The Mississippi--The Whale--Description of tow-boats--A
package--A threatened storm--A beautiful brigantine--
Physiognomy of ships--Richly furnished cabin--An obliging
Captain--Desert the ship--Getting under weigh--A chain of
captives--Towing--New-Orleans--A mystery to be unraveled.
Upon the mighty bosom of the "Father of Waters", our gallant ship now
proudly floats. The Mississippi! that noble river, whose magnificent
windings I have traced with my finger upon the map in my school-boy
days, wishing, with all the adventurous longing of a boy, that I might,
like the good fathers Marquette and Hennepin, leap into an Indian's
birch canoe, and launching from its source among the snows and untrodden
wilds of the far north, float pleasantly away under every climate, down
to the cis-Atlantic Mediterranean; where, bursting from its confined
limits, it proudly shoots into that tideless sea through numerous
passages, like radii from one common centre. My wishes are now, in a
measure, about to be realized. The low, flat, and interminable marshes,
through the heart of which we are rapidly advancing--the ocean-like
horizon, unrelieved by the slightest prominence--the sullen, turbid
waves around us, which yield but slowly and heavily to the irresistible
power of steam--all familiar characteristics of this river--would alone
assure me that I am on the Mississippi. My last letter left us in the
immediate expectation of being taken in tow by the "Whale," then coming
rapidly down the South-West passage, in obedience to the hundred signals
flying at the "fore" of as many vessels on every side of us. In a few
minutes, snorting and dashing over the long ground-swell, and flinging a
cloud of foam from her bows, she ran alongside of us, and sent her boat
on board. While the little skiff was leaping from wave to wave to our
ship, we had time to observe more attentively than when in motion, the
singular appearance of this _unique_ class of steamboats.
Her engine is of uncommon power, placed nearer the centre of the hull
than in boats of the usual construction; her cabin is small, elevated,
and placed near the engine in the centre of the boat. With the exception
of the engine and cabin, she is "flush" from stem to stern; one quarter
of her length abaft the cabin, and the same portion forward of the
boilers being a broad platform, which extends quite around the boat,
forming a very spacious guard on either side.
The after part of this guard is latticed for the purpose of carrying off
the water with facility when thrown back from the wheels. They seldom or
never take passengers up to the city. The usual price for towing is, I
think, about one dollar _per_ ton. Hence the expense is very great for
vessels of large burthen; and rather than incur it, many ships, after
being towed over the bar, which, at this season, cannot be crossed
otherwise, work their own way up to town, which, with a fair wind, may
be effected in twenty-four hours, the distance being but one hundred and
five miles; but it not unfrequently takes them ten or fifteen days. Our
captain informs me that he once lay thirty-six days in the river before
he could reach New-Orleans--but fortunately, owing to the state of the
market, on his arrival, he realized two hundred per cent. more on his
cargo than he would have done had he arrived a month earlier.
The jolly-boat from the steamer was now along side, and the officer in
the stern sheets tossed a small package on our quarter-deck; and then,
with the velocity of an uncaged bird, his little green cockle-shell
darted away from us like a dolphin. The next moment he stood upon the
low deck of the steamer.
"Go ahead!" loudly was borne over the water, and with a plunge and a
struggle, away she dashed from us with her loud, regular _boom_, _boom_,
_boom_! throwing the spray around her head, like the huge gambolling
monster from which she derives her name. With her went our hopes of
speedy deliverance from our present durance. With faces whose
complicated, whimsically-woful expression Lavater himself could not have
analyzed, and as though moved by one spirit, we turned simultaneously
toward the captain, who leaned against the capstan, reading one of the
letters from the package just received. There was a cloud upon his brow
which portended no good to our hopes, and which, by a sympathetic
feeling, was attracted to, and heavily settled upon our own. We turned
simultaneously to the tow-boat: she was rapidly receding in the
distance. We turned again to watch our probable fate in the captain's
face. It spoke as plainly as face could speak, "gentlemen, _no_
tow-boat." We gazed upon each other like school-boys hatching a
conspiracy. Mutual glances of chagrin and dissatisfaction were bandied
about the decks. After so long a passage, with our port almost in sight,
and our voyage nearly ended, to be compelled to remain longer in our
close prison, and creep like a
"Wounded snake, dragging its slow length along,"
winding, day after day, through the sinuosities of this sluggish
Mississippi, was enough to make us ship-wearied wretches verily,
"To weep our spirits from our eyes."
