THE EVE OF SAILING.
In youth’s wild days, it cannot
but be pleasant
This idle roaming round and round the world,
With wildfire spirits and heart disengaged.
Anster’s
Faustus.
When one first contemplates a voyage
of many thousand miles, attended with long absence,
loss of old associates, together with all the charms
of home, country, and friends, often too lightly estimated
whilst possessed, but always sorely missed when no
longer within call; one is yet, and this through no
lack of sensibility, apt to regard the sacrifice about
to be made to duty as sufficiently light, and, with
the aid of manhood and a little philosophy, easy of
endurance. The very task, which a resolution
of this grave nature necessarily imposes, of making
as little of the matter as possible to those dear ones
who yield up their fears, and subdue their strong
affections, in obedience to your judgment, serves
for a time the double purpose of hoodwinking oneself
as well as blinding those on whom we seek to practise
this kind imposition. Next comes the bustle of
getting ready, assisted and cheered by the redoubled
attentions of all who love, or feel an interest in
one’s fortunes. Amidst the excitement,
then, of these various feelings, the deep-seated throb
of natural apprehension, or home regret, if even felt,
struggling for expression, is checked or smothered
in the loud note of preparation. The day of departure
is fixed at length, it is true; but then it is not
yet come: even when contemplating its near approach,
one feels wondrous firm and most stoically resolved:
at last, however, come it does; and now our chief
friend Philosophy, like many other friends, is found
most weak when most needed. In vain do we invoke
his approved maxims, hitherto so glibly dealt out
to silence all gainsayers; yet now, they are either
found inapt or are forgotten wholly, until, after a
paltry show of defence, braggart Philosophy fairly
takes to his heels, and leaves us abandoned to the
will of old mother Nature. Now, indeed, arrives
the tug; and I, for my part, pity the man who, however
savagely resolute, does not feel and own her power.
The adieus of those one loves are, at best,that
is, for the shortest absence,sufficiently
unpleasant; but when there lie years, and, to the eye
of affection, dangers, in the way of the next meeting,
as the old Scotch ballad has it, “O but it is
sair to part!” I should, I confess, were I free
to choose, prefer the ignominy of cowardly flight,
to the greatest triumph firmness ever yet achieved,
and be constrained to hear and respond to that last
long “good-b’ye!”
As I honestly own that, for various
good reasons, I set out with the intention of keeping
such a close record of my feelings and doings as my
errant habits might permit, with the premeditated design
also of giving them to that public which from the
beginning had decided that I should do so, I concluded
there was nothing like an early start; and finding
these thoughts preface, or rather commence, my journal,
so do I give them like precedence here.
SAILING DAY.
Liverpool, Tuesday,
July 16th, 1833.
I am not usually very particular about
dates; but, as there is an odd coincidence connected
with the 16th, I desire to note it. On this day,
then, about 3 P.M. I was rumbled from Bold-street
down to St. George’s Dock, accompanied by a
few friends, who were resolute to extend their kindness
to the latest limit time and tide, those unyielding
agents, might allow.
Arrived at the ship’s side,
I found a number of my own poor countrymen, agricultural
speculators, filling up a leisure moment before
seeking harvest, in seeing “Who in the world
was going to America, all that way,” with which
country there are now few of the humbler class of Irish
but have some intimate associations. Disposing
amongst the boys the few shillings I had left
in my pocket, I jumped on board the packet-ship Europe,
without cross or coin, saving only a couple of luck-pennies,
the one an American gold eagle, the present of an
amiable gentlewoman; the other a crooked sixpence,
suspended by a crimson ribbon, the offering of a fair
“maid of the inn,” given to me on the very
eve of sailing-day with many kind wishes, all of which
have been realized.
The wind had been all the morning,
and was still, away from the south-west; that is,
right into the harbour; and I had heard many doubts
expressed whether or not we should sail at all before
night tide; doubts which, I am almost ashamed to confess,
did not offend my ears so very much, considering my
avowed impatience to be gone; nay, I do further admit
having observed carelessly that I would as soon we
did not sail until night tide, though wherefore I
should thus have sought to keep chords on the stretch
already too painfully braced, I leave to the wise
to resolve.
Once on board, however, doubt was
at an end; since the task of warping out from the
tier was already commenced, and the noisy steamer might
be heard bellowing and fuming, impatient of delay,
from where she awaited us without the pier. We
were moored inside several other ships; and the dock
being quite full of craft, to the unpractised eye there
appeared no possibility of winning a passage without
doing or sustaining damage. However, what with
warps and checks, careful and well-timed hauling, and
ready backing, the gallant-looking Europe was quickly
and safely handed over to the turbid waters of the
Mersey without suffering a rub on her bright sides.
The steamer now took us in tow, and
in a few minutes the busy docks and crowded pier-heads
had passed away. Our companion vessels at parting
were three onlya large private Indiaman,
(the Albion,) a smaller ship for the coast of Africa,
and a little gaily-painted Irish schooner called the
Shamrock. These, it appeared, were dependent upon
their own resources, and were soon left behind contending
hardily with a strong beating wind; whilst the Europe,
with yards pointed and sails closely furled, steadily
and swiftly followed in the wake of the George the
Fourth, looking like a noble giant led captive by some
sooty dwarf. The Black Rock was soon gained,
Crosby and its pretty cottages showed dimly distant;
the mountains of Wales opened grandly forth before
us; and, after one last long look, I dived to my state-room,
partly to busy myself with seeing all my traps arranged
and set in trim for sea, and partly to be alone.
