But probably the only people thoroughly unhappy were the
steamship officials. These men had to bear the brunt of disappointment,
broken promises, and savage recrimination, if means for going north were
not very soon forthcoming. Every once in a while some ship, probably an
old tub, would come wallowing to anchor at the nearest point, some
eleven miles from the city. Then the raid for transportation took place
all over again. There was a limited number of small boats for carrying
purposes, and these were pounced on at once by ten times the number they
could accommodate. Ships went north scandalously overcrowded and
underprovisioned. Mutinies were not infrequent. It took a good captain
to satisfy everybody, and there were many bad ones. Some men got so
desperate that, with a touching ignorance of geography, they actually
started out in small boats to row to the north. Others attempted the
overland route. It may well be believed that the reaction from all this
disappointment and delay lifted the hearts of these argonauts when they
eventually sailed between the Golden Gates.
This confusion, of course, was worse at the beginning. Later the journey
was to some extent systematized. The Panama route subsequently became
the usual and fashionable way to travel.
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