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Genoa Octo. 13. 1834
Eben’ Irving Esq’r
New York
I arrived here on Monday morning the 6th after a tedious passage of / of 14 days from St Helena _ we had uncommonly light winds the whole passage , and / [beat?] nearly all the way from the Straits here. Just before make the Western / Islands we discovered our foremast was spring but what caused it we have not / been able to find out _ it would have gone by the board the same night if we had / not discovered it when we did _ We immediately sent down the top [gallant] mast / +c. Housed the topmast and fished the mast in such a manner that it was as / strong as when it was first put in the ship, and we carried the same sailed upon / it (excepting a [reef] in the topsail) as we did before _ We got very short of provisions / so much so that we had to go upon an allowance and when we got in, we had / but bread enough for one week more, and had the last cup of weak coffee / the morning we let go our anchor. The Brig Homer is here form New York / with her cargo of pepper _ it seems as though she was fated to do injury to the / trade this year. She arrived about a month since, and expecting our arrival / here every day they have forced her cargo on the market which before was very / bad _ I doubt if the shippers will more than clear themselves this season / for a very small adventure which has no expense whatever I doubt if I / will make more than $50 _ which is $100 less than I anticipated _ last year / the first cargo sold for 8 ½ cts and this year we shall not get more than 5 . / (this is merely to let you know how my prospects flourish). I was very much / disappointed in not finding any letters here for me when I heard the Homer / had arrived direct from New York, but I suppose you did not know she sailed / for this port and have sent all your letters to Gibraltar _ at any read, acting / upon this supposition I immediately wrote to Mr Sprague requesting him to forward them /
My captain has received letters from the owners, and also the consignee from the / shippers ordering the ship our to Sumatra again; but they have sent out another / Captain (who we expect to arrive any day) to take charge of her owing to the / present Captain saying before he left New York, that he would not go a second / voyage _ but what surprises me is, that my name has not even been men- / =tioned by either the owners or shippers _ the vessel (Brig Rupee) in which the / new Master comes, belongs to the same owners, and they wish my present Captain / to take the Brig and go to Sicily for a cargo of fruit and return to Boston, but every / thing is left to the orders the Brig my bring _ if the Shippers do not make any / offers to me, and a fair one (for the Capt that comes out I understand is a close fisted / fellow, so that I do not make any calculations in that quarter) not being particularly / partial to the trade, seas +c. I shall try to make arrangements to return in the Brig, / because I think that will be the least expensive and like the Captain very much / but I think that the Shippers, [or?] Capt Gillies, are obliged to furnish me with a pas- / sage, or pay the am’t of a passage [if?] should not go in the Brig I shall go either to / Marseilles or Leghorn (most likely the former) as there are few vefsels that go directly / from here to the United States) and take passage from there to the nearest port to home.
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I have been out of quarantine but two days therefore you may well suppose / I am about half out of my mind, being where I so little expected a few months / since _ I was afraid I should have had some diffidculty in landing here, / they first asked for a passport and then for a muster role, but when they found / I had neither the one, nor my name on the other (as I came in the capacity of / passenger from St. Helena and reported myself as such peradvice of Capt G.) they required / a certificate from the Consul that I was a citizen of the U.S. or something of that nature / but I believe the merchant here (who by the way is a very fine man, a real John Bull, has / good dinners +c which have been rather scarce of late, my last dinner being made / of mouldy bread pounded, soaked and baked into a sort of pudding resembling / a sea dish called “dundy p-??-k funk”, with a sauce made of molasses and vinegar) / has settled it by obtaining permission for my remaining two months _ But as to the / length of my stay here, it depends altogether upon your letters which will be here / in about a fortnight, supposing them to be at Gibraltar, but at present I purpose / remaining here until we hear from Capt Gillies who may alter the face of things / materially ) We have advices today that the wessels which sailed before us / from Sumatra had arrived at home and I presume we shall hear from him soon /
I have been twice to the OPera, a magnificent building, new, has six tiers / of boxes _ it will hold double the number of our Park Theatre. THe city is altogether / different from what I expected, but I refer you to Eustace’s Italy for a better description / of the pance than I can give. This is the first mail to the U.S. via Havre, or / I should have written sooner _ when I get better acquainted and receive your / letters, I will let you know how my affairs get on _ one thing _ they cannot / appear more gloomy to me than they do at present _ it is mail time
Your son Sanders Irving
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/Copy/
Genoa Otobre 30. 1834
Eben’ Irving Esq.
