Declan

Me life hasn't been a walk in the park by any reckoning. Abandoned by me da, after me mum died when I was 10. Lived in the workhouse til I turned 16, when I was kicked out onto the street. Started a fire in the meal room, I did. Had to get some revenge, Father Mulroy had locked me in a closet for three days, the usual punishment for any act they considered against the rules, written or not. They was forever bothering me to work for my stay, but the work was beneath me. I have lived on the street ever since, surviving by me wits, if you will. Been locked up many a time for stealing food, public drunkenness, pickpocketing, and the like. All to put some bread in me mouth, a drink or three, and a coin or two in me pocket.

The more the peelers knew me face, the harder I had to scratch for coin, for my survival work has be done out of their sight. I get questioned weekly about some small crime or another, I admit to nothing. Maybe I did it, maybe not, but I am an easy mark for them. I have been known to accept accommodations and meals in the slammer, but the peelers have gotten wise to that, often keeping me till after dark, then throwing me onto the street with no meal offered.

A couple a families around town have complained about me, saying hurtful things, acting like I stole something, or robbed them. A man has to eat, don't he? Some things I have been wrongly accused of taking were not nailed down, or guarded, so, aint they there for the taking? The family that blames me the most is the McDairmids. Just because I borrowed a few chickens, or flirted with the womenfolk when they was in town, it don't mean I am a crook. They, and a few other high and mighty families worked against me, with the City council, and they arranged fer a berth on a ship to America, along with 25 pounds to get me started there. It wernt as if there was a choice, this was all done while I was in gaol, and handed to meself as a done deal. It was either go to America, or prison in Dublin.

The ship I was hauled to one fine morning was the Penguin, a tall masted ship out of Derry. Its skipper was Capt. Robert Morris, from Cork. He is a hard drinker, and a harder man. He and I had met before, when I was trying to remove some items from the ship, and after a fight, I landed in the slammer for a week. The ship was supposed to have room in steerage for 100 souls, but that crook Morris crammed in 150. We was sleeping on the cargo that the ship held. A body had to claim a spot, and make sure others knew it. But not me. Morris chained me to a large trunk, said I would be let loose twice daily, for food, ablutions, and a wee bit of exercise. It was on one of those trips that I saw that foul man, William McDairmid, on deck, with that ugly mouse of a wife, Sarah Ann. I overheard William telling the Captain, “I am going by the name Lord William now”, and a handshake did not hide an exchange of cash. I howled with laughter, sayin, “Captain, he is no more a Lord than you or I, he is a lying liar”. That bit of talk earned me a knot on the side of my head, and a toss into steerage.

When I came to, i saw they had not seen fit to chain me up. I took it upon myself to go back up on deck, and look around. As I was making me way on deck, I saw wooden cases labeled “RUM”. Knowing it was meant for the crew, I helped myself by uncorking a bottle, drinking as I went up to the open air, and I then noticed that someone had left their cabin open. For a giggle, and not some small revenge on the ship, I looked around inside. Some lady”s clothes were laying about, and I grabbed a few. Some seemed to have flat discs sewn into seams. “Coins”, I thought. I grabbed a few blouses, and left the cabin. Twas the McDiarmid's who spotted me leaving what was their cabin. William grabbed me, while calling for the captain, anyone, to help. The first mate was the first to respond, saw I was controlled, and asked “Lord Campbell, what seems to be the problem”. William quickly explained his side of it, that I was stealing. Sarah had made a quick search of their room, and hurried over to say that two items of clothing were missing. Me person was searched, not gently, I tells ya. I was made to return them. My protests of “they was just laying around outside the cabin, I thought they was for the taking. When the group met the Captain, and he was apprised of the situation, he asked: “Lord McDiarmid, what would you like to see happen” William replied, “the two items are not much of a loss, but these are women’s clothes, if this person is in need of clothes, I will attempt to find something of mine”. He did not mention the clothes had money hidden in them. Captain Morris decided that was a fine solution, and cautioned Declan “do not repeat this action, our we will keelhaul you. Maybe it will improve your behaviour, and your odor.

Soon I manages to get into the rum and was drunk. I was again tossed into steerage, but I overheard McDiarmid whispering to the first mate “we must do something. I have a plan. Find me when there is a storm”. Those words made me think, and I took some precautions. A few days later, it started to rain buckets. Winds got fiercer, the crew had to shorten sails, but kept moving toward America. The first mate found William, and asked of the plan was. William responded” We shall let him get drunk, and throw him overboard. Do we need to tell the Captain”? “No”, said the mate. “Things like this are usually left to me”. The mate produced a bottle of rum, and the two of them called on me. I was curious how I was now their best friend, but as we shared the rum, that thought went further to the back of me mind. Once the bottle was empty, William, surprising both meself and the mate, hit me over the head with the empty bottle, and then grabbed me and tossed meself overboard.

Having heard the whispering earlier, I had got meself ready. I had found a few goatskins used to hold wine. After drinking the contents, I hid them inside me trousers. When I hit the water, drunk and stunned, I got sober fast. I filled the skins with my air, and was able to secure them inside my coat. Them kept me afloat all the way to nearby land. When I put feet on land, I laughed. McDairmids plan didn't work very well if he intended to kill me.