~ Eugene Kozlay Describes his Hungarian Emigrant Passage ~

~ Ship Mount Stuart Elphinstone - Dec. 1849 ~

The following is taken from the diary written by Eugene Kozlay, an officer who fought in Hungary’s failed 1848-49 War of Liberation against Austria. He and his fellow officers had been stationed at Komárom, the last fortress to capitulate to the Austrians in the fall of 1849. Because Austria treated Hungary with great cruelty and officers were in grave danger of execution or prolonged imprisonment, a significant number of them fled the country, resulting in the first wave of Hungarian immigration. Those who fled are often labeled the Kossuth Emigration, named after Hungary’s revolutionary leader. This particular group arranged to meet in Hamburg in preparation for immigrating to America. They sailed first to Scotland, and then to America aboard the Mount Stuart Elphinstone.

These excerpts have been translated from the original Hungarian.

Harbor in Glasgow, December 14, 5 p.m.

Well, now I am standing on that point which will take me, after 30 or 40 days, to the shore of that free home, which is said to be beautiful and rich.

We moved into our cabin, which we also see, as Pomutz and Birányi said: “quite comfortable.”

But let's go back to the events of this day.

This morning early, as somebody who is preparing for a long journey, I woke up—had breakfast—a quarter hour later two big omnibuses stopped at our house. All of the luggage that was left was loaded under the supervision of Bátory and Shönhauser. And we said good-bye to our hosts who received us happily. I received a long kiss from their daughter.

We got on the cart with a few Scots and hurried to the train station.

I have to mention that the railroad company provided a special train for free to the Hungarians by the intervention of a few good citizens. Thanks for their noble and elevated act.

At the train station, under the assigned peoples' supervision, the luggage was put on the top of the cars, also that big box in which the donated clothes were packed by Bátory….

When we arrived here in Glasgow, again we got on an omnibus, which took us to our ship, where we moved into our cabins….

Our room, or rather our cabin, is a little square shape. The length is three steps and the width also. On three sides there are sleeping holes newly made from wood and nailed to the wall. Above one of the beds at the end of the cabin there is a window. Udvardy reserved for himself the bed next to that window. Beke and I are on the left side; I have the lower bunk, he has the upper one. Bátory and the little Vidor are next to the cross wall. On the right side of our cabin where the steering rod runs down, we saw a little door, through which, when we opened it, we could see a toilet. This is a good set up. When we have to vomit we won't have to go too far. On that side at the corner of the cross wall there is a lavatory-table with a big basin. Next to that there is a picture with an antique frame nailed on the wall. It portrays an old man in his room sitting at his desk, and a younger man coming toward him handing a recommendation letter to the older man. Next to that there is a little mirror…

The bed is about five spans long and one and a half wide. On the bottom there is a mattress, with God knows what kind of filling. On that there is a cotton sheet, which is a little bit yellow. And there is a pillow-shaped filled thing and a wide cotton blanket, which will keep us from the cold. These were our bed clothes. Let's go forward.

As we step out from our cabin we find ourselves in a main cabin, which is one and a half fathoms wide and about two long. In the middle there is a long table nailed down to the floor, next to that there are a few arm- and camping chairs. In the middle of the cabin there is a large window opening to the top which gives light to the room. On one side of the window there is a glass lamp and the other side there is a compass. At the end of the table there is a large mirror on the wall, on the other end of the room there is an iron stove bolted to the baseboards, the chimney is going straight out to the main deck. On the two sides there are tight little cabins for two persons, the doors painted with nice colors.

Stepping out from this room we see a lavatory room squeezed next to the mast pole, and two little rooms. In one of them my friends have their place and the other is storage for the tableware and ceramic plates and also tin vessels. On the right side there is a larger cabin for the captain, well furnished with a hundred-year-old box, a camp chair, and a double bed, and other engineering and sailing equipment.