It was a consummation we had never wished. There was evidently a
rebellion in embryo. The storm was rapidly gathering, and the thunders
had already begun "to utter their voices." The whole scene was
infinitely amusing. There could not have been more _feeling_ exhibited,
had an order come down for the ship to ride a Gibraltar quarantine.
The captain, having quietly finished the perusal of his letters, now
changed at once the complexion of affairs.
"I have just received advices, gentlemen, from my consignees in the
city, that the market will be more favourable for my cargo fifteen days
hence, than now; therefore, as I have so much leisure before me, I shall
decline taking the tow-boat, and sail up to New-Orleans. I will,
however, send my boat aboard the brig off our starboard quarter, which
will take steam, and try to engage passage for those who wish to leave
the ship."
There was no alternative, and we cheerfully sacrificed our individual
wishes to the interests of Captain Callighan, whose urbanity, kindness
and gentlemanly deportment, during the whole passage out, had not only
contributed to our comfort and happiness, but won for him our cordial
esteem and good feelings.[2]
In a few minutes one of our quarter-boats was alongside, bobbing up and
down on the short seas, with the buoyancy of a cork-float. The first
officer, myself, and another passenger, leaped into her; and a few dozen
long and nervous strokes from the muscular arms of our men, soon ran us
aboard the brig, whose anchor was already "apeak," in readiness for the
Whale. As we approached her, I was struck with her admirable symmetry
and fine proportions--she was a perfect model of naval architecture.
Though rather long for her breadth of beam, the sharp construction of
her bows, and the easy, elliptical curve of her sides, gave her a
peculiarly light and graceful appearance, which, united with her taunt,
slightly raking taper masts, and the precision of her rigging, presented
to our view a nautical _ensemble_, surpassing in elegance any thing of
the kind I had ever before beheld.
We were politely received at the gangway by the captain, a gentlemanly,
sailor-like looking young man, with whom, after introducing ourselves,
we descended into the cabin. I had time, however, to notice that the
interior of this very handsome vessel corresponded with the exterior.
The capstan, the quarter-rail stanchions, the edge of the companion-way,
and the taffrail, were all ornamented and strengthened with massive
brass plates, polished like a mirror. The binnacle case was of ebony,
enriched with inlaying and carved work. A dazzling array of steel-headed
boarding pikes formed a glittering crescent half around the main-mast.
Her decks evinced the free use of the "holy-stone," and in snowy
whiteness, would have put to the blush the unsoiled floors of the most
fastidious Yankee housewife. Her rigging was not hung on pins, but run
and coiled "man-o'-war fashion," upon her decks. Her long boat,
amidships, was rather an ornament than an excrescence, as in most
merchantmen. Forward, the "men" were gathered around the windlass, which
was abaft the foremast, all neatly dressed in white trousers and shirts,
even to the sable "Doctor" and his "sub," whose double banks of ivories
were wonderingly illuminative, as they grinned at the strangers who had
so unceremoniously boarded the brig.
As I descended the mahogany stair-case, supported by a highly polished
balustrade cast in brass, my curiosity began to be roused, and I found
myself wondering into what pleasure-yacht I had intruded. She was
evidently American; for the "stars and stripes" were floating over our
heads. Independent of this evidence of her nation, her bright, golden
sides, and peculiar American _expression_ (for I contend that there is a
national and an individual expression to every vessel, as strongly
marked and as easily defined as the expression of every human
countenance,) unhesitatingly indicated her country.
