“Resolved, that we assume the blame for the accident in that we added weight to the ship and worry to the captain;
“Resolved, that we promise nevermore to put this responsibility upon the ship, but will stay at home and attend to our own affairs;
“Resolved, that we beg clemency and favor for the gallant captain, and that he be given a pilot who can see in the dark;
“Finally, we, the survivors of the last but not least eventful voyage of the S. S. Brighton, do petition that the ship be enlarged as fast as possible, that basins be attached to the pillow-ends of the bunks, that the allowance of wash water be doubled, that the electric lights be not put out at midnight, that evaporated cream be provided for coffee instead of condensed milk, and that bananas and bric-a-brac hereafter be carried to the exclusion of passengers.
“Signed.”
There was a prolonged discussion as to whether we should all sign these resolutions individually or whether merely the president, Doctor Brower, and the secretary of the meeting, Doctor Morrow, should sign officially. The secretary was finally forced to sign them alone.
We were to arrive at the jetties at 10 P. M. according to the captain’s consultations with the heavenly bodies. Now if the captain had any shortcomings it was not a lack of devotion to the heavenly bodies, which he consulted frequently and fervently. But he never succeeded in fixing correctly the time of arrival anywhere. It was I who had faith in the heavenly bodies, yet never consulted them, who could prophesy unerringly. Whenever the captain announced the time I added two hours. So when we were told that we would arrive at the jetties at 10 P. M., I knew that we would arrive at midnight.
About half of the passengers had never seen the jetties, for on their trip to Panama they had passed out of the river after bedtime. And now that they were to enter the river after dark they were inconsolable. Next to Panama they desired to see the jetties, about which they had heard and read so much. They asked all sorts of questions about them; what jetties meant, what Eads meant, what jetties and Eads looked like.
The sun sank in Oriental splendor behind his green and golden bedcurtains as we went to dinner, and the unfortunates complained of the sun for setting before we got to the Eads and jetties. They blamed the captain for not having sailed faster during the storm in order to arrive before sundown. They were not content with having escaped the dangers of the reef, as well as having kept the rudder and saved the screw and crew during the storm. With them the jetties were the thing, the dangers passed were nothing. Who cares for dangers that are passed? They wished that they had waited for the Preston, or that the Brighton would anchor outside all night.
We told them that they could sit up and see the lights, and so could tell everybody that they had seen the Eads and jetties.