William James Roe

“ There was nothing to see but a few brigs, and a tug or two steaming about the harbor in search of ships to tow in, or the gulls which seemed to have followed us from the coast of Newfoundland. Several rockets were thrown up for a pilot, and in the course of a few minutes a boat emerged from the fog which rested over the water, in the direction in which we supposed land to lie. The pilot came on board, and we steamed slowly up to the wharf of the City.
The docks of Liverpool are famed over the world, so a description of them would be superfluous. ”

“ The walls of Chester surround one of the three fortified towns of England. They are not stupendous fortifications, such as we are now apt to call walls, but an insignificant structure, rising at the most not above 50 feet, and generally keeping a level of about then.-On one side of the City is a Citadel, near and overlooking the river Dee, here a stream twenty or thirty yards in width. ”

“ A strong southwesterly wind was blowing at the time, so as a matter of precaution we took our pilot on with us to Liverpool. The Cunard Company cannot be accused of negligence in providing for the safety of passengers. A pilot is kept on board all along the Irish and Welsh coasts, that he may be of use in case there should be any difficulty about the machinery and a gale blowing at the time sufficiently strong to render sails useless. We could beach the ship at some point of the lea coast where the landing would be less perilous ”