May 1838 - September 1838

Recording the most important incidents during my journey from London to Adelheid(1a;b) in South Australia.

From London to Plymouth

( 001 ) May 27th, 1838. Sunday.
On the Monday before Pentecost(2) I boarded the ship Pestonjee Bomanjee(2a)(2b). The weather was very unfriendly that day and the wind was against us. This circumstance, however, did not hinder our departure, as our ship was towed down the Thames by a steamboat, as is usually the case now. Since we hadn't seen the ship for two days, we were very surprised to see the crowd of people on board. To imagine the hustle and bustle, one only has to consider the surface area of a mediocre ship and the number of people moving on it, which is 260 souls, excluding the ship's crew. If you now add the latter, you will definitely get a total of at least 300 souls.

The travelers are divided into three compartments ( 002 ) according to their status and wealth, of which the first lives in the main cabin, the second in the 'tween decks, and the third in a room which the English call "steerage". In the first cabin everything is very nice and clean, there is enough light and good food; But in the „steerage“, where we are, there is a lack of fresh air, light and generally the necessary attention in the individual cabins. This all comes from the excessive number of people; Instead of there actually only being two rows of cabins in the tween deck, one on both sides and a wide aisle in the middle, a third row has recently been added so that between this and the side rows there is only a narrow aisle on each side. It is obvious that this arrangement deprives the individual cabins of the necessary light and fresh air. But what's even worse is that the dining room has now become so small that not everyone can sit at the table. There is also a lack of sufficient cooking facilities, so that not everything that is intended for every day can be prepared. Those in the steerage get the worst of it, as those in the main cabin are of course preferred to us ( 3 ) and those in the "steerage", which usually consist of entire families, cook and fry themselves. If all the cooking facilities are taken over, we will come away empty-handed. Another inconvenience lies in the lack of attendants, so that forks and knives and the like are often so dirty that you don't want to look at them, much less eat with them.

In summary: The travelers in the „steerage“ completely miss the comfort that they had expected, which is why everyone is extremely dissatisfied and some have decided to complain about it locally(3a)(3b).