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The ancient town of Southampton was not always a haven for the detritus of the Anglo-Saxon people. By 1850, the once pretty seaside had become a major emigrant port. Huge timber wharves replaced the stony beaches. Warehouses, bawdy houses, brothels, bars and inns provided refuge to manner of crooks to sell their wares or ply their trades. Men were robbed or shanghaied, women raped or kidnapped -- there was nothing that could not be bought, begged, stolen or sold along the waterfront. Filth, garbage and open sewers discharged into the previously pristine, deep waters of the river.A forest of masts from all over the world substituted for the tall trees of yesteryear. Ships invariably departed with a largely human cargo. The wretches for transport to the colonies as convicts had been chained in long sad rows, hands secured to hands, legs to legs, shuffling forward to some unheard cadence. Now the human exodus was voluntary but no less sad, leaving their loved ones for the uncertainties of the colonies as emigrants. But for many, the only differences were the lack of chains and the crack of the cat-o-nine tails.

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