Following my loquacious friend, I managed at last to reach the hatchway close to which the carpenters were elevating what Jenkins had termed a “structure,” to be adapted into a sleeping cabin for a gentleman, as I afterwards found, six feet in height.
Asking for an explanation of this stoppage to the ventilation of the “lower regions,” Jenkins, ever ready to explain his part of this passenger ship, exclaimed:—
“This, sir, is what I wish particularly to point out to you; the men employed upon it call it the ‘general’s quarters,’ the children call it ‘Punch’s house,’ and I call it the ‘structure.’ Have you any interest, sir, with the Board of Trade?”
“What makes you ask such a question?”
“Don’t be offended, sir; I have put that question to every ‘government’ that has come on board of this ship.”
“If I was a ‘government,’ I would stop this ship—that ‘structure’ is sure to cause fever and death.”
Leaving Mr. Jenkins gazing on the “structure,” I hurried on deck and found my way into the saloon, where I explained the state of things below to my wife. I found that some ladies who had preceded us in their arrival on board, and who, like us, were government passengers, had already made her acquainted with the very inferior accommodation to which we were condemned for the voyage.
The ladies retired early that evening, for the greater number of them had travelled a considerable distance during the day; but what with the hammering kept up all night by the carpenters, the straw pillows, and the miserable coffins of berths, on comparing notes the next morning, it was found that but few among the passengers, male or female, slept during the first night on board the “Ireland.”
On examining the “structure” the next morning, we perceived that it had visibly increased its dimensions during the night, thereby excluding light and air. Jenkins talked in a despairing tone of the “Board of Trade,” and occasionally alluded to the “Emigration Commissioners,” but despite this the “structure,” accompanied by, if possible, increasing noise, progressed, greatly to the amusement of the little boys, and to the annoyance of all adults.
After breakfast we were told that the vessel would not be ready for sea before two days, and some of the passengers and myself went on shore in search of carpenters to fit up our cabins. In my cabin, the dimensions of which I have already given, there were two sleeping berths, the lower of which it was impossible for one to lie in, much less to sleep there; and this vessel was going to cross the equator twice during her outward voyage.