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Las diagrammas suivants illustrant la mtthoda. 1 2 3 4 S 6 g i i I ,.' •* *",• ?*«. _'■ \-«»»'. Pj.. ' -f^'kvry ~^'- '' i:-. g" ^ .■ ■ The Sp:a [ts Siirruig Story of Adwnture, Peril, (t Heroism. uv H; WMVMPE}:, , .' f «,, ». .. t ra 4 VK !.; : i * I. 4Mt A- « I c. ^ g /XA (J ST RAT ED. i\ •9 CaSSFLL, F'jri'TKr;. (iAi.PlX A: CJt) LONDON, PARIS .i- A'Alf KO^iT I 4.UU RIGHTS RESKKVKD. I -.^il. "Si'''i|V'-"''!ii'" "'.''' ''■■■'■■" .-." '■'' :. .";■ >*V .>'-?-. •!■■<' ■;'-'4-. A' m ;r: ■ . .f': I;..,. . i life ;(l!ltiii!i|,;'-i|li i!;: '■;! lll'li '.*■■•■• r^' • ■■'' •**' .^'i*^ V^S?? . i?^J!^5!'•■•^^wP*• iilxv ^,, ^ "*■ ■- ■ '■• ^ ■■■■.,■ ■■'^V--^ ■*■•■" v--^«* 'rt;---'- -1 ■A 3 i^i 2 V. THE SEA: Its stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. BY F. WHYMPER, AUTHOR OF "TBAVBL8 IN ALASKA," ITC. ILL U8TBATED. * w Cassell, Fetter, Galpii^ & Co, LONDON, PARIS ik NEW YORK. [all biohts rbsbbykd.] PH( > I 'I NCI A I. UliRARYt VICIOHIA, B. a CONTENTS. CHAFrER I. THE GREAT ATLANTIC FERRY. The " Grand Tour" of Former Days— The only Grand Tour left— Round the World in Eighty Days-Fresli-water Suilora and Nautical I. idles -Modern Steamships and their Speed- The 0/'i'eH<~I!iv«iR— Routes round the Olobe— Sir John Mandevillo on the Subject— Dilllculties in some Directions— The Great Atlantic Ferry— Dickens's Kxi)criences-Sea Sickness— Nii?ht at Sea— The Ship Rights- And then VVrongs-ARidiculous Situation-Modern First-class Accom- modation—The Woes of the SteeraKe—ftlark Tapley— Immense Kmigratiun of Third-class Fassengcrs-Discomt'ort and Misery— Eiforts to Improve the Steerage -"Intermediate"— Castle Garden, New York— Vovage Safer than by the Bay of Biscay— The Chimbora-o in a Hurricane ' . . . . CHAPTEE 11. OCEAN TO OCEAN- THE CONNECTING LINK. The Great Trans-t'oiitinental Railway— New York to Chicago— Niagara in Winter -A liUdy's Impressions— A Pullman Dining tJar- Omaha— " The Great Muddy "- Episodes of Railway Travel — Rough Roails— Indian attempts at cat,:h- ing Trains— Ride on a Snow I^lough- Sherman— Female Vanity in the Rocky Mountains -Soa|>ed Railw The Ureat Plains— Summer and Winter— The Prairie on Fire- -A Reinarkable HriatniH CoHtly Drimnlil -.SeotllBli I'eiirli* very Viilimme — ('oral ItH IMiico in .Nut lire -The KlHlieries ilurd Work uiid I'mr I'uy The A|ipurutii8 I'sed Coral AIuIIh- Darwin'H IiiveHtlKiitiiiim-Tlicorie» and KaetH- ClntraeterlHties of tiie Iteef« -Meanly of llic !Sul)iniirine Forests ■ Viclorioiis FolypB The HpoiiKeu Murine Animal -ThuFiHhuries liuriHioniiiK and Diving— Vuluuuf .SpoiiisuH . , UU CHAPTER VII. DAVY JONES'S LOOKEK AND THOSE WHO DIVE INTO IT. ScientiflR Dlvlni? lienerul I'rineiples William I'liiitps and the Treamire .'^hip-Kounder of the IIoiihp of MnlRravc — llalluy'8 Wooden l)ivinL,'llell and Air Harrels- .Sniealon's Improvements .Siiuldintt's Itealli Opifations at I'lymoiith Hreukwnter The Diver's Lite " Lower away I " The DiviiiK-MY/f anil her Letter from Helow- Operationsut tliu Bottom Urimel and the Thames Tnnnel— The DivioK Dress-iSntroeallon - lieinarkahlu nit*e of .Suhutfe-Tho "8iibmarine llvdrostat " John (jiaim of Whitstahle- Dollar liow -Varions Anecdwvs— C'ombut at thuliuttomof tlio Sua— A Mermaid .Stury—Uiin down by thu ^iii't'/i o/>!!<('o//r(/((< 70 CIIAFrER Mil. THE OCEAN AND SOME OF ITS PHENOMENA. The SaKnesH of the Sea- Its ('oin|H)Hition-Tons of .Silver in the Oecon— Currents and their Caiiscs— The Oreot Gulf Stream— Its t'liuraclerlsties— A Triumph of Hciencp— The Tides— 'I'he IliKhest Known Tides and Waves - AVhlrli»oola-Tlie Maelstrom A NorweKiun Description- KdKar Allan I'oe and his Story -Hesened from the Vortex— The "SonHlenr" at the Mauritius— The Colour of the Sea— lis Causes— The Phosphorescence of the Uceun —Fields of Silver— Principally Caused by Animal IJfe IK) CHAPTER IX. DAVY JONES'S LOCKER-SU'IMARINE CABLES. The First Channel Cable- No w-a-days .W.OOO Miles of Submarine Wire -A No'de New Kniilander The First Idea of tlio .Mlantic Cublo Its Praetieability ailinitted- JIaurys Notes on I'l;" Ailanlie iiotlom Deep Sea Sdundlntfs- Ooze formed of Myriads of Shells KiikHsIi Co-operation with Field- The First Cul>le of 1R)7— i'ayintf Out— 2,iiOO Fnthonm Down— The Cable Parted Hitter I dsapiiointment— The Cable Laid and Workinn-Aiiollier Failure -The F.mploy- mont of tiie O.vt Eautem Stowin« Aw.ty tlic (ireat Wire Hoik; Departure— Another Accident— A Traitor on Hoard- Ci. "il up from the Dottom Failure -lnau>;in'al ion of the IMiU Kxpedition Prayer for Success— A Lucki/FrU .jiuu to the Shore (.'able The Start- Kach Da-'s Iluiv-Approucliintf Trinity i3uy— Success at Lost— The ( he New World bound toKcther 08 CHAPTER X. THE OCEAN AND ITS LIVING WONDERS. Perfection in Nature's smallest Works— A Word on Scientific Classilleat Ion- Protozoa -Blind Life— Hhlzopoda— Foraminifera-A ItoblKM-y Traced by Science Aliero-icopic Workers Paris Chalk— liutisoria -The "Sixih .Sense of Man "—Fathers of Nalions Milne-Fdwards— .Submarine Kxi>loration8— The Sail-water Aquarium The Compen- satinx Balance required- Brii^hton and .Sydenham— I'racticul I'scs of the Ai|uariuni -Medusie: their Beauty— A Poet's De8crii)tioii -Their General Characteristics Battalions of "Jelly-llsh" Polyps- A Floatiui^ Colony— A Marvellous Oiviiusm— The Gracefid AKalma Swimminjj; Apparatus- Natural Fisliiu^ IJnes- The " Portuguese Man-of-War "--SlhiKluK Powers of the I'hysalia-An Knemy to the Cultlc-llsh Ill CIIAITER XI. THE OCEAN AND ITS LIVING WONDERS {eonfiiiiml). The Madrepores— Brain, Mushroom, and Plantain Coral The Beautifid Sea-anemones: their (Irpraniaation ami Habits ; their Insatiable Voracity - The Gortfons - Kcbim)deriuata—TI'.e Sturtlsh Sea Urchins - Wonderful Shell and Spines— An Cn-hln's Prayer— The Sea (lucumlKU- -The Treimiii?, or Ilolothurla -Trepiini? Fishini? -Dumimt d Urville's Descripthm— The Commerce In this Fdilile -The M hIuscj -Tlie TereJo, or Ship worm— I'lieir Itiivajrcs on the Holland Coast -The Retirintf Hazor-flsh-Tbe FMil>le Mussel-History of llieir Cultivation in France The Bouchots -Occasional Dunirer of KutiiiK Mussels- The Prince of Bivalves -The Oyster aiii-!t Hhrd The Hiiiiply lor HllllnKHKatu The Seaituii ■ iidii' — ■ iiu x^iiiH «^ii*>f ■111; iiiii \i»ii .1 I I III- 1 111 II — I 111' iii:rillll II and Hiiiiiaii War -I'rollllc ('riixlaccaiiH- HalMliitf LohnliT-|iol»-Ticli Ihvir ShellH f-KiMhernien'H IdeuH-llahhH of Ihf LohHter ItH Fcciiiidity ... " l^obHtur FrolicH " ill liritish North Aiii(!i'ica-Ki'l-Krai«-l'ray-ll8h, I'ruvvnn, una eihriiiipH l.'iU CHAPTER XIV. OCEAN LIFE -THE HAUVEST OF THE SKA. Kiahcs and thctr HwimminK Apparutuo LiviiiK Oalvaiik', llattcrv— Tho " riic lllacUlcr Scii'tiliflc ('laHsllltation-CartihiKliioim Flsh-The ToriH'iUi— A Hhaik— IIIh Love for Ihiii in a (iaMtroiioinic SenHc-!^liirii'H of llieir I'rowfMH- - CutchiiiK u .Shark- Their Inlerfereiico wllli WluiliiiK Tlic Tiner-riliark— African Worship of tlio Monster— Tho DoK-llsh- Tho Sliuxeon Knorinoiis Feeiindity Caviare- Tlie Hony FIhIks 'I'lie FlyiiiK Fisli : its Feats; its Enoiiiies— Youth of a Saliiioii Tlie I'arr, tlie Sinolt. and llie Urllse— FlonrishcH in ilie .Sea Tlie I'oiids at Slor- niontllold-Tlie Haliiion's Kneniies The Eltrhk Slieplierd Canned Sulinoii, and wliere it eonies from The Fi«h a driiK in N. W. Ainericii -Canoes impeded hy lliem -The Fisheries of tlic Coiiinibiu Kiver-Tlie FisliliiK Season - Modes of Catchin); Salmon -Tlie Faelories and I 'roccsses ciiipl«yod I.