Glasgow,— Its description,— Go to Greenock,— Heavy gale,— Perilous condition,— Frantic girl,— I had my fears,— Meet an old acquaintance,— Difficulty in rinding my goods,— Disclosure of an imprudent captain,— Get ready for sailing,— Meet an old companion, — Traitor, — Mr. Tialo, His history, — Falling out with my old acquaintance, — Incident on the passage, — Arrive home. The four principal streets which intersect each other, at right angles, divide the city into nearly four equal parts. The high church is a magnificent Gothic structure. There are several splendid churches and other edifices, not surpassed by any in Europe. The city is situated on the north bank of the Clyde; the suburbs extending to the opposite side, connected by three elegant stone bridges. _ Although introduced by letter to this magnificent city, I did not call upon any one, but rambled about with no other companion than my guide-book.
After seeing all that was desirable in Glasgow, I took the steamer for Greenock, and as there was nothing very attractive to me there, excepting the Dry-docks, I left in the next steamer for Liverpool. It was late in the afternoon when we started. After entering the Frith, it came on to blow hard from the north-east. We were now fast drifting on to the coast of Ireland. When between Donaghadee and Port Patrick, the gale was terrific. It was quite dark, our coals were nearly expended, and we were quite near the rocks on the coast of Ireland. I stood most of the time near the captain, and putting his hand on my shoulder, "now," said he, "if the engine holds out, we shall get by; but if a screw gives way, or anything stops the engine, we are gone.
We can break up the chairs, tables, and any of the wood-work about the ship if the coal gives out: but my only fear is, that the engine will not last. The passengers were much alarmed, but by good management, most of them Q were kept below. There was a girl about twenty yearg of age, who got upon deck, and seeing the state of things, became frantic. She clenched hold of me, saying: 11 Oh, dear! dear! what shall I do? I have something on my mind that I wish to confess before I die. Oh, mercy! Oh, mercy! " With some trouble I got her below, and shut the cabin door; so that if we went on the rocks, they might as well die there, as any- where else, for death would be inevitable, and to tell the truth, I was not without my fears.
Here we were, close on to the rocks, in a small steamer, with rather an equivocal engine, a furious gale and a heavy sea. As the captain said, if the engine stops for a minute, we are gone. If it had been so, my fate would not have been known, for no soul except those on board, knew where I was. My friends s$ Newcastle knew that I had gone to Leith, and that was the extent of their knowledge of my whereabouts. When in London, I had purchased about one thousand dollars worth of goods which were sent to Liverpool, subject to my order; these would have been lost to my family. But an overruling and kind Providence had ordered it otherwise and we were saved; the wind shifted a few points, which very much abated the danger.
By daylight we were under the lee of the Isle of Man, and scraped up fuel enough to carry us into Liverpool. And when once on terra firina, again, I assure you I felt glad. I fell in with an old acquaintance, captain of a ship bound for Boston and to sail in two days; he invited me to take passage with him, which invitation I accepted. My first business was to see about my goods, so I went to the Canal office with my number and description. The clerk looked over the list of names; I had given him my name which began with II. Now as the English seldom sound the H, he looked among the O's, and after running the list over carefully, he says: "There are no goods here for you.
" " Well, how can that be 1 You have the goods on your freight list, aaid here is the ticket. " " Well, truly, this is mysterious; there must be some mistake; your goods must have been left at Manchester. " Now here was a fix; my passage in this ship was vetoed. In the afternoon I called again, and almost the first things I saw in the freight room, were my goods. And when I told the clerk that my goods were there, he asked me again, what name? I told him. I then saw him looking under the O's, and I reeled off a little bit of my mind to him. Said I, " what kind of a clerk are you? don't you know how to spell a name?