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{the raised top deck at the stern). A special kitchen-pantry and toilets would have been
provided for the cabin passengers and officers, and each cabin would have had a bunk, or two-
tier bunks, six feet long and three feet wide, with shelves, hooks for clothing, a storage space
under the bunk(s), a wash-basin, bucket, folding-table and perhaps a collapsible canvas chair.
Single men in steerage - and there were 33 on the Lady McNaghten -were usually lodged under
the sailors1 quarters in the prow of the ship, the fo'castle: they might have single bunks, six feet
by two, or hammocks. Single women - and there seems to have been just one on this voyage
(Harriet Hill) -were lodged as far away as possible from the single men, at the other end of the
ship, at the stern. They would usually share a bunk. Boys and girls aged 14 and over would
usualfy be accommodated with the single men or women. Married coulples in steerage shared
their sleeping quarters (like open hutches arranged along both sides of the ship and facing
inwards, with two-tier bunks six feet square) with other married couples or with thefr children,
who usually occupied the upper bunk, sometimes four in a bunk, depending on their age or sex.
Very
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young children and babies - and there were 32 pre-teenage children on board -would sleep
with their parents. These sleeping boxes were divided from one another by planks. Between
them, in the centre of the deck, were !ong tables and benches, aligned fore and aft.
The headroom beiow the main deck would have been at most six feet four inches, usually less.
Only when the hatches were open was there any appreciable iight or fresh air. Lanterns were
few and padlocked to avoid any misuse, and any risk of fire. Candles were allowed in cabins
but nowhere else.
The Rev Mereweather has provided us with a description of the actual accommodation
arrangements for steerage passengers on the Lady McNaghten.
'A rather confined space in the bows of the vessel under the forecastle is appropriated to the
unmarried men. The berths are two deep, and about thirty of these have been put up
athwartship with every regard to economy of space. As the scuttles (port holes) are blocked up
by the berths and baggage, the whole compartment has a most lugubrious and dungeon-iike
aspect. This place is entered by the fore hatch. The middle part of the ship, that entered by the
main hatch, is entirely taken up by the cargo. The whole after part of the vessel, that part, I
mean, which is entered by the after hatch and extends under the cabins (we had a poop deck)
right to the stern, is appropriated to the married steerage passengers, with the exception of one
enclosed cabin given to two or three unmarried men, an arrangement which is very inexcusable
on the part of the charterers of the ship, inasmuch as the constant presence at night-time of wild
reckless young men among familes of boys and girls, tends to produce irregularities and
indiscretions, and in fact did eventually produce them. Around this large saloon were fitted up
open berths athwartship, two deep, for about 60 persons; also six enclosed cabins, the berths in
which were arranged along-ship. All in this saloon are steerage passengers, and have the same
allowance of victualling; but those who have enclosed cabins pay more for them than they would
for open ones. The nominal price of steerage passengers is £15 a head for each adult, provided
he has an open berth; an enclosed cabin will cost two people about £40.'
William Honeycombe and his family, who paid about £150 in all, must, as intermediate
passengers, have occupied one of these enclosed cabins in steerage, its two bunks would have
contained all six: the four children in one and the parents in another; alternatively, William may
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