A state of transition
Shipboard diaries as narratives of transformation

by

David Glowsky

Content 3

Introduction 4

The Sources 4

Leaving behind 5

With strangers 6

The physical experience 7

A new life in sight 9

A state of transition 10

Bibliography 11

Primary Sources 11

Secondary Sources 11

Introduction

New Zealand today is a settler society. Until far into the 20th century all immigrants had to travel to their new home by ship. Until steamers were used, a journey would take more than three months. Immigration was often irreversible, a step that determined the rest the rest of the migrants′ lives. The settlers left their home, went on a journey and sail to a place they had only heard of from an immigration agent, who would praise the destination as a promised land. The immigration entailed many steps and bore the weight of many expectations. This essay asks what is told through migrants′ diaries which they kept aboard their ships. To what extent did the migrants perceive the farewell, the journey and the arrival as a transformation?

The Sources

The essay is based on four unpublished shipboard diaries. The range selected offers vari-ous viewpoints, since there are male as well as female authors, who travel under different cir-cumstances, e.g. kin, language, origin, age and size of ship. Two of the immigrants are adult men. John Cardwell is an Irish, travelling 3rd class with his wife from London to Lyttelton. His journey lasts from 26 June till 2 October 1881. The City of Tanjore is a comparably small ship, on this journey a crew of 23 carries 15 passengers and two children. The diary covers the time from departure till a couple of days after arrival. Frederick Otto travels alone from London to Auckland, which takes from 28 September 1869 till 18 January 1870. On board the Helenslee he is the only German among about 30 Passengers. His diary was originally written in German, but the version used here is an Eng-lish translation. His diary begins as well on the day of departure, but is continued until half a year after his arrival. The other couple of diaries used here are written by two girls travelling with their families. Minnie Williams, a 15 year-old girl writes about the voyage of her family on board the Zea-landia from Gravesend to Auckland, which endures from 23 June till 30 September 1881. She begins her diary already at the departure from their home in Ulster. Their ship carries 82 pas-sengers and 42 crew members. Agnes Williams and her family′s voyage begins in Gravesend on 15 July 1881, and ends at Port Chalmers on 24 October. They are accompanied by the largest group, since their ship is filled with 101 passengers. Agnes aborts writing her diary on 16 October so that it does not contain an account of the arrival in New Zealand. This selection is not meant to be representative, but this diversity of voyage conditions promises to reflect various problems and spheres of transformational experiences.

Leaving behind

Leaving behind is the first step of the transformation that migrants experience. In most cases in the 19th century they would never return to England and see their family and their home again, i.e. the country and the landscape they were born in. Often the extended family would gather to say farewell. Minnie Williams describes how two aunts spent the last days before their departure with them. To Agnes MacGregor, this 14 year-old girl, the loss of home appears very painful. She devotes a whole long entry in her diary to the farewell, in which she recollects the cosiness of home and the leave-taking from relative most vividly. She describes the friendliness of her aunt and uncle and the wonderful times at their cottage, and the tearful goodbye at the train station, where all their family had come together.

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