How many sorrowful feelings were calledup by the sight of that one wheel lying onthe beach; for that is all that is left of theill-fated Golden Gate! How many liveswere lost in those peaceful waters overwhich we were sailing so pleasantly! Ourofficers told us that it was just such a bright,beautiful day; but the surf here is very high,and with our glass we could see it foamingand tossing on the beach. In our heartsmany of us thanked God for our presentsafety, and prayed him to save us from such[Pg 40]a fate. Just before we neared the wreck,we passed by some rocks on the coast, lookingjust like a ruined castle, with beautifulgreen trees all around them, as if it were anobleman's garden.
On Thursday, August 13, we bade ourkind and hospitable California friends farewell,and went down to embark on the[Pg 226]steamer Golden Age. The kindness ofour friends did not end when we left theirhouses, as beautiful bouquets and basketsof fruit in our staterooms testified. Weparted from them with regret, for we hadreceived nothing but kindness from theirhands. Farewells were said, and San Franciscosoon faded from our sight. We wereagain on the restless ocean, but we werehomeward bound!
homeward bound 2 lost in san francisco cast
The autumn found us wending our way coastward and homeward.It also found me filled with restless discontent and longing for theservice in which I had begun my life and to which I was so muchattached. This I think prompted my friends to look forward with hopeto having me reinstated (feeling that I had in nowise tarnished myhonor as an officer in the United States Navy) to my lost place. Myvenerable and distinguished relative, Hon. Thos. Spalding, of SapeloIsland, was a life-long friend of Hon. J. McPherson Berrien, Georgia'sdistinguished lawyer and Senator, though they had in their middlelifebeen estranged through political differences. To him my relativegenerously offered to write, and took the opportunity of referring totheir earlier days, in memory of which he desired him to do him thefavor of using his influence in having me restored to the Navy. Thisletter, so well worthy of publication, a copy of which was sent tomy mother, I herewith insert. 2ff7e9595c
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