Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-11-26


day or two. had made what preparation
1 could for this bad time, by providing
some simple medicines, a small stock Of
spirits, and the means Of procuring hoi
water at two minutes notice. Sure enough
the sickness came, and miserable time il
was. The wife and children were all laid
up in their berths before we were out Of
the Channel, and were unable to help
themselves. I was sick, too, and could
have followed their example but in that
case we should have been all helpless to-
gether; SO 1 forced a resolution, and waited
on the rest as well as could through il
all.
"The youngest Of the children got over
it first; my wife suffered most, and we
had been FIVE days at sea before she was
sufficiently recovered to be able to come
on deck. When at last she got into the
fresh sea-air, it revived her at once--her
appetite and strength returned, and her
old cheerful spirits and activity as we'll
She set to work to put things in CON-
Portable trim, and made our little cabin
quite parlor.
ave had reason to be thankful that ws
were separated in all respects from the
steerage passengers. They numbered
about fifty or sixty in all, and were not
only of the poor and miserable, but of the
dirty and degraded class. Nearly all were
Irish, and about third of them were wo-
men, who--I will say that for them, poor
souls were much better than the men,
and did good deal to restrain the violence
of their conduct and language. l don't
think the whole steerage could have
mustered FIVE shillings among them, and
the greater part had nothing but rags for
clothing. They subsisted entirely on the
rations dealt out to them, and about these,
and small stock of tobacco which seem
ed TO be common property, they were
quarrelling day and night. Soon after
sundown the captain sent them all below,
and shut down the grated covering of the
hatchway; but noticed that he took con-
tinual care to ventilate their quarters, for
he was afraid, as he told me, lest some
virulent disease should break cat among
such dirty set, and we without doctor
on board.
sour crew consisted of eight men be.
sides the mate and three boys; there were
no cabin passengers, nor was there any
accommodation for any-the Camden car.
rying good deal of merchandise, princi
pally of rough Birmingham goods, sucl
as are in use and demand among settler,
colonists. I was no sailor, as I said be-
fore, and i'll qualified to judge of sea mat
ters; yet 1 could not help thinking W,
made but slow progress, compared will
other vessels. We were in the track o.
ships bound to New York, and / had no
ticeG that one or two which hove in sigh
in our rear had overtaken and passed u,
in sae course of day. When l mention
ed this to the mate, he said those vessel
were liners, built for sailing, and not fo
trade, like the Cdmdcn-Se were doing
we'll enough.
"From the position of our cabin,
could hear, as lay in my berth at night
not only every movement of the crew, bu
also, when the weather was not rough
and it was mostly fne-every word tha
was said To this circumstance owe i
that am now living man, and that
and mine are not lying fathoms deep il
devouring sea. One night, as l lay awak
listening to the lap, lap of the water agains
the side, the voices Of the captain an,
mate eonversing in an undertone drew m
attention. Some words that passed be
tween them aroused my fears; l spranj
out of bed, and stealing to the door, over
heard enough of the parley to make m
blood run cold. gathered that the vesse
was leaking at all points through the strai
of the cargo--that in spite Of pumping t
the utmost, the water gained upon then
and that it was the mates opinion sh
would founder, do what they might, with
in twenty -four hours, The crew, of course
were not ignorant Of their condition, an
. thew would mutiny and seize the boats an
abandon the ship unless relieved by som
e vessel in the course of the following day
The captain was plainly at his wits enc
e and knew not how to act. To make III
passengers aware of their position woul
be certain destruction to all on board, 1
T; nothing else could be expected but de-
perate fight for life, in which the boat
= t,rn Jooo