->U CHAPTER XV. OCEAN LIFE— THE HARVEST OP THE SEA [coiielmhil). Tho ChinciUe Tho irerriiiK-Its Calmllstie Marks-A Warninpr to Royally— Tlie "tiroat Fishery "— Modes of Fisliint,'- A Night with the WIek Fisliernien -Suicidal Fish The Valiio of JJeop-sea Fisheries -ltep(uM of the Comniisnioinrs —Fecundity of the llerrimj— No fear of Fish Famine— Tho Shad -The Sprat -Tho Cornish I'ilchurd Fisheries -Tho " Uuer " -Uaisintf the "Tuck"— A (irund Harvest— Gigantic Holiuul —Newfoundland Cod Fisheries - Brutulilles of Tunny FlshiuK -The Miiekerel - Us Coiirajfo, and Love of Jlan— Oaruni Sauce— The forinichihlo Sword-flsh- Flshini? hy Torchlight - Sword throuKh a Ship's side— Ueneral Uoniurks on Fish -Fish Llle -Coii- vcrsttlion— Musical Fish— Pleasures and Exeileiiients— Do Fish sleep f Ills CHAPTER XVI. MONSTERS OF THE DEEP. Murk Twain on Whales-A New Version of an Old Story-Whale as Food— WhaliiiLr In 1070— The Great Mamnial's Enemy the "Killer"— Tho Aniiuiil's Home— Tho so-called Fisheries— The Sperm VVliale -.Spermacell— The Chase —Tho Capture -A .Mythical .Monster -The Great Sea Serpent— Yarns from Norwuy-Aii Archdeaeon's Testimony — Stories from Amerioa— From Greenland— Aluhone Hay— A Tropical Sea Serpent- What is the Animal ?— Seen on a Voyage to India— Otf the Coast of Africa— Other Accounta— Professor Owen on tho Subject -Other Theories . . 179 CHAPTER XVII. BY THE SEA-SHORE. English Appreciation of tho Sea-side -Its Variety and Interest -Heavy Weather-The Green Waves -On the Cllffs-The Sea from there -Madame do Gasparln's Kcverles— Description of a Tempest -The Voice of tiod— Calm - A f;ri'at Medusa off tho Coast— Nl^'ht on the Sea- Uouling Excursion - In a Cavern- Colonies of Sea-anemones— Rock Pools -Southey's Uescrintlon Treasures for the Aquarium -A Rat Story— Rapid Influx of Tide and lis Kangers- Melancboly Fate of a Family— Life under Water 190 CHAPTER. XVIII. BY THE SEA-SHORE {conHniicil). A Submerged Forest-Grandeur of Devonshire Cllffs-Cnstellntcd Walls -A Natural I'alace-Collection of Sea-weoda— rhe litlo a Miserable Misnomer- The Hhi(hler Wraek-Praelienl I'ses-The Harvest-time for Collee'ors Tho Huge Laminaria-tinod for Knife-handles Jlnrlne Rope— The Red Seeded Group Munchausen's Gin Tree Beaton— The Coralline a VeKetal)le-Heantiful Varieties Irish Moss-The Green Seeds -Hints on Preserving Sea-weeds-The Horing Pholas-llow fhev Drill -Somellmos through each other-The Spinous Coekle-The " Red- noses -Hundreds of Peasantry leaved from Starvaticm— "Rnlihish," and the dilflcully of obtaining it -Results of a Baskettul-The Contents of a Shrimper's Not -Miniature Fish of tho Shore .199 CHAPTER XIX. SKETCHES OF OUR COASTS— CORNWALL. The Land's End— Cornwall nnd her Contributions to tlie Navy— Tho Great Bolallock Mine— Curlons Sight Out. wardly— Plngt-'ing Out the Atlantic Ocean- The Ro.ir of the Sea Heard Inside- In o Storm— The Miner's Fears— Tho Loggan Stone — A Foolish Lieutenant and bis Little .Toke — The Penalty— The onee-frarod Wolf Rock -Revolving Lights— Are they Advanlairoous to the Mariner ?-Smugi;Iing In Cornwall— A Coastguardsman Smutfirler— Landing 1.50 Kegs under the Noses of the OfUcera— A Cornish Fishing-town Looc, the Ancient— The Old Hridgo— Heantv of tho Place from a Distnnre -Closer Tns)ieolion— Picturesque Streets The Inhabitants- Lone Island and the Rats A Novel Mode of Extirpation - The Poor of Cornwall Better OfT than Flsowhere- Hincsand Fisheries— Working on " Tribute "—Profits of the PUchar.l Season— Cornish Hospitality and Gratitude . 207 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XX. SKETCHES OP OUR COASTS-CORNWALL {eoHtiniud). WUkio CoUlns'H KxperionieH as a I'cdcitrlan -Tukon for " Mapper," "Trodgcr, " and Hawker- An Exciting Wrrck at Fcnzam u-The Llfcllno Heiit iml-An ObH limlc C'aplaln-A llrave I'oaatKiiardsniaii- Klvo CoiirageoilH Young LadlcH— talinoulh and Mir Walter ItalciKli -Its Hiipld (irowlli-Om) of ilH Iii»lltution»- A Dollar Mine-l{clli{lou8 Hnhormen - I he 1 Izard and ito ABHuuiationH for VoyaifcrH-OriifIn of the Name- Mount St. Mlchaof the riuturcHque-Uor Mujeaty a Visit— An lloroio Heacue at Plymouth— Anotlier Uollaiu RcHuuu 218 CHAPTER XXI. SKETCHES OF OUR SOUTH COASTS— SOUTHAMPTON. Southampton; Ita Anti(|iiily -Kxtonnive Conimcrpo-Orcot Port for Leadin); StcaniHhip Lines— VngoricH of a Unnaway .Stcumer-Tho IhIo of \VI((ht-Ttrrll)lc I.ohh of the Kuruitice Klndiiiif of the Coiirt-iiiiirllul RalsinK llir from the Hotloin -" London liy the HcttHlde ' - Newhaveii iind.Seuford- Ueiichy Hood— An Attempt to Hculo it-A Wreck there— Knowledgo Useful on un EmerKency-Huvcd l»y .Siniuhlre- The Coast -^ord : Past and I'resent- Their Compara- tively Pleasant Lot To-day— The Coast-guard In the Smuggler Days- Sympathiea of 1" " '. the Country against them . 2*^9 CHAPTER XXII. SKETCHES OP OUR SOUTH COASTS (cowl mini). Kustboume and its Quid ClmrniH -Hustlngs- The (.'ollision— The Catastrophe- -Dover- Uay-K' ■■ • • Sunds- Duuka ( e i.oinBion— i no Laiasiropne-uover- llie Castlo-siiakespearos CI y— KingHdown-Ucal-A Deed of During -Ilumsgute und Marga lids— Balluntyne'H Voluntary ImprlaoMriicnt- His Expcrirncea -Tl icka caught- A Signal from the " South Sand Head "— Tlio Answci-— Its Fishermen -The liattle c' Hast .ngs— Loss of the Groaaev Kur/iirat— The Castle— Shakespeare's Cliff—" O'er the Downs so free"- St. Margaret's ote— The Flouting Liglit on the Goodwin riie Cruft-Tlio l3ght— One Thousand Wild Life on Board 236 CHAPTER XXIII. SKETCHES OF OVU EAST COASTS :— NORFOLK— YOU KSHIUK Harwich •ich ; its fine Horbour-Thorpeness and ita Hero— Beautiful Situation of Lowestoft— Yarmouth ; its Antiiiuity— Quays. Bridges- The Itoadsteca— Herring and MackL.-ol Fishing— Curing Red Herrings and Bloaters— A Struggle for Lite— Encroucliments of the Sea-A Dungcroiig Couat-FluniborouKh lleuil-Porils of the Yorkshire Fisherman's Life-" The sea gat him ! " -Filoy und ite Quiet Attractions -Natural Breakwater -A Sad Tale of the Sea— Scur- borough ; Ancient llecords-The Terrible and the Cay— The CouplanU Helpless Lifeboat out - 1 ier men thrown out —Bout crushed against Sco Wall— Two Killed Futile Attempts at Rescue- A Lady's Description of aScarborough Gale— Whitby -Uobin Hood's Bay— An Undermined Town 217 CHAPTER XXIV. THE ART OF SWIMMING— PEATS IN NATATION— LIFE SAVERS. Lord Byron ond the Hellespont- The Art of .Swimming a Necessary Accomplishment— The Numbers Lost from Drowning -A Lunientablo Accident-Captain Webbs Advice to Beginncra-Bold and Timid Lads Best Places to Learn in— Necessity of Commencing Properly-Tho Secret of a Gooil Stroke— Useful und Ornamental N atation- Diving — Advice Possibilities of Serious Injury— Inventions for Aiding Swimming and Floating— The Boyton Dress— Matthew ■Webb-Bruve Attempt to Save a Comrade— The Great Channel Swim— Twenty-Two Hours in the Sea— Stung by a Jelly-Fish- Red Light on the Wutera-Cnpe Grisne/. ut Hand— Exhaustion of the Swimmer— Feors of Collupse— Triumphant Landing on Calais Sonds-Webb's Feelings -An Ingenious Sailor Saved by Wine-bottles— Life Savers — Tliomag Kowcll Buxton- Ellertliorpe - Lamljert—Tlie " Hero of the Clyde "—His Brave Deeds— Funny Instances— The Crowning Feat -Blinded ond Neglected— Appreciation at Last 257 CHAPTER XXV. THE HAVEN AT LAST— HOME IN THE THAMES. The " Mighty Thames ■'-- Poor Jock Home Again-Provident Sailors-The Belvedere Home and Ita Inmatea— A Ship Ashore— Rival Costuwuvs- Greenwich Penaioncrs— The Present System Compared with the Old -Freedom Outside the Hospital - The Observatory— The Astronomer Royal— Modem Belief in Astrology— Site of Greenwich Pork- Telescopes and Observations - The Clock which Seta the Time for all England— Sad Reminiscences- "The Loss of the Princess Alice-'Vho Old Dreadnounht-rhe Largest Floating Hospital In the World-Tho Trmlly House: Its Constitution, Purposes, and Uses— Lightbousca and Llght-vesaela- Its Masters 272 CHAPTER XXVI. WHAT POETS HAVE SUNG OP THE SEA, THE SAILOR, AND THE SHIP. The Poet of the Sea still Wantimr-Bibllcnl Allusiona-Thc Classical Writers— Want of True Sympathy with the Subject — Vircrll'a " .lOncid ••- His Statro Storms- The Immortal Bard— His Intimate Acquaintance with the Sea and the S.iilof-The Golden Days of Mnritime Enterprise -The Tempest— Miranda's Compassion— Pranks of the' AlTjr Spirit "-The Merchant of Venice -PWncv in Shakespeare's Days -A Birth at Sea — CymbeUne : the Queens Descrinfinn of our Isln-Bvron's " Ocean "■ Falconer's " Shipwreck"— His Technical Knowledge— The ' True Ring The DihVf ««//«'(• jiix/iA/m) .. ... ... 