"These is terrible times we live in, these is. Me mother, me brothers, me sister; all of 'em off down by the Red Plague 'at run its way through London-town and the Boroughs. Half the men o' the King's England went down with 'at'un, they said; half more again with the quakes and the fires, they said.
I'd believe it. When I'd heard about the great bloody flood down Blackwall way I'd gone off to the Docks to have me a butcher's; and God mighty in Heav'n that whole City was under the ocean. I could scarcely believe me mincers, could I. But havin' seen ol' London under six feet o' water I got m'self onto a ship for the New World, nothin' but the shirt on my back, and set out of that God-forsaken ruin for the Unknown...
...Been weeks now, er maybe months; hard to keep track o' the time, what with the storms and serpents and each day bein' a right bit like the one before and the one after. The limeys seem right creamed, from all the rough weather, and Lord knows those monsters o' the deep 'ain't of much help either. We're short on food, and water, and near ev'rything else a man could need on God's Earth; they says that we need to make lan'fall soon or surely perish. Myself, I'd prefer to make lan'fall over perishing, any day...
...The tempests've let up, and things is lookin' up. One of the limeys caught sight of land early last morn, and the Cap'n says we'll most like reach shore by late tonight or early next morning. Boats've been sent between our ship and a Chinese'n right near, to confirm the sighting. The Chinese say'at 'ere's more monsters on the land, like the devil-serpents we saw at sea. The limeys believe 'em, but the Cap'n says they're talking a load of cobblers; he says the tacks are that nothin' lives on that cont'nent save trees, rabbits, 'n deer...
...Made lan'fall at what we reckon as eleven o'clock. Disembarked; first steps on dry land in months. This is the New World. She's goin'ta be home.
--Diary of William Dobson, English emigrant