THE EUROPE PACKET.
“This goodly ship
our palace is,
Our heritage the sea.”
It will doubtless appear to many who
shall win their way thus far into this book, a work
of impertinent supererogation to describe at large
an American packet-ship, together with the mode of
living on board a regular Liner, considering
that there are some three or four of these departing
every week from Liverpool, London, and Havre, and at
this same point I can fancy some hot fellow, who has
performed his twentieth trip, here toss by my unoffending
volume, with “Devil take the chap! does he think
he knows about all this better than us?”
But, hold hard, my fiery friend, whilst
I remind your worship that there are some thousands
of the lièges out of the countless numbers who
will be our readers, who, insular though they be,
and well used to ships, have yet no conception of
these wonders of the water; that is, provided the
“Europe” is to be taken as a true sample
of the service she belongs to: not to mention
that what was new and notable to me, who have voyaged
much, can hardly fail to interest some gentlemen “who
live at home at ease.”
Let, then, the reader who knows what
a “between-decks” is, step below with
me, and there picture to himself a room forty feet
long, not taking in the deep transom, by sixteen in
breadth, having on either hand a range of inclosed
state-rooms about eight feet square, each with its
own door and window, of bird’s-eye maple curiously
inlaid with variously grained wood, polished as glass.
The upper part of the door and the whole of the side
window are latticed; so that on both being closed,
the occupant is hidden, yet the air admitted freely.
Each of these state-rooms is furnished
with a washhand stand, containing a double service,
a chest of drawers, with handles of cut glass, a shelf
or two for books, &c. and a brace of berths or bed-places
of ample dimensions, well appointed with mattress
and linen, white as ever lassie lifted off the sunny
side of a brae, at whose foot brawled the burn to
which her labour owed its freshness.
Now, although each room is fitted
up for two insides, you may nevertheless conserve
your individuality,the which I recommend,at
the cost of an additional half-fare, or, in all, about
fifty-five pounds sterling.
Being here installed, then, solus,
you will be roused from your sound night’s sleep
in the morning at eight bells, or eight o’clock
A.M., by the tinkling of a shrewish-sounding hand-bell,
which says, as plainly as ever the chimes of Bow hailed
Whittington lord mayor of London, “Arise, and
shave, and make your toilet, and prepare to come forth;
for the cow is milking, and the kettle is screeching,
and the hot rolls beginning to get over-brown.”
Upon this welcome summons, if you
are not sea-sick, which Heaven forbid! or insensible
to the goods here by the gods provided for you, you
will bounce or creep out of your crib, according as
the waves and your agility may determine; and popping
your head out of window, loudly bawl “Thomas!”
or plain “Tom!” or “Steward!”
according to the terms of friendship and familiarity
on which you may stand with this dignitary, who, by
the way, has a vote on board worth canvassing for;I
say bawl out, because, firstly, your mincing and Clarendon-like
lisp of “Waiter!” would not be heard by
one used to listen to the rush of the tempest and
the shriek of the scourged Atlantic; also, for that
your stirring call may remind some wretched skulker
of a circumstance which he is miserably dozing out
of remembrance, viz. that breakfast is under weigh.
“Yes, sir!” is the prompt response from
the larboard corner of the cabin, where the steward
and his gang are installed with all their appointment
of glass and crockery ranged neatly within reach.
Your next call will be, “Bring me a bottle of
Saratoga water”a chalybeate, cool
and brisk on the palate as soda water, a commendable
morning draught, and such a trumpet to appetite!well,
having swallowed of this, your pint or so, dress,
mount the deck, and inquire “how she heads,”
and what she has done during the long hours of night
whilst you lay sleeping like a sea-bird in your wave-borne
nest.
You next take a look over the weather
quarter, sweep the horizon knowingly with your best
eye, and after, walk forward towards the galley or
kitchen, pricking your ears at certain sputtering and
hissing sounds, the which, backed up by sundry savoury
sniffs caught under the tack of the main-sail, give
you foretaste of broiled ham, spitch-cock, eggs, frizzled
bacon, and mutton cutlets.
One by one your messmates tumble up
the companion, or cabin-stair; some hungry and blooming
as sound stomachs and clear consciences can make them,
others showing a leetle blue and bilious-like;
but each and all resolute to essay the onslaught,
which the train of polished covers, making rapid transit
from the caboose down the steward’s hatchway,
proclaim about to begin.
Tinkle, tinkle, ting! again sounds
the steward’s bell; and, without any pauses
of ceremony, down dive the convives, turning
en que the foot of the stair, some to windward,
others to leeward, but all facing right afta
double game of “follow my leader.”
“Oh! ’tis a goodly sight
to see,” the show which here presents itself;covers
of all sizes glisten under the flickering rays of the
morning sun, stealing in through the open deck-light,
and dancing about to the heave of the ship over a
well-laid cloth flanked by ready plates and the weapons
of attack.
The signal is made, the covers drawn;
and, appetite or no appetite, here is temptation for
all. If the incipient voyager will benefit by
my experience, as he might well have done by my example
had we been happy enough to have possessed his amiable
society on board the Europe, he will develope his
main battle against the mutton chops au naturel;
then gossip over a slice of broiled Virginy
ham, with an egg or twain, whilst his souchong is
getting pleasantly cool; then, having emptied his
cup, flirt with a couple of delicate morsels raised
from the thin part of a salted shad-fish, the which
shad, for richness and flavour is surpassing.
