THE |SAN FRANCISCO STEAMERS AND THEIR ACCOMMODATION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5415, 23 June 1879, Page 3

THE |SAN FRANCISCO STEAMERS AND THEIR ACCOMMODATION.

A letter from New York, which appears in 'the? OtdgovTbdily 'Times, gives : anything but- 'a 1 'gjdwing ' picture 'of : ayoyage in the City^of 1 Sydney from* Auckland to' San Francisco. ■;Ref erring to! a hurricane whictijithe yeflsjel encountered, the' writer says that the vessel proved of too' slight construction fora stormy, sea., He adds : — " £ii 'regards'; the, cohafor^bf .the: steamer at other times, "l cafinot aay much' in her favor. The dining saloon on the main deck had two decks, above, it; and was so low that the ports could never be opened; It 'was consequently a perfect oven, with the thermometer standing at 90deg. to 95deg. Everyone looked forward with hqrror^.iio.. the^hour ..for meals. Some, eßpecially ladiea, could never go down to dinner, r whil,e merely, took a hasty mouthful and hurried away. The food was ;bad;., :Jhe ; meat tough, badly cooked, and cold. Everything of the cheapest had .been put on board, down to the very walnuts/ which were all rotten. The attendance was of the worst descriptibtf, fcSpeSiallyln. the cabins. Bottles of wi&eTand^spirita i were frequently stolen frßftftFfe saloons and cabins , and articles oi^dre'sy^alsp from the latter. I think the purser "niight have conduced more to the comfort '] oorf r the passengers than he did, instead ..of having t nightly uproarious singing parties in his cabin, or in front of it. Great annoyance was also caused by his ; . arbitrarily" assigning new seats to all, the .passengers after they had occupied the same seal; for several meals. This is a most extraordinary proceeding. The captain .was appealed to, but he declined to interfere, saying that he and the purser h,ad the privilege of placing whom they pleased at their" own tables. This was the answer given even to invalids who desired to remain near the stairs, in hopes of "getting a little air in that suffocating den. ; Altogether the ship and her arrangements compared most unfavorably with. those : of ! the P. and O. Company and other great lines. A testimonial (couched in rather" highfalutin " terms) was given to the captain for his conduct during the hurricane, but all mention of the ship was carefully avoided."