Norwich bulletin., 1909-04-24
THAPTER III.

Vera Cruz2A Great Display of Fre-
 works-St. Marks, Floriaa-Deserr-
 ing the Ship-Return to Norwich
 Ropewalking - l Marry Wreck of
 the Atlantic-Sail for the Fl Dorado.
 In 1883 I sailed out of New York on the ship Sampson of the SWallowtail line of London packet ships In those days the New York packet ships Nere the pride of the Atlantic Ocean. They were known as the SWallOWtail and X line to London, the Black Hall Line to Liverpool and the Star Line, to lfaVre, France As there were no ocean steamers then, the sailing ships had the monopoly of the passenger traffic. and even after the establish ment of the steam- hip lines the pack cts continued to retain fair share of the business. The day after the death of President Harrison, the steamer Great Western and the packet snip Independence. Captain Wye, sailed out of New York, bound for London. On the thirteenth day out the lndepend
 enca passed the Great Western hove to during a gale of wind in the chops of the English Channel The packet $ lied into the Cove of Cork, came to anchor and sent her mails ashore, and the death of President Harrison was known in London some hours before the mail carried by the Great WestecI was received at the post office. ] aft @rWard sailed with Captain Wye 9s mate of the packet ship Henry Clay, and the way he carried sail on that ship gave me a pretty good idea of how he came out ahead of the Great Western. After the loss of the Henry Clay, Captain Nye was for number Of years master of one of the Atlantic steamers. The Henry Clay, when launched, was the largest ship in the merchant service, having register of thousand tons, and carrying crew Of forty-flve men before the mast. That was in 1S46. but the inventions and improvements since that time have enabled ships Of more than twice that tonnage 10 be ably handled by one half the number The double topsalls, the patent blocks, ard the dcnSey-er- gae have iu a great measure brought about these results.
 IL was when I was a boy sailing on board the New York and London pack et ships that the charter of the Hon. orahle East India company expired after 6 monopoly Of the tea trade With China for one hundred years. the length of time for which the charter was granted, the ships of the com pany were then the largest ships in the merchant service. They carried a number Of guns, the officers and crew wore uniforms, and regular man-O'-
 
 from the time of leaving London until return. When the charter of the com uany expired and the immense busi- | ness was closed. every man in the company's employ was given pensicn for life, or SO long as he remained in 1 England Should he wish to emigra te, 1 he could sell his pension, and 2 large l number of them did so. When q boy on board the packet ship Gladiator, | Captain Britten, we had as steerage | passengers some thirty or forty of | these pensioners who were coming with their families to seek homes in i the new world. They were all exceed | ingly nice people and when it was my | dog watch. below, from six to eight | ] would snend the evening in ming | ling with them.
 remember having an argument witT an old gentleman who had held a | prominent position in the employ Of | the company as to the possibility of | steamships ever crossing the Atlantic | I did not think that they would and | gave 1t as the ground of my opinion, | that no engine could be so firmly se- cured in the hull of a vessel as to | stand the strain of the heavy seas shJ | would encounter in crossing the At- | lantic ocean. The old gentleman al- 1 lowed that my argument was cOnviEc- | hE and all the listeners having con- | cured, it was then and there decided |
 
 success in crossing the Atlantic ocean | The opinion of that group, if any are living has, no doubt, undergone a | change since that night
 finally tired of life on a packet | ship, and concluded to try steamboat ing, so l accepted a position as Wood- passer on board the De Witt Clinton, a passenger boat plying between New Ycrk and Albany. and a grand old | boat she was for those days. Having four boilers two on each guard. and | four towering smokestacks, she was the pride of the North River, and l i was pr ud of being one of her crew. 4f | came she was laid up and ] had to seek other employment l found it after wandering about for awhile, and ship ped as able seaman on the DarQue | Ann Louisa, bound for Vera Cruz, Mexico. This was in 1927. We arrived off the harbor after an uneventful voy age, anly to find that war had been 5c- clared between Mexico and France, and the port blockaded by a French squadron then at anchor at tlA SAcrd- ticios. A siXgun brig was kept lay ing off and on to intercept all vessels attempting to enter the port, but as there had been rumors of trouble when our captain had left Vera Cruz on his last voyage he was not sur prised to find the blockade estabLshcd. The United States frigate Ontario, Commodore Breese, was anchored at the Sacrafcios at the time. and ar engagements had been made between the commodore and the French ad- niral that upon our arrival we would 1 be conveyed to the Sacrafcios and could land our passengers but the car go we should be obliged to return to New York. When it was known in the city that such was the decision that had been arrived at there was great excitement, for a good portion | of the cargo of the Ann Louisa con- eited of the machinery of a large man ufacturiug establishment in the City of Mexico. The building was com pleted and only waited for the ma chinery to be put in place in order to get the plant into operation.
 When the Ann Louisa hove in sight the gun brig had just taken in prize and come to anchor. The French ad- miral then signaled the brig 10 get under weigh to bring us in. The usual course for vessels to take on entering the harbor of Vera Cruz is to sail round the Castle of san Juan de Ulloa and come down on the inside to the anchorage. The brig, taking it for granted that we would do so, came along very deliberately. to intercept us, but before passing the Castle, a pilot boat hailed us and rounding to- told us to follow her in which we under the protection of the guns of the Castle. During the manoeuvre there arrived a twelve cared barge with swivel guns mounted on the gum wales, a common occurrence in those days. When they saw that we were getting away from them they began blazing away with their swivel gun,