|Entrance to the Port of Dundee|
by L.H. Bartlett
circa mid 1800s
1842 JAMES P. McPHERSON AND HIS BRIDE SAILED TO AMERICA ON THE MEDORA (Revisd for this blog post./JGH)
Young James P McPherson most likely had been saving a few shillings every week for the steerage tickets, which were £4-£5 each. If he saved 2 shillings a week, it would have taken at least 5 months to save enough for one person's fare, and ten months for two fares. After his mother died, James Peter was most likely able to put aside 6 to 8 shillings a week – and if his wife to-be, Mary Burns, was able to contribute a couple of shillings a week (out of her 5 shilling per week pay) the couple might have save £2 a month, and £10 over the 5 month after his mother's death. In addition to £9 for steerage tickets, they also had to eke out enough to provide for their own food for the long passage. Saving for the crossing to America was not easy on an income of 18 shillings a week,
James would have made or procured a box perhaps with a lock of some sort in which to pack and secure their meager belongings. They knew they would be crowded into a tiny area, which in reality would be little more than an bunk, with their box and perhaps a few bags containing food, a blanket, and cooking items. Mary would have been busy obtaining a couple of wooden or tin plates and cups, and a tin cooking pot, as she would have to cook over a common fire on deck whenever space around the fire was available. The provision box would be used mostly for foodstuff for the trip. For the crossing, they would need several pounds of oatmeal, flour, perhaps an extravagance such as a bit of sugar or molasses, and some coffee. She might have also been preparing some eggs, salt pickled so they would last for some time. Potatoes, cabbage, cured or pickled meat would be the basis for soups or stews that could last for a whole the day -- or more if needed.
Their clothing and bedding would have been very basic. Dark colored pants and long gowns were good because they had heard that keeping clean was next to impossible on the voyage. Woolen blankets sufficed for bedding as well as a wrap.
Five months after his mother's death, young James Peter McPherson and Mary Burns left the flax mills and Dundee forever. On July 16, 1842, they were married, either before they sailed or by the Medora's Captain once aboard, and began their voyage to America.
|The Sailing Ship Tay|
(Although this is not the Medora, it
suited my fancy and is a close
enough representation of the ship
McPherson sailed on)
Even with all the reading James Peter had done about the trip to America, they must have found their seven week crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on the sailing ship,Medora, little better than the conditions in mills of Dundee. Ship owners regarded the emigrants as little more than another commodity to be shipped from one place to another. They maximized the number of seafarers that could be crowded into the ships hold, by hammering temporary planking across the beams and so making berths along each side of the hold. For most of the trip, James and Mary would huddle in their make-shift berth with all their belongings within close reach. There were no port holes, and the only ventilation for the couple and their hundred or so steerage companions was the hatch. Even though James and Mary made the crossing during the summer, when there were few major storms, the
Courtesty of the Collection of Maggie Blanck
Courtesty of the Collection of Maggie Blanck
When the weather permitted, the couple went top side a couple of times a day to exercise, and prepare food at the common fire provided by the shipowners. They often carried their meager belongings with them when they went topside, or one would stay below with their belongings. Amenities, like doors, port holes, a separate sleeping birth, were only for those who could afford cabin passage. Sea travel was not for the faint of heart or weak constitutions. It is surprising that only a small percentage of passengers died at sea.
The Medora was most likely held in quarantine for one to two days on one of the islands off of the Manhattan shore. Usually a doctor came aboard to determine if there were any passengers ill with contagious diseases. If not, the passengers would be allowed to get ready to leave the ship after their clothes and belongings were washed. Many immigrants have reported how everyone, men, women and children would be busy washing their clothes, usually with cold water and no soap, but plenty of rubbing and then string ropes wherever possible to hang the clothes to dry. According to letters to those back in the old country, someone from each family usually stood guard over their clothes and bedding as this was a time where theivery was rampant.
|1873 New York Harbor from Brooklyn Heights|
Steel Engraving by G.R. Hall
(New York harbor as it may have looked to the
young McPherson couple)
On September 13, 1842, after the Medora left quarantine, she docked on the lower west side of New York city so that the cabin passengers could debark and cargo unloaded. Only then were steerage passengers off loaded to lighter boats or schooners and deposited at the custom house where their baggage was inspected.
Mary and James Peter may have stayed the night in one of the taverns near the waterfront. Or they might have been fortunate enough to have been met by some friends that were already settled in New York. Perhaps they were met by their friends, the Stewarts or other Scots emigrants who had written and encouraged them to come and join them in them in New York. Whether alone or with friends, the young Scot and his bride strode confidently onto American soil in New York City, ready to make their way in a new land.
~ ~ ~
© Joan G. Hill, Roots'n'Leaves Publications