The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-08-28

which the band discourses at meals in the
first cabin.
We now come to the more aristocratic
part of the ship, which is generally plain
as pike staff, and owes its attractions
more to its ample light and perfect ventil
lation than to any attempt at elegance or
ornament, excepting the grand saloon and
ladies': cabin, which shines with gilt and
mirrors. Those who have smothered for
a fortnight in the. little air-tight state
rooms of the little three thousand ton
steamers, favored with sea-sck reminis-
cences, can but appreciate the luxury of
an open port, fifteen inches in diameter in
each stateroom.l
Here you can get quarters in rooms
varying from twenty feet square, at cor
responding prices; but all having the one
thing needful for health-namely, fresh
air al HbHum, and some suites Of rooms
with baths and water-closets attached.
We have now surveyed the comforts of the
ship. The luxuries consist of good table,
attention, service, and most capital band
of fifteen pieces, which sounds the reveillc
in the morning and the retreat at night;
announces the meals by bugle calls; ac-
companies the dinner below, and then
| amuses the world above for an hour or
| two about sunset, giving the steerage and
| other passengers a chance which they
often wait for-to dance upon the broa!
and even deck. "But," asks timid
friend, chow about safety, with all this
comfort, luxury and grandeur? And how
about sea sickness?" Let us weigh our
good ships qualities in the light of pru-
dence and experience.
Once at sea, all admit that she is the
safest ship that floats. She is built with
wonderful strength and skill, and has
stood more tests than any ship now extant.
Any ordinary collision with other ves-
sells could only result in her favor. She is
nearly tire-proof, and her tire-engines are
laid nightly along her decks, reducing her
danger to almost nothing. A gale of wind
at sea is merely sport for her. In case of
breaking down one set of engines she has,
beside her sails, either her screw or her
paddles left. But how can she be safe
in approaching the shore, with her un-
wieldy bulk and great draft of water? Let
those who saw her go into Queenstown in
ner harbor before a gale of wind, and
turn in her own length amid the shipping,
under the guidance of Captain Patton, as
steed obeys his rider, say whether she
is docle In truth, the advantage of
handling her in narrow water, by turning
the screw one way and the paddle the
other, makes her, under skillful hands,
more manageable than ordinary sea steam
erS.
This brings us to her one admitted fault
counterbalanced by so many virtues that
she draws five feet more water than a
steamer of three thousand tons, and may
thus pick up a new ledge of rocks or an
old sand bar when the other would go
clear. True, sshe may again, as she did
off Montauk, and what was the result
then? With six holes in her bottom, one
of them one hundred feet long, and one
forty feet long, she resumed her voyage
into port and delivered her passengers un-
frightened, her cargo undamaged. She
has, in fact, double bottoms, three feet
apart, besides a great number of compart-
ments, some of which could be filled by
ruptures in both her bottoms without the
ship sinking.
1t would be too long story to tell the
patience and invention which enabled
Captain Patton and his officers to repair
her bottom without any dock; but the
same qualities which then got her out of
difficulty give the best guaranty for her
future safety while he walks ''the monarch
of her peopled deck" How about sea-
sickness There is absolutely no pitch to
| her in any ordinary gale, an angle OF six
degrees being the greatest her decks ever
attain, fore and aft. Here is one-half the
| motive cause of sea sickness taken out.
| She rolls with an easier motion than most
ships, but still she rolls at times about as
much as smaller ships. On the passage
we have had racks on the table to secure
the plates part of two Gays. Very sensi-
tive people will still sometimes be sea sick
on board; but with freedom from pitching
and from bad smells, and with the abun-
dance of fresh air, it is difficult to imag-
inc any better security against nausea
than she furnishes Out of one thousand
two hundred passengers, few have been
| sick, but a great majority of those who
| are usually sea sick are entirely free
| from it. .
Let US now leave these dry details, and
| revert to the scene which enlivened the
good ship on the 4th of July, 1868. The
sky was bright, the sea was blue and
smooth, and most of her passengers were
on deck. .....-.- .s. ~
| About noon, certain mysterious bundles
were seen rising to her masthead, and, at
signal from Captain Patton, these un-
rolled, and displayed the glorious Stars
aud Stripes on the one mast, and Saint
Georges Red Gross on the other, while
our cannon thundered forth national
salute, and the full band gave US the i'm
posing "Hail Columbia. The salute
ended, two standards were handed-one,
the American, to a fine-looking English