Recollections of Europe | Page 5

the side of the ship,) and said, "A clear quarter-deck! a good
time to take a walk, sir." I had it all to myself, sure enough, for the first
two or three days, after which our land-birds came crawling up, one by
one; but long before the end of the passage nothing short of a
double-reefed-topsail breeze could send the greater part of them below.
There was one man, however, who, the mate affirmed wore the heel of
a spare topmast smooth, by seating himself on it, as the precise spot
where the motion of the ship excited the least nausea. I got into my

berth at nine; but hearing a movement overhead about midnight, I
turned out again, with a sense of uneasiness I had rarely before
experienced at sea. The responsibility of a large family acted, in some
measure, like the responsibility of command. The captain was at his
post, shortening sail, for it blew fresher: there was some rain; and
thunder and lightning were at work in the heavens in the direction of
the adjacent continent: the air was full of wild, unnatural lucidity, as if
the frequent flashes left a sort of twilight behind them; and objects were
discernible at a distance of two or three leagues. We had been busy in
the first watch, as the omens denoted easterly weather; the English bark
was struggling along the troubled waters, already quite a league on our
lee quarter.
I remained on deck half an hour, watching the movements of the master.
He was a mild, reasoning Connecticut man, whose manner of
ministering to the wants of the female passengers had given me already
a good opinion of his kindness and forethought, while it left some
doubts of his ability to manage the rude elements of drunkenness and
insubordination which existed among the crew, quite one half of whom
were Europeans. He was now on deck in a southwester,[1] giving his
orders in a way effectually to shake all that was left of the "horrors" out
of the ship's company. I went below, satisfied that we were in good
hands; and before the end of the passage, I was at a loss to say whether
Nature had most fitted this truly worthy man to be a ship-master or a
child's nurse, for he really appeared to me to be equally skilful in both
capacities.
[Footnote 1: Doric--south-wester.]
Such a temperament is admirably suited to the command of a packet--a
station in which so many different dispositions, habits and prejudices
are to be soothed, at the same time that a proper regard is to be had to
the safety of their persons. If any proof is wanting that the characters of
seamen in general have been formed under adverse circumstances, and
without sufficient attention, or, indeed, any attention to their real
interests, it is afforded in the fact, that the officers of the packet-ships,
men usually trained like other mariners, so easily adapt their habits to

their new situation, and become more mild, reflecting and humane. It is
very rare to hear a complaint against an officer of one of these vessels;
yet it is not easy to appreciate the embarrassments they have frequently
to encounter from whimsical, irritable, ignorant, and exacting
passengers. As a rule, the eastern men of this country make the best
packet-officers. They are less accustomed to sail with foreigners than
those who have been trained in the other ports, but acquire habits of
thought and justice by commanding their countrymen; for, of all the
seamen of the known world, I take it the most subordinate, the least
troublesome, and the easiest to govern, so long as he is not oppressed is
the native American. This, indeed, is true, both ashore and afloat, for
very obvious reasons: they who are accustomed to reason themselves,
being the most likely to submit to reasonable regulations; and they who
are habituated to plenty, are the least likely to be injured by prosperity,
which causes quite as much trouble in this world as adversity. It is this
prosperity, too suddenly acquired, which spoils most of the labouring
Europeans who emigrate; while they seldom acquire the real, frank
independence of feeling which characterizes the natives. They adopt an
insolent and rude manner as its substitute, mistaking the shadow for the
substance. This opinion of the American seamen is precisely the
converse of what is generally believed in Europe, however, and more
particularly in England; for, following out the one-sided political
theories in which they have been nurtured, disorganization, in the
minds of the inhabitants of the old world, is inseparable from popular
institutions.
The early part of the season of 1826 was remarkable for the quantities
of ice that had drifted from the north into the track of European and
American