1848 - November 8 - JOHN HOGAN SAILS FROM LIVERPOOL FOR AMERICA

Having set St. Louis as his goal and destination, John Hogan booked passage from Liverpool to New Orleans in October of 1848.  When he arrived in Liverpool from Ireland, he was unimpressed with the Forfarshire on which his passage was booked.  She was, he said, "a wide, large, dirty, heavy-looking ship" and reports he heard said she was slow. 

Sailing companies of the mid-nineteenth century had not learned - as have today's common carrier companies - the value of fees for service. Hogan's request to change his reservation was accommodated at no additional charge.  "I had no difficulty in getting a transfer to the Berlin," a clipper ship "commanded by Captain Smith, a Boston Yankee.  ...  a good ship and a fast sailor."

From Fifty Years Ago: A Memoir by John Hogan:

OFF FOR THE AZORES

Early Wednesday morning, November 8^th, I was aboard the Berlin. It was not long before the sailors commenced loosening the ship’s moorings. Soon, by a hawser heaved by a capstan, the ship moved slowly towards the gate of the dock. Outside the dock, a tugboat in waiting took the ship in tow and steamed out into the harbor. In the meantime, the sailors unfurled the sails and hauled the yard-arms before the wind. At once, with sails set, the Berlin moved forward and closed up with the tug. Immediately the connecting hawser was let go from the tug and was hauled in by the ship; then, with parting salutes, the tug fell back, and the ship bounded westward towards the open sea.