My curiosity was increased on entering the roomy, richly wrought, and
tastefully furnished cabin. The fairest lady in England's halls might
have coveted it for her _boudoir_. Here were every luxury and comfort,
that wealth and taste combined could procure. A piano, on which lay
music books, a flute, clarionet, and a guitar of curious workmanship,
occupied one side of the cabin; on the other stood a sofa, most
temptingly inviting a loll, and a centre table was strewed with
pamphlets, novels, periodicals, poetry, and a hundred little unwritten
elegancies. The transom was ingeniously constructed, so as to form a
superb sideboard, richly covered with plate, but more richly _lined_, as
we subsequently had an opportunity of knowing, to our hearts' content.
Three doors with mirrored panelling gave egress from the cabin,
forward, to two state rooms and a dining-room, furnished in the same
style of magnificence.
My companions shared equally in my surprise, at the novelty of every
thing around us. I felt a disposition to return to our ship, fearing
that our proposition to take passage in the brig might be unacceptable.
But before I had come to a decision, Mr. F., our first officer, with
true sailor-like bluntness, had communicated our situation and wishes.
"Certainly," replied the captain, "but I regret that my state-rooms will
not accommodate more than five or six; the others will have to swing
hammocks between decks; if they will do this, they are welcome."
Although this compliance with our request was given with the utmost
cheerfulness and alacrity, I felt that our taking passage with him would
be inconvenient and a gross intrusion; and would have declined saying,
that some other vessel would answer our purpose equally well. He would
not listen to me but in so urgent a manner requested us to take passage
with him, that we reluctantly consented, and immediately returned to our
ship to relate our success, and transfer our baggage to the brig.
Fortunately, but five of our party, including two ladies, were anxious
to leave the ship; the remainder choosing rather to remain on board, and
go up to town in her, as the captain flattered them with the promise of
an early arrival should the wind hold fair.
In less than ten minutes we had bidden farewell, and wished a speedy
passage to our fellow-passengers, who had so rashly refused to "give up
the ship" and were on our way with "bag and baggage" to the brig, which
now and then rose proudly upon a long sea, and then slowly and
gracefully settled into its yielding bosom.
We had been on board but a short time when the Whale, which had already
towed four ships and a brig, one at a time, over the bar, leaving each
half a league up the passage, came bearing down upon us. In an
incredibly short time she brought to ahead of us, and in less than five
minutes had our brig firmly secured to her by two hawsers, with about
fifty fathoms play.
In the course of half an hour, we arrived where the five other vessels,
which were to accompany us in tow, were anchored. More than two hours
were consumed in properly securing the vessels to the tow-boat. Our brig
was lashed to her larboard, and the huge British Indiaman, mentioned in
my last letter, to her starboard side. Two ships sociably followed,
about a cable's length astern, and a Spanish brig and a French ship,
about one hundred yards astern of these, brought up the rear.
These arrangements completed, the command to "go ahead" was given, and
slowly, one after the other, the captive fleet yielded to the immense
power of the high-pressure engine. Gradually our motion through the
water became more and more rapid, till we moved along at the rate of
seven knots an hour. The appearance our convoy presented, was novel and
sublime. It was like a triumph! The wind though light, was fair, and
every vessel was covered with clouds of snowy canvass. The loud, deep,
incessant booming from the tow-boat--the black and dense masses of smoke
rolling up and curling and wreathing around the lofty white sails, then
shooting off horizontally through the air, leaving a long cloudy galaxy
astern, contributed greatly to the novelty of this extraordinary scene.
We are now within twenty miles of the city of Frenchmen and garlic
soups, steamboats and yellow fever, negroes and quadroons, hells and
convents, soldiers and slaves, and things, and people of every language
and kindred, nation and tribe upon the face of the earth. From this
place you will receive my next letter, wherein perchance you may find a
solution of the mystery thrown around our beautiful vessel.