Emigration From Cornwall in the 1800's

Miners, agricultural workers and tradesmen emigrated from Cornwall throughout the nineteenth century but there were particular periods during which the numbers emigrating from these communities were very high. The descendants of these emigrants are now world-wide and it is hoped that what follows may provide you with a general background for the Fradd ancestors who emigrated.

From the Farms

Much has been written and said about the emigration of Cornish miners in the last century and little about those from the farming community who left in large numbers before the great exodus of miners began. During the long period of the Napoleonic Wars which ended with the victory of the British and their allies at Waterloo in 1815 the farmers were prosperous.

There was no competition from imported grain so prices were high. In turn rent and rates could be paid, poor land brought into cultivation and work provided for many. With the coming of peace after 1815 and the return to normal international trade, grain was again imported and it was not long before prices fell and farmers could not afford to employ so many as before. The position was made worse by the severe competition for land of good quality which became available and younger members of farming families who would have branched out on their own could not afford to do so. It was the extreme poverty and its consequences, which stemmed from this agricultural depression that left many families with no alternative but to look elsewhere for the means of survival.

Farming was carried on in all parts of Cornwall but the parishes where agriculture was predominant were in the north east corner of the county and in the coastal areas generally. The first phase of the emigration of members of the farming community started soon after 1815 and reached its peak in 1823 and continued until the 1830s.

In the next decade came the ‘Hungry Forties' which lead to another wave of emigration of agricultural workers which was repeated during the farming depression which started in the mid-1870s and lasted for nearly twenty years.

During the times when the agricultural industry did not prosper, some farm workers who lived in the mining areas were able to obtain work in the mines but the numbers of unemployed that could be absorbed were limited. Mining fortunes rose and fell and many who started on the land must have emigrated later as miners. 

From the Mines

Cornish miners left the county because their mines ceased to be worked or there were better opportunities abroad (not necessarily in mining). The principal mining areas were in the west of the county – St. Just and towards St. Ives, around Hayle and Helston, Camborne and Redruth and Gwennap, in particular, St Agnes and Pernanporth. There were mines centred on St Austell and around Liskeard further east towards the border with Devon.

Depending on the price of tin and copper the fortunes of the inhabitants of these mining districts rose and fell but it was not until the 1870s that the final decline set in which was accompanied by a mass exodus of miners from the county.

Mining, at least for the working miner, had always been hard and hazardous with just enough reward, if he was fortunate in the kind of ground he had to break or the quality of the ore he dug out, to keep him and his family above the poverty level.

So even when the miner was in work he had little to lose in deciding to emigrate to another country where minerals were being discovered and nothing at all when his mine closed down and he had no hope of alternative employment.

Those affected by the farming slumps had to decide whether to emigrate and face the unknown - although this was sometimes slightly unveiled by the reports sent home by those who had preceded them - or, to remain workless in Cornwall which meant destitution. In practical terms there was no real choice and the parting from relatives they might never see again, an uncomfortable and hazardous sea voyage, an overland trek and the hardships of their new life, were side issues. The early emigrant farm workers had the choice of Canada or America as their destination and by the late 1830s they also had Australia and New Zealand.

To start with there was little or no governmental involvement with emigration.

The would-be emigrant had to make his own way abroad once he had a few pounds saved or borrowed. At this time a cheap passage - and a very uncomfortable one -could be obtained from Padstow and Bideford to Canada and the United States on vessels returning there after having brought cargoes of timber to these ports. They were convenient, situated as they were on the north coast of Cornwall and Devon, as outlets for emigrants from the nearby farming districts.

By the 1830s the transatlantic passenger trade was developing and local newspapers carried regular advertisements for vessels about to sail for Canada or America from Cornish ports particularly ~ and Falmouth. These boats were an improvement on the timber carrier but for £3 a head (children at reduced rates) comfort and amenities must have been of the barest. By the end of the 1830s emigration agents, appointed by the Colonization Commission, were to be found in most towns of the county. They were able to give advice on settlers about the situation and terms of tenure of available Crown land in Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as on other matters. They also administered the 'Assisted Passage' schemes introduced to help those unable to afford their passage but who were considered likely to make good colonists.

Some sixty years separated the first and third waves of emigration brought about by the fanning depression that followed victory at Waterloo in 1815 and in the 1870s. During this time the Colonies and America had developed greatly both economically and socially and travel to distant shores was less of an ordeal. Ships were larger now on the transatlantic run and to the East so emigrants instead of being able to set off from some convenient Cornish port had to make their way to Liverpool, Southampton or Plymouth to join their boat. With the spreading network of railways this was not difficult.

