St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-02-01
Letter from Florida.

To the Editor of the CaIedOnian
When | left home, Jan. 18th, | told
people that | should be in Florida to-
day at ten o'clock A. NJ. but am sorry
to say that | did not arrive here till one
O'Clock P. M.-three hours behind time.
The delay was occasioned by the south
wind blowing very hard ever since we
left New York but shall not say us
the cold woman" did that 81 hope it
will shift before | go back"
Presuming that some of your readers
may be anxious to know the expense
and incidents of a trip to Florida, will
try and give short account of the
same. left st. Johnsbury Jan. 18th.
on the 9 A. NJ. train, and arrived at
French's Hotel in New York at LEO p.
NJ, without anything extraordinary hap
pening. The ticket to New York was
SO; and as | took some luncheon with
me, the total expense for food and drink
was ten cents for cup of coffee. Next
morning | bought ticket to Jackson
vile, of j. w. Quintard & Co., Pier 81
North River, for $25, meals and state
room included. The 'barn at the mouth
of the st. Johns river has only about
ten feet of water at high tide, and as all
ocean steamships draw more than that,
a change to some other boat has to be
made somewhere. This can he done at
either Charleston, Savannah, or Fernan-
dina; but as found Oh my first trip
out that they charged us SO extra for
meals and berths from Savannah, have
always since gone via Charleston.
The 'Champion" was advertised to
leave at 3 P. NJ, but did not leave till
an hour later. She is rather an old
boat (built in 1852 of about 1900 tons
burden, and quite comfortable. As she
had accommodations for 100 passengers,
frst-class, and there we've only 30, each
had state-roOm to himself. There
was quite a stiff breeze blowing as we
went down the harbor, with the Savan-
nah and Wilmington boats just ahead.
The next day being the Sabbath, con-
cluded to observe it by not working or
edting-in fact ! didn't have any desire
for either. | tried to eat little, but it
wouldn't stay down. That night when
we were off the North Carolina coast, I
thought of the Huron but | find the
general opinion is that she was lost by
carelessness. An old sea captain who
was aboard, told me that any where off
the southern coast, person can tell
where he is by the ''lead,n even if the
compass is wrong. That is if the lead
indicates ten tathoms, that means ten
miles from land nine fathoms, nine
miles, etc.; and that every officer in
charge of a watch when he comes on
deck, at midnight, should sound, even
if he is in the middle of the ocean.
We passed Hatteras at 6 A. NJ. Mon
day, and during the day met steamer
going north. The passengers now be-
gan to recover their appetites, and
make up for what they had lost. We
had breakfast at 8, soup at 10, dinner at
2, and supper at 6. If that is not enough,
by giving waiter so cents you can get
as much more as you want. That night
we ran into fog, and the whistle was
sounded occasionally to prevent col
lisions. Although we were so or rs
miles from land, there were plenty of
white and grey gulls that followed us
for miles to pick up the slops or bread
that was thrown to them. When we
threw them bread it generally struck
the water, but one of them would dive
1T, and always secured it, We should
have been in Charleston Tuesday morn
ing, but by reason of the headwind
did not get off the bar till 5 P. NJ. and
had to wait till $3.50 for the tide, when
we crossed, arriving at the wharf at III