234 * '^^^ Atlantic 



because he is aging rapidly, and there are some items in the family 

 estate that should be settled before his death. You also have a notion 

 that your own business could be profitably extended by the impor- 

 tation of English woolens, giving a further reason for this trip. 



With appropriate letters both for your business and private afFairs, 

 and with "bag and baggage" you proceed by stagecoach to New York 

 to arrange for your departure. The charges at the hotel are a little 

 larger than you had expected or provided for, so you are anxious that 

 this should be at as early a date as possible. With this in mind you 

 scan the newspaper columns headed "Marine Intelligence," which 

 deals with the arrival and the anticipated departure from the port of 

 merchant vessels. The paper is dated September 13, 1816, and in an 

 adjacent column this advertisement attracts your eye: The Superior 

 Ship Minerva. As there is great difficulty in procuring freight, the 

 ship will positively be dispatched on the 15th of September "cargo 

 or no cargo." That sounds definite and businesslike, so you proceed 

 at once to the agent and arrange for your passage and pay your fare. 

 Your evening is occupied with saying farewell to your friends and 

 making arrangements to get your baggage to the ship. On the fol- 

 lowing day, however, the agent announces that the departure of the 

 Minerva in "consequent of present unfavorable weather is unavoidably 

 detained until the 25th instant." Thunderstruck, you ask: "Why such 

 a long delay?" and "How does the agent know that the weather may 

 not improve in less than a ten-day period.?" It develops that the ship 

 is still able to accommodate a cargo of 130 bales of cotton or some 

 other commodity. In the meantime, other ships are sailing, but you 

 have paid your passage and protestations to the agent are of no avail. 



In the meantime, that hotel bill is running on. It is September i8th 

 before the Minerva is cleared at the custom house: Then there is a 

 fog so that your departure actually takes place on October 3rd. By 

 this time, weeks have elapsed in frustration and idleness; weeks 

 marked by rumors and by the necessity of having to keep in touch 

 with the agent in anticipation of the promised departure. 



No doubt you have had extremely bad luck; but no matter which 

 ship you had chosen, you would not have avoided the possibility of 

 uncertainty and delay. In your situation you would have naturally 

 avoided the trading vessels that were designated as "transient." This 

 was the politer nineteenth-century designation that today we would 

 call a "tramp." The "transient" vessel had no established trade route 

 or regular port of call. She operated in accordance with anticipated 

 demands for shipping spa^e, the prospect of securing passengers and 