From that room through the door in the middle there is the way out to the outside deck. It is not necessary to describe what you can see there. Four steps from the cabin door there is a stairway to the “zwischen” deck under a little house-shaped cover. Five steps from there is the mast pole reaching up high. Another four steps and there is a large opening to the inside of the ship, through that even now they are loading all kinds of goods which will be shipped to America. One step from there are higher cabins again, almost reaching to the front of the ship. In the first part at the middle of the ship there are my Hungarian friends, and by the front of the ship there is the kitchen. In the front there are two giant anchors pulled up to the side of the ship, bolted securely so it won't run away. By the two sides there are newly made toilets, which are so tight that it will be impossible to relieve nature. Let's go to the part where the so-called first class is. It is on the top; there are our cabins also. There are two ladders with ten rungs leading up from the outside deck and there are a lot of runts of cabbage knotted together with a rope on the fence, which goes around the whole ship. From one way up to the other there is a one and a half span wide, three quarter fathom long hen house, which is used as a seat, and in the middle of that there is a storage box, which opens on the top. In the box there are ropes and pulleys. Also there is the window from the top of that mentioned main cabin, it is covered with planks from the top and the sides with wire grating, so the glass won't break easily. Two steps from there is a booth in which there are two compasses, a sand-clock [hourglass?], and the nicely decorated steering wheel. In the middle of that there is a copper plaque with this sign: “Mount Stuart Elphinstone.” Well we now know the name of our ship. Let’s now see how the poles and rods are connected together. I will not write down the details. The ship is 700 tons, it is 14 fathoms long from the inside and three or four wide, it has three masts and twenty three sails.

Our ship will leave tomorrow at 12 in the morning, because our captain is still sick. Maybe if he doesn't get better there will be another one assigned to lead this old shoe.

It is late, actually it is dark now, I finish my writing for today....

Crossing the Atlantic

Greenock, December 15, 1849

I must have slept well last night for not noticing any shaking or roaring when our ship turned….The whole emigration speaks about leaving today at 12 o’clock.

Last evening three American gentlemen came on board to visit the Hungarians. We are always stared at because of our beards, and that happened yesterday too. We had a good conversation with the gentlemen, and later they took a few of us to a coffeehouse. I don’t know what kind of coffeehouse it was, but there wasn’t any coffee served there. We were seated at a comfortable place, and we started to drink. First we drank brandy and whisky, which are like a strong “pálinka.” People usually drink it with water, but some drink it as it is, and they got drunk. Although I tried to refuse, I had to drink a little. I only drank a few sips, with water, yet it burned my stomach badly. Then the food was served. I do not know what kind of meal it was, but I ate a lot. After we ate, we drank some wine, and finally some champagne. The party ended at 2 o’clock at night and the gentlemen walked us back to our ship.

As I predicted, Erdoházy intimidated the fellows with the condition of our ship. There were some who were so afraid that they were ready to perish right at the port. We were told that the ship is so old, that 3 months ago when it took off for America, it had to turn back after a couple of hundred miles, because it was likely to sink….

People were cheering as our ship left the harbor. A cruiser was towing us….

There is such a mess on board that we cannot sit down. The chairs are full of meat that we could not eat in 6 months. There are so many passengers on board; I will have enough to write about. There are many women, even Germans, which I’m glad about, because I can “geschaftel” with them. How can I think this weirdly when I’m still sick? Well, men are deprived. [Kozlay had acquired some sort of venereal infection during his stay in Scotland which worried him greatly.]

Today it is Friday, and I don’t know where Sunday will find us. I hope we will be lucky in our journey. It seems that our captain is a nice man. He has a beautiful wife, whom he didn’t dare to leave behind. It will be a long journey, maybe a journey of eternity.

Greenock, December 18, 1849

Our ship reached the harbor, but we didn’t port. We just cast the anchor and will continue the journey tomorrow. Some women selling oranges and apples came on board. They made a good bargain, because we bought lots of fruits from them to fill our stock for the trip….

We will share the cigars we got from the Brits and Scots for free; otherwise we wouldn’t be able to bear the boredom of the long hours of the journey.

The boarding service [food] is satisfactory so far, and hopefully it will remain so.

For lunch they served us yellow rice. I don’t have the foggiest idea what they did to it to make it yellow, but it tasted so bad that I could hardly eat it….

Two days ago, before we left, a few physicians came on board and examined every passenger. Those who had physical or health problems couldn’t come with us. I was lucky that those who know about my sickness didn’t mention it….

During this long trip I will have plenty of time to make an outline of the past events. It will take us at least 30 days to get there, though our captain says that it takes approximately 24 days.

Our captain is a nice and friendly Englishman, as far as I’m concerned.

I am glad that I took my coat; it does good service for me. It wouldn’t have dreamed of ever seeing America.

December 21, 1849

It has been two days since we left Greenock. A mild wind blows our sails. We can still behold the peaks of Ireland, but by this evening they will disappear from our sight.

God bless you, nations of Europe, who were friends of freedom. God bless you my precious country and your patriots who stayed behind. Rejoice and hope, because the moment of salvation is near.

It is cold, but not as cold as on the land. We can still see the houses on the hillsides of Ireland. There have been two other ships keeping up with us, following us ever since we left.

Our captain, T.G. Henderson, is a very pleasant Englishman. He is nicer than I thought he was.

There are two shifts at the meals, because of the size of the dining room. In the first shift there are 12 people, and in the second one go the rest. We are in the first shift.

There are a couple of dirty and lazy men and women traveling with us from Ireland. The young woman is nice looking, but she is so dirty that I can’t stand her. Her mother is an old witch, who is always smoking a white china pipe.

Breakfast was very good today. I have gotten to like tea so much, that I drink it all the time.

December 23, 1849

This morning our captain checked on the compass where we are, and in which direction we are pressing. At 11 o’clock we were at latitude 54-15. The coasts of Ireland disappeared from our sights yesterday evening. We could still see the watchtowers of Ireland for a couple of more hours, but our ship pressed forward so speedily that they faded away soon after.

We have a good wind, and our captain says that if it stays so for 15 days, then we will get there in 20 days. Our ship is pressing forward at 8 miles an hour. We are far out on the ocean, there is nothing around us, and even the two ships that had followed us have left us by now. We are between the sky and the bottomless ocean. If, God forbid, we would get shipwrecked, we couldn’t escape but to a plank. Even if we could escape, we would starve to death.

Now I will have time for poetry and for meditating on and recording the events from my past. I will take advantage of these comfortable and peaceful surroundings, letting my thoughts flow, and I will spend my spare time writing….

I don't even know which day it is today, the 24th, 26th, or the 27th? It is December? The wind is quite good; we still have hopes of getting there in a few days.

Last evening my friends sang at the top deck, the moon was shining clearly.

In the evening the foam of the sea seems like lines of fire, especially next to our ship as it splashes. The waves look like sparkles swimming on the surface of the ocean. From a distance it seems like the sea is on fire.

Yesterday afternoon the cigars which we got in Hamburg were distributed among the members under the supervision of Takács, mess officer. Every one got 300 and some, actually it was 221.

Yesterday I heard some raise their voices to urge the distribution of the clothes we got in Edinburgh, because if they are in a big box we will have to pay high customs on it. Because of that we have a meeting today.

Some of my friends are already victims of seasickness, which means vomiting.

Written on the ship Mont Stuart Elphinstone [in German]

Amerika

	Into this quiet land! Into this free land!
	Who leads us across?
	Yet there are evening clouds
	And heavier clouds appear on the strand.
	Who leads us with a gentle hand
	Across, ah, across
	Into this quiet land?

	In this quiet land
	With its natural beauty
	Its refinement! One’s future existence is threatened
	Whose faithful life endures the battle.
	But it bears the seeds of hope
	In this quiet land.

	Oh land! Oh land
	With its threatened storm
	The mildness of our messengers of destiny
	Signals for us the reverse torch
	And leads us with a gentle hand
	Into the land of great death
	In this free land, in this quiet land.

It's been six days since I began to mark down all my old writings, and there is a lot left to finish. I will need about two days to finish if I work at it all the time.

Our wind is still blowing from that direction—we sail forward. We hope to see America in 15 days. It blows harder than yesterday.

Some of my friends are vomiting; I don't know how long I can bear it. This is a funny little illness—the stomach gets stirred up because of the movement of the ship and it gives out all that is in it.

Yesterday I happily watched, laughing, three women and a man who grabbed the lines at the rear end of the ship and fed the mouths of the fishes which were swimming next to our ship.

