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#1 At the mouth of the harbor, El Morro, a massive brown escarpment, rose up out of the sea. The Central America was the biggest ship in the harbor. She was sleek and black, her decks scrubbed smooth with holystones, and her deckhouses glistened with the yellowed patina of old varnish.

#2 The final five days of the journey were spent sailing to New York. The weather was warm, and the passengers spent the time talking about their families and wondering how things had changed since they left their homes in the East.

#3 Captain Herndon was the head of the captain's table, and he was married with one daughter. He had been twenty-nine years at sea, in the Mexican War and the Second Seminole War, and had seen things no other American had ever seen.

#4 The first night out of Havana, the conversation turned to shipwrecks. Herndon told stories with punch lines that underscored the joke was on him. He had been on the river all day, beaching his craft on the shore, and preparing a typical meal of monkey meat and monkey soup. The monkey meat was tough, but the liver was tender and good.