The Emigrants Found Amusement

Where they Could.

A COMPLAINT often made by emigrants was that they had been told that they need bring nothing on board with them and afterwards wished they had shipped extra food and comforts. They did not starve without food of their own, but any food not the ship’s was an exciting interruption in the monotony of their diet. The Company, though full of forethought, even supplying clothing to the people, let them get along with only one plate apiece. The emigrants took two outer suits and a dozen changes of underclothes and socks aboard with them. They had to have a month’s supply in a bag kept in their berths. The rest of their property was stowed down in the hold, where they got at it once in every three weeks. They usually took the opportunity to bring up all sorts of odds and ends and amused themselves driving bargains with their fellow-passengers. One Scot shopkeeper successfully disposed   of   whisky,   dried   herrings,   and   religious tracts.

One of the favourite amusements on board was dancing in the evening to the strains of somebody’s fiddle or flute. Among daytime sports were snaring albatrosses and shooting porpoises. Fishing was a more innocent occupation, and a shark would be cooked and shared about as a delicacy. The Captain sometimes would put out a boat in a calm to allow the gentlemen of the cabin to bathe. Or a large sail would be put over the side, forming a shallow swimming bath in which all passengers might splash about. When the ship crossed the Ling, Neptune came on board and lathered new­comers and collected a fine from his new subjects •—a chance for the sailors to indulge in mild practical jokes and levy time-honoured tribute. One of the most exciting of all diversions was ‘ speaking’ other ships by trumpet or flag signals whenever they met in the empty wastes of the sea.