162

Diary kept by an American seaman working on a passenger ship from Liverpool to New York.

Various places, 21 May to 9 July [1848]
117 watercolor drawings of flags on 10 sheets, bound in. [49] manuscript pages. Folio, 12½ x 7¾ inches, original ¼ calf over marbled boards, rebacked; lacking at least one leaf at the beginning of the volume, moderate wear to the fore-edges of a few leaves; later tag of bookseller Charles E. Lauriat, "Sea Books," of Boston. In cloth folding case titled "Liverpool to New York," with early 20th-century typed and manuscript notes. 

  • Notes: This diary was kept by an anonymous American crewman on the British passenger ship Kate Howe, en route from Liverpool to New York, carrying both first-class passengers and desperate Irish famine emigrants. The writing is lively and he has a knack for drawing characters; this is much more than a rote ship's log. He performs on the flute on two occasions for the amusement of the passengers (24 May and 10 June); on the second occasion, "the mickeys male and female danced and capered around as long as I played." 

    The ship's officers were engaged in an ongoing hunt for stowaways, catching some in the first days of the journey. On 26 May, our diarist meets another stowaway, a tailor named Murdock Campbell who has hidden in the coal hole, and does not turn him in. The "little tailor," aided by several crew members over the coming weeks, pretended to be a passenger until 12 June when "the passengers were mustered aft to see if all had tickets," and the little tailor was caught and put in irons. As the ship neared port, 28 shillings were raised for the support of destitute stowaways.

    On 18 June, the diarist befriends two young ladies from the Isle of Man, emigrating to Wisconsin, who become running characters. On 27 June, the ladies dressed the diarist up like a gentleman, and a crewmate in women's clothing, then "paraded around the deck much to the amusement of all hands."

    The arrival of the ship at Manhattan on 30 June was bittersweet as he bid farewell to the Isle of Man ladies. He escorted a "poor girl" in tears to her only contact in America, a letter of reference directed to Washington Street. The next day, he "went to the Sailor's Home and took my things which I left when I sailed in the Barque Elizabeth." One passenger had gone out to look for lodging for his family, got drunk and spent the night in jail, leaving his wife and 5 children "upon the deck the whole night." When he returned, "he had the barefacedness enough to borrow three dollars from Charley."

    This diary has no year, but the Kate Howe's arrival in New York on 30 June matches up with the newspaper accounts and passenger list for 1848. The author's name is not given other than signing as "John" on 6 July. He spends the final days of the diary visiting old friends in and near New London, CT, where he was apparently raised. He describes the recently deceased seaman Henry Chapman (1829-1848) as "one of my most intimate friends," so it seems likely that they were of about the same age. If the crew list survives somewhere, that should solve the mystery.
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