To his second cup he will dedicate
the upper crust of a well-baked roll with cold butter;
and, after having duly paused a while, choose between
Cognac and Schiedam for a châsse. If he
will yet walk with me, I say unhesitatingly, try Schiedam,
in the absence, reverently be it spoken, of Isla or
Innishowen.
Now, my pupil, if this breakfast would,
which it could not fail to do, raise the bastard appetite
of your close-curtained, feather-bedded coal-smoked,
snivelling in-dweller of the city, judge of the influence
it must exercise over a child of ocean, who inhales
the breath of heaven freshly as generated beneath
the blue sky that vaults his watery world, pure, uncorrupted,
untainted by touch of anything more earthly.
Why, man, it is worth a life of ordinary
vegetation to be stirred but for once by the sensations,
such a morning as I draw from, in such a place, create;
and to those who sagely shake the head and doubt, if
any such cavillers there be, I say, “Pay your
just debts; make your tenants easy, that their prayers
may be in your sails; forgive your enemies, kiss your
wife, draw up and add in her favour a codicil to your
testament; and your duties being thus fulfilled, with
a clean heart, backed by forty-eight clean shirts,
go and try; and if you ‘fall not’ of my
advice before you again embrace your mother country,
curse Fortune for a perverse wench, and set your humble
servant down for false counsel.”
Leaving you now, my pupil, to write,
to read, to practise shooting with ball at a bottle
swinging from some outstanding spar, or to follow
whatever pursuit most engages your fancy, for the space
of some four hours, we will just name an intermediate
and somewhat tempting meal, ycleped luncheon, chiefly
indeed for the purpose of advising you to eschew it
as you value unimpaired digestion, and would appreciate
a four o’clock dinner. If, however, you
are obstinately self-willed, and choose to obey a
villanous unappeasable appetite, in place of following
my wholesome advice, I pray you, at least, not to sit
down knife in hand, as I have noted “some shameless
creatures do;” but lift a piece of pilot biscuit,
request some kind soul to shave the under side of the
corned round for you, then desiring the steward to
follow with a tumbler of Guiness’s porter, fly
the place and seek the deck.
Shuffle-board, chess, and backgammon,
with exercise and pleasant converse, will while away
the intervening hours so quickly, that, if you do
not keep a bright look-out, you will be surprised by
the dinner-bell before you think of your toilet, which,
if a luxury to you on shore, will be thrice welcome
at sea, besides being a pleasant way of disposing
of twenty minutes; not to mention the ladies, who,
at all times sensibly alive to any neglect in us,
become doubly so here, where there is so much to remind
them that they are not ruling in their own pretty
drawing-rooms, though, as the old song has it,
“Queens they be
On the boundless sea,”
as indeed they are, and ought to be, everywhere.
Mem.Do not trust
your appetite to forewarn you of approaching dinner,
since I have been more than once deceived by over-confidence
in that quarter: truth is, you have the cry of
“wolf” from that insatiable look-out so
early and so often, that you learn after a time to
treat the call as impertinent and troublesome, and
so strive to cut it until the cutting moment really
and unexpectedly comes upon you.
I have been so elaborate upon the
head of breakfast, which meal, I freely confess to
be my foible, that I feel as though any description
of dinner would now come comparatively weak; besides,
to speak verily, one might, with time and prudent
choice, get as good a dinner, perhaps, a-shore in
favoured countries: but for a breakfast, pho!
the thing is beyond reach, away from the stores of
a well-regulated Yankee packet. I challenge Europe,
including Scotland, with all her Finnanhaddies,
herrin’s, cakes, and preserves, to back
her.
Suffice it then to say, that here
is a dinner of three courses, with pastry and various
confitures which would not shame Gunter; and,
for boisson, sherry, madeira, hock, and claret,
with port for those who indulge in strong potations,
and three or four times a week well-iced champagne.
A variety of dried fruits compose
the dessert, since, although they sometimes raise
small salad, I feel bound to admit that they have not
yet attained to the comfort of a pinery on board:
nor, let me add, did I see finger-glasses in use;
and how persons get on who have never dined without
them, I cannot guess, this not being my case, since
luckily, even in England, I had sometimes roughed
it in very good society without these necessaries.
Once seated to dinner, there you remain, and imbibe
until discretion bids you hold your hand, for other
check have you none, cellar and servants remaining
at your disposal.
After a walk on deck, and a cup of
tea or coffee, you form your party for whist or some
round game, or join the ladies in their boudoir,
which I ought to have mentioned before as leading out
of the great room forward, being a pretty square apartment,
fitted up with sofas, mirrors, loo-table, and other
little elegancies which ladies love to look upon and
be surrounded by. Entre nous, between the lights
this snuggery affords tolerable convenience for a
little flirtation, if you are lucky enough to get
one up;this broken off, you play your play,
and at the conclusion of your rubber of whist, or
parti d’ecarte, you prepare for bed,early
hours forming here one of those sanitary laws which
the wise feel little inclined to impinge.
