The leader., 1904-05-25
NEW ORLEANS TO NEW YORK.
Or. Henry Flowers Writes Interestingly
Of Ills Trip by Water.
New York, N. Y.
May, 16 1904.

Mdy3 ~ 40Ofs
Editor of Brookhaven Leader
Thinking that some account of
my voyage from New Orleans to
New York, on board of steamship
."Comus, !" of the Morgan Line,
plying between New Orleans,
New York and other cities, would
not prove undressing to many
of your readers, a goodly number
of whom / take pleasure in num-
bering among my personal friends,
! have determined, if you think
it werth publishing, to give them,
briefly, the main points of inter-
est as it appeared to me. Never
having before had any experience
with ocean travel, it was to me
almost as if / had been suddenly
translated into another sphere of
existence. The entire distance
was made without any incident to
mar the enjoyment of the passage.
/ did not suffer the slightest in
convenience from seasickness, an
exemption which very few of my
fellow passengers enjoyed. In
fact, during the first day out from
the Mississippi River, the ship
seemed to be almost without pas
sengers, so general was the COM
plant of seasickness among those
on board, necessitating their re-
naming in their rooms.
We left New Orleans at 1:45 p.
m. on Wednesday, the 18th inst,
with forty eight passengers of the
first class, thirty of the second,
and about twenty five Storage
passengers. Every body seemed
as if he was out for a holiday.
There was a total absence of that
incivility and selfshness SO often
observed in railway travel. There
was general mingling in social
intercourse that was pleasant to
see---of course passengers of our
class did not mix up with those of
other classes.
The firstspoint of interest to me
was the Algiers dry dock, built
by the government about two
miles from the wharf at Canal St.
1t is thought the government will
enlarge it, making it one of the
largest in the world. For the in
formation of those who do not
know what dry dock is, l will
explain that it is a structure built
for the purpose of lifting ships
outo of the water, so that their bot
toms may be repaired when nee
essary, and also have them scrap
ed of caIcarious and other matters
which form IN crustations on their
bottoms which act as an impedi-
ment to the progress of the ship.
At this season the Mississippi
River is full---the surface of its
waters being several feet above
the ground on either side, giving
a ship a rather picturesque APP
pearance, as it rapidly floats on
its muddy rushing water. Much
of the country on both sides are
cultivated farms of coin and sugar
cane.
The next objects of special in
terest were the forts which have
been constructed not far from the
mouth of the river to protect the
city. These forts are named Forts
Jackson and st. Phillip. They
are situated at point opposite
each other which commands the
river for several miles below.
Very heavy, disappearing guns
are mounted in these forts. A few
miles below>the forts are what is
known as the jetties. The river
empties its waters into the Gulf
of Mexico through several mouths,
and it is what seemed to me to be
the narrowest of these, that has.
been selected for navigation. This
is known as South Pass which has
been deepened by system of jet
ties, enabling the largest ships to
enter the river and reach New
Orleans. It was about an hour
after dark of the fist day that we
entered the Gulf which even a no.
vice could recognize by the rock
ing and swaying of the ship. At
the very dawn of the next morn
ing | was up and out on deck to
behold the wonders of the deep.
| had many times seen the sun as
it slowly arose above the eastern
fields and hills, but the most beau
tiful and gorgeous sunrise had
ever witnessed was on this our
FIRST morning at sea. There were
no clouds to be seen except on the
horizon and as the first
rays Of the sun touched and firing
ed them with its goldeS beams, it
was sight to be enjoyed " an
gels and men. We were out of