If there would be a man who doesn't believe that the Earth is round—he should travel on a ship and he will be convinced and he will cast out any doubt from his mind.

Yesterday at three in the afternoon, the sun was shining clearly, there was not even a little shadow on the horizon, on the foam of the sea our ship alone was rising up high like a cliff. We saw the blue water of the sea everywhere we looked, and the white foam on the top of the waves. Above the surface of the sea as far as we were able to see the whole of the sky around was rising up, forming a round apple from the ocean, on which our ship was the highest point. When we spy another ship, we can see the top of it and the bottom stays hidden behind the roundness until it comes closer. On the sea the limit of our sight is 20 miles. Our captain said that at eleven o'clock we were under the 30th and the 56th degrees.

In the afternoon after lunch, rather after the English “comfortable” meal, we will have a meeting concerning the distribution of the clothes.

I have to continue to organize my papers.

It has been seven days since we have been sailing on the sea, or maybe it is more, eight. Well, God knows how fast time is passing by….

Surely—I can't take it anymore—my head started to swim because of the ship's movements.

I will continue later to organize my papers, but now it is impossible.

Well, the distribution of the clothes is done, with a lot of fighting and argument. Because there were some who wanted to exclude the contracting ones, and others wanted to include them. Finally, the majority decided that they would get their share as well. I got a big Scottish scarf, three shirts, five underpants, a few socks and three pairs of gloves. I was lucky to pull the number eight, because we pulled to decide who could choose first.

Brother Szalai has also started to vomit all the time. Takács and Birányi are enduring the best so far.

We saw big pig-like fish today, the sailors weren't so glad, probably it is some kind of storm story.

Well, God would keep us from some disaster….

The wind has begun to blow harder; our ship is pitching on the top of the foam.

They pulled in five sails—it's not a good sign.

It's been 48 days since I could write anything in my diary, because of the continuous storm which has not calmed down even for one hour.

We had a bad bargain with this “lucky” sailing.

The waves broke in on the left side of the ship, crushing the second cabin. Fortunately, the captain moved my friends out from there beforehand; otherwise, some would have been victims of the waves.

We have a great need for food. There are two ships near us, from which we will receive some food. It is lucky that we met them, otherwise we would starve.

There is always a big fight around the table because of the food. Everybody is hungry as a wolf.

It has been 56 days since we sailed. When are we going to finally get there? Maybe even God doesn't know.

I was sick for about three weeks, I didn't want any food, I just pulled back to my nest like a bear in winter sleep.

Well, I saw a big storm, big waves, we have been in a terrible situation.

We finished all the food that we got in Hamburg. We even forced Liptay to give up his own food. He didn't want to give it willingly to the company and he called us crooks, robbers, and bandits. We never would take his food, which he had received as a gift, if we weren't so desperate.

Finally we gave the food back to Liptay, after he called everybody names. Instead we endured our hunger. Moreover, we rejected this man and his food, because he damned anybody who eats from it.

It seems that the storm will make peace with us, but still I don’t have strong hopes for seeing America soon, because they loaded a lot of food from a ship which God sent to us.

The son of a German exile died the day before yesterday. Beke, as priest, buried him. The father thanked him: Thank you very much from my heart.

Fortunately my dactilus healed, it was not that scary thing that I thought.

A few days ago Takács slapped the face a couple of times of a contracted person, Numan, and he has been rebuked because of that. There is no bacon made from a dog, says the Hungarian.

I took a lot of pills and bitter salt, because without it my bowels were hard and painful.

Some evenings when the ship wasn't moving too much we played cards, but still we had to pick up the cards from the floor, because they kept falling down. The captain joined our fun. He is a fine English man. We often stayed up late until two or three with brother Szalai and Beke. He spoke very wisely. Well, he was the oldest. Every time we drank pálinka while we talked, sometimes we poured a lot down our throats.

Báthory cooked a few times, he made “gombóc” [a dumpling filled with cheese or plums] for all the emigrants and “paprikás.” And he cooked for himself his own “pogácsa” [salty biscuits] and coffee.

I could write a lot about those unfortunate situations which happened during this journey, it would not fit into my diary. So I will just mention the key points; the rest are useless.

My poems and old papers are in my luggage, I don't think that it is time to continue to organize now.

We have suffered a lot so far, and how much suffering is before us?

Brother Szalai one night fell through the table in the first cabin. You can imagine how he, who weighs close to 300, bruised himself.

There are two passionate card players, they play even in the biggest storms, Podráczky and Niedzielszky.

One time there was enough wine and pálinka so the boys got nicely drunk. Everyone was fine, except Benyiczki, who after he vomited lay as a dead body with his privates uncovered, which even though Bátory whacked it, he was so drunk, the young man never woke up.

We have to pay a high price for the fruits, if we get any. The travelers in the middle deck sell it to us for good pálinka or some money. We bought some small grapes, but they’re all gone. How are we going to live?

The wind blows from the right direction, we sail ahead.

The storm was our visitor every day except the first eleven days, which were very good. What a terrible scene is the storm—Uh! It is indescribable as the elements are raging. The foam almost totally buried our ship, and the next moment we were at the top of a wave like a mountain, and valleys under us. Terrible big waves surrounded us. There is no pen that could write this down. Our poor ship's side knows how big a slap the waves can give.

We broke many plates, tableware, and we will break more. At lunch, everyone holds his own plate, because the ship moves constantly.

The other day Beke also fell across the table in such way that he put his butt in the butter.

My seasickness, rather my vomiting, lasted a long time, 22 days—it was like lying in a dark pit.

Before the stormy days we gladly sang heart-rending Hungarian songs, but now not even the devil thinks about that. Unless this nice weather stays.

About two weeks ago, the crew from the lower deck stole our last pieces of cheese, because of the carelessness of Takács….

Today at about ten we heard the chain of the anchor, we ran out thinking we are close to land. But we suffered disappointment, though we have hopes of reaching the coast of New York, as our captain said, within two or three days. Well, how many times we have been told that 3, 4, 5 more days and those days are over; this is the 66th day of our captivity.

Liptay, who because of his bad deeds and attitude concerning sharing his food with us, was noted in the company records by Pomutz, the clerk of our association. Yesterday afternoon, when Stelzer was accepted as a member, he donated his 30 bottles of wine to the company and wanted to make peace with everybody and ask forgiveness for his temper.

Brother Szalay supported him and because we don't want to have remaining anger toward each other in our new free home, we accepted the peace and everybody who was offended calmed down.

But later Janos Radnich honored Schönhauser with a straight slap on the face. It isn’t certain that they have peace. We don't know because, as Radnich said when they asked him about that action, he answered: This is my private business.

If the nice weather remains for tomorrow I will continue to organize and copy my old papers, maybe I will start it today. It will be twelve soon.

The day before yesterday the captain measured the depth of the sea two times. Maybe it's true that we will be there in two days. We voted thanks to Beke who preached Sundays for the German exiles and for us, sometimes in the main cabin, sometimes on the top deck….

Ah, they rang the bell. Well, we will have lunch...

The lunch today was very good. I assume that we are close to our destination. Lowering the anchor energized everybody. Some think they are already in New York….

February 23, 1850, 6 a.m.

“Up! Wake up my friends! Finally we see the land. The pilot for whom we have been waiting so long is on our ship!” I heard these words rumble out from the old throat of my friend Beisigl. I was stretching sleepily in my cabin. The joy electrified my nerves. However, I still had doubts whether my friend told the truth. Because other times they were wrong. I saw that he spoke the truth, because many of us ran out, some almost naked, because of the shouting, also saying that it is true. I dragged myself out from my sleeping den like Diogenes. I put on my yellow-black coat, which protected me from the cold for so long, but because I was in a hurry, I didn't put my hands into the sleeves. I ran out. At the front of the ship truly there was a skinny, short, hairless, blond face, in a white hat and shiny boots, American, republican man. I went to him and I greeted him with these words in English, which I memorized on the way: “How do you do, Sir—I am glad you see?” He friendlily gave me a hand and I shook the hand of the first American in my life.

I could not talk too much with him, because he had to direct the sailors. I went to my cabin to dress.

There was joy and happiness everywhere on the ship. Of course. Because after 72 days of captivity, 72 days when there were only a few boards to keep us above the sea, the moment of liberation was sweet to our starving souls.

