The History of United States Coinage As Illustrated by the Garrett Collection

Captains along the western coast would often exact high fares from the waiting passengers, who often had no alternative. Sometimes even when a very high fate was paid and accommodations were agreed upon, the captain would not deliver. This practice resulted in many lawsuits, a good proportion of which were resolved by damages being assessed against the ship captains and owners. In May 1849 the Dutch ship Alexander Von Humboldt advertised to take passengers aboard at Panama, although it had originally been chartered to carry coal as a cargo. Three hundred dollars was the price for cabin accommodations, and $100 was charged for steerage. In their greed, the owners of the ship sold nearly 100 extra tickets above the approximately 400 persons, including the crew, which could be accommodated. This one trip alone nearly repaid the $60,000 cost of the entire ship with its supplies and accessories.

The passengers, learning of the excess ticket sales and deception, seized the owners as prisoners and held them captive until they promised on bended knee to charter another ship to carry the excess amount of people. The result was that 84 people, selected by a drawing, were transferred to another ship.

Further investigations showed that the amount of food aboard was not nearly what was needed for minimum sustenance. The passengers demanded redress, and in the absence of this purchased the needed supplies .and attached a lien against the vessel for the money. After a delay of a week caused by these problems the Dutch ship set sail with 355 passengers.

A somewhat similar situation occurred on the British ship John Ritson which left Panama for San Francisco in February 1849 with 49 passengers in steerage and 7 in cabin accommodations. The rate for cabin fare was $200. Steerage cost $150. After they embarked the steerage passengers found they were served biscuits full of worms and bugs. At first the captain returned their complaints with a grin, but after the mistreated passengers had obtained a barrel of good provisions and had helped themselves, he threatened to throw any passenger overboard who opened another barrel. The plight of the steerage passengers incurred the sympathy of the cabin passengers, and they united to confront the captain with the ultimatum that if the situation were not straightened out properly, the captain himself would be thrown overboard. All of the passengers enjoyed good food for the rest of the journey.

A whaling ship, the Equator, out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, encountered the John Ritson at sea and subsequently reported upon landing at Panama that the passengers had taken over the ship and had jailed the captain and his crew. As a result, a British man-of-war was sent in furious pursuit, but it never caught up with the San Francisco-bound vessel.

Sometimes companies would be formed in the Atlantic states to assist members with ocean passage. Typically such a group would consist of 10 to over 100 members who hoped to negotiate more favorable rates. In some instances shares cost as high as $1,000 each, enough to purchase a vessel, equip it with a cargo including wooden houses in sections, machinery, and goods for trade. As an example, the Kennebec Trading & Mining Co. group sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, on the Obed Mitchell on March 31, 1849, and arrived in San Francisco on September 17th. The adventurers laid out a new town, opened a sawmill, and later operated a river steamer.

The Mattapan & California Trading & Mining Co., comprising 72 members, left Boston on the Ann. The Edward Everett, with a party of 152 voyagers, left Boston in December 1848. The Robert Brown sailed from New York in February 1849 with 200 passengers. Seven people left Nantucket, Massachusetts in December 1849 in the Mary and Emma, a small ship of just 44 tons displacement, and arrived in San Francisco after a 149-day voyage. Other sailing companies were designated by the names of the locations in which they organized, such as Albany, Utica, and Buffalo.

Some people desired to go to California, but due to business or other obligations they were not able to go. As a result many individuals made investments of large sums in some of the parties, with the expected return of a share of the profits. In virtually every instance the loans or partnership investments were lost, not through dishonesty or intent, but due to unforeseen expenses and-as was more usually the case-the dissolution of the parties once they reached California. Bancroft related that:

Few of the companies held together ... They found on reaching California their company had no place there. Every miner was for himself, and so it was with mechanics and laborers ...