Now I am quite well aware that on
the head of night-caps every biped has his own fancy,
and most of the genus I also know to be infernally
pig-pated on this seemingly simple point; such incurables
I abandon, to supper, porter, night-mare, and all
the other nameless horrors that rouse them to avenge
an ill-used stomach; but to the willing ear and ductile
mind I whisper again, “try mine.” Imprimisone
cigar, one tumbler of weak Hollands’ grog, better
named swizzle, all to be disposed of in pleasant company
during some half-hour’s walk on deck; when, if
you should sometimes, as I hope you often may, fall
in with a soft downy south-west breeze, a clear deep-blue
sky over head, gemmed full with little stars, and
fringed about, down into the watery round, by a broad
border of jet-black cloud, against which each curling
wave appears to break, and the goodly ship seems as
though delving through a lake of quick-silverwhen
the track of the swift porpoises show like long furrows
of dazzling flame, and over the whirling eddies of
the keel’s deep wake is seen to hover a strange
unearthly light,a thin bluish, devilish,
vaporous haze, which, in the silent watch of night,
maketh the lonely gazer’s flesh to creep, and
conjures through the brain every wild legend whispered
of the “vasty deep,” fascinating the eyes,
and holding them with spell-like power, untiluntil
what?why, until a sharp twitch on the
lip from the fire of the close-burned cigar we recommended
awakens you to a due sense of such a “lame and
most impotent conclusion.”
Jump off the spare spar on which you
have been perched whilst gazing so dreamily over the
ship’s quarter, give the last half of your grog
to the old lad at the wheel, peep in on the compass,
find she heads about west-north-west, and, well satisfied,
descend the stair. The steward lights the waxen
taper which fixes on a branch before your glass; when,
having performed such ceremonies as you delight in,
thank God and sleep: and thus ends the chapter
of a day.
And, gentle pupil, if you would learn
yet more especially to enjoy all this, which I have
for your benefit somewhat lengthily detailed,
give directions to the steward to rouse you at deck-washing;
that is, about six A.M.; put on drawers and jacket
of fine cotton, and, sunshine or cloud, calm or squall,
run on deck, leave your robe de chambre in the
round-house, and slide down into the lee gangway, where,
according to previous contract, you see a grim-looking
seven-foot seamanpick out the tallestwaiting
for you with a couple of buckets of sea-water, one
held ready in his claw, with a half-grin upon his puckered
phiz as he inwardly blesses the simplicity of the
landsman who turns out of his hammock in the morning-watch
to be soused like the captain’s turtle in cold
salt water; and i’ faith! startlingly cold it
gets when on the Banks, even in July, especially if
within the influence of an ice-berg or twain:
think not, however, of this, the infliction is light
in comparison with the after enjoyment.
Being seated in the lee-scuppers,
give the word; up goes the bucket, and wush! down
pours the deluge on your oil-capped crown. “Hah!”
you cry involuntarily, for the flesh will quiver,
&c. You then compress your lips a little closer,
whilst Jack’s giggle expands into a broad grin,
and in a steadier stream descends the second shower;
which, having abided to the last drop, away you scurry
along the wet deck, that is, always provided you avoid
a fall or two by the way, into the round-house, on
gown, and down to your little den; where a coarse towel,
and a couple of flesh-brushes smartly applied for five
minutes, will produce such a circulation throughout
your inward man, that, like bold Waterton, you feel
as though you could back an alligator, take the sea-serpent
by the beard, or kick a noisy steamboat fairly out
of water.
I have, since I am at confession,
sometimes in very bad weather been tempted into bed
after this ablution, when such an hour’s nap
awaits one! But this is a luxury Xerxes would
have given a Satrapie to have tasted, and not
to be indulged in over-often, lest it lead to effeminacy,
which is as far removed from comfort as is sensuality
from pleasure.
I have often heard objected to these
fine ships the discomfort and difficulty attending
toilet; but, for my own part, I did not discover these.
Having a state-room, and possessed of the same appliances,
with perhaps a little more trouble, a man may be as
scrupulously nice as in any other dressing-room; provided
always he be not prostrated by that unsparing nausea,
sea-sickness; from the which I wish you, gentle reader,
the full exemption I enjoy, and so commend you to repose.
THE EUROPE CONTINUED.CHANGE OF AFFAIRS.
“Life’s
like a ship in constant motion:
Sometimes smooth, and
sometimes rough.”Song.
“Oh! the pleasures of a summer
trip across the Atlantic!” Thus sung and chorused
my good friends one and all; some from experience,
most from hearsay, but ever in unison.
“You’ll have quite a party
of pleasure,” says one. “The only
thing to be dreaded will be the ennui arising
out of long calms, gentle breezes, eternal sunshine
by day and moonlight by night,” says another.
One would have fancied, according
to their account, that sun and moon alternated like
buckets in a well, one up, the other down, with the
exception that both were to be always at full.
So constant, however, were these remarks
about heat, and sun, and summer air, that I packed
up every article of clothing heavier than duck or
cachmere; nay, had not some worthy matter-of-fact soul
let slip a stray hint about ice and sleighing parties
in December, I verily believe, hating as I do all
superfluous baggage, I should have left my greatcoats
to the moth and fog of Old England.
But whew! from such airs the
Lord preserve me!whilst at the tail of
our honest, grimy, grumbling steamer, cutting through
the Mersey or along the coast of Wales, we were, I
admit, tolerably sunned and warm enough, though not
even here bedazzled or over-heated; but on the second
morning out, what a change!
I came on deck just before six A.M.
to take my shower-bath; the wind was about west by
south, blowing a brisk gale, the ship under double-reefed
topsails, with top-gallant sails set over them, making
all smoke againon one hand lay the Isle
of Rathlin, with the north coast of Ireland, bleak
and bare; on the other, the Mull of Kyntyre, with a
tide of its own rushing by like a mill-race, and over
it the cloudy crest of Isla, looming through the flitting
vapours, cold, dark, and hard-visaged, as though no
drop of whisky had ever been brewed therein.
