After the Hector by Lucille H. Campey

Author:Lucille H. Campey
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781554880683
Publisher: Dundurn

9

SHIPS AND ATLANTIC CROSSINGS

The plan you mention of getting a cargo of men and lassies and bring back timbers might do well — the thing to consider is could you get a cargo anywhere in the Highlands — McDonald and elders at Skye used to be agents in this way and may assist you.1

James MacAlpin, a timber merchant from Corpach, near Fort William, had followed this plan once before. In 1817, his ship, the Ardgour of Fort William, had sailed off to Quebec with 108 emigrants and almost certainly returned with a timber cargo.2 Now MacAlpin was searching for emigrants to take out once again. Like many other shipowners, he sought to profit from this two-way traffic in timber and emigrants. It was essentially a very simple process. Timber was loaded into the ship’s hold one-way and emigrants were accommodated in the same hold the other way. Temporary wooden planking was placed over cross beams and carpenters were called in to build temporary berths along the sides. This was how most emigrants crossed the Atlantic. They travelled as steerage passengers, below deck, in what were usually cramped and uncomfortable conditions. There were no portholes, nor any means of ventilation beyond the hatches. And, in stormy seas, the hatches could be kept battened down for days.

However, because conditions were this basic, it should not be concluded that emigrants were deliberately made to suffer by the people who provided the shipping services. By looking more closely at the Ardgour, it can be determined that it was a brand new 166-ton snow, having been built in Fort William in 1817. Not only that, the insurance company, Lloyd’s of London, had given it a top “A1” rating for the quality of its construction.3 It was, in fact, one of the many new vessels being built at the time to meet the needs of the explosive growth in the North American timber trade. These emigrants had actually sailed to Quebec in a top-quality vessel.

Yet emigrant sea crossings seem always to conjure up a lurid image of brutal captains, leaky ships and wretched conditions. Travelling by sea at this time did come with many perils and discomforts. The accommodation was cramped, the legal requirement for the floor-to-ceiling height (between-deck) being only five-and-a-half feet, disease could flare up at any time, and most people succumbed to long bouts of seasickness. And there was little or no regulation of the services. Legislation had been in place from 1803, stipulating minimum space and food requirements for passengers, but there was no practical way of enforcing these regulations and they were therefore frequently ignored.4 Against this backdrop we would expect emigrants to be easy prey for unscrupulous ship owners but this was not so. To get repeat business shippers needed good personal recommendation from emigrants and to achieve this they had to maintain good standards.

While conditions below deck could be grim, it should be remembered that this was a time when most people were accustomed to poor living conditions. Overcrowding and rudimentary sanitary facilities were facts of life.

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