Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-05-15
MY FIRST VOYAGE.

sailed from the East India docks on
Sept. 1, 1857, in the full rugged ship
Duncan Dunbar, 1,374 tons, for Sydney.
This vessel was named after her owner,
who was SO memorable a man in the
history of British shipping that I cannot
but pause a moment to refer to him.
To the eternal honor of Duncan Dun
bar be it said that he began life as a rag
and bottle merchant and worked with
such energy and skill that he died pos
sessed of more than two millions of
English gold and the finest fleet of mer-
chant ships at that time trading to all
parts of the world from the river
Thames He was remarkable for his
avarice, and many diverting stories of
his cheeseparing struggles were cur
rent on board his own vessels.
Unlike the shipowner of today, who
is with scarce an exception one of q COM
pany, Dunbar was the sole holder of his
fleet. He died in 1861, and portion of
his great wealth went to Mr.. Gellatly, a
very kind, gentlemanly person, who had
married the rich mans niece and for
years managed his business down near
the docks
went to sea as a midshipman in the
merchant service. But this is catch
penny term. Outside the royal navy
there are no midshipmen. Consequently,
as I did not ship as an apprentice,
must have signed articles as a boy sim
ply.
l think the premium charged for the
first voyage was 60 guineas. The outfit
cost about so. So that to send lad on
voyage in those days was costlier to a
parent than putting him to first class
school, where he would have got some
education, perhaps learned good man
ners and probably acquired a taste for
trade Or one of the professions.
Certainly of the midshipman in the
merchant service in my time not half
remained at sea after the first voyage,
and hardly youth out of our numbers
ever found a place upon the quarter
deck, even in the laughably low capacity
of fourth mate. Most of the captains
and officers began as apprentices or rose
from the forecastle.
was 13 years and ! months old when
I went to sea and was undoubtedly too
young for the vocation. Ihad no strength
Of body for the rough usage of the mid
shipman' s berth. I was too tender to go
aloft or to keep the deck through long,
bitter nights.
I well remember the day and the hour
when I stepped on board the Duncan
Dunbar, in the East India docks. 1t was
all wild confusion to my inexperienced
gaze. Immediately after I had gained
the ship she began to warp out of dock.
Drunken seamen on the forecastle were
shrieling and gesticulating to equally
drunken people ashore The waist and
quarter deck We're full of Bumpers, :"
or runners, elbowing crowds Of weep
ing steerage passengers, shabbily dress
ed and clutching screaming infants.
Eight or nine midshipmen were run
ming about the poop. [ could merely
hold on and look on. The confusion was
complicated by noise. Every one seemed
to be shouting, and nothing was at peace
ON board that frigate built ship, freight
ed to her chain plate bolts for the other
side of the world, except her blue peter,
signal of departure, blowing serenely at
her foreroyal masthead.
No work seemed expected of me- 1t
was required, however, that I should
not get in the way. AS I succeeded in
getting very much in the way I was
purposely knocked about, and when at
last was bowled down the poop ladder
by handsome rush of brass bound
"third voyagers" Twas glad to take ref
uge, with black eyes and streaming
nose, in the midshipmen' berth.
This was, in that ship, narrow COM
partment in the steerage under the quar-
ter deck. You reached it by manhole
called the BOBBY hatch, down which
sank perpendicular ladder. All was
gloom and misery and evil smells when
I went below for the first time, and for
long afterward did this state of wretch
edness last.
The emigrants were of the poorest and
shabbiest. They were lodged in this part
of the vessel, and they quarreled all the
day, and their babies cried all night.
No one can imagine in this age Of the
steamship the sufferings which the emf
grants underwent in the times of the
sailing ship. They cooked their own
food, and have seen crowd fighting
like drunken seamen at the galley door
Tor place for their saucepans or kettles
Not that the emigrant of today is a
particularly well fed, well berthed man,
but he is transported quickly. If his suf
ferings are keen, they are soon over. In
my time they were mcommonly sharp,
and they lasted four or five months.
The midshipman' berth was fitted
with IL hunks in double tiers. A mar
row slip of table ran down the center
The edge Of this table was like a saw
from the action of the knives of the
"young gentlemen" who used it for
cutting up plug tobacco. Every bunk
was to be filed this first voyage of mine,
so that we were IL midshipmen, worth
some e700 for the voyage to the owner,
irrespective of the value of our labor.
Moreover, each lad subscribed 10
guineas for what was termed mess mon
ey. So here was another e120 odd pounds
to add to the cost of the hire of dirty
little sea parlor in the bowels of ship
stuffed with cargo, bulkheaded off in
that part of her of which the emigrants
made Whitechapel alley.
A boy is young at 1917, and l felt
myself to be a very little fellow indeed
when stood in the door of that mid
shipments berth, peering into the gloom
with eyes brilliant with fear and aston
ishment. Was this to be my home until
returned to England? Was yonder rude
shelf to replace the white, soft bed I had
been used to? 1t was the middle OF the
day. Yet but for the flame of sputter-
ing lamp, dangling like a cotfeepot
from the center of the upper deck, it
would have been difficult to see. In fact,
this compartment was lighted by three
scuttles, or portfolios, only, round bulls
eyes of immensely thick glass, which