New York via Havre . My dear Father
Since my last (Octo 13’h) the Brig Rupee has arrived / She is to proceed to Palermo and take in a certain quantity of fruit on [the] owners account and the remaining part of the cargo on freight and go to Boston, [??] / if the freight offered should be more advantageous for New York, she is to go / their. (she may possibly on account of freight go to some other port). Capt / Stanwood who came out in [??] to take charge of the Arnold [Heller?s?] to / Sumatra says that he did not know that I was in the Ship . he asked / the shippers if there was a Supercargo, or any thing of the kind on board _ they / said there was not. Capt S is altogether a different man than I anticipated / I did not do him justice in my last letter to you _ he did not intend going / to India again, but the house in whose employ he has been sailing for / several years failed (by which he last several thousand dollars) when the Shippers / of the A.H. engaged him for the present voyage _ he says if he [illegible?] two / hours for reflection he would not have gone _ he is dissatisfied with the pay - / they give him less than they did Capt Gillies. I find that he as all the / I have seen that are acquainted with the Shippers and owners speak of their / detestable meanefs _ even the house here that does their business cannot refrain / from mentioning it _ I cannot yet account for their not mentioning my / name I was in the Ship. I have determined to return in the Brig by which / means I shall get to the windward of them, for if I should return in any other / way, it is ten chances to one if I should ever be refunded my expenses, and / if they should demand my passage of me, it is ten to one if they get it _ I intend / to play the Yankee in this business _ I have talked this matter over with Mr Barker / (of the house of [Hobbs] James + Co. our consignees) he says that if the ship went home / I of course would have had my passage in her, but as she is ordered to India / again, the brig performs the voyage in her place, and I claim my passage / in her _ the Capt. runs no risk, nor has he any objections (in fact before the / Brig arrived, or had any conversation with Mr. Barker on the subject) he offered to / settle it so that it would not cost me any thing _ when he took command / of the Ship at St. Helena he found me on board of her, and he might as well have / left me there as here fo rhe shall still be in a vessel belonging to the same owner / My captain is a fine fellow _ a real salt water fish _ I like him much _ I make / no promise to him as he takes it a matter of course that I am entitled to my / passage, but it the owners should by any means make him liable, I must take / care that he is not made a sufferer by me. We leave here for Palermo as soon / as the Brig can be got ready, which will be at least a fortnight as she wants / several repairs and will leave Palermo somewhere about the 1st of December / I calculate on sixty days passage to the U.S. she being by Capt Stanwood’s / account an uncommonly dull sailer _ he was 66 days from Boston and 29 from / Gibraltar here _ at any rate you may look out for me in all the month of February / but I hope to be domesticated by the time my next birth day comes round _ I /
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I don’t like much the idea of being on our coast in that month, especially in a / smaller craft than I have been accustomed to _ however, we shall not experience / much bad weather until we get in our coast, as we shall run down the / tra-[page folded, illegible] The High Delphos arrive here from Sumatra on the 23d touching at / Gibraltar _ She brought sundry epistles, letters, papers +c. which had been accommodated / there for me which I received on the 25th _ no one can imagine how acceptable they / were unless they have been deprived of all news of their friends nearly fourteen / months as I have _ Among the batch there were eight from you from March 1 to / Aug’t 4 As there is no vessel sailing from here, and the postage by the way of Havre / is so heavy, I shall not write to others of the family _ Therefore acknowledge receipt of others / to you _ from Pierre there _ March 17. Apl 19. May 24 _ Edgar five, Feb. 28. Apl 1. 23. May 28 Aug 4 / (when you write to Pierre or Edgar tell them I will answer their letters the first opportunity I / have _ if there is none before I arrive at Boston. I will write from there _ from Theodore four / Feb 28. March 30. May 12. June 26. Two + a quarter that are from Catharine with an excuse she / had not time _ I am glad to see the young lady is busily employed _ in fact she seems [?] / [page folded - [have been - ??ly] pressed for time as she did not date either of them _ four long / ones from Sarah _ Julia and Mary, one each _ one from the [Pigeon?] and one from young / Schermerhorn _ if Theodore should come acrofs him I wish he would inform him it / had come safely to hand _ I had partly written one to him at St. Helena but being rather / glum at that time owing to my not being very well I did not send it _ however / “Richards himself again” and I must battle it out the best I can when I get home. /
The Passport I should like to have had when I arrived here, but by not having it I / have saved some expense as I get [rid] of all Consul’s fees +c. I shall not make use / of it in going to Palermo, for by putting my name on the Muster roll will answer / the same purpose and thereby [come?] Jonathan over the Consul _ One Consul’s fee / will take me to the Opera here half a dozen times the entrance being but little / [one?] a franc. Your accounts of William are much better I anticipated / I think I have a pretty good idea of the manner of doing business at Canton [having] / seen and conversed with a number of people that have been there _ no doubt he / is deprived of many things and has to work hard in the business season which / does not last long, and the rest of the year they are employed in making out the [??-illegible] /
