A Forty-niner in Utah with the Stansbury Exploration of Great Salt Lake: Letters and Jounral of John Hudson, 1848-50

Forty-niner in Utah, page 003

Letters August 1848 - February 1849 Mr. W. Edwards 113 Suffolk Street. Birmingham England. Dear Uncle Ship Cambridge Augst 1848 I prefer addressing this letter to you, inasmuch as it is through your instrumentality, that I am in a position sufficiently novel to make the communication interesting although it will contain nothing relative to the object of the Journey. Augst 15th This is the first day that I have thoroughly en- joyed my dinner & feel well enough for any employment requiring mental exertion & as I cannot find a pursuit more congenial than giving you some account of the mode in which we have spent the time since leaving England, I will endeavour to do so. The Ship is intended principally for conveying Emigrants & from the testi- mony of my fellow Voyagers is deficient in the usual accomoda- tion extended to Cabin Passengers.' . I myself should not be inconvenienced were it not for the total want of ventilation in the ship & I feel this the more from the un- pleasant situation of my berth, that being as you are aware the next room to the Stewards pantry, all the odours of which I have the full & entire benefit of; to this circumstance I may attribute the 1 Class distinctions aboard ship were very carefully defined, and while first-class passengers on an emigrant ship were listed by name, the low-paying fares below deck were lumped together under the term "steerage." The New York Tribune of September 11, 1848, noted the arrival of the Cambridge: "Passengers Arrived. In ship Cambridge from Liverpool-Mr. Swells of Philadelphia; Mr. Blight, of do [ditto]; Mr. W. Chancellor, do; Mr. Warton Chancellor, Mrs. W. Clark and child of Washington; Miss Minnis of New York; Mr. Forestall of New Orleans; Mr. Hudson of Birmingham, and 301 steerage." 3