Leenaun brothers. Even the American – a sympathiser perhaps? Plenty of Americans weresympathisers now. Certainly he was never done skulking around steerage and scribbling like a constable in his little snitch’s notebook. And then there was the possibility that it was only a bluff; that nobody was watching; that Pius Mulvey was alone. But he wasn’t sure. You could never be sure.
A grunted snivel of languor made him turn and stare. Near him, by the half-open door of the galley, a shabby black bitch was nuzzling its vomit. Inside the cookhouse a neat little Chinaman was renting through the carcass of a pig with a hacksaw. Mulvey watched for a time, his tongue soaked with longing. Hunger roared up in him like a hopeless lust.
He walked the ship as though following a chart. Up. Down. Across. Back. Stem. Port. Stern. Starboard.
The churning of the waves. The ropes clanking on the masts. The blind of salt water. The wind ripping at the sails.
And the women talking. Always talking.
The younger ones especially.
I cant let you know how we are suffring unless you were in Starvation and want without freind or fellow to give you a Shilling But on my too bended Neese fresh and fasting I pray to god that you Nor one of yers may [neither] know Nor ever Suffer what we are Suffering At the present
Letter from Irish woman to her son in Rhode Island
CHAPTER V
THE ORDINARY PASSENGERS
T HE FIFTH DAY OF THE V OYAGE: IN WHICH THE C APTAIN MAKES NOTE OF A DISTURBING EVENT (WHICH SHALL HAVE THE MOST SEVERE R EPERCUSSIONS ).
Friday, 12 November, 1847
Twenty-one days at sea remaining
L ONG: 20°19.09′W. L AT: 50°21.12′N. A CTUAL G REENWICH S TANDARD T IME: 11.14 p.m. A DJUSTED S HIP T IME: 9.53 p.m. W IND D IR . & S PEED: N.W. Force 4. S EAS: Choppy all last night but middling fair now. H EADING: S.W. 226°. P RECIPITATION & R EMARKS: Extremely cold. Heavy rain and thunder all the day. The Kylemore out of Belfast two miles to the aft. Ahead of us the Blue Fiddle out of Wexford Town.
Last night four of the steerage passengers died: Peter Foley of Lahinch (forty-seven yrs, land labourer); Michael Festus Gleeson of Ennis (age unknown, but very aged, a purblind); Hannah Doherty of Belturbet (sixty-one yrs, a onetime domestic) and Daniel Adams of Clare (nineteen yrs; evicted tenant farmer). Their mortal remains were committed to the sea. God Almighty have mercy upon their souls and receive them unto that anchorage where reigns His peace.
The total of those who have died since this voyage commenced is eighteen. Five are in the hold this night, suspected of Typhus. Two, it is certain, will not see the morning.
I have given orders for burials to be conducted from the stern from now on and held at dawn or after dark. It is a habit of many of the women of steerage to indulge in ‘keening’ at such sad moments;a peculiar variety of wailing ululation where they rend their garments and pull at their hair. Some of the First-Class passengers were complaining about the disturbance. Lady Kingscourt, in particular, was a little concerned that her children might be distressed by the queer proceedings.
Large number of steerage with dysentery, scurvy or famine dropsy. Smaller number (about fifteen) with all three. One seaman, John Grimesley, is quite smitten with a fever. A steward, Fernão Pereira, has a septic wound to the hand, caused by a cut from a broken wineglass. Both men were seen by Surgeon Mangan, who put leeches on the first, and a pasted opiate poultice on the second. He is of the view that they will recover presently if excused from duty and so they have been. (Both are good honest men; no idlers or scrimshankers. I do not propose to dock any pay.) The Maharajah is also unwell, though only with seasickness, and has retired to his stateroom, not to be disturbed. I myself had a poor chest earlier in the day, and took a quarter-grain of opium. Found it vivifying.
Instructions have been issued for the men to desist from referring to
A grunted snivel of languor made him turn and stare. Near him, by the half-open door of the galley, a shabby black bitch was nuzzling its vomit. Inside the cookhouse a neat little Chinaman was renting through the carcass of a pig with a hacksaw. Mulvey watched for a time, his tongue soaked with longing. Hunger roared up in him like a hopeless lust.
He walked the ship as though following a chart. Up. Down. Across. Back. Stem. Port. Stern. Starboard.
The churning of the waves. The ropes clanking on the masts. The blind of salt water. The wind ripping at the sails.
And the women talking. Always talking.
The younger ones especially.
I cant let you know how we are suffring unless you were in Starvation and want without freind or fellow to give you a Shilling But on my too bended Neese fresh and fasting I pray to god that you Nor one of yers may [neither] know Nor ever Suffer what we are Suffering At the present
Letter from Irish woman to her son in Rhode Island
CHAPTER V
THE ORDINARY PASSENGERS
T HE FIFTH DAY OF THE V OYAGE: IN WHICH THE C APTAIN MAKES NOTE OF A DISTURBING EVENT (WHICH SHALL HAVE THE MOST SEVERE R EPERCUSSIONS ).
Friday, 12 November, 1847
Twenty-one days at sea remaining
L ONG: 20°19.09′W. L AT: 50°21.12′N. A CTUAL G REENWICH S TANDARD T IME: 11.14 p.m. A DJUSTED S HIP T IME: 9.53 p.m. W IND D IR . & S PEED: N.W. Force 4. S EAS: Choppy all last night but middling fair now. H EADING: S.W. 226°. P RECIPITATION & R EMARKS: Extremely cold. Heavy rain and thunder all the day. The Kylemore out of Belfast two miles to the aft. Ahead of us the Blue Fiddle out of Wexford Town.
Last night four of the steerage passengers died: Peter Foley of Lahinch (forty-seven yrs, land labourer); Michael Festus Gleeson of Ennis (age unknown, but very aged, a purblind); Hannah Doherty of Belturbet (sixty-one yrs, a onetime domestic) and Daniel Adams of Clare (nineteen yrs; evicted tenant farmer). Their mortal remains were committed to the sea. God Almighty have mercy upon their souls and receive them unto that anchorage where reigns His peace.
The total of those who have died since this voyage commenced is eighteen. Five are in the hold this night, suspected of Typhus. Two, it is certain, will not see the morning.
I have given orders for burials to be conducted from the stern from now on and held at dawn or after dark. It is a habit of many of the women of steerage to indulge in ‘keening’ at such sad moments;a peculiar variety of wailing ululation where they rend their garments and pull at their hair. Some of the First-Class passengers were complaining about the disturbance. Lady Kingscourt, in particular, was a little concerned that her children might be distressed by the queer proceedings.
Large number of steerage with dysentery, scurvy or famine dropsy. Smaller number (about fifteen) with all three. One seaman, John Grimesley, is quite smitten with a fever. A steward, Fernão Pereira, has a septic wound to the hand, caused by a cut from a broken wineglass. Both men were seen by Surgeon Mangan, who put leeches on the first, and a pasted opiate poultice on the second. He is of the view that they will recover presently if excused from duty and so they have been. (Both are good honest men; no idlers or scrimshankers. I do not propose to dock any pay.) The Maharajah is also unwell, though only with seasickness, and has retired to his stateroom, not to be disturbed. I myself had a poor chest earlier in the day, and took a quarter-grain of opium. Found it vivifying.
Instructions have been issued for the men to desist from referring to
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