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ahead and saw that the Salamis had
only drawn ahead of us by about a mile during the half-hour or so that I
had been below, I was by no means dissatisfied. She was evidently an
elderly ship, for everything about her in the way of fittings and
equipment was old-fashioned; but she was as strong as oak and iron
could make her, her scantling being nearly twice as heavy as that of the
Salamis. Her bulwarks were almost as high and solid as those of a
frigate, and she was pierced to mount seven guns of a side, but no
longer carried any artillery on her decks excepting two brass six-
pounders for the purpose of signalling. She was very loftily and solidly
rigged, and it did not take me long to ascertain that she had been most
liberally maintained, much of her rigging, both standing and running,
being new, while her ground tackle was ponderous enough to hold a
ship of double her size. "Not much chance," thought I, "of this old
barkie dragging her anchors home and driving ashore in anything short
of a hurricane!" She carried a full poop, the break of which came so far

forward that there was scarcely room to pass comfortably between the
foot of the poop ladders and the combing of the after hatch. The poop
cabin was a very spacious affair, extending, for the greater part of its
length, to the full width of the ship, and it was most comfortably fitted
up, although, as might be expected, it lacked the luxurious finish of the
Salamis' cuddy. It looked as though it might at one time have been
fitted with staterooms on either side for the accommodation of saloon
passengers; but, if so, they had all been removed, save two at the fore
and two at the after end of the cabin. And even these were now
unoccupied, the boatswain and carpenter occupying the staterooms at
the fore end of the structure, in which the chief and second mate had
originally been berthed.
The captain's cabin was abaft the saloon, in the extreme after end of the
ship, and was an unusually commodious and airy apartment, extending
the entire width of the ship, and splendidly lighted and ventilated by a
whole range of large stern windows. There was a fine, roomy, standing
bed-place on the starboard side, with a splendid chest of drawers under
it; a washstand and dressing-table at the foot of it; a large and well-
stocked bookcase on the port side; a chart rack occupied the whole of
the fore bulkhead; the floor or deck of the cabin was covered with a
handsome Turkey carpet; and a mahogany table, big enough to
accommodate a large chart, stood in the middle of the apartment. This
was where I was to sleep, and to spend in privacy as much of my
waking time as I chose. "Truly," thought I, "this is an agreeable change
from my cramped quarters aboard the Salamis!"
Having completed the establishment of myself in this luxurious cabin,
by turning out my chest and hanging up such of my clothes as I was
likely to want immediately, and so on, I went on deck again, where the
carpenter, who told me that his name was Tudsbery--"Josiah Tudsbery,
your honour, sir,"--was on duty, and requested him to conduct me
below to the emigrants' quarters, which, I found, occupied the whole of
the 'tween-decks. Here again the liberality of the ship's owners became
manifest, for the whole fitting up of the place was vastly superior to
what was at that time considered good enough accommodation for
emigrants; the married quarters consisting of a number of quite

comfortable and roomy cabins; while the spaces allotted to the
accommodation of the single men and women ensured to their
occupants such complete privacy as was deemed quite unnecessary in
those days. I found that it was the duty of the emigrants to keep their
own quarters clean, and this seemed to have been somewhat neglected
of late. I therefore gave orders that all hands should at once turn-to and
give the 'tween-decks a thorough cleansing, in readiness for another
inspection by myself at eight bells in the afternoon watch.
The emigrants aboard the Mercury numbered two hundred all told;
namely thirty-three married couples, twenty-eight unmarried women,
forty-two unmarried men, and sixty-four children, of whom one--a
sweet, good- tempered baby girl--had been born during the voyage.
They, the emigrants, seemed to be a very mixed lot, ranging from
clod-hopping, agricultural labourers, whose intelligence seemed
insufficient to enable them to appreciate the wonder of a flying-fish or
the beauty of a golden, crimson, and purple sunset, to individuals of so
refined and intellectual an appearance and so polished a behaviour, that
the fact of their