Round Cape Horn.
VOYAGE
OF THE
Passenger-Ship James W. Paige,
From Maine to California in the Year 1852.
BY J. LAMSON.
BANGOR:
PRESS OF O. F. & W. H. KNOWLES.
1878.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1878, by
J. LAMSON,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, in Washington.
TO
AS A REMINDER OF MANY PLEASANT SCENES ENJOYED,
AND MANY ANNOYANCES ENDURED DURING OUR
VOYAGE, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
PREFACE.
A voyage round Cape Horn in a passenger-shipis an event of the past. The necessity forperforming this perilous voyage has been obviatedby the introduction of railroads and steamships.Emigrants and travelers are no longerobliged to risk their lives and waste their timein passing round the Stormy Cape in order toarrive at a point, which may be reached in aweek by a pleasant ride across the continent onthe railroad; and Cape Horn is destined to becomea terra incognita to all but the readers ofancient voyages.
I am not aware that a narrative of a voyageof this description has ever been published; andthe hope that a truthful account of the perils,discomforts, and annoyances, as well as thepleasures and enjoyments attending it, mayprove entertaining to the reader, has prompted[Pg 5]me to send forth this little work to meet thefate or fortune which an enlightened public mayaward it.
The scenes and anecdotes recorded at the endof the voyage, are given in the hope that theymay possess some slight value as conveying anidea—a vague and indistinct one, perhaps—ofsome of the characteristics and habits of aportion of the people of California in earlytimes.
CONTENTS.
Description of the Bark—She sets Sail—UncomfortableSituation—Specimen of our Discomforts—A Squall—Escape from aWaterspout—Approach to the Cape Verde Islands—ReligiousServices—A School of Porpoises—A Dutch Vessel—AFlying-fish—Annoyances—Bad Cooking—APractical Joke—Tropic of Cancer
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