You see a thousand boatmen, raftmen,
and millmen, some warping dingy scows, others loading huge square-sided
ships; busy
Gangs of men in fustian jackets, engaged in running off the
newly sawed timber; and the streets bustling with storekeepers, lumber-
merchants, and market-men; all combining to produce a chaos of activity
very uncommon in the towns of our North American colonies. But too often,
murky-looking wharfs, storehouses, and half-dismantled ships, are
enveloped in drizzling fog - the fog rendered yet more impenetrable by the
fumes of coal-tar and sawdust; and the lower streets swarm with a
demoralised population. Yet the people of St. John are so far beyond the
people of Halifax, that I heartily wish them success and a railroad.
The air was ringing with the clang of a thousand saws and hammers, when,
at seven on the morning of a brilliant August day, we walked through the
swarming streets bordering upon the harbour to the Ornevorg steamer,
belonging to the United States, built for Long Island Sound, but now used
as a coasting steamer. All my preconceived notions of a steamer were here
at fault. If it were like anything in nature, it was like Noah's ark, or,
to come to something post-diluvian, one of those covered hulks, or "ships
in ordinary," which are to be seen at Portsmouth and Devonport.
She was totally unlike an English ship, painted entirely white, without
masts, with two small black funnels alongside each other; and several
erections one above another for decks, containing multitudes of windows
about two feet square. The fabric seemed kept together by two large beams,
which added to the top-heavy appearance of the whole affair. We entered by
the paddle-box (which was within the outer casing of the ship), in company
with a great crowd, into a large square uncarpeted apartment, called the
"Hall," with offices at the sides for the sale of railway and dinner
tickets. Separated from this by a curtain is the ladies' saloon, a large
and almost too airy apartment extending from the Hall to the stem of the
ship, well furnished with sofas, rocking-chairs, and marble tables. A row
of berths runs along the side, hung with festooned drapery of satin
damask, the curtains being of muslin, embroidered with rose-coloured
braid.
Above this is the general saloon, a large, handsomely furnished room, with
state rooms running down each side, and opening upon a small deck fourteen
feet long, also covered; the roof of this and of the saloon, forming the
real or hurricane deck of the ship, closed to passengers, and twelve feet
above which works the beam of the engine. Below the Hall, running the
whole length of the ship, is the gentlemen's cabin, containing 170 berths.
This is lighted by artificial light, and is used for meals. An enclosure
for the engine occupies the centre, but is very small, as the machinery of
a, high-pressure engine is without the encumbrances of condenser and air-
pump.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 47 of 249
Words from 24071 to 24581
of 129941
