New-York daily tribune., 1859-09-28


for not allowing each one to come On board wbeeever
he ssv e. TO present his pa'ssse tcke'. Ba' aSeie
got on board G. last, and the Mosea Iay.or, Csp'.
McGowan started her paddles Little After Hldnign'
Of the l7tt-ls,h.
Ard row commenced the trials oi our passsse.
On the spacious Golden Age, our seven hanhea
ps,sergers he'd jus. about room ercugh; but mere
thew we're ell crowded into snip Of about hai the
size In the seersge, there were a. many bsrth. a.
pa,epgers; in the first cabin, nearly as many Ou'
Of iecond.csbi passengers we hsd twice IS many q
there we're berbs FOR. And those beIhs were locaee
in tort Of cock pit, under the lower or man'ieeE
csbin-a pit into which no breath OF hesh Wholesome
air ever penetrsted-s hole that would have saH'-
Gated clean Berkshire hog in the course OF ban %
hour. The Black Hole Of Calcutta must have been
nslsce 10 it. Think Of such meptitic den as this'
sbou, the size 'bu. not half the hight Of decent
psrlor. for come hundred human beings 70 1--we
in through tropical week, with rain squalls
70 render the atmosphere more dsuk and compel the
closing of skylights ard other possible vertIa'ors
a. least once every night The whole number OF our
passengers without berths was about two hundred.
II this were a solitary outrage Of the kind might
look on II more lenieny but such is notoronsly not
the fact. Here is Company literally paid for carry
ing the mails and generously pstronized By the puohc
yet Iewarding that generosity by the grossest ana
most criminal impositions The agent VINO sold these
two hundred unfortunate passengers their tickets IN
San Francisco, knew that he was obtaining tnelr
money by false pretenses-knew that the berths ior
which they were paying him had no existence lie
knew that the Moses Tsy ylor wa our steamship from
Aspinwsll-knew that she had no accommodations Tor
nearly so many passepgers-knew that every one she
took on beard over Eve hundred must be carried IN
fragrant violation Of law. And he had not for his
crime even the poor excuse Of cupidity; for At the
prices now asked and paid for secondcabn passages,
under the prevailing competition, there can be no
profit in their multiplication. Why, then, did be take
more than the law allowed or bis chip could conve-
niertly carry
This may seem light matter to people ashore; but
not to me, who have seen-to say nothing OF men
scores Of delicate women and tender babes piled down
On wet decks for night after night there TO shiver
through drenching showers or hustled up to seek
for unattansble shelter in which 10 wear out the long
hours till morning. l fear some Of these will die Of
this exposure and its consequences while many Will
suffer from it through years. Panama fever and
other absurd names will be given to the diseases
thence resulting; Pacific Mail Compsnys fever -
would be far more acc1rate. How long shall this
crying abuse coLtinue2
Our four days passage across the Caribbean Sea
and so wes. and north Of Cuba to Key West was bet
ter than the average. 1t rained only by night and
seldom more than single shower; bu! the night We
reached Key West t2ls.22d), was rata er wild one
some pufs Of wind wi h two or three hJurs Of pour
ing rain. In the midst of this ran safely inside
Of the reefs of Key West habor but the light OF the
lighthouse was out and hist caused get aground
On aand bar inside of the harbor. We got of with
out injury about two hours aerward but waited for
the quarantine boat, and did not run up TO the dock
until A. NJ. Then a good many Of US had three
glor ous hours ashore-hours long to be remembered
while our ship was coaling; aud, though we were
called aboard at TO- it nearly before we were
again in motion, and stood out for New-fork. BY
the help Of the Gulf Stream, we made 337 miles dur
ing the ne xt twenty -four hoursa rate which should
have brought US to our dock in the course Of Sunday
night.
But there came q chilling frost" At Al Az
of Saturday, 9th, as we were off the harbor Of
Ch.rls.ton probably 100 mlss di.tAn., half an hour
after our outlying passengers had been driven up to
allow the washing of the decks, and while that opera
tion was in progress, it being fair daylight Of calm
though not absolutely cloudless morning, we
were all startled by smaIt shock bark,
the Chimborazo Of Boston, with so tuns Of railroad
iron for Jacksonville, Florida, had come in col
lsion with our ship, just forward Of her sarboard
wheehouse. Her bowsprit first struck the steamers
cathead, whereby she was slowed round side 10 side
with us and struck again, her bowsprt nov piercing
our wheehouse and running into the Wheel whereby
both bowsprt and wheel weie badly shattered The
latter was reduced to wreck, which was nearly the
extent of our damage; while the bark lost beside her
bowspr the top of her foremast, part Of her bul-
warks and was otherwise crippled. But she scraped
by our wheel.house instead of going under it, and
rubbed along our side to the stern giving US who
were in our behs the impression that we had rur her
down and were passing directly over her, Before our
engines could be stopped che had drted half mile
to eeward.
1t does 10. seem hard to apporton the blame of
this most miserable business understand that every
one on board the bark, including the helmsmsn, was
asleep until we were just upon her. for no one
could be foolhardy enough to run so small
a craft into a great steamship had he his wits
about him. She had 10 light displayed
her captain was in his berth asleep; in short,
all hands were browsing. But on our side the care
ssress was equally gross, and the cupabil'y great
er; for our first mate who had charge Of the ship
was broad awake, ard had seen the bark for fifteen
minutes before she struck us, yet never altered his
course one iota to avoid her. His excuse is that in
the eaIy twilight and in the absence Of any light on
the bark, his eyes deceived him as to her distance
Let those believe this who can; Iudge that ne, pre-
sum.rg that the barks steersman WAS awake and not
insane said to himself Let her get out Of the way,
as of course che will, rather than be down, and
30 suffered our ship to drive on to Whist came near
being her utter destruction, with that of Almost al on
board. For if We had struck that mass Of railroad
iron fairly and squsrey We should, Of ceune, have
sent the bark and s contents 10 the bottom al once
but her cargo would have knocked hole through