In About Three Hours, We Got The Steam Up Again, And Saw The
British Queen In The Distance, Still Lying To, And Apparently,
Notwithstanding Her Prodigious Power, Unable To Get Down The Channel.
Dinner was served while the Phenix lay off Margate; but it was
thinly attended, the motion of the vessel having sent many persons to
their cabins, while others were totally deprived of all appetite.
An
elderly gentleman, who sate upon my left hand, complained exceedingly
of his inability to partake of the good things before him; and one or
two left the table in despair. Again we sought the deck, and saw the
sun sink behind an ominous mass of clouds; the sky, however, cleared,
and the stars came out, reviving our spirits with hopes of a fine
night. Unfortunately, soon after nine o'clock, a heavy squall
obliged us to go below, and one of my female friends and myself took
possession of a state cabin, and prepared to seek repose.
It was my first voyage on board a steamer, and though the tremulous
motion and the stamping of the engine are anything but agreeable, I
prefer it to the violent rolling and pitching of a sailing vessel. We
were certainly not nearly so much knocked about; the vases of flowers
were taken off the mantel-piece, and placed upon the floor, but beyond
this there were no precautions taken to prevent the movables from
getting adrift; every thing remained quiet upon the tables, a
circumstance which could not have happened in so heavy a sea in any
vessel not steadied by the apparatus carried by a steamer.
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