The Star of India - emigrant experiences

The life on board was especially hard on the emigrants, who were cooped up most of the time in her 'tween deck, fed a diet of hardtack and salt junk, subject to seasickness and a host of other illnesses. It is astonishing that their death rate was so low. They were a tough lot, however, drawn from the working classes of England, Ireland and Scotland, and most went on to prosper in New Zealand. Emigrant bunks for single women were five feet long and 18 inches wide. Single men's bunks were six feet by 20 inches. In this boat, some emigrants had cabins to sleep in. (Compare this with the Fencible experience.) "We fellows were packed tight, six in a cabin; had to do our own cooking; very little flour and much hard dog biscuit, grated into the flour and a few raisins, made a fair pudding. The salt junk, we couldn't eat. I remember one of our chaps going about with a horrible lump of fat pork hanging to his watch chain. But in spite of the rough living, we were all healthy and had plenty to do. Two of the six took it in turns to be cooks and other to do the cleaning of the cabin. I was proud of making a cap out of canvas with a peak to it. It lasted the voyage and that was about five months."