The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1858-05-15

AO0.s"S Sss W1tn n8ns. Inc wind,
whish MS bsson q dstsuelion, had, for
I've succsssise day, swept ne Atlantic from
Newfoundland 70 Hatteras, and bowling
through our rigging, had vainly strove to
tear the tightly ierlsd canvas from it, fast
snings, had died away, and the mountain
waves on which our stauneh old ship had
reeled and staggered like drunken man,
were fast running down into that long I'M
dulating swell which aolls over the bosom
of the great deep, even in it's calmest moods.
Twenty days before, Ne had sailed from
Havre, with three hundred emigrants, who,
in the Western World, hoped to find IN ssy-
lum from oppression. a land whore the
iron yoke Of tyranny had long since been
broken. A land where, for the first time,
they could lay upon the altar Of liberty, the
pure offering Of patriotic hearts. Some of
them were Portuguese, some had come from
the banks Of the Rhine. Some from beneath
the sunny skies of Italy, and some from the
vine-clad hills of France; all bidding long
farewell to the heart stones of their child
hood to merge the differences of race and
languagein one common nationality, beneath
the banner Of thefree. Uninitiated into the
mysteries Of sea voyaging, they seemed to
suppose when they embarked, that crossing
the Atlantic would be very pleasant trip,
but alas! poor souls, ere they had been six
hours in the English channel, ses-sickness,
with all its attendant horrors, dispelled the
pleasing illusion, and the heaving of the
waves without the ship, was scarcely more
violent than tho heaving of the stomachs
within. Robust men and women who,
dreaming Of sea-breezes and sharkish appe-
tiles, had amply stored their lardsrs with
good things lay grooming in their sbunks,'
loathing even the sight of food and frolick-
some little ones, who had been scampering
about the deck in childish glee, now in
the remorseless grasp of old Neptune's
prime minister, were vomiting in agony, and
sinking back upon their pillows, pale As
corpses and almost as ifeless. We Jack
Tars had been through the mill. We had
experienced the miseries of this harmless
but horrible disease. In our first essay at
rope pulling and sduff" eating I'VE had stood
watch, when our stomachs beat time to the
rolling of the ship, and our legs quivered
like top-gallant-mast in a storm. More
dead than alive, We had climbed the rope
ladders and crawled out upon the "foot-
ropes" to reef topsail, when old Boreas
was yelling in our ears: "Hold on for life
boys, or I'll bury you where a deep sea
lead can't find you" Weak and weary, cold
and sick, We had dragged ourselves to our
berths, and rolled up in our blankets, had
tried to forget the miserable present, and in
dreams, 60 back to terra frma-back to the
happy homes We had left, but in vain. Even
in the kind embrace of Morpheus we had no
peace. Old Neptune, perfumed with slush
and tar, stood over US making frightful
faces at US, and threatening to cram down
our throats with his trident, great piles of
abominable "Salt- junk" and "hard- bread"
and fill US to the neck with milkless molas-
ses-sweetened coffee, strong enough to float
cannon balls. But my pen fails to convey
to laadsmen, any adequate idea of the &C
cumulated hsrrors which a''green hand"
undergoes the first ten days at sea. All
these, however were past. We had gone
through tho process of sfseasoning" and be-
come thoroughly "salt." A bowling North
wester might snap our spars and strip our
canvass into ribbons, and we would jesting-
ly wonder if the old codger kept harem,
and was stealing trimmings for bonnets.
The ship might lie on her beam-euds and
the waves play bo-peep with the Alps, yet
We could devour "duf' and '.junk," and
guzzle our coffee with q gusto. We had
often laughed and joked in the forecastle,
over the "reminiscences of our saltwater de-
but, and now, heartless wretches that We
were, we laughed at the poor emigrants, and
exhorted them not to mind triAes, when We
knew that many of them were suffering more
intensely than they had ever suffered before.
But happily, sea sickness is not generally Of
long duration, and in seven or eight days,
the upper deck was swarming with men, wo-
men and children who had come up to bask
in the sunshine and snuff the pure sea air.
True they were thin and pale, yet their ap-
petites were returning, and there was fair
prospect of their still doing ample justice to
their provisions, before reaching New York.
All were convalescent but one, and that
little three year old, an only child. She
was ill when she left Havre, and after sea
sickness set in, it was difficult to tell how
the original disease was progressing, but as
the others got better, and the little suffer-
er still continued to fail, her parents be-
came alarmed, the ships physician was call
ed, and at once pronounced it a hopeless
case. His words were poisoned arrows to
the hearts of the parents, but they were
alas too true. On the nineteenth day, the
child died. Supplied by the blow, the poor
father and mother seemed hardly to realize
that they were childless, until the following
morning, when wrapped in its canvas
shroud, with heavy shot at its feet, the
corpse was carried upon the main-deck and
laid out for burial. Mechanically they fol-
lowed US as We bore it from its couch, and
silently they watched the preparations for
consigning it to its ocean grave. The flag,
which American tars have so often flung
proudly to the breeze on every navigablc
sea, was now furled in mourning over our
heads. "All hands" were summoned to
witness the final scene. The plank, with
the body resting upon it, was raised, one
end placed upon the ships gunwale, and the
other supported by two of the sailors.-
Deeply sympathixing with the bereaved pa
rents, the other passengers clustered around,
and as the captain read the beautiful burial
..u;oo tba,c were fer dry eyes in that mot