Summary
Sept. 28. Voyage to Albany.–We embarked this morning at seven o'clock on board of the Champlain steam-boat for Albany. The boat sailed punctually at the hour, and we found ourselves rushing up the majestic Hudson at the rate of twelve miles an hour. A thick mist, however, almost immediately enveloped us, and our speed was lowered to avoid accidents. No smoking is allowed except in the fore part of the main-deck. A few passengers, obviously belonging to the lower grade, spat plentifully on the deck; but one of the servants of the ship constantly employed a mop in cleansing the defiled places. The upper, or hurricane deck, was strewed with charcoal being the lighter embers of the fuel, which are carried up the funnels of the engines by the powerful draught, and which fall, often red-hot, and burn the clothes of the passengers. We now saw the first specimens of American dispatch. The steam-boat took in and let out passengers at several stations on the river, and the operation was admirably managed. A few minutes before arriving at a town, a man went round the boat ringing a bell, and calling on the passengers who meant to land there, to prepare their luggage. It was sought out, and carried to the gangway of the ship; and, in a very few minutes, six or eight passengers, with all their effects, were transferred into the small boat which was lowered to receive them.
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- Notes on the United States of North America during a Phrenological Visit in 1838–39–40 , pp. 31 - 77Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010