Miners left Cornwall for Mexico, in 1825, sailing from Falmouth. They were not numerous and went out on a special contract as did others to Cuba in the 1830s. More went to Brazil in the 1840s, leaving from Falmouth, and to Chile and Peru. A trade depression in England in the period 1844, which seriously affected the Cornish mining industry, marked the beginning of the emigration of the Cornish miner on a large scale.

The extent of this exodus at any one time was influenced by the price of copper and tin at home and the opportunities presented by new discoveries abroad or by a combination of both

In the 1850s and early 1860s the mining of copper and tin was profitable. Then the import of copper from the newly found and vast deposits at Lake Superior and from Spain depressed the price with the inevitable consequences. This virtually marked the end of copper mining in Cornwall and the beginning of the second great wave of emigrants. Then in the following decade it was the turn of tin and the biggest exodus of all, for between 1871 and 1881 it was estimated that a third of the remaining mining population had left the county.

Of the discoveries of minerals overseas the first to attract the Cornish miner abroad in any numbers was the finding of copper in South Australia at Kapunda in 1845, gold in California in 1848 and Australia 1851 and in New Zealand later in this decade.

Then followed diamonds and then gold in South Africa in 1869 and tin in Australia in 1872. Over and above the surges of emigrants to these countries there was a steady stream to the less spectacular but still important new mining centres of the world and in particular the United States of America and Canada.

Significant emigration of Cornish Miners to Mexico and the Real del Monte silver mines; also to the iron mines of Lake Huron in Canada; and to the Wisconsin lead mines in America; and to Australia following the discovery of copper at Kapunda and Burra Burra - and later Wallaroo and Moonta.

Whereas the farming community tended to emigrate in families it was not quite the same with the miners. Unless bound for an established mining district the married miner left his family at home, more often than not, and sent them remittances from time to time. If he could see a future for the family in the new country he sent for them; else, in due course, he returned home. With no such ties the unmarried miners stayed and settled, once they had married, they established families of their own.

The farmers and farm workers who emigrated left from the parishes in the north east of Cornwall and the miners mainly from the far western parishes, St Just, Morvah, Towednack, Lelant, Phillack and Gwinear. From Breage, St Hilary and Germoe and further to the east from Wendron, Gwennap and Kea to mention but a few.

Within its long coast line there were a number of small ports from which emigrants sailed to all parts of the world from Cornwall. These were Falmouth, Fowey, Penzance, St Ives, Hayle and Padstow. Those, who for one reason or another, left the country from Bristol or Liverpool were usually able to make their way there by ship from Hayle.

The agricultural and mining depressions which beset Cornwall in the last century directly affected the farm workers and the miners. When they left the demand for all kinds of labour declined and many employed as masons and carpenters, blacksmiths, general labourers and in many other ways were thrown out of work.

But the emigrants in their new land recreated this demand and reports came back - from Australia for example, in 1839 - ‘The demand for carpenters, bricklayers and plasterers is unlimited' and mechanics could ask anything they liked.

Land workers, general labourers and servants were also required at wages unheard of in this country at the time. As the result of this situation many miners and their families decided to exchange a hard life in Cornwall, with little or no future in it, for a new one and another occupation overseas.

For this reason many miners emigrated to South Australia and Victoria before the discoveries of copper and gold were made, but when these were known in these States they were quick to revert to their old calling and to make use - often with much profit - of their old skills.

1850 - Emigration in the mid-19th century

Written below are extracts from an article printed in the Illustrated London News on Saturday July 6th 1850. It is a contemporary account of the procedure of Emigration from the port of Liverpool to the New World and the Colonies.

The great tide of Emigration flows steadily westward. The principal emigrants are Irish peasants and labourers. It is calculated that at least four out of every five persons who leave the shores of the old country to try their fortunes in the new, are Irish.

Since the fatal years of the potato famine and the cholera, the annual numbers of emigrants have gone on increasing, until they have become so great as to suggest the idea, and almost justify the belief, of a gradual depopulation of Ireland. The colonies of Great Britain offered powerful attractions to the great bulk of the English and Scottish emigrants who forsaked their native lands to make homes in the wilderness. But the Irish emigration flowed with full force upon the United States.

Though many of the Irish emigrants were, doubtless, persons of small means, who had been hoarding and saving for years, and living in rags and squalor, in order to amass sufficient money to carry themselves and families across the Atlantic, and to beg their way to the western states, where they may 'squat' or purchase cheap lands, the great bulk appeared to be people of the most destitute class, who went to join their friends and relatives, previously established in America.

Large sums of money reached this country annually from the United States. Through Liverpool houses alone, near upon a million pounds sterling, in small drafts, varying from 2 Pounds or 3 Pounds to 10 Pounds each, were annually forwarded from America, for poor persons in Ireland, to enable them to emigrate; and the passage-money of many thousands, in addition, was paid in New York.

Before the fatal year 1847, the emigration was very considerable; but, since that time, it very rapidly increased. The following document, issued on the authority of her Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, shows the progressive increase in the numbers of British subjects who annually quitted British shores as Emigrants, from 1825 to January 1st 1850.

Years	North American Colonies	United States Of America	Australia and New Zealand	Others
1825	8741	5551	485	114
1826	12818	7063	903	116
1827	12648	14526	715	114
1828	12084	12817	1056	135
1829	13307	15678	2016	197
1830	30574	24887	1242	204
1831	58067	23418	1561	114
1832	66339	32872	3733	196
1833	28808	29109	4093	517
1834	40060	33074	2800	288
1835	15573	26720	1860	325
1836	34226	37774	3124	293
1837	29884	36770	5054	326
1838	4577	14332	14021	292
1839	12658	33536	15786	227
1840	32293	40642	15850	1958
1841	38164	45017	32625	2786
1842	54123	63852	8534	1835
1843	23518	28335	3478	1881
1844	22924	43660	2229	1873
1845	31803	58538	830	2330
1846	43439	82239	2347	1826
1847	109680	142154	4949	1487
1848	31065	188233	23904	4887
1849	41367	219450	32091	6590
Total	808740	1260247	185286	30911

 

The human stream flowed principally through the ports of London and Liverpool; as there was but little direct emigration from Scotland or Ireland. In the year 1849, out of the total number of 299,498 emigrants, more than one-half, or 153,902 left from the port of Liverpool.

Her Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners published in the spring of every year a useful little pamphlet, entitled the ' Colonisation Circular', which contained the names and duties of the Emigration offices in the ports of The United Kingdom and in the colonies; the cost of passage to the various colonies; a statement of the demand for labour including the rate of wages; and the price of provisions in each colony; an explanation of the mode of disposal of Crown lands; the privileges granted to naval and military settlers; the victualling scale on board ships; an abstract of the Passengers Act, and other valuable particulars. The Government however, gave no information relative to the United States so that its admirable little circular was of comparatively little service to at least one half of the great crowds of emigrants.

The majority of emigrants take a steerage passage, and go out at the cheapest rate. Out of the 153,902 mentioned above as having left the port of Liverpool in 1849, the number of first and second cabin passengers was only 4639.

Emigration From Liverpool

Below details the process of emigration, beginning with the arrival of the emigrants at Liverpool, the great port of intercourse with the United States. The first care of the emigrants, if their passages have not previously been paid for them by their kind friends in New York, is to pay their passage-money, and make the best bargain they can with the passenger-brokers.

The competition in this trade is very great, and fares, accordingly, varied from day to day, and even from hour to hour, being sometimes as high as 5 Pounds per passenger in the steerage, and sometimes as low as 3 Pounds 10 Shillings.

The walls of Liverpool were thoroughly placarded with the notices of the days of sailing of the various ships, for which many firms act as passenger-brokers, and set forth in large letters the excellent qualities of such well known and favourite ‘packets’ as;

·         the Yorkshire,

·         the New World,

·         the Isaac Webb,

·         the West Point,

·         the Constitution,

·         the Isaac Wright,

·         the London,

·         the Star Of The West,

·         the Queen Of The West, and scores of others.

The average number of steerage passengers that could be accommodated in these fine vessels (which are mostly owned in New York) was 400; but some of them, such as the Isaac Webb, could comfortably make room for double that number.

After the emigrant had chosen the ship by which he would sail, and perhaps run the gauntlet through scores of designing and unscrupulous 'man-catchers', a class of persons who get a commission from the passenger-brokers for each emigrant that they bring to the office, his next duty was to present himself to the Medical Inspectors Office.

Medical Inspector's Office

By the terms of the New Passenger Act, 12 and 13 Vict., c.33, no passenger-ship is allowed to proceed until a medical practitioner appointed by the emigration office of the port shall have inspected the medicine-chest and passengers, and certified that the medicines etc. are sufficient, and that the passengers are free from contagious disease.

The master, owner, or charterer of the ship was bound to pay the medical inspector the sum of 1 Pound sterling for every 100 persons thus inspected. When the emigrant and his family had undergone this process, their passage-ticket was stamped, and they had nothing further to do, until they got onboard, but to make their own private arrangements and provide themselves with outfits, or with such articles of luxury or necessity as they may desire over and above the ships allowance.

All persons who were discovered to be affected with any infectious disease, either at the original port of embarkation or at any port in the United Kingdom into which the vessel was subsequently put, were to be re-landed, with those members of their families, if any, who may be dependent upon them, or unwilling to be separated from them, together with their clothes and effects.

Passengers re-landed were entitled to receive back their passage-money, which was recovered from the party to whom it was paid, or from the owner, charterer, or master of the ship, by summary process, before two or more justices of the peace.

The Embarkation

The scene in the Waterloo dock, at Liverpool, where all the American sailing ships were stationed, were at all times a very busy one; but, on the morning of the departure of a large ship, with a full complement of emigrants, it was peculiarly exciting and interesting.

The passengers had undergone inspection, and many of them had taken up their quarters on board for twenty-four hours previously, as they were entitled to do by terms of the act of Parliament.

Many of them brought, in addition to the boxes and trunks containing their worldly wealth, considerable quantities of provisions.

For the voyage from England to Australia the ship's owner was required to provide the following:

Rations:
Each adult passenger over 14 years received each week as follows:-
56 ounces of biscuit
6 ounces of beef, 18 ounces of pork
24 ounces of preserved meat
42 ounces of flour
21 ounces of oatmeal
8 ounces of raisins
6 ounces of suet
Three quarters of an ounce of peas
8 ounces of rice
8 ounces of preserved potatoes

Weekly provisions for Children:

Between ten and fourteen years - two thirds of this allowance each week and children between two and ten years received half.

Weekly provisions for Children:
Between four months and two years: -
3 pints of water
12 ounces of biscuit
4 ounces of oatmeal
8 ounces of flour
4 ounces of rice
10 ounces of sugar

Medical Comforts: - per 100 adult passengers:
28lb West Indian arrowroot
56lb Scotch barley
150lb sage
400 pints lemon juice
500lb sugar
24 bottles port wine
12 bottles sherry wine
100 gallons approved stout
10 gallons brandy
10 gallons rum
8 dozen pints preserved milk
2 cakes marine soap

In addition, children between four months and two years received:

One quarter of a pint of milk daily, 3 ounces of preserved soup and one egg every alternate day

Voluntary Constables were selected from amongst the married men to receive and carry the provisions to and from the galley for the chefs to prepare the food.

The average length of the voyage to Australia 'under canvas' from 1840 to 1860 was one hundred and eleven days while the shortest voyage on record was eighty three days.

Vessels carrying as many as 100 passengers were provided with a seafaring person to act as passenger's cook, and also with a proper cooking apparatus.

A convenient place was set apart on deck for cooking, and a proper supply of fuel was shipped for the voyage.

Dancing Between Decks

The scenes that occurred between decks on the day before the sailing of a ship, and during the time that a ship may be unavoidably detained in dock, are not generally of a character to impress the spectator with the idea of any great or overwhelming grief on the part of the emigrants at leaving the old country.

On the contrary, all is bustle, excitement, and merriment. The scene of a party of emigrants, male and female, dancing between decks-to the music of the violin-played for their amusement, by some of their fellow-passengers, was not a rare one.

Sometimes a passenger was skilful upon the Irish Bagpipe, and his services were freely asked and freely given for the gratification of his countrymen and countrywomen; not simply while in dock, but, according to the reports of captains and others, during the whole voyage.

Any person who could play the Violin, Flute, Pipe, or any other instrument, became of interest and importance to the passengers, and was kept in constant requisition for their amusement. The youngest child and the oldest man in the ship were alike interested; and grey headed men and women were frequently to be seen dancing with as much delight, if not with as much vigour, as if seventeen, not seventy, was the number that would most nearly express their age.

