Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1966, Side 72

54
TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA
Then came the day when the
Columbus set sail for the Western
World. The previous evening the
little Norwegian inn-keeper took us
aboard and directed us to a large
ornate hall below decks and there
he affectionately bade us goodbye
and wished us well.
The Columbus was a large steam-
ship so that the memory of old
Christopher was by no means be-
littled by naming it after him. The
ship had two huge smokestacks and
a fairly large forcastle on the upper
deck. Many white boats hung over
the gunwales. These, I felt certain,
were intended to decorate the ship.
There were three masts closely fitted
with sailyards and rigging.
The hall into which we were di-
rected was both large and ornate.
Tables were set up through its en-
tire length with benches on both
sides of the tables. There were nu-
merous cabins on both sides of this
large hall. One of these was placed
at our disposal; it had four small
bunks, two of which were placed
above the others. The cabin also had
one large porthole but the glass was
so thick that nothing was distin-
guishable through it, but in spite of
that it admitted plenty of light. At
meal time we always sat at the tables
with the other passengers that oc-
cupied this hall. As far as grand-
father could discern, all the passen-
gers spoke English. Here Halldor
Briem’s textbook in English stood
my grandfather in good stead, when
at times we needed something speci-
fic. He had that book continually in
his hands, always consulting the
vocabulary. When he found the word
that was applicable to a particular
occasion he pointed it out to some-
one and it always served its intended
purpose. In this manner we obtained
many things which we otherwise
would have done without. There-
after my grandfather always esteem-
ed the book very highly and said
that to a large extent it was thanks
to it that we arrived safely in Hali-
fax.
We encountered foul weather on
the Atlantic Ocean so that the voy-
age from Hull to New York took
nineteen days. I remember that for a
few days everything aboard the ship
was in a state of great confusion.
Everything seemed to creak and
crash. The table-ware was tossed
about while we were eating and only
with difficulty could we hang on to
our seats on the benches. Once a
porthole window became loose and
the sea streamed into the room. The
window, however, was soon refitted.
One evening a seaman was brought
into the dining hall. He had been
struck up on the deck by something
which had become loose during the
storm. I remember how touched I
was to hear the wretched man wail-
The wailing did not, however, last
long for he died soon afterwards. The
following day the storm had abated-
Then all those who were well were
requested to assemble on deck to be
present at the burial of the deceased
seaman. The corpse had not been
placed in a coffin but was laid out
on flat boards with a large fla^
wrapped around it. The people
crowded around the body while the
captain spoke a few words. All ap'
peared very sad. Some wept; I parti'
cularly remember one elderly man
who wept as a child does when h