One could not recognise the misty monster, thus grimly
shadowed forth, to be the parent of that glorious
sunny spirit.
We had full time afforded to become
well acquainted with the changing aspects of these
and the other localities hereabouts, for we had to
battle it with their ally the wind, and with their
waters, for full sixty hours; and although we at length
fought our course seaward, it was to feel that such
another victory would be anything but serviceable to
the gallant ship.
Oh that infernal Rathlin! I shall
not soon forget it; it is a spot I always held in
ill odour ever since Miss Porter’s “Scottish
Chiefs” taught my unsophisticated youth to weep
over the wrongs of Wallace wight. Now, although
I abominate the place more, I have learned to compassionate
her ill-starred hero less, since to have been carried
southward through “merrie England” from
such a place of exile, albeit the journey ended in
hanging, was yet a deliverance especially to be rejoiced
in.
We had a near view of the natives
too, one day, trying to catch us in a whale-boat,
whilst we were hugging the land sculking from the strength
of the tide of flood: but, thank Heaven! they
missed taking us as we went about on the opposite
tack, the which I shall ever consider a providential
escape, although at the time, a heedless confidence
in our numbers led Captain Maxwell to throw them the
end of a rope. They failed to lay hold on it,
however, and away we dashed by them like a whirlwind;
whilst the disappointed men gesticulating fiercely,
with their red “fell o’ hair” blowing
to the four corners of the earth, and their wild eyes
and ogre mouths agape, yelled forth a volley of strange
sounds, soon drowned by the louder roar of these summer
waves. This was happily the only danger we incurred
from the natives; we saw no more of them, and right
glad were all-hands when the last glimpse of the Hebrides,
or Western Isles, as they are called in their charts,
faded away in their mist.
After this date one heavy blow succeeded
another until the first of August, with seldom sun
enough to afford an observation: yet it mattered
not; like sea-birds we “rode and slept,”
for the excellence of the boat, and the way in which
she was handled, was evident enough to inspire even
the nervousness of inexperience with confidence; and
the efficiency of our domestic arrangements bade defiance
to the anger of the elements;uninfluenced
by their frowns as by their smiles, on went the work,
and meal succeeded meal with faultless regularity.
On the second of August we passed
within the immediate atmosphere of a huge iceberg.
We had for some time previous been enveloped in fog,
which suddenly lifting, showed us this isle of ice,
and two other smaller ones.
The main island, by which we were
most attracted, lay about a quarter of a mile to leeward,
of dazzling whiteness, and picturesque of form, having
at one end a lofty cone-shaped mountain, and at the
other an angular bold mound, crowned by what we decided
to be an extensive Gothic fortalice or castle, not
unworthy the Ice-king himself if bent on a summer
trip round the gulf stream: between these promontories
lay a deep valley thickly tenanted by tribes of the
white gull.
Three sides of Castle-hill were regularly
scarped, the fourth communicated by a neatly kept
slope with the valley, and along this radiated a number
of well-trodden paths, all uniting at the castle gate,
at once giving evidence of considerable population,
and great hospitality on the part of the worthy castellan.
The position of these islands was
unusual, and their appearance occasioned a little
surprise, although the fall of the thermometer, and
the change in the temperature of the water, had led
Captain Maxwell, some hours before we met them, to
decide upon their vicinity.
On the banks of Newfoundland they
are common at this season of the year, and form, indeed,
the danger most to be dreaded of the voyage; since,
if the weather should prove thick, and the ice swim
deep, scarce showing above the surface, as is commonly
the case, a ship going quickly through the water may
strike before any measures can be taken to avoid the
encounter.
A fine packet, the Liverpool, but
nine days out, on her first trip was totally lost
on one of these in the summer of 1822; and this very
year our captain coasted to the southward for seventy
miles along the edge of a field of ice, in which he
had previously been locked-up for fifty hours, till
released by a lucky shift of wind. On this occasion
he had one on board whose experience among ice had
been well tested, and was about to be yet again tried;
for Lieutenant Back was here on his perilous adventure
in quest of the long lost Captain Ross and his crew.
For the succeeding sixteen or seventeen
days of our voyage the weather was generally fine.
Upon the western edge of the Banks we had a few days’
calm, which taking advantage of, I turned my morning
shower-bath into a plunge from the bowsprit, and had
a delicious swim round the ship. The passengers,
however, got wind of my fun, and in obedience to the
kindly meant remonstrances of one or two of them, I
forbore a pleasure which never occurred to me to be
perilous, for I have practised it in many parts of
the ocean, always taking care that there was no way
upon the ship.
We had no casualties except amongst
the pigs, sheep, and poultry; and as yet no great
loss of spars, indeed in all our blows, we only sprung
a main-topsail yard, carried away a fore-topmast,
and made a few stu’n-sail booms,for
the latter, we had very little use, not having the
wind abaft the beam over five days, all counted, out
of a passage of thirty-five; and how it was accomplished
in the time under the circumstances, is yet to me
a matter of some wonderment.
JOURNAL AT SEA.
This is usually a very monotonous
task to the journalist, and can hardly fail of soon
becoming tiresome to the reader, since a voyage away
from the land affords but little to record; still,
as it is my intention occasionally to refer to this
current report of my Impressions and every-day-doings,
I may as well transcribe literally a page or two illustrative
of every-day life in this, our “Europe.”
July 31st.Sixteen
days out this afternoon; during which time, with but
forty-four hours that we could fairly lay our course,
the good ship has knocked off forty degrees of westing,
a prodigious slant under the circumstances. The
last two days up to meridian, we have run ten degrees
of longitude and two of latitude.
Thursday, August 1st.Going
about seven knots, heading west by north; all well
and mighty agreeable. Rifle-shooting and backgammon
the great antagonists of time before dinnerwhist
after. Various wagers are daily made against
time, as to the length of our passage, as well as for
or against certain ships that preceded or were to
follow us. Most persons have named some date
for our arrival at New York, and backed it for more
or less; finding that these days were selected more
in accordance with the desires of the betters than
their judgment, I selected an outsider, and took the
longest date named for my day, August 20th. The
odds fluctuate daily in the market, according to the
view the knowing ones take of the weather: these
bets form a subject of interest and banter which daily
rises in importance.
Wednesday, 7th.About
meridian carried away our main-topsail yard, whilst
two hands were employed rigging in the studding-sail
boom; one fell into the top, and the other caught
hold of the rigging, receiving much fright but small
damage. Had they fallen on the deck or over-board,
why their chance would have been exceeding small.
There surely is “a sweet little cherub that
sits up aloft,” &c. or these careless rogues
could not escape so often scot-free.
To-day we have a rattling north-easter
with sunshine: and the sea, which yesterday was
wild, dreary, and dark, is now beaming and light as
a beauty at a birth-day ball; and as radiant, for
it sparkles in diamonds of its own.
All hands in high spirits, the ship
the favourite for odds; Time gone back sadly; the
13th inst. named for very long odds; I offered eight
to one against it, and was taken up at a word.
Made two or three entries in my book after dinner;
against the 20th, my day; take all that offers, but
have made a leetle hedge on the 18th by way
of a break-water.
Saturday, 9th.A
very heavy gale from north-west, a rare occurrence
at this season; it stuck to us for fifty hours, hauling
gradually round to the south’ard. No business
done to-day; ’change deserted; not a time-bargain
to be had for love or money; most of the bulls in bed.
Tuesday, 13th.One
of the most lovely days possible: all the morning
we have been observing a large ship right a-head, on
which we draw rapidly, though a stern chase is proverbially
a long chase. The alley all alive, books and
pencils in great demand: odds offered freely that
this ship is the Tallahassie, Captain Glover, which
sailed from Liverpool on the morning of the day we
left; but owing to our taking the north channel, whilst
she pursued the south, had thus gotten a decided pull
upon us, besides being a very fine ship. Consultations
frequent, as we neared, between the mate and the backers
of the Tallahassie, adjournments to the top-gallant
forecastle constant; every spy-glass in requisition.
We drew near; the odds rose in favour
of this being the ship in questionshe
was a large ship, square-built and long, so was Tallahassieshe
was flush deck, so was Tallahassiehad stump-royal
masts, and a storm-house abaft, so had Tallahassie,
hurrah! Nearer we came, less ardour amongst the
backers of Tal.nearer still, they
are all silent; the alley is deserted for the forecastlea
straggler now comes aft, with a sneaking offer of
a hedge: no takers.
One of the opposite side’s scouts
next comes aft. “This can’t be the
Tallahassiethis ship has no copper, Tallahassie
had; she has a white line over her bright side, Tallahassie
had nother top-rail is white, and the
yards tipped with the same colour, the Tallahassie’s
were black.In short, it could not be the
Tallahassie, as any one with half an eye might have
seen from the first, and might see now.”
The latter part of the proposition
was already demonstrated, for we were by this time
right a-beam; the former might have been disputed,
although it certainly was not the Tallahassie.
Trifles like this were all-sufficient
occupation for the day, and served as subjects of
conversation after. On this occasion we had for
nearly the first time a complete muster of our crew,
the exceeding fineness of the day brought out even
our sick, and there they lounged about in the sun,
like weary birds plumeing their ruffled feathers.
Sunday, 18th.Wind
north-west; weather fine. We are now within one
hundred and sixty miles of our port. Betting-market
a little anxious, but a good deal of business doing
in a quiet way; my odds looking well, but to-morrow,
the 19th, by far the favourite, Captain Maxwell himself
indeed, considering it a hollow thing. Got a notion
in my head, however, in favour of my day, and accordingly
took the odds; resolute to abide by the 20th, and
either “mak’ a spune or spoil a horn.”
All hands well and in motion; the
crew busily employed getting the sea-service off the
rigging, and setting it all up in holiday order.
The mate is peering about jealously on all sides,
eyeing his ship as a mother would a beauty dressing
for her first drawing-room, and to the full as anxious
about her appearance.
Monday, 19th.In
the middle watch had a heavy squall, and carried away
our foretop-gallant mast. At nine o’clock,
A.M. made the American shore off Jersey, to the southward
of Barney Gat. Wind light, no betting, but anxious
speculations on the probability of our getting within
Sandy Hook this day. Tuesday a hollow thing, feel
“cock sure:”about noon, wind
died away; and, right enough, it was not until
Tuesday, August 20th, that
at three o’clock, A.M. I was called on deck
to look upon the Hook lights, and count my wagers won.
I received the omen as a good one, and so it proved.
LAND, HO!
I had often, and with much pleasure,
heard intelligent Americans describe the restless
anxiety with which they approached the shores of Britain;
the almost painful degree of excitement created by
the various associations crowding on the imagination,
and jostling each other for supremacy, as they looked
for the first time on their father-land.
The veneration with which they pictured
her ivy-clad towers, and the throb with which they
caught the names of places long familiar to memory
and hallowed by historical events, to all of which
they felt their claim inherited from their ancestors,
whether from Thames, or Tweed, or Shannon.
To all of this I have, I say, listened
with great pleasure, and with a full sympathy in feelings
at once natural and generous, yet can I hardly admit
them to possess more force, or their nature to be more
exciting, or richer in the material whence Fancy frames
her chequered web, than the recollections awakened
in a well-stored imagination by a near approach to
the shores of America. Although differing widely,
these are to every philosophic mind, especially to
a subject of Britain, at least equally stirring.
When it is first remembered, that
on all the long line of coast extending from the St.
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico there was not, in the
beginning of the sixteenth century, one European family
settled, or a Christian voice that woke the forest
with the name of God,not a civilized man
from Canada to Florida, who placed his foot upon the
soil to call it home. Yet now, within this immense
range may be reckoned the mightiest States of the
Union; and over its wide circumference are scattered
great cities, towns aspiring to be cities, and villages
fast growing into busy townspossessing
a population which for wealth hardly need yield to
the oldest countries of Europe, and in the general
diffusion of intelligence and education offering indeed
to most of these an example worthy of their imitation.
When it is called to mind that the
waters of her vast line of coast, now daily ploughed
by thousands of busy prows, were at this same not very
distant day as desert as her swamps and as unfurrowed,
except where the canoe of the scared Indian left its
light track behind, when driven from the shelter of
some near river:silent and shadowless,
except when the sail of the adventurous explorer flitted
slowly over the waves, as he steered his doubtful
course filled with the many wonders seen and fancied
by his watchful, credulous crew,some band
of daring spirits tempted hither in search of gold,
or wild adventure, perhaps to perish suddenly by the
arrow of the savage, or slowly to wither beneath the
influence of the climateGod! what wonderful
changes have been wrought here, and what a living
marvel is this land! Changes, which it has required
the labour of ages to accomplish elsewhere, have here
been effected by the energy of a few busy generations,
whose toil was begun and carried on amid want, and
sickness, and a struggle against ignorance and neglect
without, as well as a war of extermination within;
a war which may be said to exist even to this day,
for yet is the ever-growing frontier from time to
time awakened by the night whoop of the savage and
the answering shot of the hardy pioneer.
Then come the recollections connected
with the war of the Revolution,the noble
declaration of independence, for truly noble it was:
no dark compact of a crew of ruffian conspirators,
but a generous bond that their aggrieved country should
be freed, given by a band of citizen gentlemen, husbands,
fathers, and brothers, to the fulfilment of the which
they pledged unto each other their lives, their fortunes,
and their sacred honour; and having placed their hands
to this bold deed, they gave it to their people and
the world.
Their bond is cancelled, and they
are dismissed beyond the hearing of praise or censure;
yet shall these, the names of their country’s
fathers, be read and blessed by ages yet to come, and
shall stand for ever, each a synonyme for patriot
honour.
Washington, and the long wars he conducted
through defeat and disaster to such a glorious end
for his country, together with that large list of
famous names connected with those and later events
formed no mean subject for reverie, and these were
the fancies conjured through my brain by a near approach
to the shores of America. I confess I contemplated
her triumphs with a participation in her glory where
England was not a party, with no other feeling than
regret when she was,with regret that the
hands of brothers should ever have been opposed in
deadly enmity.
I give back in love of country to
no man, and to no foe under heaven would I yield up
one jot due to Britain’s well-won supremacy,
but to the United States we may surely spare without
envy the leaf she so hardily plucked from our thick
laurels. The glory of having given her birth,
language, and laws, she cannot rob us of; this will
endure until her mountains crumble: and all else
she has acquired at the expense of Britain, Britain
can well spare, and still stand foremost on the roll
of Fame.
PORT.
On the morning of Tuesday, August
20th, I was roused, according to a request I had left
to that effect with Captain Maxwell, to look on the
Hook Lights, the entrance to the outer bay and harbour
of New York. It was three o’clock in the
morning, a fresh yet bland breeze was just giving
motion to the smooth sea, and above, the firmament
showed thickly studded with heaven’s lights;
but the dazzling pharos of the Hook, to my mind, were
brighter at this hour than the best twinklers on the
floor of heaven,so welcome were they.
While waiting on deck, a couple of
sky-rockets were discharged from the storm-house by
way of signal for a pilot. The effect of the sudden
blaze was fine; and the rush of each fiery messenger
on its upward mission, as it burst away from the Europe’s
deck, seemed a glad sound of welcome, for it spoke
of safe arrival, and consequent freedom from our present
thrall; for, however pleasant a ship may be, and however
poetical our notions about the “deep sea,”
after having been in the one and on the other for
five or six weeks, there are few bipeds who do not
hail the shore as a type of recovered liberty, and,
however barren it may be, right joyfully embrace it.
About 7 A.M.for here it
appears pilots do not hurry themselveswe
made out a couple of schooner-rigged boats standing
right for us, which were at first taken for pilots,
but proved to be news-boats. Several such are,
as it appears, kept in commission by the New York journals,
and the struggle for early intelligence between the
rivals occasions a display of considerable adventure
not unattended with risk, since these news-boats are
out in all weathers, and from a great distance often
bring to the city a ship’s letters, &c. many
days before she makes her own appearance.
The news-collectors were welcomed
civilly by our captain, bagged their papers, made
out a list of the passengers, and in a few moments
were again on the wing for shore, looking right into
the wind, and with smooth water and a light breeze,
they drew rapidly away from the heavier ship.
I must observe that our Mercury’s correctness
was by no means commensurate with his activity; for
such ingenious changes did this worthy contrive in
the names of the passengers, that the mothers of some
would have failed to have discovered the arrival of
their sons, except upon instinct.
At length, after long watching, a
couple of pilot-schooners were discovered
standing out from under the high land, and in due time
their boats boarded us nearly together; and hence
arose a dispute as to whose particular prey the good
Europe was to be considered.
Each Pilot was voluble, and accused
the other of violating the laws made and provided
in such cases for their better government: who
was wrong in this case it was difficult to say, but
I very clearly made out that both parties had cheated
on former occasions, were willing to cheat in this,
and resolute to continue a like commendable practice
in all others that might offer, as far as in them
lay. What arrant rogues are we in all climes
and under whatever rule, quoth I, internally, as I
listened to these wordy disputants; for, to do messieurs
the pilots justice, the matter was conducted in a
manner more worthy the courts, better argued, and
in language less offensively figurative, than similar
disputes at which it has been my chance to assist
between angry members of our own bars.
At length the elder pilot left the
deck, and returned to his attendant yawl, in evident
dudgeon and disgust; when the junior, being hailed
by his comrades in the schooner on the opposite quarter,
was advised to give up the Europe, since they had
made out a second ship quite as large in the offing.
Whether this information, or a latent
sense of justice prevailed, it is hard to say; but
on the tidings our man hailed his irate seniorwho
was borne away amidst deeply-muttered vows of vengeancedesired
him to return, and told him he would give up the ship.
Thereon, back rowed our ancient mariner; and after
a few explanatory sentences, mutually offered as salvos
to their hurt honour, the rivals parted, to all outward
seeming as good friends as ever.
Which had right I know not, but one
of them had fish, and we of the Europe had no cause
to mourn the departure of that one, since, having
gained his deck, he sent us back a basket of newly-taken
porgies, and various other fishes with unpoetical
names but of marvellous sweetness, and sumptuous was
our dejeuner in consequence of this unlooked-for
addition.
Henceforward, all between-decks presented
a scene of bustle and preparation; the most sluggish
natures amongst us appeared now inspired, whilst on
all sides were heard good-humoured congratulations
and glad anticipations. I confess, although a
very experienced voyager, I felt a little touch of
softness striving to sneak into and coil about my heart,
as the words,homefriends, with
other household sounds, fell thick upon my hearing;
for, all our passengers being American, I stood alone
here on this day of happy greeting, a stranger amongst
strangers.
Let me add, that this was the last
day on which I felt so during my long sojourn in the
hospitable land; and even on this I possessed buoyancy
enough of spirit to keep down these selfish reflections,
and, I thank Heaven, sympathy enough to rejoice in
the gladness of my comrades.
I did not lack amusement, either after
the first hurry was past; an intelligent friend or
two busied themselves pointing out to me the various
localities in detail, with whose general character
Carey’s excellent atlas had already made me
tolerably conversant.
The day was clear and cloudless; and
when to this advantage is added a light head wind,
which compelled us to work our way inward, no harbour
could be approached under auspices more favourable,
or better calculated to afford a complete and varying
view of its beauties.
Just as we had opened the Narrows,
the entrance to the inner bay so called, the wind
grew so unpromising that a party of us decided to
engage the pilot vessel to take us as far as Staten
Island, which they “calculated” they could
reach before the departure of the steamer for New
York.
Bidding adieu to the Europe, away
we dashed in the little witch of a pilot, a craft
of some eighty tons’ burthen, but, viewed from
a short distance, not looking more than half that
size, so snug was her build, as well as from the absence
of every kind of hamper; her shrouds were without
ratlins, and her deck without even the protection of
a rough-treea nakedness I should by no
means like in bad weather. The afterpart, however,
or stern-sheets, is sunk about four feet; and as the
bowsprit is a mere stump, and the sheets of both foresail
and jib lead aft, all the work may be done here when
under snug sail.
The necessity, during our trip in
the schooner, of working up between the shores of
Long and Staten Islands, was a chance that added to
the charm of our approach.
Standing into the Narrows, under the
guns of a formidable fort, the pretty-looking village
of Staten, where quarantine is performed, first presented
itself: the smoke of the steamer assured us she
had not yet departed, and two or three tacks brought
us within signaling distance, just as she broke away
from the shore: our desire was readily understood,
and, slightly changing her course, she soon after received
us in addition to her already crowded freight.
I found the upper deck of the Bolivar,
the name of our steamer, uncommonly hot, but it afforded
a good place from which to view the harbour and city
as they were now rapidly unfolded: here, therefore,
I planted myself, all eyes; and certainly have rarely
been better repaid for a broiling.
As we neared the Battery, we were
afforded a passing glance up the East and North Rivers,the
great waters which give wealth to Manhattan, and jealously
clip her beauty about, in equal participation.
The coup d’oeil thus taken is very imposing,
and at once awakens the stranger to a sense of the
commercial importance of the entrepôt whose
walls he perceives shaded by such a forest of lofty
masts.