The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-01-15
"StoWa ways.
Six Unknown WrCtches who Went
Down in the Wi de HaVrc.

Six Unknown Wrctcbes who Went
Down in the VII cdc Havrc.
In the melancholy catalogue of I'M,
fortunates engulfed in the Vile dc
Havre we read that there were six "stow.
aways." This term is sufficiently curi.
ous to call for an explanation. A "stow-
away" is an individual who, at the last
nUmru,, lust before the vessel leave
tn, dock, sinks on hoard, creeps below,
lud conccals himself in remote nooks
aud corners Of the lower deck or fore
peak. Sometimes he gets into the hold;
but there, if thp matches are batteuei
down. he runs the imminent risk of be-
ing smothered. At all events, he crawls
into his hiding place, and crouches
there like rat behind the wainsCot,
quaking for fear Of discovery. And de
lection must sooner or later be the doom
of the stowaway. SO well is the prac-
tee of smuggling human baggage known
to sea.going folks, that prior to Il large
emgrant ship sailing, there is generally
organized picket of sailors headed by
one of the mates, and furnished with
lanterns and rattans, who make tour
of exploration amorg the packing cases
and provision casks. Hunting for
stOwaways" is a most exciting sport the
wretched defaulters are started" from
their holes, roundly abused, hustled on
deck, "slanged" by the captain, and are
then contumaciously kicked over the
side. Some stowaways, however, gen
orally cOntrive to pass unnOtlced in the
H.,
the Vile de Havrc be considered
fair average among Il hundred and fifty
passengers. The ship, in any case, can
not be many days at sea before they are
discoverd. Every fresh hOgsliead of
beef or biscui, that is unheaded dimin-
ishes their chance of immunity; still
there have been known instances of the
unfortunate creatures being inadvertent-
ly jammed up between and behind heavy
piles of merchandise, and so suffering a
living entombment rivalling that of Con
stance de Beverly in horror. Stowaways
ragged from their hiding places when
the ship is in the blue water have to
take their chances and a very caami-
tous chance it is. IT the culprit be a
woman she has not much to fear. Jack
is proverbially gallant, and an active
woman may make herself very useful
in the cabin and coOk-house. But when
the offender happens to be a man, he
emphatically has bad time of it. He
may consider himself fortunate if he is
allowed to earn the worth of his bed
and board by performing the most
menial drudgery, and at the end of the
voyage from this port the captain can,
if he chooses, take the stowaway before
a magistrate nd have him punished for
fraud. 1t usually happens, however,
that the skipper, when the run is over,
is as glad to get rid of his passenger as
that passenger is 10 be we'll out Of the
ship. The former says nothing about
the pecunary loss his owners have suf-
fered, and the latter is quite content to
be silent with regard to the numerous at
tentions conveyed through the instru-
mentality of marlinspikes and ropes
ends with which he has been favored
by the boatswain What the French
authorities would have said to these
waits and strays on their arrival at
Havre is uncertain but the poor fell
lows need fear no frOwns of human
justice now. They are drowned.