Cabin Fever
It is family lore that my grandfather was a cabin boy.
But I don’t know when, and I don’t know where. But I imagine it’s where I get my wander-lust, itchy-feet from. (They are currently itchy.)
I do have hand-me-down memories - I was told as a child that he sailed round the Capes of Good Hope and Cape Horn. I have two photographs of sailing ships - see above - I have his sea chest (which was apparently repurposed as a cot for my uncle in 1923, and is now my linen chest), and my grandmother once told me of his wish to live in a little cottage just outside Caernarfon on the Menai Straits so that he could watch the boats go by. This never happened.
Travelling was clearly in the blood.
The other day, I stumbled across an account of a voyage from Caernarfon to America in 1818, when a lot of people left these shores to find a better, less complicated life. Not completely sure they found it, but the pull factor of the New World seems to have been so great that they would suffer the indignities of a long voyage into the unknown, possibly never to return.
But what was that voyage actually like?
The 1818 account tells the story of the Brig Albion and its master Llewelyn Davies. He had been hired by a man called Griffith Jones in Liverpool, with an all Welsh crew recruited in Cardigan. The plan was take a full load of passengers, men, women and childfren across the Atlantic on a voyage that would take 45 days in total. (Never will I complain about delayed European flights again.)
The ship left Caernarfon on the 21st of May, loaded with coal, food and water for a pessimistic three months
There was some feverish initial organisation. Four young men who tasked with lighting fires and acting as stewards. Seven men, heads of the families on board, were to act as a liaison group.
There were rules:
To keep the Sabbath, and attend services on deck - unless it was raining.
No swearing - punishable by a half ration of water and having to wear a badge (I like this concept.)
No stealing - Thief’s badge.
No lying - Punishment of cleaning the toilets.
No quarelling, creating doom and despondency (Important - but a tough ask for us Welsh).
Keep yourself clean - Or lose a half ration of water (seems counter intuitive.)
Don’t talk to the driver while the ship is in motion (the captain.)
Don’t allow children to run riot - or be last in the queue for food.
All seems reasonable to me, and worth considering generally in life today.
Additionally:
Only the heads of the family could go into the store cupboards.
Chamber pots had to be emptied before dawn.
Again, wise.
Foodwise - each passenger was allowed a ration of 7 pounds of food a week, consisting of preserved foods like salted beef, ship’s biscuit, vheese, dried beans, occasional fish if they could catch it, weevily biscuits, flour, rice, molasses and pickled vegetables. Water tended to go rancid so alcohol was preferred.
Was there anything on the journey to write home about?
Well, actually yes, just a tad.
Seven days into the voyage, there was a great amount of sea-sickness. The captain noted that many had their heads down, and were full of sorrow, hanging over the side. This was joined by widespread constipation.
The weather turned rough on the 3rd of June, and there was a lot more constitpation.
They spotted icebergs on the 11th of June. Many of the passengers got the trots.
17th of June, people cheered up generally when they spotted America for the first time.
18th of June - bed bugs discovered in some blankets. No one owned up. Some thought they saw pirates.
19th June - a fight broke out between two women because one’s wet clothing was dripping onto the other’s. It led to a punch up. Punishment - swabbing the decks for three days. Food was late because the cook’s cabin boy had put too big a pan on the stove and it was slow in heating up.
20th June - Man placed in coal hole for three hours for chucking stones at another passenger.
As they neared New York there was much discussion about what would happen next. The best clothes were unpacked. A barrel of salty water was set up for the ladies to bathe in, and then men were sent below decks. The captain issued a warning not to eat too much Maple sugar on arrival because it would cause worms. Thoughts turned to onward journeys.
27th June - an outbreak of lice among the children.
7th July - The Captain inspects his cargo (the passengers) before US immigration stepped aboard and gave approval to go ashore.
Initial observations - They were warmly welcomed by the Welsh community in New York. But that the Irish had a reputation for fighting all the time.
Then they all simply melted away into new lives in America, with many heading straight off to promised land around the Great Lakes.
(Source: Maritime Wales)
