HOMEWARD BOUND
Once more in Liverpool; and wending my way through the same old streets
to the sign of the Golden Anchor; I could scarcely credit the events of
the last thirty-six hours.
So unforeseen had been our departure in the first place; so rapid our
journey; so unaccountable the conduct of Harry; and so sudden our
return; that all united to overwhelm me. That I had been at all in
London seemed impossible; and that I had been there, and come away
little the wiser, was almost distracting to one who, like me, had so
longed to behold that metropolis of marvels.
I looked hard at Harry as he walked in silence at my side; I stared at
the houses we passed; I thought of the cab, the gas lighted hall in the
Palace of Aladdin, the pictures, the letter, the oath, the dirk; the
mysterious place where all these mysteries had occurred; and then, was
almost ready to conclude, that the pale yellow wine had been drugged.
As for Harry, stuffing his false whiskers and mustache into his pocket,
he now led the way to the boarding-house; and saluting the landlady,
was shown to his room; where we immediately shifted our clothes,
appearing once more in our sailor habiliments.
“Well, what do you propose to do now, Harry?” said I, with a heavy
heart.
“Why, visit your Yankee land in the Highlander, of course—what else?"
he replied.
“And is it to be a visit, or a long stay?” asked I.
“That’s as it may turn out,” said Harry; “but I have now more than ever
resolved upon the sea. There is nothing like the sea for a fellow like
me, Redburn; a desperate man can not get any further than the wharf,
you know; and the next step must be a long jump. But come, let’s see
what they have to eat here, and then for a cigar and a stroll. I feel
better already. Never say die, is my motto.”
We went to supper; after that, sallied out; and walking along the quay
of Prince’s Dock, heard that the ship Highlander had that morning been
advertised to sail in two days’ time.
“Good!” exclaimed Harry; and I was glad enough myself.
Although I had now been absent from the ship a full forty-eight hours,
and intended to return to her, yet I did not anticipate being called to
any severe account for it from the officers; for several of our men had
absented themselves longer than I had, and upon their return, little or
nothing was said to them. Indeed, in some cases, the mate seemed to
know nothing about it. During the whole time we lay in Liverpool, the
discipline of the ship was altogether relaxed; and I could hardly
believe they were the same officers who were so dictatorial at sea. The
reason of this was, that we had nothing important to do; and although
the captain might now legally refuse to receive me on board, yet I was
not afraid of that, as I was as stout a lad for my years, and worked as
cheap, as any one he could engage to take my place on the homeward
passage.
Next morning we made our appearance on board before the rest of the
crew; and the mate perceiving me, said with an oath, “Well, sir, you
have thought best to return then, have you? Captain Riga and I were
flattering ourselves that you had made a run of it for good.”
Then, thought I, the captain, who seems to affect to know nothing of
the proceedings of the sailors, has been aware of my absence.
“But turn to, sir, turn to,” added the mate; “here! aloft there, and
free that pennant; it’s foul of the backstay—jump!”
The captain coming on board soon after, looked very benevolently at
Harry; but, as usual, pretended not to take the slightest notice of
myself.
We were all now very busy in getting things ready for sea. The cargo
had been already stowed in the hold by the stevedores and lumpers from
shore; but it became the crew’s business to clear away the
_between-decks,_ extending from the cabin bulkhead to the forecastle,
for the reception of about five hundred emigrants, some of whose boxes
were already littering the decks.
To provide for their wants, a far larger supply of water was needed
than upon the outward-bound passage. Accordingly, besides the usual
number of casks on deck, rows of immense tierces were lashed
amid-ships, all along the _between-decks,_ forming a sort of aisle on
each side, furnishing access to four rows of bunks,—three tiers, one
above another,—against the ship’s sides; two tiers being placed over
the tierces of water in the middle. These bunks were rapidly knocked
together with coarse planks. They looked more like dog-kennels than any
thing else; especially as the place was so gloomy and dark; no light
coming down except through the fore and after hatchways, both of which
were covered with little houses called _“booby-hatches.”_ Upon the
main-hatches, which were well calked and covered over with heavy
tarpaulins, the _“passengers-galley”_ was solidly lashed down.
This _galley_ was a large open stove, or iron range—made expressly for
emigrant ships, wholly unprotected from the weather, and where alone
the emigrants are permitted to cook their food while at sea.
After two days’ work, every thing was in readiness; most of the
emigrants on board; and in the evening we worked the ship close into
the outlet of Prince’s Dock, with the bow against the water-gate, to go
out with the tide in the morning.
In the morning, the bustle and confusion about us was indescribable.
Added to the ordinary clamor of the docks, was the hurrying to and fro
of our five hundred emigrants, the last of whom, with their baggage,
were now coming on board; the appearance of the cabin passengers,
following porters with their trunks; the loud orders of the
dock-masters, ordering the various ships behind us to preserve their
order of going out; the leave-takings, and good-by’s, and
God-bless-you’s, between the emigrants and their friends; and the
cheers of the surrounding ships.
At this time we lay in such a way, that no one could board us except by
the bowsprit, which overhung the quay. Staggering along that bowsprit,
now came a one-eyed _crimp_ leading a drunken tar by the collar, who
had been shipped to sail with us the day previous. It has been stated
before, that two or three of our men had left us for good, while in
port. When the crimp had got this man and another safely lodged in a
bunk below, he returned on shore; and going to a miserable cab, pulled
out still another apparently drunken fellow, who proved completely
helpless. However, the ship now swinging her broadside more toward the
quay, this stupefied sailor, with a Scotch cap pulled down over his
closed eyes, only revealing a sallow Portuguese complexion, was lowered
on board by a rope under his arms, and passed forward by the crew, who
put him likewise into a bunk in the forecastle, the crimp himself
carefully tucking him in, and bidding the bystanders not to disturb him
till the ship was away from the land.
This done, the confusion increased, as we now glided out of the dock.
Hats and handkerchiefs were waved; hurrahs were exchanged; and tears
were shed; and the last thing I saw, as we shot into the stream, was a
policeman collaring a boy, and walking him off to the guard-house.
A steam-tug, the _Goliath,_ now took us by the arm, and gallanted us
down the river past the fort.
The scene was most striking.
Owing to a strong breeze, which had been blowing up the river for four
days past, holding wind-bound in the various docks a multitude of ships
for all parts of the world; there was now under weigh, a vast fleet of
merchantmen, all steering broad out to sea. The white sails glistened
in the clear morning air like a great Eastern encampment of sultans;
and from many a forecastle, came the deep mellow old song _Ho-o-he-yo,
cheerily men!_ as the crews called their anchors.
The wind was fair; the weather mild; the sea most smooth; and the poor
emigrants were in high spirits at so auspicious a beginning of their
voyage. They were reclining all over the decks, talking of soon seeing
America, and relating how the agent had told them, that twenty days
would be an uncommonly long voyage.
Here it must be mentioned, that owing to the great number of ships
sailing to the Yankee ports from Liverpool, the competition among them
in obtaining emigrant passengers, who as a cargo are much more
remunerative than crates and bales, is exceedingly great; so much so,
that some of the agents they employ, do not scruple to deceive the poor
applicants for passage, with all manner of fables concerning the short
space of time, in which their ships make the run across the ocean.
This often induces the emigrants to provide a much smaller stock of
provisions than they otherwise would; the effect of which sometimes
proves to be in the last degree lamentable; as will be seen further on.
And though benevolent societies have been long organized in Liverpool,
for the purpose of keeping offices, where the emigrants can obtain
reliable information and advice, concerning their best mode of
embarkation, and other matters interesting to them; and though the
English authorities have imposed a law, providing that every captain of
an emigrant ship bound for any port of America shall see to it, that
each passenger is provided with rations of food for sixty days; yet,
all this has not deterred mercenary ship-masters and unprincipled
agents from practicing the grossest deception; nor exempted the
emigrants themselves, from the very sufferings intended to be averted.
No sooner had we fairly gained the expanse of the Irish Sea, and, one
by one, lost sight of our thousand consorts, than the weather changed
into the most miserable cold, wet, and cheerless days and nights
imaginable. The wind was tempestuous, and dead in our teeth; and the
hearts of the emigrants fell. Nearly all of them had now hied below, to
escape the uncomfortable and perilous decks: and from the two
_“booby-hatches”_ came the steady hum of a subterranean wailing and
weeping. That irresistible wrestler, sea-sickness, had overthrown the
stoutest of their number, and the women and children were embracing and
sobbing in all the agonies of the poor emigrant’s first storm at sea.
Bad enough is it at such times with ladies and gentlemen in the cabin,
who have nice little state-rooms; and plenty of privacy; and stewards
to run for them at a word, and put pillows under their heads, and
tenderly inquire how they are getting along, and mix them a posset: and
even then, in the abandonment of this soul and body subduing malady,
such ladies and gentlemen will often give up life itself as
unendurable, and put up the most pressing petitions for a speedy
annihilation; all of which, however, only arises from their intense
anxiety to preserve their valuable lives.
How, then, with the friendless emigrants, stowed away like bales of
cotton, and packed like slaves in a slave-ship; confined in a place
that, during storm time, must be closed against both light and air; who
can do no cooking, nor warm so much as a cup of water; for the
drenching seas would instantly flood their fire in their exposed galley
on deck? How, then, with these men, and women, and children, to whom a
first voyage, under the most advantageous circumstances, must come just
as hard as to the Honorable De Lancey Fitz Clarence, lady, daughter,
and seventeen servants.
Nor is this all: for in some of these ships, as in the case of the
Highlander, the emigrant passengers are cut off from the most
indispensable conveniences of a civilized dwelling. This forces them in
storm time to such extremities, that no wonder fevers and plagues are
the result. We had not been at sea one week, when to hold your head
down the fore hatchway was like holding it down a suddenly opened
cesspool.
But still more than this. Such is the aristocracy maintained on board
some of these ships, that the most arbitrary measures are enforced, to
prevent the emigrants from intruding upon the most holy precincts of
the quarter-deck, the only completely open space on ship-board.
Consequently—even in fine weather—when they come up from below, they
are crowded in the waist of the ship, and jammed among the boats,
casks, and spars; abused by the seamen, and sometimes cuffed by the
officers, for unavoidably standing in the way of working the vessel.
The cabin-passengers of the Highlander numbered some fifteen in all;
and to protect this detachment of gentility from the barbarian
incursions of the _“wild Irish”_ emigrants, ropes were passed
athwart-ships, by the main-mast, from side to side: which defined the
boundary line between those who had paid three pounds passage-money,
from those who had paid twenty guineas. And the cabin-passengers
themselves were the most urgent in having this regulation maintained.
Lucky would it be for the pretensions of some parvenus, whose souls are
deposited at their banker’s, and whose bodies but serve to carry about
purses, knit of poor men’s heartstrings, if thus easily they could
precisely define, ashore, the difference between them and the rest of
humanity.
But, I, Redburn, am a poor fellow, who have hardly ever known what it
is to have five silver dollars in my pocket at one time; so, no doubt,
this circumstance has something to do with my slight and harmless
indignation at these things.