In 1941 at the age of 74 Theodore decided to become a Naturalized Australian. In his application he states that he arrived in mid December 1886 on the “Preussen”. The Victorian State Archives show a Y. Vetter aged 36 years on board the Preussen. Whether this is Theodore or not we will never know, but the “Y” could just be someone’s handwriting of a “T”, and in 1886 all German males were required to do a number of years in the Imperial Army. If you were going to leave Germany, you would have to lie about your age. Theodore was 20 in 1886 – did he say he was 36 as he boarded the Preussen?
The Norddeutscher-Lloyd steamer “Preussen”
was on it maiden voyage when she left Bremen on the 3rd of November
1886. She called in at Antwerp and
Southampton before heading down the English Channel on 8th, but she
hit strong gale winds and the vessel rocked severely, causing the passengers to
feel the first effects of seasickness.
Those in the Steerage section of the “Preussen”, as no doubt Theodore
would have been, were bruised and batter from the tossing of the vessel until
they near Gibralter on the 11th.
The food on board, or at least the
preparation of the food, did not sit very well, and a number of the British
passengers in Steerage sent a petition to the Captain asking for improvement in
the standard but alas through the voyage the food continued to sit uneasily on
their stomachs.
As the vessel sailed through the
Mediterranean Sea the passengers started to relax more and during the evenings
dances were held on the Forecastle. Some
of the passengers even attempted to fish over the side of the vessel, hoping
that if they caught something, that it would provide a better meal than what
they were currently receiving.
On the 18th the vessel arrived
at Port Said, here she needed to re-coal, and wait for the German mails. A number of the passengers took the
opportunity to venture ashore, but despite them being only Steerage passengers,
the locals saw them as wealthy Passengers, and beggars constantly approached
them. The crew also went ashore, but
they returned late at night intoxicated and waking the passengers with their
carousing.
On the 22nd the vessel entered
the Suez Canal, and proceeded south for Aden.
Fresh water was limited on the vessel, and the passengers were left to
have salt-water baths. When they
approached the Captain he stated, “he did not see necessity of washing every
day as he simply had a salt water bath and never washed since he started.”[i] The British passengers particularly had a
different view.
Aden was reached on the 27th of
November, and more coal and provisions were taken on board, and the vessel was
covered in coal dust. Most of it was
stored on the Steerage deck, so the Steerage passengers were allowed to use
part of the 2nd class deck space.
As the vessel headed now for Australia, Whales were spotted along side,
and this caused great excitement amongst the passengers, most who having lived
in rural parts of Germany had never seen the sea before let alone been out on
it.
For the next few days, there was a mixture
of storms and perfect seas, and the passengers experienced the effects, but on
the morning of the 8th of December they learnt that a passenger had
died during the night and had been hastily buried at sea. The following day rumours started to spread
as the passengers were requested to be vaccinated for Smallpox.
The vessel continued to sail toward Western
Australia, still rolling, but now most of the passengers had become accustomed to
this. Sporting carnivals were held on
board with the younger passengers having running races around the deck. On the afternoon of the 14th of
December they sited Australia for the first time, and the next day the Pilot
came out from Albany.
Unfortunately the 1st thing the
Captain told him was that there was Smallpox on board, and the Pilot
immediately told him to raise the Yellow Flag at the masthead, this being the
International warning for Smallpox on vessels.
More Coal was sent out to the vessel and some of the German Steerage
passengers moved the coal on board, receiving 1/- per hour for their work.
The vessel sailed on to Port Adelaide,
but the news of Smallpox had proceeded
them, and when they arrived on the 20th the Captain had to inform
the Harbour Doctor that another passenger had died. They were immediately order back out 10 miles
to sea to bury the deceased passenger.
27 Passengers disembarked but they were being sent to a Quarantine
Station. The Melbourne passengers
started to worry and wonder what would happen when they arrived there.
On the 23rd of December , 1886
the “Preussen” arrived at Hobson’s Bay in Victoria. At 3 p.m.
the 240 passengers were allowed to disembark but it was to the
Quarantine Station and not to the Port of Melbourne. But although the passengers were dishearten
that they were quarantined, there was a good Australian meat tea awaiting them,
which they all thoroughly enjoyed, “Tea in cups, clean plates, &c,&c,
was something to be remembered after 6 weeks of stuffy dirty semi starvation.” [ii]
For the next 4 weeks the passengers lived
at the Quarantine Station, enjoying the clean living, good food and fresh air,
but at the same time, watching the number of passengers affected by small pox
gradually increase. On Christmas Day a
full Christmas fare was provided, and a dance in the evening was held, but the
next day isolation of a number of people started to take place. By the 4th of January 1887 there
were 25 admissions to the Isolation area.
On the 11th the authorities
stopped any one from sending letters outside the Quarantine Station, as they
were worried they this might spread the contagion to the colony. To pass the time Cricket matches were held on
the grounds, but whether the German passengers (including Theodore) took part I
do not know.
On the 28th of January the
passengers who had not been affected were allowed to leave and head in to
Melbourne, to commence their new lives in Australia.
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