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- 9595
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 9532
- text
- quay, this stupefied sailor, with a Scotch cap pulled down over his
closed eyes, only revealing a sallow Portuguese complexion, was lowered
on board by a rope under his arms, and passed forward by the crew, who
put him likewise into a bunk in the forecastle, the crimp himself
carefully tucking him in, and bidding the bystanders not to disturb him
till the ship was away from the land.
This done, the confusion increased, as we now glided out of the dock.
Hats and handkerchiefs were waved; hurrahs were exchanged; and tears
were shed; and the last thing I saw, as we shot into the stream, was a
policeman collaring a boy, and walking him off to the guard-house.
A steam-tug, the _Goliath,_ now took us by the arm, and gallanted us
down the river past the fort.
The scene was most striking.
Owing to a strong breeze, which had been blowing up the river for four
days past, holding wind-bound in the various docks a multitude of ships
for all parts of the world; there was now under weigh, a vast fleet of
merchantmen, all steering broad out to sea. The white sails glistened
in the clear morning air like a great Eastern encampment of sultans;
and from many a forecastle, came the deep mellow old song _Ho-o-he-yo,
cheerily men!_ as the crews called their anchors.
The wind was fair; the weather mild; the sea most smooth; and the poor
emigrants were in high spirits at so auspicious a beginning of their
voyage. They were reclining all over the decks, talking of soon seeing
America, and relating how the agent had told them, that twenty days
would be an uncommonly long voyage.
Here it must be mentioned, that owing to the great number of ships
sailing to the Yankee ports from Liverpool, the competition among them
in obtaining emigrant passengers, who as a cargo are much more
remunerative than crates and bales, is exceedingly great; so much so,
that some of the agents they employ, do not scruple to deceive the poor
applicants for passage, with all manner of fables concerning the short
space of time, in which their ships make the run across the ocean.
This often induces the emigrants to provide a much smaller stock of
provisions than they otherwise would; the effect of which sometimes
proves to be in the last degree lamentable; as will be seen further on.
And though benevolent societies have been long organized in Liverpool,
for the purpose of keeping offices, where the emigrants can obtain
reliable information and advice, concerning their best mode of
embarkation, and other matters interesting to them; and though the
English authorities have imposed a law, providing that every captain of
an emigrant ship bound for any port of America shall see to it, that
each passenger is provided with rations of food for sixty days; yet,
all this has not deterred mercenary ship-masters and unprincipled
agents from practicing the grossest deception; nor exempted the
emigrants themselves, from the very sufferings intended to be averted.
No sooner had we fairly gained the expanse of the Irish Sea, and, one
by one, lost sight of our thousand consorts, than the weather changed
into the most miserable cold, wet, and cheerless days and nights
imaginable. The wind was tempestuous, and dead in our teeth; and the
hearts of the emigrants fell. Nearly all of them had now hied below, to
escape the uncomfortable and perilous decks: and from the two
_“booby-hatches”_ came the steady hum of a subterranean wailing and
weeping. That irresistible wrestler, sea-sickness, had overthrown the
stoutest of their number, and the women and children were embracing and
sobbing in all the agonies of the poor emigrant’s first storm at sea.
- title
- Chunk 3