Excerpt from Carl Dittman's memoir, “Narrative of a Seafaring Life on the Coast of California.”
…We went first to San Miguel, & thence to San Nicolas, where we arrived early in the afternoon. We came to anchor on the N.E. side about the middle of the Island. As soon as we came to anchor Nidever & I went on shore for the purpose of seeing where the otter lay & also to pick out a site for our camp as we intended to make a long stay & would move on shore the next day. We took two of our indians with us & left them in charge of the boat, while Nidever & I proceeded toward the head of the Island.
On the way we saw several dogs that looked much like a coyote excepting in color which was black & white; they were quite wild & ran away as soon as we came into sight. Arrived at the head of the Island Nidever said that he was tired & sat down to rest. I continued along near the shore however, rounded the point at the head of the Island & went a long distance down on the other side. Not far from the head I found footprints leading from the beach up over the bank & thence up to the ridge above. I followed them until they disappeared in a kind of moss with which the ground was covered, a short distance above the bank. As it was growing late I returned to where I had left Nidever & reported what I had seen. He said at first that they might be the tracks of our Indians, but, he afterwards admitted that it was impossible for them to have got ahead of us, & I too was sure that the footprints were too small for those of a man. Nidever however was not very sanguine about finding her as he had come to the conclusion that the dogs had eaten her & was very doubtful if even her bones could be found. He decided however to make a thorough examination of the upper end of the Island especially the high ridge which lay between the low sandy floor & the head of the Island. Accordingly after breakfast the next day, we took all of our men excepting the cook & proceeded to the low sandy flat aforementioned. Here I took them, 3 indians & an Irishman, & stretched them in a line across the end of the flat, we passed across to the other side leaving Nidever to follow along near the shore to the head of the Island over the same course he & I had taken the evening before. We reached the other side of the Island without finding a trace of the woman. I sent the men back with instructions to search thoroughly along both borders of the flat & especially to visit the bushes where we had found the basket on our previous visit to the Island. I did not return with them but I went up that side of the Island until I struck the footprints I had discovered the day before.
I followed the tracks up over the bank & from the point where they could no longer be seen continued to ascend the ridge. About half way up I found a small piece of drift wood which I concluded she must have dropped on her way from the beach with fire wood. From where I found the piece of drift wood I could see three huts further up the ridge & having gone up to them I found them constructed of whales’ ribs & covered with brush although they were open all around & the high grass growing within them showed that they could not have been occupied for some time. From this point I could look over the whole length & breadth of the ridge & sand flat beyond where I could plainly see our men moving around.
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Listen to memories of a visit to San Nicolas Island in 1853
The sea otter hunting party arrives on the island, and Carl Dittman begins searching for the Lone Woman.
- Date created:
- 10/14/2020
Last updated: February 25, 2020