Dawn and the Dons/BEGINNING THE LONG AND WEARY MARCH
CHAPTER IV
BEGINNING THE LONG AND WEARY SEARCH
Tis hardly possible to conceive the hardships and difficulties of sea-going in that day. A modern steamer could now make the trip from San Lucas to San Diego in less than three days, with health, comfort and convenience for both passengers and crew. Inside the time that it took the San Antonio to voyage to San Diego, the ship of today would make a leisurely trip from San Francisco to the Orient, and return. And it could circumnavigate the globe in the time that the San Carlos battered its way along California’s coastline to anchor at last in San Diego harbor.
For the San Carlos had difficulties from its start at La Paz. Finally, on January 15, 1769, it stood out to sea from San Lucas, at the end of the Peninsula, only to be beaten back by contrary winds and opposing currents. For four days it struggled and maneuvered, while the Visitador Galvez, from a high hill near the water’s edge, watched with keen anxiety. Favoring winds caught the sails of the baffled ship on its fifth day, and she sailed serenely out of his sight.
The San Antonio did not get under way until February 15 of the same year, yet of the four expeditions, two by land, two by sea, it was the first to arrive at San Diego; fifty-five days en route, it came to anchor on April 11, 1769. No severe storms had been encountered, she had been able to keep fairly close to shore, but scurvy, the dread maritime scourge of that day, had attacked the boat’s officers and crew. Except for the friars, Juan Vizcaino and Francisco Gomez, all of the expedition were sick or disabled.
Next to arrive was the San Carlos. She had had a tempestuous, a prolonged and a circuitous voyage. She arrived on April 29, 1769, having occupied one hundred and ten days in sailing from San Lucas to San Diego. She had been driven far out to sea, and far north of her intended destination. Because of storms, she twice took to the open sea, finally sighting land in the Santa Barbara Channel, a little south of Point Conception. Thence she followed the coast south to San Diego. Scurvy had taken a terrible toll on the San Carlos. Everybody on board was sick, and all but two of the crew had died. both boats, when they reached In fact, San Diego, were sub stantially without men physically able to perform their duties. The first land division, under Rivera, worked its way
slowly up the peninsula from Mission to Mission until it reached Velicata, the northermost Mission, several hun-
dred miles above San Lucas. Here was found some limited pasturage for the animals, and from here on March 24, 1769, the final plunge was made into an unknown land, with San Diego as the objective. The second land division, under Portola, pursued much the same course, and on May 15, 1769, made their final start from Velicata.
Rivera’s land division was the first into San Diego, on
May 14, 1769, having occupied fifty-one days on the march, with the Portola-Serra division arriving June 28,
1769, making the journey from Velicata in forty-four days. The distance traveled by these land parties was more than four hundred miles, mostly through regions hitherto unexplored. There was some danger and much hardship, and several Indians died on the way. But on the whole, the members of the land parties arrived in San Diego in reasonably good health and spirits. The four divisions were all now at the agreed rendezvous, but the situation confronting Portola was both unexpected and perplexing. Scurvy had demoralized the expedition and destroyed the possibility of carrying on as planned. The responsibility was Portola’s, and being unable to communicate with either Galvez or Croix, he must himself determine the course to be pursued. Under the plans formulated by Galvez, both the San Carlos and the San Antonio were to proceed from San Diego with men, tools, seed, church vestments and sup-
plies, and find and occupy the harbor of Monterey. But this was not possible now, and the alternative was presented of abandoning the enterprise or approaching Monterey by land. Portola determined upon the latter course. It was thereupon decided that the San Carlos should remain at San Diego, that the San Antonio should return to Mexico for fresh crews and additional supplies, and that a force under Portola should undertake the land journey to Monterey. Accordingly, with a scant crew of eight, all the men available, Perez set sail for Mexico on July 9, 1769, and
five days later, on the fourteenth, Portola began his northward land journey with a reorganized force. The expedition now included Portola in command; Rivera, who had been commander of the first land division from Velicata; Fages, captain of the Catalans; Crespi, one of Serra’s trusted assistants; Gomez another Franciscan friar; Constanso, cosmographer and engineer; Ortega, the stout sergeant who afterward discovered San Francisco Bay; twenty-seven cuirrassiers, eight volunteer Catalan
soldiers,
fifteen
Christianized
Indians,
seven
muleteers and two body servants; sixty-six persons in all, together with horse and mule droves.
Father Serra remained at San Diego. With him were Vila, commander of the San Carlos; the Franciscans, Vizcaino and Parron; Camizares, a cosmographer; the surgeon, Prat; a blacksmith, a carpenter, and some fifty or more soldiers and sailors in various stages of illness.