twenty-seven
minutes past one at night
The course was then given north-northeast , and the corvette , wearing , steered at full steam direct for San Francisco . It was three in the morning . Four hundred and fifty miles to cross ; it was nothing for a good vessel like the Susquehanna . In thirty-six hours she had covered that distance ; and on the 14th of December , at twenty-seven minutes past one at night , she entered the bay of San Francisco . At the sight of a ship of the national navy arriving at full speed , with her bowsprit broken , public curiosity was greatly roused . A dense crowd soon assembled on the quay , waiting for them to disembark . After casting anchor , Captain Blomsberry and Lieutenant Bronsfield entered an eight-pared cutter , which soon brought them to land .