Canada and the Canadians, Vol. 1Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir
History
Canada and the Canadians, Vol. 1
Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir
Canada -- Description and travel; Ontario -- Description and travel
I once crossed Ontario, in the same direction as that just mentioned, in
another steamer, when the beautiful Ontario was in a towering passion.
We had a poor fellow in the cabin, who had been a Roman Catholic priest,
but who had changed his form of faith. The whole vessel was in
commotion; it was impossible for the best sea-legs to hold on; so two
or three who were not subject to seasickness got into the cabin, or
saloon, as it is called, and grasped any thing in the way. The long
dinner-table, at which fifty people could sit down, gave a lee-lurch,
and jammed our poor _religioner_, as Southey so affectedly calls
ministers of the word, into a corner, where chairs innumerable were soon
piled over him. He abandoned himself to despair; and long and loud were
his confessions. On the first lull, we extricated him, and put him into
a birth. Every now and then, he would call for the steward, the mate,
the captain, the waiters, all in vain, all were busy. At last his cries
brought down the good-natured captain. He asked if we were in danger.
"Not entirely," was the reply. "What is it does it, captain?"--"Oh,"
said the skipper, gruffly enough, "we are in the trough of the sea, and
something has happened to the engine." "The trough of the _say_?"--my
friend was an Irishman--"the trough of the say? is it that does it,
captain?" But the captain was gone.
During the whole storm and the remainder of the voyage, the poor
ex-priest asked every body that passed his refuge if we were out of the
trough of the say. "I know," said he, "it is the trough of the say does
it." No cooking could be performed, and we should have gone dinnerless
and supperless to bed, if we had not, by force of steam, got into the
mouth of the Niagara river. All became then comparatively tranquil; she
moored, and the old Niagara, for that was her name, became steady and at
rest. Soon the cooks, stewards, and waiters, were at work, and dinner,
tea, and supper, in one meal, gladdened our hearts. The greatest eater,
the greatest drinker, and the most confident of us all, was our old
friend and companion of the voyage, "the Trough of the Say," as he was
ever after called.
Such is tranquil Ontario. I remember a man-of-war, called the Bullfrog,
being once very nearly lost in the voyage I have been describing; and
never a November passes without several schooners being lost or wrecked
upon Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario; whilst the largest American
steamers on Erie sometimes suffer the same fate. Whenever Superior is
much navigated, it will be worse, as the seasons are shorter and more
severe there, and the shores iron-bound and mountainous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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