Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-07-18
frut1 giberia.
FROM the News and Courier.
the Az0R's TERRIBLE TRIP.
MR.. A. B. WILLIAMS DETAILED HISTORY OF
THE VOYAGE.

Mr.. A. B. WILLIAMS DETAILED HISTORY OF
THE VOYAGE.
SIERRA LEONE, May 80, 1S7S.-You all
know how the Azor, with her experimental
load, left Charleston amid the sounds Of "The
Gospel ship is sailin'" and "We'r boun' for
the promis' land" sung from the bark's decks,
and reechoed from the Pocosin and ALLISON.
The last sounds of Charleston heard by the
emigrants were the notes of "The Sweet Bye
and Bye" from the excursionists aboard the
Pocosin. 1t is customary in letters similar to
this to give over two or three pages of
"REFLECTIoNs ON LEAVING OUR NATIVE
ar. LAND" ...:-.:.,.
as if anybody cared snap what your rehee-
tions were. We, aboard the Azor, had our re-
Elections, and very grave ones, on leaving our
native land. We reflected whether or not we
were destined to be sea.sick, and to what ex-
tent. Doubts on the point were speedily and
decisively decided after crossing the bar. One
BY one the passengers fell, until, with one or
two honorable exceptions, everybody was
down. But surely such good natured and
philosophical set of sick people was never be.
fore seen. The steerage passengers would
each, between the intervals of his or her own
attacks, laugh at and initiate with grotesque
gestures and words of some unfortunate COM
rade, amid the uproarious hilarity OF the 9th.
ers. The few who we're not affected seemed
to witness the suderings of their fellows with
exquisite enjoyment. The hours passed thus
until bedtime, when most of the passengers
turned in" A few, however, preferred
catching what breeze there was by sleeping on
the decks. There was little application for
or dissatisfaction concerning the food that
evening. '.,
Il think most Of the passengers were much
disappointed in the ocean. They had evi.
IDENTIFY expected to meet with waves about
hundred feet high. ornamented with piscato-
rial banquets of whales, leviathans, sharks,
mermaids, sea COWS, and all the real and
mythical monsters of the deep. They were,
therefore, somewhat disgusted at the rpples
which sparkled in the sunlight in every dlrec'
ton, aud the fish which declined showing
themselves in any direction.
The morning of the second regular day,
found everybody languid, feeble and disposed
to fasting. Despite sickness, however, amuse-
ment could be found, for one way, in watch
ing the arrangement of society which even so
soon began to take place. The cabin passen.
gers composed the sEte-the creme de Ia CREME.
The quarter deck composed the ''West end"
of the Azor, (she was steering east) and there
the foot of the plebian who lived and moved
and had his being in the lower strata OF the
steerage, could not tread. The captain, the
two mates and |, the on y white souls aboard,
represented those frayed ends ofsociety ashore
who are tolerated everywhere, and welcomed
no where. At IL o'clock on Monday, April
%, it was announced that we we're
NINETY MILES FROM CHARLESTON BAR,
having been becalmed during large portion
of the night. All traces of land had faded
from sight, and felt some curiosity to see how
the sentimental, or love of home, would dis
play ITSELF Careful observation, however,
failed to discover an indication of either Of
those feelings. When the strip of mist, rep.
resenting the land of these peoples birth and
bringing up, which contained all the memo.
ries, sweet and bitter, of their past lives, and
on which their friends and kin yet remained,
was fading from their sight forever, there was
no development of any feeling other than
slight interest in the distance from them at
which 1t could be seen.
Every willing and witless wight who has
ever been to sea has exhausted his literary
abilities in describing the developments Of sea-
sickness 1t is unnecessary, therefore, for the
description to be gone into, especially as my
appreciation of the humorous features of the
performance is as yet slight. Suffice it, there.
fore, to say that the atliction was generally
remarkably we'll borne The passengers Of
the Azor had been forewarned, and seemed to
have made up their minds to submit with
equanimity. l wou d take this opportunity
to give notice that, having been rocked in the
cradle of the deep. am prepared to sell out
my stock in that article of furniture on ex-
tremely moderate terms, the subscriptions
having been (very) fully paid in, and no div
idends having as yet been drawn.
The second nautical day terminates at noon
on Tuesday. During that day we made 1874
miles, having had light wind nearly abeam,
and steering northeast This put US 224 miles
from Charleston bar-the "miles" referred to
being nautical ones, a fraction longer than
the statute measurement. On this day the
captain and mate went vigorously to work re-
ducing
to system. Messes were formed among the
tween decks passengers, containing from ten
to twenty-five persons each. Some man was
appointed to draw cooked provisions for each
of these messes, two meals day being allow
ed, at about II A. NJ. and P. M. These pro-
visions were taken from the general store, and
cooked in the galley. One of the emigrants
assisted the ships cook each day, the African
potentate engaged for that purpose having
absconded in Charleston. AS soon as the food
was cooked, the name of the head of each
mess was called from list, and he was given
prepared food sufficient for his party, which it
was his duty to divide equally. The food was
generally not good. There was superabun-
dance of meal, -four and rice and a good
quantity of meat the latter being pork and
salt beef The -four, however, was coarse and
black, and the meal seemed to give general
dissatisfaction, being freely stigmatized as
"kiln.dried stuff, only fit for hogs to eat" The
rice, too, was broken and dirty, requiring
much cleaning. The meat was enough to last
when carefully doled out All of it. except
FIVE barrels, belonged to the "six months
stores" intended by the emigrsnts for their
support in Liberia until the first crop is made; !;
but it was of necessity used on the voyage.
Of this matter shall have more to say here
after. The supply of molasses was so scant
that it could only be issued occasionally as
treat. In the haste and confusion generally
prevailing about the galley, the food was al
most invariably ill-cooked, causing much
complaint, and doubtless, suffering to persons
whose stomachs, made delicate by sea-sick-