 The first American, English, and Russian trading ships first appeared in California a few years before 1820.The classic book "Two Years Before the Mast" by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. provides a good first hand account of this trade.From 1825 to 1848 the average number of ships traveling to California increased to about 25 ships per year—a large increase from the average of 2.5 ships per year from 1769 to 1824.