I should like him to have a taste of Sumatram we should soon see which would / be the most palatable, but I would rather be excused from making the experiment / myself, knowing what one is, is quite sufficient for me. The letters of introduction / sent, although received after I had become acquainted with the parties, have a very / beneficial effect _ before, I appeared like a wanderer in a strange land without / any friends, but now it has turned the tide as strongly the opposite way. The letters / of credit correspond with all your former kindnefs to me, but the hint to be careful how / I make use of them is totally unnecessary, for I assure you it will be an unlooked / for event that can force me to make use of them. I had been flattering myself the / whole voyage. I should make enough on my small adventure to meet my expenses / and to have returned you the amount I took with me, but I am disappointed. I shall / not make much more than one quarter I calculated on, and be obliged to make use / of the main stock _ my principal expense will be in clothes _ I had anticipated a [jau - runs off page]
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To Florence, Pisa and Leghorn, but I gave it up when I learnt the low state of the pepper / market for I was determined to take no jaunts of pleasure but at my own expense _ if / I had received your letters sooner I do not know but I should have broken through my / resolutions. I left one of my new shirts at home, I wish you would make some enquiry / about it _ it makes me truly happy to hear that Pierre has got under way / again _ I hope he will be more fortunate in his present undertaking than the last / he seems to be following your example of increase and multiply _ I hope his youngest / daughter will be christened by the name he has chosen for her. Edgar has at last got married and gone into business _ I can hardly realise it_ I thought / that he and I were doomed to be unfortunate, but xx he has succeeded in / breaking the spell at last. You express greater confidence in my / being able to procure profitable situations than I have myself _ when I was / about leaving St Helena, Capt Gillies asked me if the ship was ordered out / to India again what I would go for? I replied I supposed that it would / depend altogether on letters received at Genoa _ he said it would. “ that is / all that ever passed between us on the subject _ he told Capt. Stanwood / afterwards that he was willing his [prospects?] should go in her (he is con-??? / ?one ?Eighth?) he calculated that if the ship was ordered out again we should / go in her, and he expressed it as his opinion that we would find orders / to that effect on our arrival here _ he promised to write Capt. [G] by / the way of Havre, immediately on his arrival at [??Salem?] _ we are looking . out for letters from him every day, which may put things in their right / light _ if I arrive at Boston, I think I shall pay him a visit before I return / home _ do not think that I want to go to Sumatra again, for my wishes / are exactly contrary, but I would sooner go there, or any where else than / become useless [lumber] on your hands again
Genoa is very dull; all the great people are in the country yet _ it / has been an uncommonly warm summer here _ the people all wear summer / clothes yet _ the only amusement is the Opera _ it is rated the third in Italy _ / it is too early in the season for the great Prima donna to make her appearance yet / but the one (illegible, page torn) that is performing now is far superior to any I have heard _ / she is very handsome (I find beauty a [scarce article] among the Genoese ladies) I have / formed no acquaintance here except with a few Englishmen and they are all / bachelors in businefs. I have received a great deal of attention from Mr. Barker & / Mr. [Dixon?Dison?] (of the firm Hobbs [poss Bibbs?], James + Co.) who keep Bachelor’s hall, have a first rate cook, and give good / dinners, of which I partake frequently. I have visited the Grand Ducal Palace where the [Doges] / resided _ the Governor at present occupies part of it _ in one of the apartments used as a / council room. I saw the urn which contains the documents of [Columbus], surmounted by a / bust of him, placed behind the Governor’s chair. I was not able to see the documents as / the person that had charge of the key could not be found _ The Halls of the [Doges] are / magnificent; they are never used, but are shown to strangers by a porter _ the last / time they were used was when Napoleon was here who gave a grand ball in / in them. On Sunday I took a ride on a Jackass to the top of the hills in the rear of the / city in company with Mr. Driver and an Italian gentleman named Corté, which I / enjoyed very much _ the view from there is the first I ever saw _ we left the Jackasses at
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The top of the hill and returned on foot by a different road _ Every one / here speaks so highly of Palermo that I am anxious to get off _ it has about double / the number of inhabitants of Genoa and is a great place for gaiety _ in fact it is just / the place to please a stranger _ If there is no vessel sailing from here for the U.S. before / I leave, I shall not write again until I get to Palermo, when I will write by way of Havre / or Gibraltar to let you know when I shall be afloat again. The letters / from home have an air of so much happiness that I wish I were there, but my unlucky / [Whiz] corrupts every thing it comes in contact with, so it is rather a cruel wish. / remember me to Aunt Paris _ I hope she may get through the coming winter as well as / the last _ I have just heard that Do Miguel is in Genoa _ he arrived yesterday. / I hope I shall get a view of his most faithful majesty _ I have not learnt how long / he will stop, where he puts up, or where he is bound. With love to all I remain my dear father
Your affectionate Sanders Irving
P.S. There is nothing here that I can purchase in the way of Speculation, but if I should come / across a bbl of good fine at Palermo reasonable and freight low, I shall be induced to purchase one / for you, knowing that article to be in requisition sometimes at the “hotel” _ it may be the / [page folded, illegible - ?? if ? they ?? wine?] and will be fit to offer to a temperance society _ but I do not / think I shall do it unless the brig goes to New York yrs S. I.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