170 Fisliing for Tuiir.y olf the- ('(la.-it of I'roveiue ... 177 Fishing for iSworil-lish 180 Thv Sorthem W'lmlo {Ha/iiKi iii!/.itirrtiiii) 181 Cutting lip thii Whale ISJ Tho Groat Soa-sorpont when first seen from H.M.S. JJtn/aliin. ... .. ... To fine piiiji ISii Head of Sea Serpent IS!) On tho Scu-sliorc : Calm and Stomi W)'! Soa Anomoni's ... ... ... ... ... 19G Dclosseria .. ... ... ... ... ... 200 Laminaria ... ... ... ... ... .. 200 Bladdor Wrack {/uiciis lesUiituniin) 201 riva 201 riiolados in a IlloL-k of Gnois-x ... ... ... 204 Spinous Cockle {('iinliiim ediil ) ... ... ... 204 Tlie Woavcr-tish {Trachiiiun com mini in) ... ... 20.) Tho Devil's Frying Pan, Coast of Cornwall. T(i J'lief jiiii/i 207 I'ho Lizard Light 20S Tho Loggan Stone 208 The Botallaek Mint, Cornwall 20i) liooo 212 N'iow on tho Cornish Coast 217 lidckot Lino Thrown to a Wreck mar Pen- zance ... ... 220 Life-boat Going to a Wuek on Doom I{ar, P.id- stow 221 Wreck of a Steamship near Lizard Point 224 The KiJiiiii U'Uhcliii entering Portsmouth Harbour after the Collision .. Ihfmi- /i>if;r 239 Sontbimpton ... ... . ... ... 225 H.M.S. Eiiriidier nn her Beam-ends just after the Squall 228 Bnghton 232 Discovering the Samphire on the Kock 233 Tho laslyof the 6';o.v,v('c 7i'«)7V(/-.v/ ... ... ... 237 Dover 240 Kanisgato ... 241 The tiulf Stream Light N'essel on tho tioodwin Sands 244 Harwich 248 Yarmouth 249 Sciirborougb ... ... ... ... ... ... 253 Captain Boyton attacked by a Dog-fish in the Straits of Messina ... ... Tn fucr iiufir 262 Early Swimming ... 257 Diving 261 Captain Webb. [From a r/i(i/iii/iii/)/i hi/ AUnrl Fiinlvlli) 265 Captain Webb's Arrival at Calais 208 'I'he JIouK.' for Aged ^lerchant Seamen, Belvedere, Kent 273 (Trecnwieh Hospital ... 276 (Jreenwich Pensioners ... ... ... ... 277 The (Tr(>at Equatorial Telescope in the Dome, (ireenwich Observatory 281 Collision of the Jli/in// Castle and tho Pi-iiinHH Aliir 284 Trinity House, London ... ... ... ... 288 The Siren Fog-horn, for Warning Ships off tho Coast To f Oft page 289 The Storm 292 After the Storm 293 " He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan. Without a grave, unknclled, uncoffined. and unknown " •'Deep on her side tho reeling vessel lies" '■ At daybreak, on tho bleak sea beach, '^ A fisherman stood aghast," ) ' " Three Fishermen sailed away to the West " 290 297 300 301 PAGE 232 .*. 233 237 240 241 J win 244 248 ... 24!) 253 the IXIfl, 262 257 261 llnri 265 - 26H 273 276 277 281 irrnH 284 288 296 297 300 301 THE SEA. CHAPTER I. The GiiEAT Atlantic Feuuy. The "Grand Toiir" of Former Days— The only Grand Tour left— Round tlie World in Eighty Days— Fresh- water Sailors and Nautical liadies — Modern Steamships and their Speed- The Orient— Rivals— Routes round the Globe— Sir John MandcriUe on theSubjeot— Dilttculties in some Directions -The Great Atlantic Ferry— Dickens's Experiences— Sea Sickness— Night at Sea— The Ship Rights— And then Wrongs— A Ridiculous Situation— Modern First-class Acoommodution-The Woes of the Steerage— Mark Tapley — Immense Emigration of Third-class Passengers— Dis- comfort and Misery- Efforts to Improve the Steerage— "Inter- mediate "—Castle Gardens, New York— Voyage safer than by the Bay of Biscay— The Chimhorazo in a Hurricane. " Come, all yo joviiil siiilors, And listen unto mo, While I do sing the troubhn Of those that plough the sea." TIT'E all know what the " Grand Tour " meant a ' ' few generations ago, and how without it no gentleman's education was considered complete. Now-a-days the journey can he made by almost any one who can command thirty or forty pounds, and the only really grand tour left is that around HJ '2 THE SEA. the world. M. Verne tells us — infereutially, at all events — that it can bo made in eighty days, while Puck, as we know, speaks of putting a "girdle round the earth in forty minutes." But this statement of the iwpular French author, like many others put forth in his graphic and picturesque works, must be taken cum graiio salts. It could be, undoubtedly, but it is very questionable whether any one has yet accomplished the feat. Could one ensure the absolute " connection," as it is tech- nically termed, of all the steamship lines which would have to be employed it might be done; or better, one vessel with grand steaming and sailing qualities might perform the *' Voyage Round the World " in the given time. But M. Jules Verne, it will be remembered, paints his hero as landing at various points, and as performing acts of bravery and chivalry en route, such as the episode of rescuing a Hindoo widow from the Suttee; finding time to lounge and drink in San Francisco " saloons," and being attacked by Indians, who would wreck the overland train ; and still, with all delays, he is able to reach London in time to win his wager. The very idea of describing a journey round the world as an act of eccentricity is peculiarly French. The Englishman who can afford to make it is especially envied by his friends, and not considered mildly mad. We have before us a list of books of travel, all published within the last few years, and in circulation at the ordinary libraries. Thirteen of these works describe voyages round the world, and they are mostly the productions of amateur rather than of professional writers. So easy, indeed, is the trip now-a-days, that two of these recoi-ds are modestly and deprecatingly described as " Rambles," while one of the best of them is the work of a clever and enthusiastic lady,* whose excellent husband, in and out of Parliament, has earnestly and persistently studied " poor Jack's " best interests. This lady is evidently no fresh-water sailor, and would put to shame the land-lubber described in a very old song : — '• A tar, all pitch, did loudly bawl, sir, ' All hands aloft ! ' — '■ Sweet sir, not I. Though drowning I don't fear at all, sir, I hate a rope exceedingly.' "f Another work, by a young lady in her teens, is entitled, " By Land and Ocean ; or, the Journals and Letters of a Young Girl who went to South Australia with a Lady, thence alone to Victoria, New Zealand, Sydney, Singapore, China, Japan, and across the Continent of America." Perhaps the most remarkable, however, of modem female travellers is a German lady,{ who left Paris with only seven and a half francs in her pocket, and yet managed to go round the entire globe. It must be admitted that she had many friends abroad who helped her, and passed her on to others who could and did assist her in every way. Still, the voyages and travels she made denote the possession of a goodly amount of pluck. The item of speed is of great importance, and may well be considered in connection with a voyage round the globe. Verne's title would have been deemed the raving of a 4) ' 1^ * Mrs. Brasscy : " A Voyage in the Sidibcam.'" Her trip occupied eleven months. + From a rare work in the author's possession, entitled, " Songs of the Ship ; or the British Seaman's Jovial and £vcrlaitiiig Songster." X Margharita Weppner, Author of " The North Star and the Southern Cross." GREAT STEAMSHIPS lunutie had it been published before the age of steam, while in the first days of that f^reat power which has now revolutionised the world it would have been regarded as absurd. The wooden Cunarder which, forty yeare ago, conveyed Charles Dickens on his first trip to America took double the ordinary time occupied now in making the voyage ; and as a journalist has said, between such a vessel " and such ships as the Arizona (Guion line), the Germauic (White Star line), the Citi/ of Berlin (Inman line), and the Gallia (Allan line), there is undoubtedly not less difference than between the Edinburgh or Glasgow mail-coaches and a modern express train." The Arizona has made the round trip — that is, the voyage from Queenstown, Ireland, to Sandy Hook, New York, and back again — in fifteen days. The Inman line has been specially celebrated for quick passages, whilst their " crack " steamer, the Citi/ of Berlin, has made the single trip outwards in seven days, fourteen hours, and twelve minutes, and inwai-ds in seven days, fifteen hours, and forty-eight minutes. The Cit// of Brussels and the Citi/ of Richmontl have done nearly as well, while other steamships of the same line have made the trip in a very few hours and minutes more time. Think of considering minutes in a voyage of 3,000 miles ! The magnificent steamship named after the Orient Company has made the voyage from England to Australia in thirty-seven and a half days, or not very far from half the time occupied by other steamships a few years ago. This grand vessel is said to be only exceeded in size by the Great Eastern ; she has a displacement of 9,500 tons and indicated horse-power of 5,100, and carries coal enough for her entire voyage — some 3,000 to 4,000 tons. But she is not to remain unchallenged, for, at the time these pages are being written, the Barrow Shipbuilding Compsny is constructing for the Inman line Atlantic service a still larger iron vessel, with engines of 8,500 horse-power, capable of propelling her at the rate of sixteen or seventeen knots ; she will have four masts and three funnels. And yet another vessel of equal or greater power has been put on the stocks for the Cunard Company. Again, the largest steel steamship, or ship of any kind, has been launched at Dumbarton. She is intended largely for the cattle trade between the River Plate, Canada, and England. She is over 4,000 gross tonnage, and has been christened the Buenos Ayrean. The sums of money invested in the construction of these superb vessels are enormous. The Orient is said to have cost, witliout her fittings, little less than £150,000, her engines alone involving the expenditure of one-third of that amount. And yet a third-class or steerage ticket to the Anti^wdes by her costs only fifteen guineas, while the emigrant can go out to the United States or Canada by almost any one of the finest steamships of the various Atlantic services for six guineas. Many routes might, of course, be taken round the world, England being the eventual goal in all cases. As quaint Sir John Mandeville says, in the first chapter of his "Travels" : — " In the Name of God Glorious and Allemyght}', he that wil passe over the See to go to the City of Jerusalem, he may go by many Weyes, bothe on See and Lande, aftre the Contree that hee cometh fro : mar.ye of hem comen to an ende. But troweth not that I wil telle you alle the Townes and Cytees and Castelles that Men schaslle go by : for then scholde I make to longe a Tale ; but alle only summe Contrees and most princypalle Stedes that Men schulle gone thorgh, to gon the righte Way." "Although," says Mr. Simpson, the popular artist, in his work entitled "Meeting 4 THE 8EA. the Sun," " the reference here is to Jerusalem only, yet in the Prologue he states that he was bom in the ' Town of Seynt Albanes,' and ' passed the See in the Yeer of Lord Jesu Christ Mcccxii, in the Day of Seynt Michelle, and hidne to have ben long^ tyme over the See, and have reign and gon thorgh manye diverse Landes and many Provynces and Kingfdomes and lies, and have passed throghe Tartarye, Percye, Ermonye, the litylle and the gret; throghe Lybye, Caldee, and a gret partie of £thiope, throghe Amazoyne, Inde the lasse and the more, a gret partie; and thorghe out many others lies, that ben THE STEEUAfiE 01' AN AIL.WTIC STEAMSllIl' I'DUTV VKAllS AOO. nil abouten Inde; where dwellen many dyverse Folkes, and of dyverse Maneres and Lawes, and of dyverse Schappes of Men.' " He adds further on in his " Boke " that going all round the world was not unknown even before his time. " The world is wide," yet the practical lines for a journey of this sort are very limited. There is the Siberian overland route, leading by St. Petersburg, Moscow, from which it goes about straight east through Siberia to Lake Baikal ; and then there is about a month's journey south, over the Mongolian Desert to Peking; or it may be varied by descending the great Amoor River, on which the Russians have a number of steamers, to Nicolaiefsk ; thence sailing to San Francisco, and home by America and the Atlantic. "When," says Mr. Simpson, " the Shah and Baron Reuter have made railways through Persia it may !l Itt he Lord Ityme lynces litylle foyne, ben CHARLES DICKENS AT SEA. R add slightly to the choice ; perhaps when Russia civilises the whole of Central Asia it may open up a new route as far as China ; but till that happy period, unless the traveller is willing, and at the same time able, to become a dervish, or somethir.g of that sort, like M. Vambery, he had better not take the chance of risk in these regions. Many attempts have been made to pass from India to China, and vice versa, but as yet no one has succeeded. The diflSculties of such an enterprise are very great, not so much from the races of people as from the physical character of that region of the earth. These difficulties can, however, be overcome ; and in evidence of this, we have perhaps one of the most wonderful expeditions of modern times in the journey of the two Jesuit missionaries, Hue and Gabet, from Peking to Lhassa. When they were ordered to leave the capital of the Great Lama, they wished to do so in the direction of Calcutta, as being by far the nearest, and, at the same time, the easiest way ; but in vain. By a policy rigidly insisted upon by the Chinese Government, no one is allowed to pass anywhere along the frontiers between China and India." This writer adds, that when travelling in Tibet he heard of many parties who wished to cross the frontier in that quarter, with the purpose only of having a few days' shooting of some particular animal which they wanted to bring home ; but he never knew of any one who was able to gratify his wish. One man told him that he had taken some pieces of very bright red cloth and other tempting bribes for the officials on the Chinese side, but it was all to no purpose. " It is not easy to understand why this intense jealousy should exist, but about the fact there can be no doubt." But dismissing any and all ideas of journeying by land through Europe, Asia, or Africa, our trip will be almost entirely by sea, the trans-continental route across America being excepted. Practically that route is to-day the best if you would reach quickly and pleasantly any part of the Pacific. The great railway is an enormous link binding the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans together. The Suez Canal and the Panama route have been men- tioned in these pages — the first very fully ; and place must certainly be had for a description of a railroad which is so intimately connected with the sea. But first we must reach it. The passage across the " Great Atlantic Ferry " is now one of ease, and in the case of first-class passengers almost luxury. How different was it about forty years ago, even on the best steamships of that period ! Charles Dickens has graphically described his experiences on board the Britannia, one of the earliest of the Cunard fleet, in one of his least-read works* — at least in the present generation. The little cupboai-d dignified by the name of "state- room ; " the dingy saloon likened " to a gigantic hearse with windows in the sides ; " ■^he melancholy stove at which the forlorn stewards were rubbing their hands ; the stewardess, whom Dickens blesses " for her piously fraudulent account of January voyages ; " the excite- ment before leaving the dock ; the captain's boat and the dapper little captain ; the last late mail bags, and the departure, are all sketched from nature, as the great novelist alone could depict them. And now they are off. " ' The sea ! the Bea ! the open sea I That is the place where wo all wish to he, Rolling ahout so merrily ! ' So all sing and say, by night and by day, III * "American Notes for General Circulation." 6 THE SEA. In the boudoir, the street, at the concert, and iilay, In a sort of coxcombical rounJt.'lay. You may roam through tlic City, transversely or straight, Troni Whiteehapel turnpike to C'uniLerland Gate, And every young lady \vl»o thi-unis a guitar, Every mustachioed shopman who smokes a cigar, With affected devotion, promulgates his notion. Of being a ' Kovor ' and ' Child of the Ocean '— ^Vlu^te'er their age, sex, or condition may be, They all of them long for the ' Wide, wide sea ' ' But however they dote, only set thom afloat, In any craft bigger at all than a boat, Take them down to the Nore, and you'll see that before The ' wcssel ' they ' woyage ' in has made half her way Between Shellness Point and the pier at Heme Bay, Let the wir.d .neet the tide in tho slightest degree, They'll be all of them heartily sick of tho sea I " So says " Ingoldsby," and it is, no doubt, true of some London Jack Tars and Cheapside buccaneers, who, on leaving port, are much more nautically "got up" than any of the crew. These stage sailors become very limp when the sea-water takes the stareh out o£ them. Barham tells us of one Anthony Blogg : — " So I'll merely observe, as tho water grew rougher The more my poor hero continued to suffer, Till tho sailors themselves cried, in pity, ' Poor buffer 1 '" The great steamships of most lines running to distant foreign parts are comparatively easy and steady in their motions, and there is really more chance of being attacked by the iiial lie liter on an English or Irish Channel boat than there is on the voyage across the Atlantic. The waves in such channels are more cut up and " choppy " than are those of the broad ocean. The employment of the twin-boat, Calais-Bonvres, has mitigated much of the horrors of one of our Channel lines. It is curious to note the fact that Indians often use a couple of canoes in very much the same manner as did the designer of the doubled-hulled vessel just mentioned. The writer has seen, in the Straits of Fuca, natives conveying all their possessions on the top of planks, placed over and lashed to two canoes. One suggestion for the improvement of the steamboat service across the Channel t» France is to construct an enormous vessel, G50 feet long and 150 wide, a ship as long as the Great Eastern and twice her beam, to be propelled by both paddles and screws. She is to^ be capable of carrying several trains, and is to have a roofed station on board, with aU tlie necessary saloons. Floating platforms are to connect this great steam ferry-boat with the shore rails, so that it can start or arrive at any time of the tide. " Are you a good sailor ? " asks one passenger of another just after leaving Liverpool. " Oh, I suppose I'm no worse than anybody else/' is, perhaps, the answer ; while some are bold enough to answer, "Yes." But Dickens noticed that the first day very few remained long over their wine, and that everybody developed an vmusual love of the open air. Still, with the exception of one lady, "who had retired with some precipitation at NIGHT ON BOARD. diuner-timc, immediately after being assisted to the finest cut of a very yellow boiled leg of mutton with very green capers," there were few invalids the first night. The subject of sea sickness is an unpleasant one, and cannot occupy much space here. Every old and many a new traveller has a remedy for it, so possibly the meution of our mode of prevention may be permitted here. It is simply for the sufferer to wear a very tight belt round the waist. It has been recommended to many fellow-passengers, and its use has proved invariably 1>eneficial. The unusual motion, and sometimes the smells of the vessel, are the cause of the nausea felt. The tightened belt steadies the whole body, and, provided the sufferer be not bilious, soon braces him up corporally and mentally. If he is bilious (which he often is on account of leave-takings and festivities prior to his departure) the worst thing possible is generally recom- mended him — the oi-dinary brandy on board. Feri/ fine old liqueur cognac in small doses can, however, be taken with advantage. An authority (Dr. Chapman) recommends the application of ice, enclosed in an india-rubber bag, to the spinal cord. In various travellers' works, marmalade, cayenne pepper, port wine, chutnee, and West India pickles, are prescribed for the malady. The invalid would do much better by eating fresh or canned fruits of a cooling nature. But to return to the voyage. Dickens describes the first night at sea in feeling language. "To one accustomed to such scenes," says he, "this is a very striking time on shipboard. Afterwards, and when its novelty had long worn off, it never ceased to have a iieculiar interest and charm for me. The gloom through which the great black mass holds its direct and certain course ; the rushing water, plainly heaixl, but dimly seen ; the broad white glistening track that follows in the vessel's wake ; the men on the look-out forward, who would be scarcely visible against the dark sky but for their blotting out some score of glistening stars; the helmsman at the wheel, with the illuminated card before him shining, a speck of light amidst the darkness, like something sentient and of Divine intelligence; the melancholy sighing of the wind through block and rope and chain; the gleaming forth of light from eveiy crevice, nook, and tiny piece of glass about the decks, as though the ship were filled with fire in hiding, ready to burst through any cutlet, wild with its resistless power of death and ruin." Irresistibly comic, as well as true, is his description of the ship during bad weather. " It is the third morning. I am awakened out of my sleep by a dismal shiiek from my wife, who demands to know whether there's any danger. I rouse myself and look out of bed. The water-jug is plunging and leaping like a lively dolphin ; all the smaller articles are afloat, excejit my shoes, which are stranded on a carpet-bag, high and dry, like a couple of coal-barges. Suddenly I see them spring into the air, and behold the looking-glass, which is nailed to the wall, sticking fast upon the ceiling. At the same time the door entirely disappears, and a new one is opened in the floor. Then I begin to comprehend that the state-room is standing on its head. " Before it is possible to make any arrangement at all compatible with this novel state of things the ship rights. Before one can say ' Thank Heaven ! ' she wrongs again. Before one can cry she is wrong, she seems to have started forward, and to be a creature actively running of its own accord, with broken knees and failing legs, through every variety of UP ?i: t ;^ ; it ' il i 1 8 THE SEA. hole and pitfall, and stumbling constantly. * * * And so she goes on staggering-, heaving, wrestling, leaping, diving, jumping, pitching, throbbing, rolling, and rocking, and going through all these movements sometimes by turns, and sometimes all together, uatil one feels disposed to roar for mercy." Dickens gives a droll account of a ridiculous situation in which he was placed. " About midnight we shipped a sea, which forced its way through the skylights, burst open the doors above, and came raging and roaring down into the latlies' cabin, to the unspeakable consternation of my wife and a little Scotch lady — who, by