Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
men and children prepared to accept overcrowding, lack of privacy
and poor diet. The three months or so that such passengers spent
on board were months of sheer misery, compounded of sea-sickness,
disease, airless, ill-ventilated accommodation, the constant crying of
unhappy infants and the contempt expressed by captain, crew and
first- and second-class passengers. Men travelling steerage could be
pressed into service as extra deck hands and some captains deliber-
ately kept their crews to a minimum in order to exploit this source of
free labour. Many passenger journals have survived describing these
dreadful voyages. An emigrant on the
Stag
in 1850 noted:
10 o'clock, the sun is now beating out with increased power and
we shall have another sweating day. A canvas sheet is now spread over
the part of the deck occupied by the females . . . men, however, not
so favoured . . . Many will sleep on deck during the remainder of the
hot weather . . . No restriction now as regards the bed hour of the
single men. They are allowed on deck as late as they think proper. All
the scuttles on windows in single men's departments recommended by
surgeon to be kept open during the night.
1
Passengers were given a daily allowance of food and had to cook
their own meals:
Scale Showing the Daily Issue of Provisions
2