I dressed and I went up onto the deck. The sun was just lifting up its head from the deep sea, its fresh beams painted rose and purple, the color of the sea and the coasts of America.

The slowly and gently blowing southwest wind filled the sails. Our ship silently moved forward on the sea, which was not blue anymore, but kind of yellowish.

The blue sky was cloudless, the bright sun was warmly spreading its beams and letting us enjoy the warmth on the deck.

The people on the ship were rejoicing, jumping, dancing, singing, whistling; some started to pack their stuff, others drank their reserved pálinka, so one part of the group became a little drunk, but the other part became very drunk.

The coast, which we had hoped to see for such a long time, was coming closer and closer. We could see with naked eye the mountains with woods and houses on their sides.

The American Steamship

After four hours of slow moving, we saw two ships approaching us from the narrow strait between the coasts. But we couldn't determine until they came closer whether they were steamers or not. Because we didn't see any smoke rising up. Only those black iron or wood things on the top of the ship showed that they were steamships.

One came to us, the other went to other ships. We wondered at this American steamship that was the first we saw. The equipment on that ship and the setup seemed interesting and we talked praisefully about them. A pretty fat English man with a red face, short blond hair, blue eyes, and shaved like Balbon was seen first on that steamship and later others came out too looking for our captain. Our captain, the good Henderson, came up to negotiate with them about how much they were asking for pulling us into the dock. They made the deal. And they connected the steamer to the side of our ship. The wheel began to make noise and splash the water, which was mixing with the river now. Slowly our ship was towed to New York.

As hungry wolves we ran to the steamship without asking anyone if it was allowed.

We ate all the food that we could find in less than an hour. The cigars, which were not too good, we got from them for a high price. But who cared about the price? Everybody was happy to able to spend even more.

Báthory, Hamvasy, and myself, we bought two soft American bread loaves. We broke it and seeing its white middle, we blessed it as Christ, with one difference that he was saying good bye, but we kissed it because it will feed us under this sweet free sky.

On both sides of the strait on the top of the hills, there were fortresses with cannons.

From that point we saw the towers and buildings of New York and the mast poles of many ships in the port and all kinds of flags on them.

On the left side of New York there is Brooklyn City, which is on a nice hill. The reddish color of the buildings was interesting. The houses, with several stories, were built with stone and in good style. There were some white buildings also. It was a special view with the green poplar trees between the houses.

From the strait, we went for another half-hour when our ship stopped. We had to wait for the custom officers to check the goods on the ship. Also a doctor came to see whether the people were healthy or not.

The above mentioned personnel arrived and checked through the ship, and the old shaved doctor inspected everybody, as we had to walk before him and, like the Hungarian shepherd with his rod touches all of his sheep, the doctor put his gloved hand on each and every one's shoulder.

Those honorable gentlemen whose faces looked like my ass left our ship and we went forward.

After one hour of proceeding forward we found ourselves between two lines of ships, Brooklyn on one side and New York on the other.

We entrusted brothers Szalai, Pomutz, Hamvasy, and Birányi to go and find out where Ujházy is and the other friends we had there. We stayed on the ship until they came back.

How will they receive us? We will see. We heard good things about Ujházy from the pilot. If it is really true that there was a fundraising for us, the future will reveal it.

The steamer towed us next to a big ship. We saw a big crowd approaching our ship to see who and what arrived on that ship.

It was 3:30 in the afternoon when our ship came into port. The crowd was wondering what this half-sided ship could be.

The people who came to our ship were amazed at our beards and moustaches. The entrusted men went to seek Ujházy.

We stayed on board to amaze the people who came to our ship. These people with shaved faces were curious about our moustaches and huge beards.

There were three women selling oranges. We emptied their full buckets, because we were happy for the fruit and we found the price fairly cheap. Later as we got to know better the prices here, we found out that the women sold their oranges for double price. Caught after the rain, the Hungarian normally takes care later of the things which should have been done before.

Finally Radnich, Uznay, and a third person came and informed us briefly: There is a two-story building on the 27th street (God knows where it is, said somebody) for the whole Hungarian emigration, which is waiting and has everything prepared for us.

Diary excerpt translated and donated by Janet Kozlay 9/5/2007

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