Santa Barbara: The Brig “Pilgrim” Leaving for Monterey in 1835

The Californian coast has few natural harbors which provided safe havens for ships in the days of sail. Only San Francisco and Monterey in the North and San Diego in the south are effectively shielded from the prevailing South East or North West winds which can come up quite suddenly. Santa Barbara’s harbor is virtually an open bay, and although there are offshore islands 20 miles away, visiting ships had to anchor three miles offshore in such a manner as to be ready to make sail in an instant.

Such was the case when the Brig “Pilgrim,” with Richard Henry Dana aboard, made its first port of call at that location in California after rounding Cape Horn from Boston on January 14th 1835.

Landing a berth aboard the Boston hide-drougher “Pilgrim” for a year or two, Dana was to crew aboard a vessel which was to carry manufactured utensils and clothes, functioning as a floating store to serve the needs of California’s coastal rancheros, before loading hides for the voyage back home. Unsuspecting, he would also experience the harsh brutality that was common aboard ships in an atmosphere of excessive discipline, incessant labor and meager food. Upon return home he would become renowned in the annals of maritime jurisprudence for making presentations to Congress which resulted in establishing new laws to protect seamen’s rights thereafter.

On the date of his arrival, and safely anchored off Santa Barbara, the ships boat was lowered in order to take the Captain ashore to greet the ship-owners west coast agent. In this view the “Pilgrim” proceeds towards Monterey with the mountains to the east of Santa Barbara beyond the nearby headland.

View Artist’s Biography