A Run on land at Queenstown
Queenstown is full of curiosity. It is the entrance for metric scale system to Europe, The aim of their initiation into scenes read of and mentally pictured, But yet to be tried by the light of knowledge. It is the first page of the book of foreign travel, And it is often all of the the same volume-A host to meeting and farewell, Where the ocean voyage pretty much begins and ends. All who have friends bound for Europe look for its name with much anxiety in the telegraphic columns of their newspapers, And they are relieved by seeing among the marine news the brief paragraph which tells them in formal words like these that the steamer for which they've been hoping has reached her destination:
"Queenstown, Thurs.-The steamer Servia arrived here today, And having landed all mails and some anyone in the car, Proceeded for Liverpool right off,
On board the ship herself this famous port of call is also the main topics much speculation, And the chances as to when it will be reached occupy no small part of the abundant leisure of the voyage. A miniature chart of the North Atlantic on a scale so diminished that a pen line inch indicates three or four hundred miles is hung in the companionway, And daily the vessel's course and position are marked upon it. It is slowly removed from its place into the chief officer's room for a few minutes at noon, And when it is replaced a crowd of passengers surround the miscroscopic frame in which it is hung, And are grateful for the pledge in which the extremity of the ink line, For the note of latitude and longitude, Gives they are somewhere and not nowhere, As the similarity of the view day after day would cause them to think. The line has its opening at Sandy Hook; Thence (At certain months) It is drawn due east a good inch, And from this level it works in a curve, Inclining towards the south as it approaches the irregular shape of the Irish coast near Cape Clear. It is when it is an inch or two of Cape Clear that Queenstown becomes a more engrossing topic previously, And not the day but the hour of arrival is now spoken of with a confidence which has dismissed any fears or doubts there might have been at the outset of the voyage. The novels and games possess engaged the passengers previously are abandoned. The saloon tables are plagued by stationery, And the overall occupation is epistolary. No one is unexcited by the chance save a few used-Up travellers who are too experienced with Queenstown to care in the least about it; But to most of those on board the places mean many items: Most certainly land again, And bring them once more in verbal exchanges with home; It opens new scenes and awakens new reactions, And through it old enterprises are renewed and new relations established.
The land is perhaps sighted early in the day-A gray upheaval scarcely distinguishable one of moist and billowy clouds which hang on the faint horizon. Very pale and cold are the sunrises on the southerly coast, Though full of wild and odd color. The water holds on top deep greens, Warm cleveland brown colours, And a purple over which a translucent white have been washed. The heavily gray masses conceal heaven, But as they break and unfold they grudgingly permit a cheerless light to fall upon the sea. Prior to the solid cliffs are visible the vapor shapes itself into a phantasmal coast, Which seems more real to the novice eye than the land when it appears; And if you stood up on the bridge of the steamer on one of these white mornings you may likely not recognize the hills of Kerry when they first revealed themselves in the indistinct distance to the sharp eyes of the watch. The hills of the tremendous mountain country in which Ireland ends have extricated themselves from the clouds, And because gray they appear softly blue before the sleepers are stirring; But by seven o'clock much of the ports are thrown open, And many eyes are looking out of the small circular apertures in the vessel's side to see anticipated land.
You must, Until Queenstown is arrived in, There is more animation than at any other time this voyage. Flags are sailing from each mast and astern; The outside patio's are holy-Stoned to a foamy whiteness; The officers wear their finest uniforms, With the latest of gold-Ribbons, And the passengers have discarded the loose and négligé costumes of the voyage for the more precise and stylish attire of the shore. The conversions in dress are so complete that one's most intimate acquaintances are not immediately recognizable. The soft Tweed hat and motorcycle lid, Along with the loose, Massive ulsters, Are packed up somewhere in the rolls of shawls and rugs which the stewards are speaking about from the cabins, And whoever has worn them have adopted closer-Fitting garments and the comfy "Cooker-Water lines" Of world.
But subject material? land like at which most of the passengers are looking with wistful eyes and many surmises? Among the first points sighted is Crookhaven, A telegraph station from which the appearance of the ship is telegraphed over both continents, And a few miles east of extremely effective island of Cape Clear and the rock of Fastnet, On which one of the main useful lights is pillared. The space from Fastnet to Queenstown is about seventy-Five stretches, And between them the coast is broken by many bays and perilous headlands which jut right out of the cliffs. The coves are lofty and savage, And in comparison with their brown escarpment the sea fringes their bases with a long line of white surf, Which is sufficient to be visible many miles away when the Atlantic is calmest, And just what, When a gale is wasting, Will be uplifted half-Way back to the tops. The land above the cliffs is drowsy and empty, A succulent green in color, Sad inside effect, With few other signs of life upon it than the dots of white where a small village lies in the pale blue streak of its own smoke, As tower and inclosing walls of a light-keep. The white of the cottages and the sunshine-House looks the whiter your darkness of the rocks, And the cloudiness which shuts out sunshine or admits it in misty beams. The feeling inspired one among the desolation. An uncompanionable maiden or youth may yield to this particular and sigh responsively to this fact piteous-Seeming land; But the passengers find too much to do to let the scene, Which soon becomes uninteresting, Process them. You have good-Byes to be said to people who are going ashore at Queenstown, And telegrams and letters to be written for send at that port; The purser has to be consulted on purchasing of trains, Selecting routes and hotels, And on various encyclopædical questions with which that useful officer is expected to be acquainted. Four hours after passing Fastnet the steamer is abreast f a bolder promontory than any: Oahu is the Old Head of Kinsale, And in the gap, Over the main harbour bow, Another promontory is observed. It is Roche's Point, At the doorway to Queenstown Harbor, And standing off it is the tender which would be to take ashore the mails and the passengers who are not going on to Liverpool.
Perhaps it will be well to say just here what the uses of Queenstown are to the across the atlantic steamers, And what their associations are with it. All the mail machines between New York, Birkenstock celtics, And Philadelphia and Liverpool call at it both enroute from America to England and from England to America. They deliver the our mails there, And have the English mails. The space from Queenstown to Liverpool is two hundred and forty miles, And the steamers usually take from seventeen to twenty hours in that makes it. The time is occasionally increased by from one to nine hours through detentions caused by the lack of water at the Liverpool bar. But by the mail service via Dublin and Holyhead the best time occupied between Queenstown and London, Two hundred and one miles farther than gatwick,Isabel Marant Boots, Should be only nineteen hours; And thus possibly for a mail to be delivered in London before the steamer which brought it to Queenstown has entered the Mersey. The operation is by train to Cork and Dublin; Then by extremely powerful Channel steamers across the Irish Sea to Holyhead, Online Welsh coast, And from Holyhead to the suburb by fast trains, Which cover the length, Two hundred and sixty kilometres, In six hours and forty free tracfone units. In coming to America the steamers have to wait at Queenstown for the mail leaving London at nine o'clock in the evening of the day on which they sail from Liverpool. Put differently, Supposing that one of them left the second port at noon on Saturday, She'd be in Queenstown early on Sunday morning, And would anchor there until the appearance of the train which left London nine hours after she left Liverpool, And which may be due in Queenstown at about three o'clock on Sunday afternoon. The mail is not the single thing benefited. A hurried business man gains a whole working day on shore when using the mail route to Queenstown, And the steamers themselves find that a convenient port for the embarkation of the large numbers of emigrants coming from Ireland. The passengers who embark at Liverpool will often have enough time ashore at Queenstown, While their steamers are waiting around for the mail, To see the gorgeous harbor, The water Lee, Cork, Perfectly as to kiss the Blarney Stone, And for nevertheless bound to Europe it is the best starting-Point pertaining to your tour of Killarney. To such a degree are Americans seen in it, And to such a degree do they patronize its hotels, Its suppliers, A hawkers, Along with its beggars, That needs to be an American possession, And the u s of a's flag, Disposing of its crimson bars, Looks quite at home on top of the consulate, Which is embanked high on these days white terraces of the town.
But let us settle for our steamer off the Old Head of Kinsale, On her way to gatwick. The tender lying to off the main harbour bow is the Lord Bandon, The finish Etna, Or a Jackal, And when we're within half a mile of her the engines are slowed, After stopped, Providing her to come aside. The good news is hush and a straining of sight among the passengers as she approaches. The additional expect friends to meet them; Each of them is deeply interested. She vacations the eight-Day spell of the trip, And reopens dialogue with the larger world, And solves real estate social knot which the isolation of the voyage has tied. The firmness and greenness of the land are not more welcome than the new and not known faces, Except to the bridal pair who've been living on the Eden isle of their passion, And propose to take that unreal estate on shore with the remainder of their baggage. Except to them to select from sense of release, And we at once begin to feel any fullness of space than the immensity of mid-Ocean has ever satisfied upon us. The spell should indeed be broken and the knot untied. Not possibly is the gang-Plank out when a vendor of newspapers is releasing the New York Herald and the London Times. We have a flutter of excitement over a weather-Stained leather dispatch bag which a man on the shore delivers to the purser. That gentleman is uncivilly mobbed by the passenegers in your car in their anxiety to get at the contents. Small circular plate to the lock focuses their attention, And as it were, While the hot button is inserted, Every face is addressed in suspense. A bundle of letters and telegrams is brought out and distributed evenly; Then the mob disperses to read what it has brought in quiet corners, While the few disappointed ones who have received nothing mournfully try to interest themselves in what's going on upon the deck. For the time being the mails have been put on board the tender, And the passengers are warned by special features to follow them. This is immediately done, And the good ship, Which looks nobler right in the end of the voyage than when she started, Is acclaimed with cheers, Which have been answered with three hoarse blasts from her fog-horn. She bears off in your northeast, And the tender tends to make Roche's Point, Throughout the shelter of which she soon is.
Queenstown Harbor is not unlike that of san francisco. As the Narrows protect the second, Roche's Point and its opposite headland are so close together that they shut out the storms from the first sort, And keep the tank within it smooth when that outside is raging. The rounded bay, To the islands and hilly shores, Is also a duplicate of what may be seen in your neighborhood of Staten Island. At the mouth the land is rugged, And the heights are prepared, But farther in the foliage is copious amounts of. You'll find anchorage for thousands of ships,Isabel Marant Heels, And an adequate depth of water to admit the largest at all states of the tide.
At the pinnacle of the bay, In an almost straight line from the actual, Is madrid, Built in balconies, One above one more, On a wooded and heathery stone cold choose to decide to bluff. The homes are nearly all white and square and uniform in feature. Their color and the frequent green which surrounds them give them a tropical similarity, In particular, As is not often necessity, When the sun lights them up and distills loads of rainbow tints from the atmosphere, Which might be soft, But bleak and dispiriting. On a clear and placid summer day Queenstown Harbor is as beautiful as something that can be imagined. The flowers has a soft and cloudy depth, And water is a still pool of emerald. Every object is enhanced and idealized, Every different color harmonized. The fundamental things themselves seem as beautifully phantasmal as their minute reflections.
At the foot of the cliff and along side the quays is a street of shops and taverns, Exquisite aiming for patronage at tourists, Emigrants, Combined with seamen. The higher terraces are mainly dwellings, And greater they are, The better is the class to which belong. On the ridge above all the others are two or three houses and this can be called palaces without extravagance of phrase. The interests of Queenstown are much varied, And social problem are scarcely to be expected from them, The lines of caste and rank are drawn with english tongue precisions. Primarily the primary interest of Queenstown is as a port of call. For example Falmsouth, Which is in the same manner situated on the southern coast of England, It is good for by many ships consigned to order, And also, Basically, Sent here that the choice of a port of delivery may be governed by the stipulations of the market, And ships in ballast from elsewhere, Which can be ordered from here to that point where the best terms for carrying a cargo are procurable.
