Wichita eagle., 1888-06-19
A PASSAGE IN THE sTeERAGE.
Some OF the Disconforts Encountered
During an Ocean Voyage.

Some OF the Disconforts Encountered
During an Ocean Voyage.
1t may serve as warning to all con
eerned to publish the following extracts
from recent private letter. giving an &C
count OF the first part Of voyage to the
River Plate en- board one Of the finest
steamers afoat, and belonging to one Of
the best known companies, The writer Is
young man who has to face the world
as best he may, and by necessity took q
steerage passage. he says:
I'm the bay of Biscay we have had very
bad weather-high wind. rain and heavy
seas Last night was dreadful The
horrors of steerage passage can only be
realized by experience The feod Is bad
and is eaten the best way We can manage.
There is no table We must eat-sitting
on wooden bench or standing-from
greasy tin plates with greasy tin spoons
out Of greasy tin mugs. At 7 q. m. we
semblance to coffee, without milk, and
good bread. which is the only good thing
we have. There is also substance they
term butter" but the sight and smell Of
1t are enough. At a. N. we have break
Aoops "ihSA CCOSlStS VI a hAOQ Vi SOUpV
stew with potatoes, and concoction
which has not the least resemblance to
tea, being, in fact, merely dirty water
do not drink it. At neon we have dinner,
which consists of beef cut in slices about
an inch thick, and which will not yield to
mastication. potatoes and bread and water.
at p. M we have more soupy stew and
biscuit, which will yield only to the ham
mer. These are all the meals; and the
bill of fare has only varied twice in four
days-once on Sunday, when we had salt
fish, which was horrible. and today, when
we had salt pork, which was worse.
"Ihe sleeping arrangements are on
par with the rest Our cabin has twenty
eight berths, which are all full. The
hunks are about two feet wide, and the
beds are composed of a straw mattress
and pillow, and two blankets. The wash
ing arrangements are simple-tin basins.
with about two inches of water. Baths
there are none. The state of dirt we
shall be in when we reach Montevideo l
cannot conjecture. At night We have
only one Gght-a dingy oil lamp. But
the worst is to come At Bordeaux, Cor
unna and Virgo. we took on a cargo Of
the wretchedest ragtag and bobtail of the
French, Spanish and Portuguese nations
men, women and children believe
we now have about eight or nine hundred
of these on board, and there are more to
come at Lisbon, which we should reach
tomorrow.
The scenes that have taken place on
deck and below since these poor wretches
came on board battle description. Men,
women and children are scattered about,
eating. drinking, chattering, singing and
vomiting. Fortunate it is that our cabin
is full, so that these people are berthed in
other cabins; but the noise at night and
the stencil are horrible Some Of them
are literally in rags, many without shoes
or stockings, but all with one accord are
very dirty, Moreover, the ship itself is
dirty. There seems to be no attempt to
keep it clean The door of our cabin is
slippery with grease and dirt. We have
three unkempt Portuguese stewards to
attend on us. They are fairly civil The
only English steerage passengers are the
twenty eight in our cabin. They ere all
decent fellows, Some are engine drivers
from the Midland railway. some clerks,
etc. They share little Injuries freely with
one another. AS the above mentioned rag
tag and bobtail are In the habit of steal
ing out of the cabins. and even ripping
bags open. we have organized a watch Of
half an hour spell each, so that the
cabin is never left untenanted all day
st. James Gazette.