Trouble on the Cambria began long before Douglass was invited to address the passengers on the promenade deck on the last evening of the voyage. In a number of speeches he gave in Ireland and Scotland that autumn and winter, he explained that even before he boarded the vessel he was told by the agent at Boston that he was not allowed to take first-class cabin passage because of the colour of his skin.

Douglass was no stranger to discrimination. He faced it every day in Massachusetts and had campaigned vigorously against the practice on the state's railroads. He did not, however, expect to face this kind of prejudice at the hands of a British company. The Cambria was one of the fleet of four ships operated by the British and North American Steam Packet Company, which began services between Liverpool, Halifax and Boston in 1840 after securing the government mail contract. The contract even stipulated that an officer of the Royal Navy had to be on board every vessel to ensure the safety of its precious cargo. A cat was also required to catch the rats which would otherwise have gnawed into the mailbags, as well as a cow and chickens so the passengers could enjoy fresh milk and eggs. One can sense Douglass's bitter disappointment in discovering – as he told an audience in Glasgow – that ‘the corrupting influence of American customs and manners extended [to] the deck of a British steamer, under the British flag’. And all because