QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

From sail to steam to schedules

with the English P&O and Orient Line steamers operating to the Far East. Nonetheless, Oder set out for Shanghai on 14 July 1886, and Salier inaugurated Australian sailings a fortnight later. In 1890-91 the pair was refitted with new boilers and triple-expansion engines to bring them up to speed – literally. Accommodation was also altered, to 62 first class, 30 second class, and 641 steerage passengers. Salier soldiered on the Australian route for eight years, until May 1894. Dimensions (Salier): length 107.1m (351ft 6in), beam 12m (39ft 5in); 3,083 tons Speed: 12.8–13 knots

By 1870, more than 29,000 German immigrants had embarked for Australia from Hamburg, and interest in the Fifth Continent ‘down under’ was certainly on the rise. In the period 1877-81 there was a threefold increase in mail between Germany and Australia and, by 1881, German exports to Australia totalled 10 million Marks. German firms participated in the World Exhibitions held in Sydney and Melbourne in 1878-79, raising the profile and possibilities of two-way trade. This was matched at a parliamentary level: on 29 March 1885, the Reichstag passed Bill No.52, appropriating four million Marks to establish regular steamship services to Australia. In July that year, the successful tenderer – Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) – signed for the terms of a very precise contract. The Reichspostdienst provided for a route from Bremerhaven and Antwerp, down the English Channel to Gibraltar, through the Mediterranean, transiting the Suez Canal (opened in 1859) to Aden, thence the Chagos Islands (English territorial atolls north of Diego Garcia) and on to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, with extensions to Brisbane, Tonga and Samoa. Handling agents and berths were arranged in the Australian ports, and ships with a minimum speed of 11.5 knots were specified. Maximum passage time from Suez to Melbourne was to be no more than 738 hours, and that to Sydney no more than 811 hours. Two 10-year-old NDL steamers, Oder and Salier , were pulled from Atlantic routes to service the new contract. Single-screw ships, with two masts fitted with sails, they were unable to compete effectively

Above: Salier alongside, in about 1874, not long after her entry into Atlantic service; photos of near-sister ‘Oder’ show her in an all-white hull. and it is possible both wore lighter colours for their Far East routes. Below: Cutaway profile and deck plans of Salier – not much has changed on the ‘Zwischendeck’ for the steerage emigrants!

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