This was
sufficient to account for the leak, and for our not having been able
to discover and stop it.
All this, however, was but anticipation. We were still in fine
weather in the North Pacific, running down the north-east trades,
which we took on the second day after leaving San Diego.
Sunday, May 15th, one week out, we were in latitude 14 deg. 56' N.,
long. 116 deg. 14' W., having gone, by reckoning, over thirteen
hundred miles in seven days. In fact, ever since leaving San Diego, we
had had a fair wind, and as much as we wanted of it. For seven days,
our lower and topmast studding-sails were set all the time, and our
royals and top-gallant studding-sails, whenever she could stagger
under them. Indeed, the captain had shown, from the moment we got to
sea, that he was to have no boy's play, but that the ship had got to
carry all she could, and that he was going to make up, by "cracking
on" to her, what she wanted in lightness. In this way, we frequently
made three degrees of latitude, besides something in longitude, in the
course of twenty-four hours.- Our days were spent in the usual ship's
work.
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