“Wednesday P.M.—Passed Aligator Light one o’clock; this will bring us to Key West about eight o’clock, and enable me to place this on Mascotte without much to spare, and probably place us ashore at Galveston Sunday morning, and as you may not be in Darien Sunday, you will only receive the message at office on Monday A.M. Send to Mrs. Plant at Branford on arrival, so she may receive the information same day. Would like to have you make at least a synopsis of the daily notes to Mr. O’B., that you may send to him should he be absent. We are now well up with American Shoal Light; next we shall have Sombrero, and then Sand Key and Key West. We are likely to fall in with the Mascotte.
“We are jogging along very pleasantly with wind well on the port quarter and temperature quite comfortable.”
The following letter from Mr. Plant, published in the Home Journal, New York, March 15, 1893, speaks for itself. It shows its author to be at home on shipboard, and as much at his ease as in his own parlor; while carefully noting all points of interest and enjoying to the full all that was enjoyable.
On Board S. S. “Halifax,”
Sunday, Feb. 26, ’93.
“We sailed from Port Tampa on Thursday, February 16th, and after a delightfully smooth and pleasant trip arrived at Nassau, N. P., on Saturday morning. A number of our party were entertained by the Honorable Sir Ambrose Shea, governor of the island; others of us preferred to pass the few hours in riding and driving, seeing something of the beauties of the place. We returned to the steamer in the afternoon and got under way, passing out of the harbor through the “Hole in the Wall,” as it is called. We steamed down over the banks, passing along the eastern shore of the island, and leaving Cape Mayce on our starboard, until away over to port were seen the highlands of Hayti.
“All the way from Port Tampa to Jamaica, the weather was simply delightful, and the sea as smooth as the waters of our Seneca Lake. We arrived at the wharf at Kingston at seven o’clock Tuesday morning. Our excursionists all went to the Myrtle Bank Hotel, where choice accommodations were provided. We received a call from the Consul-General of the United States, Mr. Dent, and also visits from other important people of the city of Kingston. In the afternoon we received an invitation, conveyed to the party through our conductor, Mr. A. E. Dick, a hotel man well known in New York, to attend a garden party given by Lady Blake at King’s House. Lady Blake is the wife of Sir Henry Blake, the governor of the island. We found a large crowd of people, a gracious welcome, exquisite music and bountiful refreshment. Only think of it—an out-of-door reception on the twenty-first day of February!
“In the evening we were surprised to learn that a grand ball would be given in our honor by the citizens of Kingston. It proved a very brilliant affair. The beautiful costumes of the ladies formed a striking contrast to the military costumes of the officers of the British West Indian Squadron; there were eight ships in the harbor.
“We were called very early in the morning, coffee and fruit being served in our rooms, and took carriages to the Western Railway station, whence we started by rail for Bog Walk, on the Rio Cobre River. We arrived at half-past ten. After leaving the train our attention was called to a group of negro men and women who were engaged in loading bananas into a car for transportation to the city of Kingston and thence to the United States.
“At Rio Cobre, we enjoyed one of the most beautiful drives that your correspondent has ever experienced, down the valley of the Rio Cobre, a most beautiful sheet of water, and after a ride of two hours, reaching Spanish Town, one of the principal cities on the island of Jamaica. It was at Spanish Town that a son of Christopher Columbus settled when he came to the island of Jamaica. We were entertained by the proprietor of the Rio Cobre Hotel, where we remained until the afternoon, when we again took train for our headquarters at Myrtle Bank, in Kingston.
“Early the following morning we were called, fruit and coffee were again served in our rooms, and we started at six o’clock for a drive of twenty-five miles over and across the beautiful mountain ranges and towards the north coast of the island. At ten o’clock we arrived at the Castleton Gardens, a beautiful spot owned and sustained by the government as a garden of acclimation. Here are found the grandest of all tropical palms. At the hotel connected with the gardens we partook of a royal breakfast, into which entered many different kinds of fruit. After a stop of two hours we resumed our journey over the mountains, and in the distance we obtained a good view of the lovely Annotta bay.