Howdy, With our overland emigrant "jumping-off-places" to CA pretty much completed, I thought you GoldRushList folks might like to see a couple of my postings of the Sea Routes to CA during the goldrush era. I previously posted them on a couple of lists - before your list [I think/hope:-)] was birthed. Here is my first one: SAILING AROUND THE HORN IN 1849 "Howdy, With the news of the California Gold discovery sweeping the nation, vast numbers in 1849, especially from the New England States, chose to sail into the Pacific around the tip of South America. At the time, most cargoes bound for California, except high-duty freight, came by way of Cape Horn. Even with such a difficult passage, China traders, whalers and Bostonians in the hide- and-tallow trade had used the Cape as their traditional means of reaching the Pacific. Lieutenant Matthew Fontain MAURY, by his current chartering work, made navigating Cape Horn, with its firece storms and strong currents, easier by providing a "road map" for the less experienced sailing masters. The journals, diaries, letters and logbooks kept by the Gold Rush fleet show little variance in the thirteen thousand mile plus Cape Horn route. The vessels departing from an Eastern seaboard port would follow the coast into the Gulf Stream. Then striking out into the Atlantic, many vessels even sighted African shores or the Cape Verde Islands to get the trade winds. Also, some "of their spars were even dusted by a scirocco wind from the Sahara." After the run back across the Atlantic, most vessels put in at Rio de Janeiro where the ships replenished stores, stocked up on liquor and fresh fruit, and allowed the sea-weary passengers to tour the city. After Rio, the ships could go either by Cape Horn, or the narrow Straits of Magellan. With either, they battled Antartic gales, often driving back many a struggling westbound vessel who was in sight of the rock of Diego Ramirez or Cape Horn. When the battered vessels finally reached the Pacific, they generally stopped at a Chilean or Peruvian port, usually Valparaiso or Callao. Often, they paused at Juan Fernandez Island, probably better known as Robinson CRUSOE's island. Leaving the South American coast, they made well out into the Pacific where they were often becalmed. Tacking east for the California coast, and making landfall, they often felt their way up the coast in heavy fog to the Golden Gate, dropping anchor in the soft mud off San Francisco. Statistics scare me. But sometimes they do furnish perspective - if nothing else. Reportedly, between 1848 and December 1849, at least 762 vessels cleared North American ports for California. In the east, New York was the most active in the Gold Rush with some 214 clearing for California in 1849 alone. Next busiest was Boston with an estimated 153. Major followings were New Bedford with 42, Baltimore - 38 clearances, New Orleans had 32, and 31 for Philadelphia. Even the southern ports of Mobile, Savannah, Norfolk and Richmond cleared vessels for San Francisco in 1849. The Cape Horn voyages for California-bound ships, barks, brigs, schooners,.a smattering of steamers, and many thousands of passengers were a short lived phenomenon, lasting only through 1850. While the number of California voyages did not decrease, cargo replaced passengers - due primarily to the Panama or Nicaragua routes becoming an easier ways for a person to travel to and from the Pacific. To show the rarity of passengers in large numbers by way of Cape Horn by July of 1852, the "Daily Alta California" proclaimed the arrival of the ship GOVERNOR MASON, 124 days out of New York with 108 passengers, with this: "This is the largest number of passengers that has arrived in one ship by way of Cape Horn, in many months. It recalls the days of early emigration of California, when a Cape Horn passage was the most comfortable trip to the gold mines." Apparently, in three short years, the saga of sailing to California via Cape Horn had become "the good old days" of the booming gold rush.(Compiled - but mostly from Delgado's "To California by Sea")." :As I asked when first posting, Don't you know all those tall ships looked purty? :-) Bob Norris in Dallas <BNorris166aol.com>