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- # CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS (excerpt)
## Overview
This is an excerpt from Chapter XXXIII of Herman Melville's novel *Redburn*, focusing on a description of the Liverpool docks. The excerpt, a chapter, spans lines 6456-6505 of the source file [redburn.txt](arke:01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF). It is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.
## Context
This chapter excerpt is part of the larger [CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS](arke:01KG8AJRKNFPGM1AKGB393MHFG) within the novel *Redburn*. The file [redburn.txt](arke:01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF) was processed by a structure extraction tool to identify chapters and sections. The subsequent section in the chapter is [The Salt-Droghers](arke:01KG8AKJ86MMH6FKESBK9CQMY3).
## Contents
The excerpt describes the bustling activity and diverse representation of ships from around the world in the Liverpool docks. It likens the docks to a walled town, an archipelago, and a grand inn, emphasizing the variety of vessels and their crews. The passage mentions ships from Canada, New Zealand, America, India and Norway, and describes the scene as a place where "all climes and countries embrace." The narrator reflects on spending hours observing the ships and imagining their voyages. Different types of ships are mentioned, including a black brig from Glasgow, a French hermaphrodite, a New York Liner, and a Sidney emigrant ship.
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- CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS (excerpt)
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- CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS
Surrounded by its broad belt of masonry, each Liverpool dock is a
walled town, full of life and commotion; or rather, it is a small
archipelago, an epitome of the world, where all the nations of
Christendom, and even those of Heathendom, are represented. For, in
itself, each ship is an island, a floating colony of the tribe to which
it belongs.
Here are brought together the remotest limits of the earth; and in the
collective spars and timbers of these ships, all the forests of the
globe are represented, as in a grand parliament of masts. Canada and
New Zealand send their pines; America her live oak; India her teak;
Norway her spruce; and the Right Honorable Mahogany, member for
Honduras and Campeachy, is seen at his post by the wheel. Here, under
the beneficent sway of the Genius of Commerce, all climes and countries
embrace; and yard-arm touches yard-arm in brotherly love.
A Liverpool dock is a grand caravansary inn, and hotel, on the spacious
and liberal plan of the _Astor House._ Here ships are lodged at a
moderate charge, and payment is not demanded till the time of
departure. Here they are comfortably housed and provided for; sheltered
from all weathers and secured from all calamities. For I can hardly
credit a story I have heard, that sometimes, in heavy gales, ships
lying in the very middle of the docks have lost their
top-gallant-masts. Whatever the toils and hardships encountered on the
voyage, whether they come from Iceland or the coast of New Guinea, here
their sufferings are ended, and they take their ease in their watery
inn.
I know not how many hours I spent in gazing at the shipping in Prince’s
Dock, and speculating concerning their past voyages and future
prospects in life. Some had just arrived from the most distant ports,
worn, battered, and disabled; others were all a-taunt-o—spruce, gay,
and brilliant, in readiness for sea.
Every day the Highlander had some new neighbor. A black brig from
Glasgow, with its crew of sober Scotch caps, and its staid,
thrifty-looking skipper, would be replaced by a jovial French
hermaphrodite, its forecastle echoing with songs, and its quarter-deck
elastic from much dancing.
On the other side, perhaps, a magnificent New York Liner, huge as a
seventy-four, and suggesting the idea of a Mivart’s or Delmonico’s
afloat, would give way to a Sidney emigrant ship, receiving on board
its live freight of shepherds from the Grampians, ere long to be
tending their flocks on the hills and downs of New Holland.
- title
- CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS