File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Nathan Appleton, 14 May 1841 (9d1f18f7-0d3c-4795-b30a-08a2d92206d1).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-011#007

Near the Irish coast
May 14th. 1841
Dearest Papa,
As we are now fairly within the Channell & shall soon be in all the flurry of welcoming land I must give you some account of the voyage before these water-colors are wholly obliterated by more memorable impressions. I hope you received the hasty lines I left in Halifax to go by the Britannia, which must have arrived there shortly after our departure. [crossed out: which] They informed you how comfortable we were on board & how much pleas’d with everything about the boat & its management. I am happy to say that this favorable opinion has gone on deepening to this hour & instead of finding a steam-ship a floating Pandemonium as I expected, it certainly puts packets to shame for comfort & luxury & slides one over the Atlantic as if it were in truth what the Indians call it ‘a big pond’ only. After a day on shore I shall think the passage all a dream, and we seem to have a dream’s omnipotence over every obstacle, sporting sails more for show than use & going over 10 knots or more, & our 240 miles a day (on an average) in spite of head winds & head seas which have not been lacking. Of course I have felt the inevitable ennui & good-for-nothingness of sea-life but after getting used to the jar have undergone none of the fatigue from the motion usually added thereunto. Excepting the last three days when we have had heavy seas washing over both decks & a good deal of rain I have lived in the open [p. 2] air, having at all hours but noon, when he pays of course obeisance to the sun, the Captain's stout arm to steady me on the rolling deck. He is a right good fellow, & an admirable Captain, giving all his orders in the quietest manner & devoting himself, heart & soul, to the comfort of his passengers. I beg you will be very civil to him in Boston for he has been particularly kind & attentive to me & my wishes, & as he is like to leave Engd on the 1st of October, I think it probable we shall engage him for our return passage. The other officers mess together so we can [crossed out: have] only vouch for their good appearance on the quarterdeck & there Mr Bolton the 1st contrives to display no few airs & graces. Yesterday being, however, our last sea-day they dined in the Cabin & there was much singing & toast drinking, wound up by dancing & serenading, the boats quiet having brought every passenger upon his legs. We have been very fortunate in these, - 52 only & nearly half those invisible the bad days. 10 ladies, including myself, & all very agreeable people. The Miss Lees I consider the noblest specimens of spinsterhood I have seen for many a day, - both good sailors & resigned to every thing from ice-bergs to neck-breaking descending from high berths, the main perils we have encountered, tho’, as to the latter, I never slept on shore as I have this fortnight & indeed our weather has been so fine for the most part that I have had no excuse for care of any sort. We escaped [crossed out: much] all danger from icebergs by running very far South but saw on [p. 3] Thursday last (May 6th) 10 at once, & were within a mile of one about quarter of a mile long & 80 feet high, the atmosphere becoming so cold thro’ its presence that the thermometer fell from 60° to 40° in the air and 56 to 37 in the water at a very short notice. It was a noble slice of the North Pole, white, apparently with snow, on top & aqua-marine color in the crevices. Many compared it to Dover cliff in appearance. The Capt thought it aground upon the Banks & would have gone nearer, but thro’ fear of the detached pieces constantly falling off. We heard in Halifax that an unusual quantity had been seen & were thankful to get a sight of an ice-berg in the day-time & escape all chances of coming in contact. I forgot to tell you what an agreeable episode we found our day at H. & how civilly young Cunard insisted upon my passing it with his sisters (very pretty, elegant damsels) where we lunched & dined with Captains Miller & Judkins & our chief authority Jones, Mail Off., going on board immediately after 7 P.M.; then departing. While Miss C. was taking Tom & myself a very pretty drive in her carriage around their famed basin, where a road runs by the water’s edge for miles over a bleak country, Bishop Inglis & his daughter & chief