Anybody can well imagine our feelings of gratitude and joy, having reached port, at last, and every man in good health. I cannot think of it as anything less than a miracle.
We anchored in the river, right outside the city, cleared the deck, pumped her dry, and were all through at midnight. Then we heard the welcome words: 'Now you are free.' Receiving a bite to eat, we turned in and had the opportunity, once more, to sleep out and rest after that long period of constant strain and hard work - a most perilous and horrible voyage.
We slept till about nine o'clock the next morning, then packed our belongings and had them brought to a boarding house near the docks. It took the forenoon. Now, the ship had sunk one foot since midnight, and a new crew had to be hired to pump.
The boarding house was kept by a Swedish family. They were good people.
Our carpenter, who was from Stavanger, and who was married to a Swedish woman, resided in Hamburg. He invited us to visit him one day, and we had a good time there. His house was cozy, and he had a fine wife. One evening he took us out to see the city, and among other things we saw was the casino, the dance pavilion of the city. The front view of this building was decorated with a bas relief of life size angels and other figures over the entrance. Inside there was a long, roomy hall, filled with dancers. Across from the middle of the hall there was an arch-formed bridge, about thirty feet from the floor. On this bridge there was an orchestra of about 50 musicians, playing the most lively and stirring music. This seemed to me some of the greatest music I had ever heard.
It was said there were about 3000 people on the floor dancing at the same time. Apparently these people were from the various stations and walks of life, high and low, young and old. But one could not be admitted unless he was tolerably well dressed. At the far end of the hall there were many little tables with four chairs for each. If one did not dance, he could sit there, have a glass of beer or a cigar, and watch the others dance. Here I sat down for a while and listened to the music. Never having learned to dance, I thought it was something of the most useless a person could do, - hop and run around, sweat running, until one is completely exhausted. This I still think is something of the most stupid a person can do.
We did not stay very long. Now we had seen Hamburg's famous, and probably also infamous casino. It was one side of life in a large city. Hamburg, together with its suburb, Altoona, was one of the biggest cities I had seen. A great number of Norwegian and Swedish people were living there.
But I was not in Hamburg merely to take in the sights. My clothes were pretty much worn out, with all the soaking they had had. My oilskins, new in Wilmington, were now merely gray cotton rags with no sign of oil in them. The few pennies of wages I had coming had to be used for some clothes, and then I had to secure hire again at once. I could not go home now, without money and without clothes. Being now in the wash, as it was called when men had deserted, I had to go from port to port with any ship that could be found. To get out of the 'wash' now was the principal object, unless I was to be one of that class who only work for the support of the boarding-houses, desert in every port they come to, and never have enough to get decent clothes.
In about a week the boarding house boss told me there was an American ship hiring a crew that day. We learned the location of the mastering office and hastened thence to see what luck we would have in securing place on this ship. When we reached there we found the place full of men, probably 200, who were looking for hire.