Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin by Eighth Earl of Elgin James
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page 50 of 611 (08%)
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[Sidenote: Crossing the Atlantic.] It was fortunate that Lord Elgin had arranged to leave his bride in England, to follow at a less inclement season; for he had an unusually stormy passage across the Atlantic--'the worst passage the ship had ever made.' Writing on the 16th of January to Lady Grey he says: Hitherto we have had a very boisterous passage. On the 13th we had a hurricane, and were obliged to lie to--a rare occurrence with these vessels. It was almost impossible to be on deck, but I crept out of a hole for a short time, to behold the sea, which was truly grand in its wrath; the waves rolling mountains high, and the wind sweeping the foam off their crests, and driving it, together with the snow and sleet, almost horizontally over the ocean. We lay thus for some hours, our masts covered with snow, pitching and tossing, now in the trough of the sea, and now on the summit of the billows, without anxiety or alarm, so gallantly did our craft bear itself through these perils. The ship is very full, with half a million of specie, and a motley group of passengers: a Bishop, an ex-secretary of Legation and an ex-consul, both of the United States; a batch of Germans and of Frenchmen; a host of Yankees, the greater part being bearded, which is, I understand, characteristic of young America, particularly when it travels; some specimens of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, and the Rocky Mountains, not to mention English and Scotch. Every now and then, at the most serious moments, sounds of uproarious mirth proceed from a party of Irish, who are playing antics in some corner of the |
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