QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The sea voyage

The spaces were frequently shared with farm animals and livestock also travelling to the other side of the world. With the hatchcovers dogged shut in rough conditions – potentially for days at a time – and the ship pitching and rolling in heavy seas, the cold, wet conditions below decks may only be imagined.

A very small proportion of emigrants – from either Germany or England – were able to afford their own passage. Those who could may have enjoyed the relative comforts of ‘cabin’ or ‘intermediate’ class accommodations, but the subsidised majority of migrants travelled ‘steerage’.

As well as their limited worldly possessions, the emigrants brought the tools and equipment essential to their trade and their new life, as well as herbal remedies and traditional medications. Many had to bring their own food as well – ship’s rations were meagre, and even soup and hot water was out of the question when the galley fires had to be banked in heavy weather. Large earthenware jars were packed with rusks, fats, salted meats and some vegetables. There was no milk, of course, and water was strictly rationed at 3.5 litres per adult a day. Parents quenched their children’s thirst before addressing their own … well, as best they could: one 1871 migrant wrote that “the water was stored in casks and often came out fermenting and stinking, You could hardly drink the tea made from this water.” Such issues were not unique to emigrant ships, however, and had been the bane of life at sea for hundreds of years. Treatment aboard Godeffroy ships was considered excellent, and a handbook for potential migrants in the 1850s reported that their ships were held to be above average in passenger care. Ships from German ports were known for their strict routines and discipline early on … Times for rising (7am) followed by placing bedding on deck, breakfast (8am), cleaning quarters, inspection, dinner (1pm), tea (6pm) and lights-out (8pm) were determined by the ship’s routine. Turns were taken to help prepare meals, and both men and women took turns cleaning the communal table and floors after meals. Married men took turns patrolling the married quarters at night to protect from fire and theft. Gambling was not allowed, spirits forbidden to be brought on board, and no smoking was allowed below deck. Reference: Material quoted above and referred to here reproduced by kind permission of Lyn Spriggs. heritage.spriggs.com.au/main.aspx Above: A scene from an 1844 issue of the Illustrated London News depicting typical emigrant steerage quarters.

Because the migrant traffic was largely one-way, the facilities were limited and cabin partitions and rudimentary dormitory bunking were temporary. As soon as the passengers had been delivered the crews turned to, stripping the furnishings ready to load cargoes for the return to Europe. Steerage passengers were generally separated: single men forward, close to the crew’s quarters, with any single women aft, close to the security of the officers’ cabins. Married couples, families and children occupied amidships. Bunks were rough timber double-deck structures about 2m long; married couples or two single women might get a 1m-wide bunk, single men made do with 60cm. Children were simply held and fitted in to bunks, often as part of quite extensive family migrations. Straw-stuffed mattresses were provided but the migrants had to bring their own blankets and pillows. Above: Reproduction of a drawing published in the Leipzig Illustrierte Zeitung newspaper depicting a scene aboard an emigrant ship in 1872 – the scene would have been far from this idyllic in the heavy weather of ‘the Roaring Forties’!

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