But, as the hour of departure draws nigh, the music ceases. Too many fresh arrivals take place every moment, and the docks become too much encumbered with luggage to admit of the amusement. Although notice of the day and hour of departure may have been given for weeks previously, there are a large class of persons (-not confined to emigrants it may be observed 'en passant'-) who never will be punctual, and who seem to make it a point of duty and conscience to postpone everything to the last moment, and to enjoy the excitement of being within a few minutes or even moments of losing their passage. These may be seen arriving in flushed and panting detachments, driving donkey-carts laden with their worldly stores, to the gangway, at the ship's side. It often happens that the gangway has been removed before their arrival, in which case their only chance is to wait until the ship reaches the dock-gate, when their boxes, bails, barrels and bundles are actually pitched into the ship, and men, and women, and children have to scramble up among the rigging, amid a screaming, a swearing, and a shouting perfectly alarming to listen to. Not infrequently a box or barrel falls overboard, and sometimes a man or a woman suffers the same fate, but is speedily re-saved by men in a small boat, that follows in the wake of this ship for the purpose, until she have finally cleared the dock.

The Departure

There are usually a large number of spectators at the dock-gates to witness the final departure of the noble ship, with its large freight of human beings. It is an interesting and impressive sight; and the most callous and indifferent can scarcely fail, at such a moment, to form cordial wishes for the pleasant voyage and safe arrival of the emigrants, and for their future prosperity in their new home.

As the ship is towed out, hats are raised, handkerchiefs are waved, and a loud and long-continued shout of farewell is raised from the shore, and cordially responded to from the ship. It is then, if at any time, that the eyes of the emigrants begin to moisten with regret at the thought that they are looking for the last time at the old country-that country which, although, in all probability, associated principally with the remembrance of sorrow and suffering, of semi-starvation, and a constant battle for the merest crust necessary to support existence is, nevertheless, the country of their fathers, the country of their childhood, and consecrated to their hearts by many a token. The last look, if known to be the last, is always sorrowful, and refuses, in most instances, to see the wrong and the suffering, the error and the misery, which may have impelled the one who takes it, to venture from the old into the new, from the tried to the untried path, and to recommence existence under new auspices, and with new and totally different prospects.

It is doubtless the feeling uppermost in the mind of many thousands of the poorer class of English emigrants at the moment when the cheers of the spectators and of their friends on shore proclaim the instant of departure from the land of their birth.

Even in the case of the Irish emigrants, a similar feeling-though possibly less intense-can scarcely fail to be excited. Little time, however, is left to them to indulge in these reflections. The ship is generally towed by a steam-tug five or ten miles down the Mersey; and during the time occupied in traversing these ten miles, two very important ceremonies have to be gone through: the first is "the Search for Stowaways;" and the second is the "Roll-call of the Passengers."

The Search for Stowaways

The practice of 'stowing away', or hiding about a vessel until after the passage tickets had been collected, in order to procure, by this fraudulent means, a free passage, was stated to be very common to ships leaving London and Liverpool.

The 'Stowaways' were sometimes brought onboard concealed in trunks or chests, with air-holes to prevent suffocation. Sometimes they were brought in barrels, packed up to their chins in salt, or biscuits, or other provisions, to the imminent hazard of their lives.

At other times they took the chance of hiding about the ship, under the bedding, amid the confused luggage of other passengers, and in all sorts of dark nooks and corners between decks. Hence, it becoming expedient to make a thorough search of the vessel before the steam-tug had left her, in order that, if any of these unhappy intruders be discovered, they may be taken back to port and brought before the Magistrate, to be punished for the fraud which they have attempted.

As many as a dozen stowaways had sometimes been discovered in one ship; and cases had occurred, though not frequently, of men, women, and young boys, having been taken dead out of the barrels or chests in which they had concealed themselves, to avoid payment of 3 Pounds or 4 Pounds passage money.

When the ship is fairly out, the search for stowaways is ordered.

All the passengers are summoned upon the Quarter-Deck, and there detained until the search had been completed in every part of the ship.

The Captain, Mate, or other Officer, attended by the clerk of the passenger broker, and as many of the crew as may be necessary for the purpose, then proceed below, bearing masked lanterns or candles, and armed with long poles, hammers, chisels, etc, that they may break open suspicious looking chests and barrels. Occasionally, the pole is said to be tipped with a sharp nail, to aid the process of discovery in dark nooks; and sometimes the man armed with the hammer hammers the bed-clothes, in order that if there be a concealed head underneath, the owner may make the fact known, and thus avoid a repetition of the blows.

