2-888-782 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Searching for Stowaways, 1850. Sailors looking for stowaways on a British ship leaving for the colonies: United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand. They are '...sometimes brought on board concealed in trunks or chests, with air-holes to prevent suffocation. Sometimes they are brought in barrels, packed up to their chins in salt, or biscuits...to the imminent hazard of their lives. At other times they take the chance of hiding about the ship, under the bedding, amid the confused luggage of the other passengers, and in all sorts of dark nooks and corners between decks. Hence, it becoming expedient to make a thorough search of the vessel before the steam-tug has left her, in order, that, if any of these unhappy intruders be discovered, they may be taken back to port and brought before the magistrate, to be punished for the fraud which they have attempted'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.