We Had No Reason To Complain Of Want Of Liberality On The Part Of The
Captain, For The Table Was
Plentifully supplied, though the cooks,
being unfortunately most worthy of the patronage of that potentate who
is said to send
Them to our kitchens, generally contrived to render
the greater portion uneatable. The advantage of rising from table with
an appetite is one which I have usually tried on board ship, having
only in few instances, during my numerous voyages, been fortunate
enough to find food upon which I dared to venture.
The more I have seen of government ships, the more certain I feel that
they are not adapted to carry passengers. The authorities appear to
think that people ought to be too thankful to pay an enormous price
for the worst species of accommodation. The commandants have not
been accustomed to attend to the minutiae which can alone secure the
comfort of those who sail with them, while the officers, generally
speaking, endeavour to show their contempt of the service in which
they are sent, against their inclination, by neglect and even rudeness
towards the passengers.
While on board the Berenice, the following paragraph in a Bombay
newspaper struck my eye, and as it is a corroboration of the
statements which I deem it to be a duty to make, I insert it in this
place. "The voyager (from Agra) must not think his troubles at an
end on reaching Bombay, or that the steam-packets are equal to the
passenger Indiaman in accommodation. In fact, I cannot conceive how a
lady manages; we have, however, five. There are only seven very small
cabins, into each of which two people are crammed; no room to swing
cats. Eight other deluded individuals, of whom I am one, are given to
understand that a cabin-passage is included in permission to sleep on
the benches and table of the cuddy. For this you pay Rs. 200 extra.
The vessel is dirty beyond measure, from the soot, and with the
difficulty of copious ablution and private accommodation, is almost
worse, to a lover of Indian habits, than the journey to Bombay from
Agra upon camels. No civility is to be got from the officers. If they
are not directly uncivil, the passengers are luckier than we have
been. They declare themselves disgusted with passenger ships, but do
not take the proper way of showing their superiority to the duty."
The only officer of the Berenice who dined at the captain's table
was the surgeon of the vessel, and in justice to him it must be
said, that he left no means untried to promote the comfort of the
passengers. It is likewise necessary to state, that we were never
put upon an allowance of water, although, in consequence of late
alterations made in the dockyard, the vessel had been reduced to
about half the quantity she had been accustomed to carry in iron tanks
constructed for the purpose. Notwithstanding this reduction, we
could always procure a sufficiency, either of hot or cold water, for
ablutions, rendered doubly necessary in consequence of the atmosphere
of coal-dust which we breathed.
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