If a stowaway be concealed in a barrel, it is to be presumed that he has been placed with his head uppermost, and the searchers, upon this hint, whenever they have a suspicion, deliberately proceed to turn the barrel bottom upwards-- a process which never fails, after a short time, if the suspicion be well founded, to elicit an unmistakable cry for release. Although this search is invariably made with the upmost care, it is not always effectual in discovering the delinquent; and instances have occurred in which no less than eight, ten, or even a larger number, including both men and women, have made their appearance after the vessel has been two or three days at sea. Some captains used to make it a rule to behave with great severity, if not cruelty, to these unfortunates; and instances are related of their having caused them to be tarred and feathered, or to walk the decks through the cold nights with nothing on but their shirts: but this inhumanity does not now appear to be practised.

As there is a great deal of dirty work that must be done on ship-board, the stowaways are pressed into that service, and compelled to make themselves useful, if not agreeable. They are forced, in fact, to work their passage out, and the most unpleasant jobs are imposed upon them. After the search for them in every corner of the ship, the next ceremony, that of the roll-call is commenced.

Roll-Call

This is one that occupies a considerable space of time, especially in a large ship, containing seven or eight hundred emigrants. The passengers,those in the state cabin excepted, being all assembled upon the Quarter-Deck, the clerk of the passenger-broker, accompanied by the ship's surgeon, and aided in the preservation of order by the crew, proceeds to call for the tickets.

The clerk, or man in authority, usually stands upon the rail, or other convenient elevation on the Quarter-Deck, so that he may be enabled to see over the heads of the whole assemblage-usually a very motley one-comprising people of all ages, from seven weeks to seventy years.

A double purpose is answered by the roll-call-the verification of the passenger-list, and the medical inspection of the emigrants, on behalf of the captain and owners. The previous inspection on the part of the governor was to prevent the risk of contagious disease on board. The inspection on the part of the owners is for a different object.

The ship has to pay a poll-tax of one dollar and a half per passenger to the State of New York; and if any of the poor emigrants are helpless and deformed persons, the owners are fined in the sum of seventy five dollars for bringing them, and are compelled to enter in a bond to the city of New York that they will not become a burden on the public.

To obviate this risk, the medical officer of the ship passes them under inspection; and if there be a pauper cripple among the number who cannot give security that he has friends in America to take charge of him of arrival, and provide for him afterwards, the captain may refuse to take him.

The business of verification and inspection generally occupies from two to four hours, according to the number of emigrants on board; and, during its progress, some noteworthy incidents occasionally arise. Sometimes an Irishman, with a wife and eight or ten children, who may have only paid a deposit of his passage-money, attempts to evade the payment of the balance, by pleading that he has not a farthing left in the world; and trusting that the ship will rather take him out to New York for the sum already paid, than incur the trouble of putting him on shore again with his family.

Sometimes a woman may have included in her passage-ticket an infant at the breast, and may be seen, when her name is called, panting under the weight of a boy of eight or nine years of age, whom she is holding to her bosom as if he were really a suckling.

Sometimes a youth of nineteen, strong and big as a man, has been entered as under twelve, in order to get across to America for half the fare of an adult; and sometimes a whole family are without any tickets, and have come on board in the hope that, amid the confusion which they imagine will be attendant upon the congregation of so many hundred people on a ship, they may manage to evade notice, and slip down unperceived amid those whose documents are found 'en regle'.

These cases, as they occur, are placed on one side; and those who have duly paid their passage money, and produced their tickets, are allowed to pass down and take possession of their berths.

Those who have not paid, either in whole or in part, and are either unable or unwilling to satisfy the claim against them, are then transferred on board the tug, with bag and baggage, to be reconveyed to port.

Those who have money, and have attempted a fraud, generally contrive, after many lamentations about their extreme poverty, to produce the necessary funds, which, in the shape of golden sovereigns are not unfrequently found to be safely stitched amid the rags of petticoats, coats, and unmentionable garments.

Those who have really no money, and who cannot manage to appeal to the sympathy of the crowd for a small subscription to help them to the New World, must resign themselves to their fate, and remain in the poverty from which they seek to free themselves, until they are able to raise the small sum necessary for their emancipation. The stowaways, if any, are ordered to be taken before the magistrates; and all strangers and interlopers being safely placed in the tug, the emigrant ship is left to herself. May all prosperity attend her living freight!

'Far away-oh far away-

We seek a world o'er the ocean spray!

We seek a land across the sea, Where bread is plenty and men are free,

The sails are set, the breezes swell- England, our country, farewell! farewell!

Bibliography:

http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/FAMINE/ILN/Tide/Tide.html