the way, had pix'viously sent a message to the captain by the stewardess, requesting him, with her compliments, to have a steel conductor immediately attached to the top of every mast and to the chimney, in order that the ship might not be struck by lightning. They and the handmaid before- mentioned, being in such ecstasies of fear that 1 scarcely knew what to do with them, I naturally bethought myself of some restorative or comfortable cordial ; and nothing better occurring to me at the moment than hot brandy-aud-watcr, I procured a tumblerful without delay. It being imjiossible to stand or sit without holding on, they were all heaped together in one corner of a long sofa — a fixture extending entirely across the cabin — where they clung to each other, in momentary expectation of being drowned. When I approached this place with my s])ecific, and was about to atlminister it, with many consolatory expressions, to the nearest sufferer, what was my dismay to see them all roll slowly down to the other end ! And when I staggered to that end, and held out the glass once more, how immensely baffled were my good intentions by the ship giving another lurch, and their all rolling back again ! I suppose I dodged them up and down this sofa for at least a quarter of an hour, without reaching them once ; and by the time I did catch them the brandy-and-water was diminished by constant spilling to a tea-spoonful." What a difference to the accommodations and comfort of most modern steamships, with their luxurious saloons placed amidships, where there is least motion ; their spacious and airy state-rooms, warmed by steam, water laid on, and fitted with electric bells ; their music-room with piano and haraionium, their smoking-room, bath-rooms, library, and even barber's shop. The table is as well served as at the best hotel ashore, and the menu for the day is as extensive as that of a first-class restaurant, while everything that may be required in the drinkables, from modest bottled beer to rare old wine, is to be obtained from the steward. And provided that the passengers assimilate reasonably well, there will be enjoyable games, music, and possibly private theatricals and other regularly organised entertainments. The idea of a " Punch and Judy '' in the middle of the Atlantic seems rather funny ; but we have known of an instance in which even this form of amusement has been provided on board a great steamship I On long voyages it is not by any means uncommon for some one to start a MS. daily or weekly journal, to which many of the passengers contribute. Such have often been published afterwards for private circulation, as affording reminiscences of a pleasant voyage. Then there is the pleasure of discovering " a sail in sight," and of watching it grow larger by degrees as the vessels approach each other. The " look out " is kept by some passengers almost as persistently as by the sailors detailed for the purpose. Perhaps, again, the captain or officers have let out the fact that they should pass one of their own or some rival company's 11 i g, and uBtil ^ii' ¥i) 10 THE SEA. : vessel that day. How many eyes are strained after that first mere thread of smoko on the horizon I What ringing chccrci as the two great steam8hii)s near each other I What an amount of anxious enthusiasm when it is known that a boat is coming off from the other vessel, and what feverish excitement to learn all the news I They may have been seven or eight days without any, and in that time what may not have occurred in the history of nations ! Then, again, the sea itself, in its varying beauty or grandeur, has fur most travellers a great interest. Is there not a chance of seeing an iceberg, a whale, or even the great sea serpent ? In March-April, 1869, the writer crossed the Atlantic in splendid weather. Tlio occnn was, for the ten days occupied on the passage, almost literally as calm as a lake ; even the lady passengers emerged from their cabins two or three days before they would otherwise have ventured forth. Among them was one lady seventy-five years of age, who was running away — so she informed the passengers — ^from her husband, and going to join her children in the States. This female had " stood it " for fifty years, but now, she said, she was going to end her days in peace. Here was a champion of " woman's rights ! " Alas ! on arrival in New York there was no one to receive her, and she was taken back on board the steamer. What became of her afterwards we know not. The woes of steerage passengers have been graphically described by Charles Dickens. He tells us that "unquestionably any man who retained his cheerfulness among the steerage accommodations of that noble and fast jailing packet, the Screw, was solely indebted to his own resources, and shipped his good humour like his provisions, without any contribution or assistance from the owners. A dark, low, stifling cabin, surrounded by berths filled to overflowing with men, women, and children, in various stages of sickness and misery, is not the liveliest place of assembly at &w\ time; but when it is so crowded, as the steerage cabin of the Screw was every passage out, that mattrasses and beds are heaped on the floor, to the extinction of everything like comfort, cleanliness, and decency, it is liable to operate not only as a pretty strong barrier against amiability of temper, but as a positive encourager of selfish and rough humours." Dickens follows with a dismally correct picture of the passengere, with their shabby clothes, paltry stores of poor food and other supplies, and their wealth of family. He adds that every kind of suffering bred of poverty, illness, banishment, and tedious voyaging in bad weather was crammed into that confined space, and the picture, almost revolting in its naked truthfulness, was not overdrawn in those days. It could not be written, however, of any steerage whatever in our times, for partly from governmental care, partly from the general improvement in means of travel, partly from competition and the praiseworthy desire of the owners to earn a high character for their vessels' accommodations, the steerage of to-day is comparatively/ decent ; although it is not yet that which it should be, nor has the progress of improvement kept anything like pace with railway accommodation of the cheaper kind. Yet one would think it to the interest of owners* to make the steerage an endurable place of temporary abode. * The late Mr. W. S. Lindsaj-, in his " History of Merchant Shipping," stated that Mr. and Mrs. Inman, " greatly to their credit, made a voyage in one of their earliest emigrant steamers, expressly for tho purpose of ameliorating the discomforts and evils hitherto hut too common in emigrant ships." LIFE IN THE STEERAGE. 