We found it quite
rough in the Straits and in Suisun Bay; but as the water grew more
land-locked it became calm, though without let-up in the wind.
Off Ship Island Light the reefs were shaken out, and at Charley's
suggestion a big fisherman's staysail was made all ready for
hoisting, and the maintopsail, bunched into a cap at the masthead,
was overhauled so that it could be set on an instant's notice.
We were tearing along, wing-and-wing, before the wind, foresail to
starboard and mainsail to port, as we came upon the salmon fleet.
There they were, boats and nets, as on that first Sunday when they
had bested us, strung out evenly over the river as far as we could
see. A narrow space on the right-hand side of the channel was left
clear for steamboats, but the rest of the river was covered with
the wide-stretching nets. The narrow space was our logical course,
but Charley, at the wheel, steered the Mary Rebecca straight for
the nets. This did not cause any alarm among the fishermen,
because up-river sailing craft are always provided with "shoes" on
the ends of their keels, which permit them to slip over the nets
without fouling them.
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