{"id":"01KG8AKYGQQGXN5JWK910VQ79J","cid":"bafkreibbqkse4il4ksshbhh4nrg7sy7cswzx3qu26zmqo5rmfntpaoudsa","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10514,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":10448,"text":"in all their affairs are regulated by the despotic ordinances of the\r\ncaptain. And though it is evident, that to a certain extent this is\r\nnecessary, and even indispensable; yet, as at sea no appeal lies beyond\r\nthe captain, he too often makes unscrupulous use of his power. And as\r\nfor going to law with him at the end of the voyage, you might as well\r\ngo to law with the Czar of Russia.\r\n\r\nAt making the fire, the emigrants take turns; as it is often very\r\ndisagreeable work, owing to the pitching of the ship, and the heaving\r\nof the spray over the uncovered “galley.” Whenever I had the morning\r\nwatch, from four to eight, I was sure to see some poor fellow crawling\r\nup from below about daybreak, and go to groping over the deck after\r\nbits of rope-yarn, or tarred canvas, for kindling-stuff. And no sooner\r\nwould the fire be fairly made, than up came the old women, and men, and\r\nchildren; each armed with an iron pot or saucepan; and invariably a\r\ngreat tumult ensued, as to whose turn to cook came next; sometimes the\r\nmore quarrelsome would fight, and upset each other’s pots and pans.\r\n\r\nOnce, an English lad came up with a little coffee-pot, which he managed\r\nto crowd in between two pans. This done, he went below. Soon after a\r\ngreat strapping Irishman, in knee-breeches and bare calves, made his\r\nappearance; and eying the row of things on the fire, asked whose\r\ncoffee-pot that was; upon being told, he removed it, and put his own in\r\nits place; saying something about that individual place belonging to\r\nhim; and with that, he turned aside.\r\n\r\nNot long after, the boy came along again; and seeing his pot removed,\r\nmade a violent exclamation, and replaced it; which the Irishman no\r\nsooner perceived, than he rushed at him, with his fists doubled. The\r\nboy snatched up the boiling coffee, and spirted its contents all about\r\nthe fellow’s bare legs; which incontinently began to dance involuntary\r\nhornpipes and fandangoes, as a preliminary to giving chase to the boy,\r\nwho by this time, however, had decamped.\r\n\r\nMany similar scenes occurred every day; nor did a single day pass, but\r\nscores of the poor people got no chance whatever to do their cooking.\r\n\r\nThis was bad enough; but it was a still more miserable thing, to see\r\nthese poor emigrants wrangling and fighting together for the want of\r\nthe most ordinary accommodations. But thus it is, that the very\r\nhardships to which such beings are subjected, instead of uniting them,\r\nonly tends, by imbittering their tempers, to set them against each\r\nother; and thus they themselves drive the strongest rivet into the\r\nchain, by which their social superiors hold them subject.\r\n\r\nIt was with a most reluctant hand, that every evening in the second\r\ndog-watch, at the mate’s command, I would march up to the fire, and\r\ngiving notice to the assembled crowd, that the time was come to\r\nextinguish it, would dash it out with my bucket of salt water; though\r\nmany, who had long waited for a chance to cook, had now to go away\r\ndisappointed.\r\n\r\nThe staple food of the Irish emigrants was oatmeal and water, boiled\r\ninto what is sometimes called _mush;_ by the Dutch is known as\r\n_supaan;_ by sailors _burgoo;_ by the New Englanders _hasty-pudding;_\r\nin which hasty-pudding, by the way, the poet Barlow found the materials\r\nfor a sort of epic.\r\n\r\nSome of the steerage passengers, however, were provided with\r\nsea-biscuit, and other perennial food, that was eatable all the year\r\nround, fire or no fire.\r\n\r\nThere were several, moreover, who seemed better to do in the world than\r\nthe rest; who were well furnished with hams, cheese, Bologna sausages,\r\nDutch herrings, alewives, and other delicacies adapted to the\r\ncontingencies of a voyager in the steerage.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT51W0VXG01P5T2QSR5Q","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKYGVK3MA39MZ83YGYM99","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKYGVDTNNYVSFG9EJGT4R","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.015Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.709Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}