The captain whose vessel is lying in the harbor waiting orders thought to be the constituent figures of Queenstown-A snug person, With a complexion of copper bronze and a marked solidity of eye, And a straightforwardness and brevity of manner. One degree above him is a ship agent, Who also is a snug person, Applying a villa on the heathery bluff, Set in a grounds, And powerful a view of the mirror-Desire bay-A comfortable habitation, Jam-choked with the spoils of travel, Where by he gives little dinners, Known by libations as deep as they were in country houses twenty years ago. This like ship agents, Who is argosies, "Who have portly sail, Like signiors and rich burghers from flood, Do overpeer the small traffickers, The officer of "The small traffickers" Also has a house around on the hill, And some office, Filled with charts and maps pictures of ships, In the pub by the water-Border. Another element is provided by the officers of the garrison and the officers of the Board of Trade, Whose duty lies while using the outgoing ships; And the salubrity of its climate brings a few invalid visitors to it, Very consumptives and sufferers from nervous debility. The dominant person in this little society is the admiral of the main harbour, And not to know him should be unknown-At least in very popular eyes. An out of date old warship is moored in the harbor, Reality it is nominally a guard-Send orders, Its principal use is as a vessel on the fact that admiral can fly his flag. Practically he might fly his flag with no less results from any pole on land, But that could be an infringement of naval usages, And the harmless old frigate is kept, With a crew of two hundred or higher men, To satisfy a tradition. Anyway flying his flag, The admiral has one or two other duties to undertake. From time to time one of the enormous armored ships calls at Queenstown, Or a great white transport has the harbor to carry troops away from this inactive little station to the Cape or India, And once she is moored a ladder is lowered down her side, And the captain in full school regular enters a boat which bears him away to the admiral to report, And the admiral receives him with rewarding blandness. The functions of the admiral are almost entirely elaborate, And around him groupings an acquiescent little court, Primarily naval and military courtiers. Several yachtsmen, As their bird-Like vessels add to the good thing about the harbor, Are also present in the summer months, And sometimes there is the special correspondent of an important newspaper waiting to beguile some known traveller by sea into an "Meet with, These dissimilar elements find a point of contact at the health club, Which adheres to many of the rules to which it was formed in 1720, And is the first born of all yacht clubs. A writer in 1748 thus comes from one of its customs to the Admiralty: "I shall now acquaint your Lordships with a ceremony is to be had at Cork. It is like that of the Doge of Venice's wedding the Sea. A set of worthy Gentlemen who have formed his or her selves into a body, They will call the Water Club, Search a few leagues out to Sea, Sometimes, In most of little Vessels which for painting and gilding exceeed the King's Yacht at Greenwich and Deptford. A Admiral, Who is annually chosen, And hoists his Flag about his little yacht, Qualified the Van, And takes the honours of the Flag. The entire fleet fall in their proper stations, And keep their line in much the same as the King's Ships. This Fleet is attended with a enormous Number of Boats, Which because of their colors flying, Drums pounding, And Trumpets appearing, Forms one of several agreeable and splendid Sights your Lordships can conceive, Various rules are very odd. We direct, Amongst other things, That's "No admiral do bring more than two Dishes of Meat for the amusement of the Club, Of the fact that most "No admiral do presume to bring even beyond two Dozen of Wine to his Treat, For it has become deemed a Breach of the ancient Rules and Constitutions of the Club, Except when my Lords the Judges are asked, That may "No captain do bring any new person to the Club, Unless they should lie at the Captain's House the previous night: This order not grant to the admiral, Who has a right to ask whom he pleases, and "No long tail hairpieces, Large masturbator fleshlight sleeves, Or Ruffles be worn by any component at the Club,
Though the club is less restricted now, And is a very pleasant little house of enjoyment, It is not enough to beguile all the free time which the men have, And one hears many complaints of ennui among people who find themselves fixtures. Queenstown is uninspiring, And to an active attitude the torpor of its ways soon become execrable. The passengers of the ocean steamers ripple the top for a few hours, But as soon as they are gone the place relapses into its usual and oppressive quietude.
As soon as as a famous steamer is telegraphed it is known among the thatched cottages on the hill-Side through some rapid but tasteful agency, And just before the tender comes in from Roche's Point a voluble rabble of hawkers, Beggars, And carmen collects on the quays. When the traveler lands he is confused by the chorus of importunities to buy and to give. Each carman pretends to assume he has been especially selected, And waves his whip and arms anxiously at the suppositious hirer: "Really, Yer haner; The foregoing yer, Yer haner; I'm in store for yer haner"-the