Just read through this thread- interesting to note that the ONLY source of information regarding the supposed “SanFrancisco barges/sloops and their crews is Captain Whall. If you read through carefully you’ll see that every detailed reference uses some form of his language. In fact, I have never seen this reference anywhere from any other source, and the seeming ubiquity is entirely based on Whall’s assertion. If anyone has an earlier or independent reference to “hog eye barges,” I’d like to see it. This single-source origin should make us skeptical of definitive statements that there were boats or barges called “hog eyes” on San Francisco Bay in the Gold Rush era. Whall may simply have been spinning a yarn to cover the sexual reference.