11 In 1879 nearly 11^,000 steerage passengers left the port of Liverpool for the United States. It should lie noted that this was from one port, undeniably the principal one for emigration, but still by no means the only British one used for that purpose. Observe further that it was for America alone that these emigraiitB were bound. According to the United States census of 1870, there were at that time 5,000,000 human beings in the country who were foreign bom, and this number has since gone on increasing to a very large extent. Nine-tenths of them at the least crossed the Great Ferry in ships bearing the Union Jack, and of these, three-fourths or more crossed as steerage passengers. Hence the importance of the question. Latterly a considerable amount of attention has been given to the sub-division of the steerage space, so that, when practicable, friends and families may remain together. Married people and single women have now separate quarters. The sleeping accommodations are the weak point. They are simply rough wooden berths, and the passenger has to furnish his own bedding, as Avell as plate, mug, knife, fork, spoon, and water-can. The provisions are now-o-days generally ample, and on some lines are provided ad Hbitnm. The bill of fare is pretty usually as follows. Breakfast : coffee, fresh bread or biscuit, and butter, or oatmeal porridge and molasses ; Dinner : soup, beef or pork, and potatoes — fish may be substituted for the meat; on Sunday pudding is often added ; Tea : tea, biscuit and butter. Three quarts of fresh water are allowed daily. A passenger who has a few shillings to spend can often obtain a few extras from the steward, and many, of course, take a small stock of the minor luxuries of life on board with him. To those of small means who are contemplating emigration, the "Intermediate" (second-class) on board some of the Atlantic steamers to the States and Canada can be commended. For a couple of guineas over the steerage rates, excellent state-rooms, generally with four to six berths in each, furnished with bedding and lavatory arrangements, are provided. The intermediate passenger has a separate general saloon, and the table is well provided with good plain living. As the steerage passenger has to provide so many things for himself, it is almost as cheap to travel second-class. Almost every reader will remember Martin Chuzzlewit and Mark Tapley on board the wretched Screw. How, for example, " the latter awoke with a dim idea that he was dreaming of having gone to sleep in a four-post bedstead which had turned bottom up- wards in the coui-se of the night," for which there seemed some reason, as " the first objects he recognised when he opened his eyes were his own heels looking down at him, as he after- wards observed, from a nearly perpendicular elevation." " This is the first time as ever I stood on my head all night," observed Mark. The lesson taught by Dickens regarding the necessity of keeping up one's spirits on board ship, and better, of helping to keep up those of others, as exemplified by poor Tapley, is a very important one. If anything will test character, life on board a crowded ship Avill do it. Who that has read can ever forget Mark, when he calls to the poor woman to " hand over one of them young 'uns, according to custom." " ' I wish you'd get breakfast^ Mark, instead of worrying with people who don't belong to you,' observed Martin, petulantly. " ' All right,' said Mark ; ' she'll do that. It's a fair division of labour, sir. I wash her (I A n THE SEA. boys and Hhe makes our tea. I never could make tea, but any one can wauli a boy.' The woman, who was delicate and ill, felt and understood his kindness — as well she might, for she had been covered every night with his great coat, while he hod for his own bed the bare boards and a rug.*' " If a gleam of sun shone out of the dark sky," continues Dickens, "down Mark tumbled into the cabin, and presently up he came again with a woman in his arms, or half-a-dozen children, or a man, or a bed, or a saucepan, or a basket, or something animate or inanimate that he thought would be the better for the air. t.***^*:^^;-' r * ■' ' ntftiitiiTTriii \, li"' ...ft ji^i\ ^^w NEW YORK BAY, LOOKINO ACROSS TO STAIEN ISLANn. If an hour or two of fine weather in the middle of the day tempted those who seldom or never came on deck at other times to crawl into the long-boat, or Ho down upon the spare spars and try to eat, there in the centre of the group was Mr. Tapley, handing about salt beef and biscuit, or dispensing tastes of grog, or cutting up the children's provisions with his pocket-knife for their greater ease and comfort, or reading aloud from a venerable newspaper, or singing some roaring old song to a select party, or writing the beginnings of letters to their friends at home for people who couldn't write, or cracking jokes with the crew, or nearly getting blown over the side, or emerging half-drowned from a shower of spray, or lending a hand somewhere or other; but always doing something for the general entertainment." THE DIUIL\DED UAY. IS boy.' II she ia own tinues with a or a tie air. Dickens drew his picture from life, and although an extreme cane, there are muny Mark Tapleys yut to be met. And indeed, unless the emigrant can remain happy and jovial amid the unmistakable hardships of even the best regulated Htecru(,i^>, he had Ixitter have ■topped at home. If he can stand them well, he is of the stuff that will make a ^hI colonist or settler, ready to " rough it " at any time. Before leaving the subject of steerage passengers and emigrants, it may be well to note that the United States Government does all in its power on their arrival in New York to protect them from imposition and furnish them with trustworthy information. At the depot at Castle Gardens, where third- class passengers land, there ore interpreters, money-changers, railway-ticket offices, and rooms for their accommodation ; and it is very much their own fault if they slide into the pitfalls of New York — for New York haa pitfalls, like every other great city. The risks of the voyage across the Atlantic are not really as great as those of ships passing southwards through the Bay of Biscay, which is the terror of passengers to Australia, India, China, and other points in the Orient. At the beginning of 1880 the tine s.s. CMmborazo returned with difficulty to Plymouth, three persons having been washed over- board, and one killed from injuries received on board. Off Ushant a formidable gale arose, and the vessel began to roll heavily, while (m the following morning the storm had becf)me a hurricane, and the water was taken on board and below in volumes, threatening a fate similar to that experienced by the London, Just before 9 a.m. an enormous sea broke over the ship, heeling her over and washing the deck with resistless force. The steam launch, six heavy boats, the smoking room, saloon companion, and everything on the spar deck, were in throe seconds carried overboard among the breakers as though they were mere children's toys, while, in addition to the losses of life already mentioned, seventeen other passengers were more or less injured. Just before the ship was struck the smoking-room was full of passengers, who were requested by the captain to leave it to give place to some helpless sheep who were floundering about, and to this fact they owed their lives. " As,^' said a leading journal, " the stricken ship entered Plymouth Harbour on Tuesday morning, her shattered stanchions and skylights, her damaged steering apparatus, and the heap of wreckage lying upon her deck, proclaimed the fury of the tremendous ordeal through which she had passed, and awakened many a heartfelt and silent prayer of gratitude among her rescued passengers, as they contemplated the evidences of the peril from which they had so narrowly escaped." It is in moments such as these that the poverty of human words is keenly felt. There can be no doubt that, but for the excellent seamanship displayed by Captain Trench and his officers there would have been a sadder story to relate. 