Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-08-28
designate the city of Rome as a floating pal
ace. 1t was built at Barrow, in Furness, by

ace. 1t was built at Barrow, in Furness, by
the Barrow shipbuilding company. The
entire length of the city Of Rome is six hun
dred and twenty-five feet. The available
length, five hundred and sixty feet. The
breadth of beam is fifty-three feet, and the
depths of the holds thrty-seven feet The
registered capacity of the vessel is eight
thousand four hundred and fifteen tons. The
engines are capable of being worked up to
fifteen thousand horse power. The steam
necessary to drive this huge fabric is gener-
ated by sixty-three fires, which consume,
daily, two hundred and forty tons of coal.
The accommodations for passengers on this
floating palace, are equal to those possessed
by any frst-class city hotel. There are
state-rooms sufficient to accommodate four
hundred and eighty cabin, or first-class pas
sengers, and accommodations for q much
greater number of intermediate and steer
age passengers. The dining room is seven
ty-tWo feet long and fifty two feet wide.
The drawing room is one hundred feet long,
the floor of which is covered with rich car
pet, and the sides furnished with lounges,
and at one end is grand piano. The ladies,
boudoir, on the main deck, is furnished in
the most exquisite taste. At night the YES
sci is lighted by electricity and fitted up
with electric call bells. The number OF
clCCGIlC IldllSlLS llOlll SCliiLS AZ
thirty-two. In addition to the above, the
vessel is provided with hot, cold and salt
water baths, two smoking rooms, a barber
shop, and every other convenience. There
is also bar-room, in WhiCn are kept liquors
of all kinds; but if there was any drinking
to excess on board, did not see its effects.
The passengers were, so far as discovered,
all sober. There was much gambling in the
way of betting on the distance the vessel
would run during the day.
Here may remark, that gambling is less
common among the people of the Southern
States, perhaps it is less common in all the
United States, than it is among some classes
of the English. Many Of the rich men OF
England do nothing except gamble, and the
practice is not uncommon among all classes.
The English are notorious for their horse
racing; but they are also notorious for bet
ting on almost any and everything. They
get up pools on things that no other people
would think of. AS an example, l may
state that sometimes pool is got up with
regard to the length of a preachers sermon
on Sabbath. In this way considerable sums
of money are lost and won on the Sabbath
When the city Of Rome reached the banks
of Newfoundland, the air became intensely
cold. A huge iceberg was discovered north
of the vessel, only few miles distant II
rose above the water some fifty feet. An
iceberg is certainly a beautiful thing, even
if it is dangerous.
During all my life, 1 have had desire to
see the sun rise and set on the ocean. This
desire was at last gratiied. 1t is grand
sight, but indescribable.
On Sabbath morning, August 3rd, l rose
at about daybreak and looking out l saw
land. It was only barren island, but
,Focc T r10 T rrIn
was soon to join friends, and was glad that
I saw the soil of my native land. The
whole of the Sabbath from early in the NOR.
ming until two in the afternoon, was spent
it waiting for the tide. The city Of Rome
cannot cross the bar at New York except
when the tide is up. 1t was Wretchedly
bad spent Sabbath. Everybody seemed tc
be in half crazy state. All the passengers
were moving about through the various
apartments Of the vessel, as if looking fol
something; but no one knew what that
something was. At intervals during the
day, a dense fog hung over us. About
o'clock in the afternoon, the fires in the en-
gine room of the city Of Rome were replen,
ished with coal, and all were confident thai
the night would be spent on land. But g
series of hindrances awaited us. The fog
continued, and our progress was necessarily
slow. In addition to this, the health Off
GERS and custom house officers sent out from
New York, stopped us. The health officers
| required us to sign paper that we were moi
then sick with cholera, and that we had not
been in Toulon during the last seven days
The custom house officers required us tt
make out correct list Of our baggage, sta
ting what was subject and what nOtsubject
to duty. This consumed long time, and
aroused the indignation of every passenger
on board. Not that any one was disposed
to evade the law, but every one thought
that the examination should have been at
tended to while the ship was lying at an
chor outside of the bar.
1t was now late in the afternoon. We
were in sight of New York. In fact, we
were within few hundred yards of the
pier. Our baggage had all been taken out
of the staterooms, and baggage room, and
piled up in endless confusion on the steer.
age deck. The Captain proposed to take
the Cabin passengers ashore on tender
Every one accepted the offer, but when the
tender arrived it was learned, to the NOR
tifcation of all that no one would be allow.
ed to take any baggage off the ship except
what was actually necessary in order tC
spend the night comfortably. The result
was, that no one except the passengers
whose homes are in New York or Brook
lyn landed. The baggage wasall brought in
and piled up in the drawing room. Every
body went to bed and slept soundly until
daylight. Sometime about o'clock on
Monday morning, the city Of Rome entered
the slip, and the baggage belonging to the
cabin passengers was soon undergoing an
examination by the custom house officers.
No one had any duties to pay except
the preachers, and it was said the only
reason thev hed anv thinp TO nav waS that
they told the truth. 1t seems hard that
men have to pay for being truthful.
ROBERT LATHAM.