47. CHAPTER XLVII.
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 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 back-stay
—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 weight, 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 catted 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 miserably 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
cess-pool.
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
heart-strings, 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.
