“An angel form in earthly mould
Upon my ink has shed a blessing,
And manly hearts to others cold
Cannot resist when she is pressing.”
The Ship’s Band and Concerts, etc.
Perhaps the most important method of keeping an emigrant ship’s passengers amused was by means of the ship’s band, especially in those days when dancing was so popular, that even in bad weather the poops of these ships were always crowded with dancers every evening.
Of course the bands provided were not quite on a par with those of present day leviathans crossing the Atlantic; the Lightning, for instance, rejoiced in the good old-fashioned German band, which used to be such an institution in the London streets and is now practically extinct. This band consisted of six musicians, and besides playing selections and accompaniments at the concerts, supplied the music for the daily dancing.
In those days the polka was the great dance, the valse had not yet come into fashion and was not very well known, and instead of the romping lancers the stately quadrille was the order of the day.
I find a set of instructions showing a sailor how to dance a quadrille in one of the numbers of the Lightning Gazette. It is rather too long to quote, but the following figure shows the gist of it:—“Heave ahead and pass your adversary yardarm to yardarm: regain your berth on the other tack in the same order: take your station in a line with your partner, back and fill, face on your heel and bring up with your partner: she then manœuvres ahead and heaves all aback, fills and shoots ahead again and pays off alongside: you then make sail in company until stern on with the other line: make a stern board and cast her off to shift for herself: regain your berth by the best means possible and let go your anchor.”