Afterword (Original, Uncut Version)
by
Denny Hatch

    During the late 40s and early 50s, the majority of the New World’s human cargo was made up of Irish refugees from the horrific Potato Famine. For example, in two voyages in 1855--in February and June--the New World carried a total of 542 passengers, of whom 454 (84 percent) were Irish, the majority of the rest being English and Scottish. Jack Corbett, Mariner disproves some of the widely held beliefs of the time. For example, an Illustrated London News reporter wrote:

    The scene in the Waterloo dock, at Liverpool, where all the American sailing packets are stationed, is at all times a very busy one; but, on the morning of the departure of a large ship, with a full complement of emigrants, it is peculiarly exciting and interesting. The passengers have undergone inspection, and many of them have taken up their quarters on board for twenty-four hours previously, as they are entitled to do by terms of the act of Parliament. Many of them bring, in addition to the boxes and trunks containing their worldly wealth, considerable quantities of provisions, although it must be confessed that the scale fixed by the Government to be supplied to them by the ship is sufficiently liberal to keep in health and comfort all among them, who, in their ordinary course of life, were not accustomed to animal food.
   
    The following is the scale, in addition to any provisions which the passengers may themselves bring:
    2 and 1/2 lb. of Bread or biscuit (not inferior to navy biscuit)
    1 lb. Wheaten Flour
    5 lb. Oatmeal
    2 lb. Rice
    2 oz Tea
    1/2 lb. Sugar
    1/2 lb. Molasses

    Per week. To be issued in advance, and not less often than twice a week. Also: 3 quarts of Water daily. 5 lb of good Potatoes may, at the option of the master, be substituted for 1 lb of oatmeal or rice; and in ships sailing from Liverpool, or from Irish or Scottish ports, oatmeal may be substituted, in equal quantities, for the whole or any part of the issues of rice. Vessels carrying as many as 100 passengers must be provided with a seafaring person to act as passenger’s cook, and also with a proper cooking apparatus. A convenient place must be set apart on deck for cooking, and a proper supply of fuel shipped for the voyage. The whole to be subject to the approval of the emigration officer.

A.S. Hatch scuttles that reportage with his vivid account that describes the near-riot conditions among the steerage passengers and how he and his fellow sailors had to shove the bullying men aside so the starving women and children could get access to a stove to cook their oatmeal. Clearly the Illustrated London News writer was relying on flak from the shipping lines and the government for his information. And it is to be remembered that the New World was one of the premier packets of the time; one can only imagine the horrific ordeal immigrants underwent on less well-run ships.

    Before she was commissioned, the New World was sold to the owners of the Swallow Tail Line--Henry Grinnell, Joseph Minturn, and their partner with the unlikely name of Mr. Preserved Fish. Grinnell and Minturn also owned the legendary clipper ship Flying Cloud, also built at the McKay shipyard. According to David Hollett in his Passage to the New World: Packet Ships and Irish Famine Emigrants, 1845-1851:

    In 1846, at the time of the Irish Potato famine, Minturn's fortune was estimated at $200,000 ($4 million today). He and his partners were more public spirited than many other New York merchants of the day. Of particular significance is the fact that he served as Commissioner of Emigration at New York, to improve the condition of incoming foreigners, and was instrumental in founding the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. His wife was the prime mover in establishing New York's famous Central Park, which was based on Birkenhead Park, Merseyside [Liverpool, England]. Minturn was described as a tall, handsome man, who was generous, modest and humane--his sense of social responsibility growing with his fortune. He died suddenly of paralysis at his New York Home on 9 January 1866.

    One source claimed the New World had a profitable career of 36 years. However, it was probably somewhat less. When Jack Corbett shows up in Hatch's 5 Nassau Street office in 1879, he tells the banker:

    They didn't keep the packets up in the same style as they used ter. Smaller crews an' poor grub an' hard work made it a dog's life aboard of 'em. I went two or three voyages in the New World an' was in her the last voyage just afore she was laid up.

The New World was built in 1846 and Corbett appeared in Hatch's office in 1879, a time span of 33 years; that would indicate the true working lifetime of the ship was more likely around 30 years.

    The history of A.S. Hatch’s flamboyant and mercurial business career is documented elsewhere in this book by the son of Harvey Fisk, his partner of twenty-three years (not to be confused with Jim Fisk, the notorious 19th century robber baron), and reprinted from the August, 1930, Journal of Economic and Business History. Working with Philadelphia financier Jay Cooke, the firm of Fisk & Hatch was a major fundraiser for the Union in the Civil War. Subsequently the firm turned the techniques perfected during the War Between the States to financing the transcontinental railroad.

In her article The First Transcontinental Railroad (Part 1), Elizabeth Gibson writes:

    In 1863, the Central Pacific broke ground at Sacramento in January. The Union Pacific broke ground at the Missouri River bluffs near Omaha in December. Both railroads had problems right away. Material costs were high due to war-time shortages. There was also a labor shortage. Investors chose to buy into war industries instead since profit was more immediate. More help from the government was needed.

    The Railroad Act of 1864 was signed on July 2, by Lincoln. This act authorized the railroad companies to sell their own bonds. It limited the Central Pacific to building no more than 150 miles past the Nevada border. Crocker supervised the work in the field for the Central Pacific. The construction superintendent was James H. Strobridge. Their chief engineer was Samuel S. Montague. The Union Pacific construction superintendent was Samuel B. Reed. Their chief engineer was Grenville M. Dodge. John S. and Dan T. Casement held the tracklaying and grading contract.
More financial difficulties followed. The government bonds only paid half the bill. No one private would invest because it would take too long for the investment to pay off. Both railroads engaged in some creative financing to cover their costs.

   Albert D. Richardson's Beyond the Mississippi describes some of the "creative financing." He wrote about a trip from Sacramento to Salt Lake in 1867 at the invitation of Central Pacific Railroad President Leland Stanford to inspect the ongoing construction of the line. In the 1869 edition, Richardson added several new chapters, including one on the planning, construction and importance to the nation of the then newly completed Pacific Railroad over which he had just traveled: