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atmosphere of hell around them wherever they are...
'22 March: Many of the passengers complain of missing various articles of property. Some of
the more respectable wish that a general search should be
made; but the doctor is so dispirited at being so set at defiance the other night, that he no longer
cares about taking the initiative in anything. Our married steerage passengers are of a very
mixed class. Some are wretchedly dirty peasantry with large families, sent out by their Lord of
the Manor; others are small tradesmen, who, having sold their stock, and hastily collected the
few debts they could, have left it to their creditors to satisfy themselves as they best may; others
are respectable mechanics. With the exception of a very few, they are by no means a set of
people who would improve the tone of society in which they may be cast. The unmarried men
are composed of prodigal sons who are thus drinking the cup of humiliation to the dregs;
vagrants taken from the roadside, and put on board by charitable individuals, young men going
out on speculation, navvies going to the Burra Mine, mechanics, and a crowd of vicious young
men who seem to have no occupation... They lie in their berths till late in the day, sometimes all
the day, poltute their quarters with their oaths and obscenities, and sometimes, as I am credibly
informed, read Tom Paine aloud, and assail the Holy Bible with clumsy jests. From the
appearance and conduct of many of these, I have little doubt that they were London thieves, or
perhaps something much worse.
'23 March: Rose at six as usual, and walked on the poop with naked feet whilst the washing
was going on. Saw an enormous fish swimming astern, attended by two pilot fish of a bright blue
coiour, which seemed to act as his piqueurs, now darting in advance of him, and then retreating
into him or under him, as if for the purpose of communication with him. The monster was a flat
fish of enormous width, with huge side fins, and strange to say, it had no traces of a head. We
could see neither mouth nor eyes. Where the head should have been, there was a semi-circular
chasm, terminating in two horns or feelers, which seemed very flexible. It was a wonderful sight
to see this great creature [a manta ray], weighing, perhaps, five or six hundred weight, slowly
coming on with his two active satellites disporting before him. But we were prepared for his
approach. The stalwart boatswain stood on the verge of the poop, harpoon in hand, waiting till
he should come under the stern. He slowly and majestically advances; pauses for a moment
close to the ship; gets frightened; makes a dart under the keel; the harpoon descends with the
swiftness of a thunder bolt; strikes him through the middle of his back; he turns over in the
water; struggles, plunges, his blood flows; his entrails protrude; he then leaps into the air,
showing the whole of his huge body; and by that great leap forces the harpoon out of his flesh,
and then hurriedly swims away, lashing the sea in pain and anger. The boatswain afterwards told
me it was a whip ray...'
Such a close-up view of a monster of the deep, as with the whales and soon with sharks, must
have excited the passengers' wonderment. But typically the sailors viewed any creatures as
objects of sport or for food.
'Sunday, 24 March: A wet morning and squally. Could not consequently have the service on
deck; and the heat prevented me from having it below. Seven vessels in sight. At evening
prayers, made an addition of several of the church prayers.
'25 March: A fine tropical day, very calm, and the sea rolling in huge swells. One of the
emigrants, who had been bathing, was so exhausted that he
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