14 THE SEA. M CHAPTER II. OcEAx TO Ocean. — The Coxxecting Lixk. The Great Trans-Continental Railway— New York to Chicago— Niagara in Winter— A Lady'a Imprcasions- A Pullman Dining Car— Omnlia—" The Great Muddy "-Episodes of Hallway Travel— Hough Roads— Indian Attempts at Catch- ing Trains -Ride on a Snow Plough— Sherman— Female Vanity in the Rocky Mountains— Soaped Rails— The Great I'luins-Sumnier and Winter- The Prairie on Fire- A Remarkable Bridge— Coal Discoveries— The "Buttes"— The Gates of Mormondoni— Echo and Weber CaBons— The Devil's Gate— Salt Lake- Ride in a " Mud Waggon "-The City of the Saints— Mormon Industry— A Tragedy of Former Days— Mountain Meadow Massacre— The " Great Egg-shell " — Theatre— The Silver State-" Dead Heads"— Up in tlie Sierra Nevada— Alpine Scenery- The Highest Newspaper Offico in the World—" Snowed up" -Cape Horn- Down to the FruitfiU Plains— Sunny California— Sacramento— Oakland and tlie Golden City— Recent Opinions of Travellers— San Francisco as a Port— Whither Away J Sufficient mention of New York has already been made in this work. The tourist or traveller bound round the world, via the great trans-continental railway and San Francisco, has at starting from the ccuimercial metropolis o^' America, and as far as Omaha, a choicp of routes, all the fares being identical for a " through ticket " to the Pacific. You may go among the Pennsylvanian mountains and valleys, and catch many a glimpse of the coal and coal " ile " fields j the country g^^nerally being thickly wooded. The Pennsylvania, Pittsburg, and Fort AVayne Railway passes through really grand sceuery, and the construction of the road litis been a work of great difficulty, involving extensive cuttings and embankments and long tunnels. The road takes a serpentine course among the mountains, and at one point, known as the " Ilorse-shoe Bend," the line curves round so much that it almost meets itself again. A train following your own appears to be going in the opposite direction. The only city of an}' imiwrtance on this route, before Chicago is reached, is Pittsburg, the busy, coaly, sooty, and grimy — a place reminding one of Staffoixlshire, and abounding in iron and cutlery works. It is situated among really charming scenery, near where the Monongahela, Alleghany, and Ohio rivers meet, and is an ugly blot among the veixlant and peaceful surroundings. After leaving Pittsburg the railroad passes through a charmingly fresh and fruitful country, watered by the Ohio. " Long stretches of green meadows, shut iu by hill and dale, shady nooks, cosy farm-houses, and handsome villas, steamers, barges, boats, and timber-rafts — almost as large as those famous Rtiine rafts — on the river, make up a varied and most; attractive scene." Next you reach Indiana, a country of fairly good soil, bad swamps, fearful fever and ague, and an indolent and shiftless people. In general terms it is a good country to leave. But the tourist's popular route from New York to Chicngo is that briefly known as " The Great Central." At Niagara it passes over a bridge spanning the river below the great Falls, where a tolerable view is obtainable. Most tourists naturally stop a day or two at the Falls, where there are line hotels. They have been so often described that every school- boy knows all al)out them. They are especially worth seeing under their winter aspect, when miniature icebergs and floes ^ falling, crashing, and grinding v.ith the water. Below the Falls these will bank up to a considerable height, and the river is in places completely frozen over. From the rocks huge stalactites of hundreds of tons of ice dejijud. The contrast of the dashing green waters with the cr}'stal ice and virgin snow around is very beautiful. NIAGARA— CHICAGO. 16 fomQ idea of the volume of water may be gathered from this fact : the Niagara River a mile and a half above the Falls is two and a half miles wide, and is there very deep. At the Falls all this water is narrowed to about 800 yards in breadth. A traveller already mentioned * thus describes her impressions : — " Nor do I think that the most powerful imagination can, with its greatest effort, attain even an approximate notion of the awful sublimity of this natural wonder. Like all other stupendous things which the mind has been unaccustomed to measure and to contemplate, Niagara requires time to grow upon one. The mind also demands time to struggle up to its dimensions, and time to gather up its harmonies into the mighty tones which finally fill the soul with their overwhelming cadences, and whose theme, ever-varying but still the same — as in the hands of a Handel or a Beethoven — thunders through the whole extent of one's being — ' Almighty Power ! ' " The chief impression produced upon the mind by Niagara is the perpetuity of im- measurable force and grandeur. This it is which lends such a strange fascination to the Falls ; however prcssingly one is desirous of getting away, one is obliged to turn back again, and yet again, like the disturbed needle to the magnetic pole. There is nothing in the way of natural scenery which has stamped itself so clearly, indelibly, and awfully on my mind as this gigantic magnificence; as this mighty body of waters, gliding stealthily but rapidly on its onward course above the Falls, springing forward more wildly, more exultingly, as it noars the brink, until it leaps over into the abyss to swell the mighty canticle, which, for thousands and thousands of years, by day and by night, through every season, has ascended in tones of subdued thunder to the Creator's throne." Passing over all intermediate points, the traveller at length reaches the Garden City, CJhicago. This, which used to be con\i.ed a western city — it is 900 miles west of New York — is now considered almost an eastern one. And it must be remembered that this place of half a million souls is a port. Large sailing-vessels and steamers enter and leave it daily, and through Lake Michigan and the chain of other lakes can reach the ocean •direct. There are miles on miles of wharfs, and it is generally considered one of the " livost " business places in America. Handsomely laid-out and built, the city now hardly bears a ti-ace of the terrific conflagration which in 1871 laid three-fourths of the finest streets in ruins. From Chicago to Omaha the various routes have little to interest the ordinary traveller, and so, while speeding on together, let us dine in a Pullman hotel car. On entering you will be jjresented with a bewildering bill of fare, commencing with soups and finishing with ice-creara and black coffee. The dinner is served on little separate tables, while the purity of the cloths and table napkins, the brightness of the plate, and the crystal clearness of the glass-wai"e, leave nothing to desire. You can have a glass of iced water, for thoy have an ice-cellar; you can obtain anything, from a bottle of beer to one of Burgundy, port, or champagne; and cigars are also kept "en board ;" while at the particular point indicated you will not pay more than seventy-five cents (about three shillings) for the dinner. It must be admitted that the liquid refreshments are generally very dear: a "quarter" ^111 • Marghnrita Wippncr. ; i 16 THE SEA. {i.e., twenty-five cents, the fourth of a dollar) for any small drink, fifty cents for a very small bottle of Bass, and wines expensive in proportion. Still you dine at your ease and leisure, instead of rushing out with a crowd at the "eating stations," where the trains usually stop three times a day. We have the authority of Mr. W. F. Rae for stating that " no royal personage can be more comfortably housed than the occupant of a Pullman car, provided the car be an hotel one." * At Omaha, on the Missouri, the Pacific Railway proper commences, although the various New York and other lines, as we have seen, connect with it. The river, irreverently known on A PULLMAN KAILWAY CAK. the spot as "The Great Muddy," from the colour of its water and its numerous sand and mud banks, is ci-ossed at this point by a fine bridge. Apropos of the said banks, which are constantly' shifting, a story is told of a countryman who, years ago, before the age of steam ferries, wanted to cross the !Missouri near this point. He did not see his way till he observed a sand-bank " washing-up," as they call it, to the surface of the water near the shore on which he stood. He jumped on it, and it shifted so rapidly that it took him clear across the river, and he was aljle to land on the opposite side ! The story is an exaggerated version of fact. The shifting sand-banks make navi