Justice Haliburton left cards for me. As it rained when we arrived & the streets are pavementless I did not see much of the town but it is very like Newport's oldest side, entirely of wood & very shabby. From the Cunards’ [crossed out: very] elegant mansion the view is very fine, however, down upon the bay. It all has the strangest Anglo-American aspect, the climate & unkempt state of cultivation reminding us of N. England & the ways of the people, the red-coats & shapes of things of old. A tedious provincial life they must have of it & the talk of these [p. 4] damsels of their balls & officers recalled Pride & Prejudice & those village effervescences of gaiety. But a word more about our good ship. Our table has been most bountifully supplied (I know you like facts) with huge rounds of beef like Hogarth's caricature where the Frenchman totters beneath the unaccustomed weight, to bespeak it a John Bull [crossed out: daily] in addition to every other kind of fish, flesh, & fowl from salmon to roast pigs & Brandts. The most excellent Port wine on which I have strengthened myself greatly; in fact, it required the most constant exercise to endure the Capt’s hospitality! The Vandenhoffs have all been great additions to our entertainment. Miss V. is an intelligent, amiable person, utterly free of all stage ways & airs. Her Father & brother have been very funny [crossed out: & gay] & the cause of fun in others. Among the ladies, next to Miss V. who has rivalled me in health, I like chiefly a pretty little Irish woman Mrs Winter. We have had dancing & guitar-playing, music at all hours in short – awaking us in the mn’g & summoning us to every meal. Mr Gray has civilly read aloud to spare my eyes which the jar affected & not his, & has otherwise made himself agreeable by unlocking nearly all the drawers of his ward-robe Memory or rather, his Fortunatus purse, for it seems inexhaustible. Tomorrow at noon we hope to be in Liverpool when I will wind up this matter tho’ I would fair add a postscript in London but I fear it will be impossible as the Acadia leaves on the 19th & we shall arrive there late on the 17th. Perhaps I may send a line from there, however, but not risk yr losing this.
Liverpool, May 15th Saturday evg. Here we are after a passage of only 13 days & ½ from Boston, dearest Papa, once more in old England & I need not tell you in what a restless fever of joy I find myself at the thought of being within a few hours reach of our darlings. We had a wonderfully fine & swift [p. 5] passage up the Channel, the weather of summer warmth & the sea waveless. We were off Holy head last night & took a Pilot before breakfast, reaching Liverpool dock before noon, admiring all the way the pretty sail-craft, (saluting an American ship en passant with “hail Columbia”) & thinking the green shores painted they were so brilliant. The tide was too low for us to come in the ship ashore but our luggage accompanied us in a small steamer which Mr Gray kindly took surveillance of at the Custom House, that is the trunks not the steamer! while Tom drove with me to the Adelphi. Without much delay they returned with the comforting news that nothing had been disturbed or demurred at. They were all civility & would not even look where asked. We have got a letter from Mary & they intreat [sic] us to [crossed out: rush] come at once for the welcome awaiting us to their old house; the thought of which chases all fatigue & decides me to set off tomorrow at ½ past 8 & not waste a day in this smoky, uninteresting town, so I must to bed & try to sleep off my first excitement. The President’s loss by fire was confirmed by one of our passengers who sold the cotton too damp to be received by any other vessell [sic]. It seems to me a special providence for Sophia T. but no doubt has caused great distress. Tom is very well in highest spirits, & ordered our dinner here of fried soles, young chicks &c with his continental-relish. Col. Perkins returns, our Capt says, with him so we shall see him in London. I think I can write you from thence by the Acadia. Give my best love to Harriet & all the family. Many kisses to the baby & believe me ever yr aff Fan.
ADDRESSED: HON. NATHAN APPLETON / BOSTON, MASS. / U.S.A.
ANNOTATED, PENCIL: 39 BEACON
ENDORSED: FANNY A / MAY 14. 41

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; subject; travel; social life; sailing; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1841 (1011/002.001-011); (LONG-FileUnitName)