journey, of great difficulty and toil, he finally reached a considerable number of trees, not such, indeed, as grow upon our northern coast, but such as seemed fit enough for want of bet- ter; but they were in such apparently inac- cessible situations that the shipwright consid- ered it impossible to get them out, and pro- nounced the project for which he had been employed altogether impracticable. Ugarte thought differently, but, finding his companion positive in his opinions, he made no effort to change them. He was a man of few words, and did not care to spend time in trying to con- vince an unwilling listener. Without more ado, he ordered his little company to face about, and immediately returned to Loreto, where his whole enterprise had been from the beginning looked upon as visionary, and was now, upon the report of the shipwright, regarded as a matter of jest and ridicule.
Ugarte, however, was not a man to be turned aside by sneers or scoffs, nor deterred by diffi- culties. He had always hitherto found that his best resource in overcoming obstacles was his own stout heart. He had made up his mind as to what was to be done, but, for the time being, he kept his intention concealed in his own breast. The first action he now took was to get rid of his shipwright. He then, without making any show or flourish about what he in- tended, picked out a few of the best and strong- est soldiers; and choosing a few of the most faithful Indians, and taking along axes and the requisite other tools, he again started out over the same crags he had traversed before, and, after a third painful journey, reached the same declivities and gorges where his invaluable trees still stood in their remote and primeval soli- tude. This time he had no one but himself from whom to take advice—no one but himself to consult. He therefore lost no time. He at once set to work, himself felling the trees, fash- ioning them into planks, and directing his fol- lowers how to help him and hasten his labors. As soon as this part of his work was done, he, in like manner, set about clearing out and con- structing a road from the place where his tim- ber lay to the newly established Mission of Santa Rosalia, on the little river of Mulegé, a distance of about ninety miles; and from there he cleared out the channel of the stream so as to float down the remainder of the way to the Gulf shore. He then made arrangements with two or three of the neighboring Missions, for the assistance of the few oxen and mules that they possessed. His energies knew no limits; and his companions, and even those who had previously laughed at him, now catching the fire of his zeal, willingly aided in forwarding his half-finished project. The Indians, always ready when the proper example was presented them to imitate, aided almost ez masse. The rugged road was soon lined with dusky work- men; and, in the course of four months from the time he had set out in earnest on his enter- prise, he had the satisfaction of finding his planks piled up, all finished and ready for build- ing, on the Gulf beach at the mouth of the Mulegé.
The greater part of his labor was now done. He next procured from across the Gulf such materials as could not be supplied from his own establishments—as, also, several carpen- ters; and in a short time, himself superintend- ing the entire work, as well as personally taking a part in all the labor, he saw his new vessel grow up from keel to bulwarks, and ready for the sea. In September, 1719, with his own hand, he nailed the cross upon her bowsprit, launched her upon the brine, and christened her E£/ Triunfo de la Cruz—The Triumph of the Cross.
It must not be supposed, however, that the building of a ship cost no money in those days, any more than it can be supposed that it costs none in these. On the contrary, the first ship thus built cost nearly all the money there then was in California. By the time it was finished, it was found that all the funds of all the Mis- sions under Ugarte’s control were exhausted, and that even the presents and trinkets, which had been sent him for private use by friends in Mexico, had not been spared. But his ship, compared with the vessels then in use, was large and strong; and for beauty, as well as service, it was afterward, by competent judges of marine architecture, pronounced superior to anything of the kind that had ever before been seen in those waters.
The first considerable voyage made by Ugar- te’s new vessel was in November, 1720, from Loreto to La Paz, a distance of about one hun- dred and fifty miles. The object of it was to found a new Mission at the latter place; and for this purpose the ship carried several mission- aries, a number of soldiers and assistants, church ornaments, provisions, implements, and tools, supplies of various kinds, and a lot of cattle— the progenitors, in part at least, of the vast herds which, in the course of the next century or so, covered the hills from San Lucas to Mendocino. Upon this voyage Father Ugarte, in default of any other captain, himself assumed the command of the vessel, and he soon showed that he was as good a navigator as ship-builder. He, at any rate, succeeded in safely landing his passengers and cargo at La Paz, where, for a short time laying aside the insignia of command
