This is an interesting account of ship life and gives an insight into what some settlers and crew managed to do when traveling or immigrating-Elaine GARDENING ON BOARD SHIP Mowhan The ship Mowhan, on leaving Belfast for the Columbia river, United States, took on board as ballast 2000 tons of Irish soil, which, when levelled off, made quite a stretch of ground, and, as the soil of Ireland is proverbially fertile the ship's company proceeded to put it to good use by planting a stock of cabbages, leeks, peas, beans, and so on in it. The seeds came up alright, and the plants flourished finely, and, when the ship was in the tropics, grew with great rapidity. The crew and the ship's apprentices amused themselves by weeding and cultivating the plants, and all had green vegetables to their heart's content. As they came round the Horn the garden was replanted, and by the time they reached the equator everything was a-bloom, and all the hands feasted on freshly gathered vegetables daily. The only drawbacks in the garden were the weeds, which grow so rapidly that they could hardly be kept down, and the drove of pigs which wore kept in the farmyard attachment, on several occasions, when the ship was bucking into a nor'-easter and lolling heavily, broke out of bounds and made serious inroads on the garden. The last pig was killed and served up with green vegetables just before the Mowhan entered the Columbia river. On the arrival of the Mowhan at Portland, U.S.A., the Irish soil was discharged on the wharf, and piled up neatly, as that any exiled patriot who desired a bit of the "ould sod "could be accommodated.- All of which is a very American slory indeed.

Hi All This is not a "very American" story at all; it's a truly "Irish" tall tale! If you know anything at all about growing vegetables, you'd know that it cannot possibly be true. First: consider where ballast is kept in any ship; way down in the depths of the holds in special ballast tanks (and in general they used freely available seawater, not soil), well away from sunlight, without which no vegetable can grow. Besides light, vegetables need fresh water; salt water kills plants. In 1896, even if they'd taken aboard a load of Irish sod as ballast, no ship had the capacity to carry the required amount of fresh water to supply a crop of vegetables during a trip around Cape Horn, a notoriously dangerous passage. This is a case of extreme wishful thinking, methinks! Maureen On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 4:34 AM, mattse165 <mattse165@paradise.net.nz>wrote: > This is an interesting account of ship life and gives an insight into what > some settlers and crew managed to do when traveling or immigrating-Elaine > GARDENING ON BOARD SHIP Mowhan > The ship Mowhan, on leaving Belfast for the Columbia river, United States, > took on board as ballast 2000 tons of Irish soil, which, when levelled off, > made quite a stretch of ground, and, as the soil of Ireland is proverbially > fertile the ship's company proceeded to put it to good use by planting a > stock of cabbages, leeks, peas, beans, and so on in it. > The seeds came up alright, and the plants flourished finely, and, when the > ship was in the tropics, grew with great rapidity. The crew and the ship's > apprentices amused themselves by weeding and cultivating the plants, and all > had green vegetables to their heart's content. > As they came round the Horn the garden was replanted, and by the time they > reached the equator everything was a-bloom, and all the hands feasted on > freshly gathered vegetables daily. > The only drawbacks in the garden were the weeds, which grow so rapidly that > they could hardly be kept down, and the drove of pigs which wore kept in the > farmyard attachment, on several occasions, when the ship was bucking into a > nor'-easter and lolling heavily, broke out of bounds and made serious > inroads on the garden. The last pig was killed and served up with green > vegetables just before the Mowhan entered the Columbia river. > On the arrival of the Mowhan at Portland, U.S.A., the Irish soil was > discharged on the wharf, and piled up neatly, as that any exiled patriot who > desired a bit of the "ould sod "could be accommodated.- All of which is a > very American slory indeed. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GENIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >