It did not take long for the Committee of Vigilance to discover the facts about the shipment of arms ordered by Governor Johnson and intended for use against the vigilantes. Captain James Hutton of the Bianca divulged the information and offered his services as well as the use of his vessel to prevent the muskets from reaching the hands of the law and order party in San Francisco. The committee gratefully accepted his offer and the chief of the vigilante police was directed to send a suitable force to seize the arms and deliver them to the committee rooms.
Albert Bierstadt – Harbor Scene
A party of eight to ten men led by John Durkee and Charles Rand then left on the Bianca. Early on the morning of June 21st the Julia was overtaken near Point San Pablo in San Pablo Bay. The arms, as well as Maloney and Phillips who had been charged with delivering them, were commandeered and all carried to the San Francisco waterfront. Here Maloney and Phillips were released and the weapons, consisting of one hundred and thirteen muskets and a few sabers, taken to vigilante headquarters at Fort Gunnybags. Some inadvertent damage had been done to the Julia during the action and the vigilance committee promptly and satisfactorily paid for it, but the release of Maloney and Phillips would soon cause a confrontation between the law and order forces and the vigilantes.
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