply selling passage. In fact, it was reported that everyone on board the California Packet was a shareholder. The ship was very fortunate to pick up cargo worth some $15,000 in Boston. The vessel sailed around Cape Horn and made safe passage all the way to San Francisco. I could not find any information as to what happened with the cargo or what eventually happened to the ship's many female passengers once the vessel moored in San Francisco. One could probably assume that a good many of the unmarried females were hoping to meet a suddenly wealthy gold prospector. To be sure, the idea of a cooperative for such a dangerous and long journey made sense. The fact that these townspeople knew one another was a benefit and once in a new strange land such as California, the close knit group could certainly look out for each other. California was a wild place in 1850 and while the cooperative worked quite well during the planning stages and during the actual months long voyage, once the ship reached it's destination the cooperative tended to fall apart. In fact, one of the more popular stories of this era concerned the hundreds of ships that were left unattended and stranded in San Francisco Bay because their passengers and crew simply jumped ship upon arrival and headed east to the gold fields. San Francisco Bay was and still is the graveyard for many of these. Regardless, not all vessels were deserted in the Bay. A researcher named John Goodwin collected data on every vessel that sailed to San Francisco during the gold rush. He calculated that more than one thousand ships from all over the globe made it to San Francisco in 1849. Many indeed were deserted by their passengers and crew but Goodwin contended that a large percentage did arrive and later depart. Sometimes they departed with cargo and profits and sometimes they simply departed with disappointed ex prospectors.

Dangers Were Always Lurking

The shorter sea route which traversed the Panama jungles had it's perils. People took sick and died during this crossing. It was not until years later with the completion of the trans-Panama railroad that the dangers were lessened. This shorter route was popular because Cape Horn and the six month sea voyage was avoided. Probably what wasn't fully realized was the difficulty in crossing through the jungle with the chance of picking up an exotic disease.

Sea travel required two important things. A competent captain who knew not only how to keep the ship off of rocks but also how to navigate in general. The second thing was to have adequate food supplies. The long voyage to California around Cape Horn required careful planning to either store enough food or know where to stop to replenish the supply. Among diseases on a long voyage was scurvy so fruits were an important food to have along.

The SS San Francisco Goes Down

The sinking of the steamer SS San Francisco in 1854 took an estimated 300 lives and sparked an investigation at the highest levels of government. The vessel was sailing from New York to San Francisco and was spotted by other vessels in various states of disrepair. A missing smoke stack and other superstructure damage including lost masts made the vessel inoperable. Captains from other ships reported that the hull seemed fine but the ship nevertheless was taking on water. All of this occurred just a few short days after departing New York. At departure the weather was fine but changed markedly in just 48 hours and the ship was caught in a violent storm. The survivors were picked up by ships sent to the scene and many ended up transported to Liverpool Nova Scotia.

Gold Seekers from France and One of the Longest Voyages Ever

There is a very interesting story about a group of gold seekers heading out from La Havre France aboard the vessel " Anne Louise". Three different companies or cooperatives were aboard when the sip sailed in September 1850. The ship sailed to the Canary Islands without incident. While there, the crew apparently consumed plenty of alcohol, and after setting sail again and crossing the equator, it was discovered that the drunken crew forgot to stow the water casks. What water was on the ship had to be rationed in a way that barely sustained life. Finally the vessel reached Rio de Janiero on October 30th where some passengers simply left the expedition. Some ended up settling in Brazil and others looked for the first ship back to France. Those who remained made protests to the French Consul. After the captain was ordered to take on proper provisions and improve passenger accommodations the ship sailed again. Storms were encountered near the Falklands but the vessel made a safe passage of Cape Horn. Upon arriving at Valparaiso Chile, some passengers made formal charges against the captain. When the ship left Chile supposedly the complaining passengers were left behind. Incredibly, the captain had a hard time navigating and sailed to the Hawaiian Island by mistake. Instead of stopping there for supplies the ship changed course again for San Francisco. It goes without saying that there was quite a lot of suffering endured by the passengers. After seven and one half months at sea, the Anne Louise finally made it to San Francisco Bay.The voyage is considered one of the longest ever to the California gold fields. In the end, some of the remaining passengers did find gold, many others didn't and a good number stayed in the Bay Area going back to their old trades but in a land far distant from their native France.

The Mishap of the Winfield Scott

Ship wrecks were common and sometimes occurred near the end of the long voyage while just attempting to enter San Francisco Bay. This was a danger whether you took the cape Horn route or the Panama route. The northern California coast was actually quite dangerous in many places and stayed dangerous many years after the gold rush. As an example, Point Reyes, just north of the San Francisco Bay entrance juts out about ten miles into the Pacific. A lighthouse was not built there until 1870. The area eventually would be the sight of about eighty shipwrecks.

One of the more publicized shipwrecks occurred in 1853 when the "Winfield Scott" ran aground and sunk off the California coast around the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara. This vessel was a steam powered side wheeler that ran on a San Francisco to Panama route. On this particular voyage, the Winfield Scott was carrying some 450 passengers and $2 million worth of gold bullion. Incredibly, all of the passengers and crew were rescued. The SS California was alerted to the wreck and came across it on December 2nd. Women, children and the gold bullion was rescued. On December 9, the steamer returned to rescue the remaining passengers. The Winfield Scott was a complete loss but all were rescued including the enormous amount of gold being shipped out from the Sierra gold fields.

It Was California or Bust

One thing for sure is that when gold or silver fever hits, people will find any means possible to get there. The term "California or Bust" certainly rang true. This was true for the Black Hills of South Dakota, for Virginia City Nevada and other places in the U.S. What made the California Gold Rush a bit different had to do with when and where it occurred. California gained statehood in 1850, but aside from that, it was cut off from the main population centers by hundreds and thousands of miles. The land between the hopeful prospector and the gold was a perilous wilderness. The fact that San Francisco was such a natural seaport yet still remote in itself made a sea voyage a reasonable, although somewhat risky, way to journey to California.

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