Kestel: Young Sam & Austria Manifest

(Ed's Note: Here are some facts about the Young Sam and the Austria, the ships that George, Barbara and John Kestel and Michael Fuch and Ursula Hanna came to America on in 1857 and 1858.)

George Kestel Jr., his wife Barbara (Vetter) and infant son John left the Kingdom of Bavaria in the Spring of 1857 and immigrated to America. They boarded the sailing ship Young Sam May 23rd, in Bremen and arrived in New York City on July 1st, 1857. Michael Fuch and his bride to be, Ursula Hanna, left a year later and arrived in New York on July 17th, 1858. They traveled on the steamship Austria. George, 31 and Michael, 24, were half brothers, both having the same mother and and different fathers. From New York, they made there way, probably by rail, to Chicago and then finally to Joliet, Will County, located southwest of the city.

Young Sam

Manifest of Young Sam, arrived in New York City 1 July, 1857. Detailed two-thirds down the list - George, Barbara and John Kestel. The ship departed Bremen May 23rd, with 348 passengers. The Young Sam was an American Ship, three masts and square rigged. I have not been able to locate an image of the ship. Ancestry details only one crossing of the ship; the manifest lists 356 passengers. An article from the New York Daily Times of July 1st, 1857 details an arrival in New York of June 30th captained by Merryman, owned in Portland, Maine. All told, the voyage took 38 days. They sighted a large number of icebergs on the Banks.

Austria

Manifest for the steamer Austria which details Michael Fuch and Ursula Hanna, aged 25 and 19 from Germany. Michael is a farmer. The steamship AUSTRIA was built for the Hamburg-America Line by Caird & Co, Greenock, and was launched on 23 June 1857. 575 Commerzlasten / 2684 tons; 318 x 39 x 28.10 feet (length x breadth x depth of hold); clipper bow, 1 funnel, 3 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion, inverted engines (twin cylinders), service speed 10 knots; accommodation for 60 passengers in 1st class, 120 in 2nd class, and 450 in steerage; crew of 80.

Chartered by the British Government as an Indian Mutiny troop transport. On 5 October 1857, sailed from Cork, but suffered severe storm damage in the Bay of Biscay, and forced to return to Plymouth; after a second attempt to sail was abandoned when her machinery broke, the British Government cancelled its charter. On 1 May 1858, first voyage, Hamburg - Southampton - New York (2 roundtrip voyages). The second passenger voyage of the Austria arrived in New York on 17 July 1858, and Michael and Ursula were onboard. The Austria sailed on her third voyage and departed 1 September 1858 from Hamburg. On 13 September 1858, about noon, in lat 45 01, long 41 30, it was decided to fumigate the steerage by dipping a red-hot chain into a bucket of tar; the chain became too hot for the boatswain to hold, and he dropped it on the deck, which immediately burst into flame; although the ship was traveling only at half speed it was impossible to stop the engines as the engine crew had become asphyxiated, and when the helmsman abandoned the wheel, the ship swung into the wind, spreading the flames down the length of the ship. Of the 538 passengers and crew aboard the AUSTRIA, only 91 survived in a boat.

Contemporary print of the AUSTRIA on fire at sea, 13 September 1858. HAPAG-Lloyd, Hamburg. Source: Arnold Kludas, Die Geschichte der Deutschen Passagierschiffahrt, Bd. 1: Die Pionierjahre von 1850 bis 1890, Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrtsmuseums, 22 (Hamburg: Kabel, c1986), p. 23.