Star of the Sea Chapters 1-6

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Star of The Sea: prologue- chapter6 The prologue of this novel begins with introduction of an eerie character that only comes out at night and hobbles around the main deck in an unusual pattern. This man in strange to the passengers aboard The Star, he is not ugly, but has a strange, scarred face. Women and children feel great unease when he is around. The purpose of the introduction of this man the passengers call “the ghost” is foreshadowing a story later told in chapter 4. Life on the ship was much like that of all other ships to North America. Steerage was cramped and wreaked of rot and filth. Passengers on The Star received half a pound of hard tack and 1 quart of water each day, and children would get half of that. The Star was an 8- year old ship who’s history included taking slaves to America. Previously called the “Golden Lady”, the Star held 402 and a half steerage passengers and 15 first class. This novel tells a few stories within itself, mostly from the point of view of Dixon, who is a journalist. Chapter 4 introduces the familiar character Pius Mulvey, who we later discover in who what the passenfers call “the ghost”. The reason to his strange behavior at night is to find a way to kill Merrdith, a 1st class passenger, for revenge. Coffin ships were mostly filthy and disease ridden, The Star was no different, on the 5th day of the 20 week voyage 4 steerage passengers die of typhus. The majority of steerage passengers had dysenyary, scurvy or famine dropsy while about 15 had all three. Word goes around that there are things missing from the first class passengers and some one has sawed through the loser foredeck gate bars. The crew soon discovers that there is a hack saw missing from the kitchen, the saw was stolen by pius mulvey. The 6th chapter in this novel is a letter from the hisband of mary duane, a nanny to one of the first class

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