doc241 - Schoenherr Home Page in Sunny Chula Vista

them standing when he arrived, three years later, and that it stood for several years after.
Lieutenant Derby, who came in August, 1853, says there were then left the ruins of
two of the old hide houses, one being the Tasso. Bartlett, in his Personal Narrative,
states that when he was here in 1852, these houses were still standing "exactly as described
by Dana in 1836," but this is clearly somewhat inexact. There were also warehouses
in San Diego for the storage of the tallow which was to be sent to Peru or Mexico.
No hides were exported to Peru or Mexico and no tallow to Boston.
The first hide house was built by the carpenter of the Brookline and occupied by
James P. Arthur, mate of that ship, with a small party, while curing hides, in 1829. The
Boston Advertiser says on his authority:
They had a barn-like structure of wood, . . . which answered the purpose of
storehouse, curing-shop, and residence. The life was lonesome enough. Upon the wide
expanse of the Pacific they occasionally discerned a distant ship. Sometimes a vessel
sailed near the lower offing. It was thus that the idea of preparing and raising a flag, for
the purpose of attracting attention, occurred to them. The flag was manufactured from
some shirts, and Captain Arthur writes, with the just accuracy of a historian, that Mr.
Greene's calico shirt furnished the blue, while he furnished the red and white. "It was
completed and raised on a Sunday, on the occasion of the arrival of the schooner
Washington, Captain Thompson, of the Sandwich Islands, but sailing under the American
flag." So writes honest Captain Arthur. He further states that the same flag was afterward
frequently raised at Santa Barbara, whenever in fact there was a vessel coming
into port. These men raised our national ensign, not in bravado, nor for war and conquest,
but as honest men, to show that they were American citizens and wanted company.
And while the act cannot be regarded as in the light of a claim to sovereignty, it is
still interesting as a fact, and as an unconscious indication of manifest destiny."
The following is a list of all the American trading ships which have been found,
known to have called at San Diego during the
Page 104
life of the hide trade. A few of these were doubtless whalers, and there were probably
others of which no record has been found; but it is believed this list contains the names
of substantially all the hide ships.
In 1824, Arab, Mentor.
1825, Sachem.
1825-6, Rover.
1828, Andes, Courier, Franklin, General Sucre.
1829-31, Brookline, Louisa.
1829-32-34, Volunteer.
1831, Harriet.
1831-3-6-8-9-40-2-3-4, Alert.
1831-2-3-7-8-9-40-1-2-3-4, California.
1832-3, Plant.
1833, Newcastle.
1833-38-45, Don Quixote.
1833-36-43, Bolivar Liberator.
1833, Harriet Blanchard.