Passing Through The Hall Of The Mayflower, Which Was Rather A Confused
And Dimly-Lighted Scene, I Went Up To The Saloon By A Very Handsome
Staircase With Elaborate Bronze Balustrades.
My bewildered eyes surveyed a
fairy scene, an eastern palace, a vision of the Arabian Nights.
I could
not have believed that such magnificence existed in a ship; it impressed
me much more than anything I have seen in the palaces of England.
The Mayflower was a steam-ship of 2200 tons burthen, her length 336
feet, and her extreme breadth 60. She was of 1000 horse-power, with 81-
inch cylinders, and a stroke of 12 feet. I speak of her in the past tense,
because she has since been totally cast away in a storm on Lake Erie. This
lake bears a very bad character, and persons are warned not to venture
upon it at so stormy a season of the year as September, but, had the
weather been very rough, I should not have regretted my voyage in so
splendid a steamer.
The saloon was 300 feet long; it had an arched roof and Gothic cornice,
with a moulding below of gilded grapes and vine-leaves. It was 10 feet
high, and the projections of the ceiling, the mouldings, and the panels of
the doors of the state-rooms were all richly gilded. About the middle
there was an enclosure for the engine, scarcely obstructing the view. This
enclosure was Gothic, to match the roof, and at each end had a window of
plate-glass, 6 feet square, through which the mechanism of the engine
could be seen.
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