Notes

*1 If fourteen passengers felt the need to travel from Gravesend back to London, presumably by train or horse cab, to complain about the provisions, presumably to the shipping line or a government department, they must have felt that it was serious. Perhaps it was the quality and they were not getting what they thought they had paid for, or the quantity. At any rate, the next day a government inspector said that the provisions were good, so it looks as if they failed and had to put up with what they were given.

The journey was from 16th April to 17th August 1853 and there is no record of stopping at a port en route, so the provisions had to last the whole voyage for many passengers and crew without any refrigerators or freezers. No doubt it entailed a lot of salted meat and tinned and dried food. Water could, I suppose, be collected from rain storms.

*2 A reference to a dispute about compensation; perhaps they asked for a discount, although the diary doesn't say who got the compensation or even if there was any.

Images © John Burrough