Return trip from America to Germany in spring 1825.

Immediately after my arrival in Philadelphia I asked whether ships departing for Hamburg or Bremen were at hand and when I found out that Captain Clarke Drew from Boston, commodore of the brig Draco, would set sail for Hamburg in several days, I requested my innkeeper to go to the harbor with me to look up Captain Drew. In about five minutes we were agreed about our business, I immediately paid my passage and the captain gave me a receipt for it. This time we had to take care of food and spiritous beverages ourselves and since we had meat, beans, potatoes and many other foods enough, we needed to buy only bread, coffee, tea, a small bottle of rum, tobacco and a little medicine; the total purchase amounted to not much over three dollars and at the end of the journey we still had a supply of everything left over, mostly of bread. The first journey by sea (calculating only the passage and the costs during the journey at sea) came to more than three times higher than this one. Then we had our things brought on board the Draco. We also left Schröaut;der's inn on the third day after our arrival in Philadelphia and went to the ship to spare ourselves greater costs. While our ship lay at anchor in the harbor, we went into the city by day and visited many of our acquaintances there to see them and speak with them for the last time; by night, however, we slept in our ship's quarters. Everyone without exception disapproved of our return trip to the fatherland. Many still attempted to talk me into staying there and finding some kind of job in Philadelphia, since, because I was without a family, it would not be difficult for me to earn my keep; indeed they promised me to be actively helpful toward that goal and, had I not already made arrangements with Captain Drew, their talk would have easily kept me there; for we both liked it in that city, my wife, however, quite exceptionally, for which reason the departure cost her many tears.

All the people that heard of our decision, that we wanted to go back to Germany, not only were amazed but told us right out that we would go back again to our misfortune, for never had the deprivation in Germany been greater than now; many persons there now had to die of hunger, etc. A German instrument maker named Pommer, living on the third north street, who had first immigrated a few years ago, offered out of the clear blue sky to give me a quarter year's free dwelling if I wanted to stay there. But because we already had our things on board the ship and our passage was already paid, we stayed with our determined decision. On the last day of our stay there, shortly before the departure of our ship an immigrant 80-year-old Israelite at whose place I still had something to buy told me the words: "You will come back again and you will regret it very much that you left this country."

On May 25 we sailed from Philadelphia with good wind, but after several hours the anchors were already dropped again. The wind was not favorable to us, the helmsman was constantly drunk and thus we always sailed only several hours daily; after five days we reached Newcastle and waited there two days yet on the captain who finally arrived with the steam boat which constantly goes between Philadelphia and Baltimore, and had many more things brought on board but who then wasted two full days more in Newcastle. Then the anchors were weighed again, but the wind was still not right to our advantage and only after two days did we come into the open sea.

Then the helmsman was let go and we were heartily glad that this drunkard, who had become disgusting to us, went away. We still had unfavorable weather eight days longer and made Iittle progress; but then we got almost constantly strong favorable wind from land which at times passed over as storm and moved us forward extremely quickly so that from the Delaware Bay to Cuxhaven, that is, by sea alone, we needed only 35 days for our crossing. During this whole trip we constantly had cool weather and for the most part southwest, but at times also southerly wind.

This time we stayed in the cabin and had the adjacent room for our sleeping quarters. We had also free use of the wood and sweet water ad the ship's coook had to prepare the food for us. We lived a thousand times happier on this journey by sea than on the first. We were treated well constantly and approached decently; on this ship everything went along in an orderly way and in all quietness; one heard there no scolding, no cursing and wanton swearing by the crew as on the first journey; and since we were the only passengers, we also had no bother from poor company as on the trip over. Only it was a shame that we could converse neither with the captain nor with both of his helmsmen because they did not rightly understand German and we English.

Captain Drew, a young man of about thirty years, had consumption to an advanced degree, was deathly pale and worn, coughed constantly and expectorated very strongly with it. As we went to sea, I said to my wife "He will not see Hamburg!" But to our wonderment and joy his condition got better with each day and our journey was not yet half past when his sickly condition had already totally disappeared and he blossomed like a rose. We were joyous about our completely splendid blossoming health, as was everyone else who lived on the ship.

The open hospitality of the Americans showed itself here too. Every time a better than usual meal was held in the cabin we had an open table; my wife was told about it each time in advance; also at no meal were fish eaten of which we did not partake.

Nothing of special note happened to us during this whole sea voyage. We again had the joy that our ship passed many others that we caught up to in quick sailing. During our first journey through the Atlantic Ocean, as already said, we seldom encountered another ship; but this time we saw a great number of them near and far almost daily. When ships came really close to us, the captains spoke to each other through the megaphone, gave the names of their ships, made their own names known mutually and let each other know where each one came from and wanted to go, also of the choicest contents of their freight and so forth. Regardless of the fact that we had no company with whom we could have conversed much, the time on the sea this time passed very quickly for us and before my wife and I had realized it we already saw the coast of England and our crew which had not ever yet gone this way got to the canal which separates England from France without the least detour. We spent only two days there this time. The trip through the North Sea went even faster, for we had very strong but nevertheless right good wind which, as we already saw land, developed into a storm through which our captain came into considerable consternation because we still did not have a wheelman. Finally a Blankenese fishing boat approached us and the fisherman was taken in the place of the missing wheelman for the time being until the wheelman himself came. The captain hired him for twenty Spanish piasters and he was replaced after a few hours, for the actual wheelman, a Dane, came, under whose leadership we sailed to Cuxhaven where we cast the anchors because we had to wait on the health commission there and were approved after several hours. Here we got again another wheel man from the Hannover area who took charge of the ship to Hamburg. The anchors were weighed and our trip proceeded fortunately from there, only slowly, and according to regulation the wheelman had only certain hours in the day in which they took charge of the ships; before sunrise and after sunset they were not allowed to take a ship farther. At Stade the anchors were cast again where we had to spend almost two days on account of the examination of the captain's papers and whether the same had any contraband on board. When the matter was finally ended and everything was found to be in order, Captain Drew, in the company of many other men, went on a boat to Hamburg, but we waited several hours yet on the tide and then sailed slowly to the harbor there. This was on July 2, 1825.

Source: Edited by Bryan Wright