The Emerald Key - By Christopher Dinsdale Page 0,9
the ship. He joined Jamie’s gaze skyward.
“She’s a beauty, eh?”
“She’s bigger than I imagined.”
“This is my ship. It’s my first duty on board the Independence. Jim Darby is my name.”
“I’m Jamie Galway. Pleased to meet you.” They shook hands.
“Good to meet you, Jamie. I heard that she has a good captain who treats the crew and passengers fairly. After my last tour across the Atlantic, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever want to sail again.”
Jamie looked at him. “Why? What happened?”
“The ship I sailed was an old slave ship. Shipping companies used to make a fortune running slaves from West Africa to the southern United States until the Civil War changed the rules. Slave running to the colonies was then outlawed. So the companies switched their human cargo from slaves to starving peasants. Not much of a difference, really, if you ask me. Governments still paid the shipping companies good money to haul needed labour to the colonies. On my last ship, the captain treated them the same if not worse than if he were transporting a shipload of slaves.”
Jamie had to force his next question from his lips. “On which ship did you serve?”
“The Carpathia,” Jim said, shaking his head. “The captain didn’t seem to understand that those were human beings down in his hold. He would treat those poor Irish worse than livestock. He crammed far more in than was allowable and then he barely fed them the whole way there. If any died, and many did, they were unceremoniously tossed into the sea during the crossing so he wouldn’t have to deal with the paperwork upon his arrival in Canada. Lord, I hated working under him.”
Jamie felt sick. “Is the Independence faster than the Carpathia? My brother is on board the Carpathia and I was hoping that we might catch up to them before it docked in Canada.”
“Sorry to hear that,” the young sailor said as he hoisted his kit onto his shoulders. “The Independence is fast for its size, but she won’t catch the Carpathia. We’ll be loaded down not only with passengers but with a full load of cargo as well. I imagine we’ll be at least a good week behind her.”
The sailor hurried off to join the rest of the crew boarding the ship up the rear gangplank. Jamie looked down at his ticket. It was labelled “2nd class.” The Cardinal had been able to arrange the money to keep him out of the crowded holds that were the cause of so much sickness and death during the crossing. Jamie felt guilty accepting the generous offer as the church coffers had all but dried up during the horrendous famine. But, as the Cardinal said, it wouldn’t do Ryan or the Brotherhood any good if he was dead upon arrival in Canada.
Jamie joined the other passengers boarding on the forward gangplank and slowly made his way up to the deck and the awaiting officer. There was a family of five ahead of him, a mother and father, two boys and a little girl. They seemed as destitute as the family that had tended to him after the attack. Their tattered clothing hung loosely from their bones, their sunken eyes underlined with dark rings.
“Have you been to Canada before?” Jamie asked, trying to ease his own nervousness with conversation.
The husband gave a bitter laugh. “Never been on a ship before, let alone the shores of another land.”
“My sister has a small farm in Canada West and she’s invited us to live on it with her family,” said the wife, teary-eyed. “There’s nothing left for us here.”
The husband extended his hand. “I’m Brendan O’Connor. This is my wife Erin and my three children, Neil, Colin, and Patricia.”
They shook hands. “Jamie Galway.”
“Are you planning a move to Canada as well?”
“No, I’ll be soon coming back home.”
“Back to Ireland?” he asked incredulously. “What is there left to return to? This island is a floating morgue.”
The officer, eyeing the destitute family over a thick greying moustache, kept his distance from the three sniffling children. After a brief examination of the tickets, he pointed them in the direction of the hold.
“Fourth class. Take the stairs to the very bottom. Your berth will be labelled.”
The family shuffled slowly towards the opening through the deck and then disappeared into the bowels of the ship. The officer turned towards Jamie.
“Ticket.”
Jamie passed it to him.
“Ah, second class. Follow the deck around to the forward cabin and a purser will show you to your room.”