New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-03-09
TIE NORTH ATLANTIC.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE WAY IN WHICH 1T
MAY BE CROSSED WITH THE MOST
DISCOMFORT.
At Sea, IS. Germanic. Feb. 10.


]icbtful that in sitting down yesterday and to-day
20 write am DENYING myself all sorts of pleas
ures, and my only excuse WAS an" - 'i'"V "''0
something TO say.
We were told last year that the number of
6rst-class MESSENGERS who crossed the Atlantic
from York TO European ports exceeded 10000.
The tide of travel for that year was swollen by
the Paris Exposition, yet again this year the
same figure is likely to he reached or passed
Each one of this multitude has an interest IN his
voyage to and fro. lie would like TO make II
comfortably and pleasantly If he be an old
traveller his own experience Will instruct him. or
ought to instruct him, better than anybody else
how to attain this end. But the ola travellers
among the $4,000 are in minority. ana inc
new ones-where are they TO turn for counsel
Guidebooks will tell them little, and steamship
advertisements sometimes tell them too much
vet not what they most want to know. almost
believe it might answer well the purpose OF the
great companies if they would canddly set lorth
the defects of their several lines and ships. as
Mr. Labouchere did when he wished to sell
suburban villa and advertised it as possessing
very small and inconvenent stables. Then Wha'
thew say of their merits and advantages might
gain more entire belief.
II friend were to ask me privately what |
thOugnl OIL Ilc Ol0cTtDt tIdiSN'i"H'iN
lines / would tell him. If he asked me to advise
him by which to travel, | should not hesitate
to advise him. There is no act in life which
can be performed with more perfect freedom
from all sense of responsibility than the act OF
giving advice With the public | take no such
liberty In the few words have 10 say. / shall
not do otherwise than rccte one or two general
propositions which the reader. if he be so IN
clined, may erect for himself into principles 10
be followed perhaps by such casual hints ana
suggestions as occur 10 one on board ship. II he
wants more than that. he will easily find among
his acquaintance men or women VINO
have crossed often, and have positive
views about lines and ships Let him
profit by their large experience. This Is but my
fourth passage during the last three years. II
is, however. nearly quarter of century since
nv first, and the subject of Transatlantic travel
is always one of interest to an American who
lives abroad Perhaps not a week in any year
passes during which | have not heard from some
friend or felow-ctizcn some comment or new
fact on this evcr-frcsh question OF ships and
captains and companies, and the comforts and
discomforts of Atlantic voyagins. | draw on
all these stores of knowledge.
And first as to fast passages. The phrase is
relative; the speed Of ten years ago seems but
moderate VO-tON. anu lfu Nt3lS Iti4NC 'iV piNS"'
City of Paris may be as much out of date as her
predecessor Of the same name and line which
twenty-five years ago ranked as a crack ship by
dnt of indine her way from port to port in ten
DAYS or So The passion for speed is rife in the
breasts of those imperfecty constituted travellers
TO whom an Atlantic voyage is something other
than delight. | leave business men ont Of tie
account. They pronounce solemn orations on the
value of time 1t is not time. not the difference
Of day or two which is valuable to them, but
they dread competition The young Engllshman
who ruShes over to the States" 10 buy cotton
cannot endure to think that the other young
Englishman the same errand should arrive
day before him. Whether each of them shall
spend seven days the voyage or eight days
matters little or nothing. There is type Of
American who stands in q different category
He is born into this world with a stock Of fcverish
impotence such as no individual Of any other
race in any time ever possessed. His main OBJ
ject in life is to be somewhere else. and his
ambition is TO let there soon as possible. Him.
too / leave on one side. lie is not 10 be reasoned
with, and will reject with contempt the main
proposition which base what have t. say
about ocean travel. which is this
That it is better to be comfortable for seven
days than to be miserable for six.
1t is proposition which, as an abstract state
ment, most people would accept. but when it
comes to voyages across the Atlantic. the majority
do not accept it nor act on il. They act as if
the contrary maxim were true They crowd Oh
board the fastest ship simply because SIC is Tire
fastest. 1t does not maftrr o.c straw to them
whether they reach Liverpool Thursday or Friday.
They will be more eager T. get away from it
than they were to arrive. But pace has an inc
sistible fascination for them Last
asked Western friend why he had taken passage
in particular ship which, though She had al that
time made a record, was less comfortable
than some of her rivals. His eye
kindled as lie answered: Il want % see
her go through the water" lie is a man Of dis
tinction enough and force Of character enough 10
stand apart from any class or crowd, Western OF
other, yet this fever had seized Oh him as on the
others. The company managers are students Of
human nature as well as OF naval architecture,
and there is not a toiblc OF which they do not
take advantage II is their business to get passen-
gers, and if the average passenger were known to
prefer his ship painted red, red would be the only
Atlantic color
:" If you only give them speed, said one Of these
astute gentlemen the other day, you may pack
them as close as you ike On that principle
most of the great companies now build. ! asked
a competent person: what sort OF Ship below
is the ---?"-well suppress her name. ="
don't call her a Ship" responded he, Il call her
a rabbt-warren.' Speed SIZE beyond dispute has
and her owners have proved their full faith in the
doctrine above quoted, and the passengers who
burrow between decks have every opportunity 10
decide for themselves whether they like being
closely packed not. In the old days, people
preferred outside staterooms to inside. Little did
they then dream OF deck with corridors athwart-
ship and eight cabins on each side opening out OF
each corridor; in other words, six inside state
rooms 10 every two outside. When you come into
the saloon or deck, the situation does not i'm
prove. The largest ships-with cXceptiOns-arC
built 10 carry twice as many iirst-casS passengers
as can lunch or dine at the same time in the
saloon. Two luncheous and two dinners arc
served each day. Nnn NAV put XOnr nainc down