Hastings - Over the Mountains of the Sea: Life on the Migrant Ships 1870-1885

The Lord be with you: James Fagans lithograph of an archetypal scene in the mid-nineteenth century. Sixty million people poured out of Europe between 1840 and the beginning of the Second World War. C-015-001, ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

The migrants who came as a result of Vogels large measures were part of a great diaspora that saw 60 million people pour out of Europe between 1840 and the beginning of the Second World War. A map in an old history book shows this diaspora as a series of arrows emanating from a Europe located confidently at the centre of the world. The thickness of the arrows indicates population flow. By far the thickest points to the United States of America, next comes Latin America with an arrow about a third as wide, then Asiatic Russia and Canada. The Australian and New Zealand migrant flows are joined together in an arrow that is a mere reed beside the ones aimed at the Americas.

Vogels was not the first migration scheme in New Zealand. There had already been three decades of organised migration by private associations and companies as well as provincial governments by the time Vogel came along. But his scheme was much more significant. It marked a transition in power and influence from the old provincial governments to the central government, a transition that was to be complete in 1876 when the provincial assemblies were abolished. Even more importantly, it was on a much grander scale than any previous scheme. By one estimate, the Vogel period, generally taken to be 187085, accounted for about 30 per cent of the net immigration between 1860 and 1950, making it the most influential factor in determining the ethnic mix of Anglo-Celtic New Zealand.

At its peak, in the year to May 1875, the Vogel migration brought 31,785 people to New Zealand on 93 voyages, mostly on sailing ships. the journey during another great transition in history, from one maritime era to another. Just as the age of sail reached its zenith in the form of the clipper ship, it was first challenged and then eclipsed by the age of steam. At first, a full-rigged clipper with a stiff breeze behind it could beat a steamer over a short distance but it was a different matter on the long haul. In the early 1870s the steamer Mongol took just 50 days to reach Port Chalmers. Not even the fastest clipper could match such sustained speed, so it is no wonder that even before the fifteen-year Vogel period was over bigger, noisier, dirtier and faster steamships were taking over the passenger trade and their elegant predecessors were being demoted to assignments carrying filthy cargoes or left to rot.

The zenith of the great age of sail: a clipper in its pomp could beat a steamer over a short distance. But it was a different matter in the long run. 017245, ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

Early memoirs and histories of the period tell the stories of the great clippers in mythic terms. Basil Lubbock wrote that some of the old ships seem to have the finger of God in their design, the supreme of mans craftsmanship in their building and a touch of genius in their character. These divine ships sailed like witches, survived the severest storms unscathed, summoned fair winds and,

This period also brought about a great transformation in the shipping companies that specialised in the New Zealand trade. It had been a crowded field in the 1850s and 1860s, with at least six companies competing for work, but by the beginning of the 1870s the number had been reduced to two: Shaw, Savill & Co. and Patrick Hendersons Albion Line. They were joined by a third in 1873 when a group of colonists established the New Zealand Shipping Company. Ten years later the number was reduced to two again when Shaw Savill and Albion merged. Not surprisingly, these companies expanded and changed with increasing demand for immigration and the advent of steam. Only seven small ships flew the Shaw Savill flag in the late 1850s but the company bought 31 vessels after 1870, including 4 steamers, and the New Zealand Shipping Company had 23 ships, including 5 steamers, in its first 12 years. Like the histories of the ships and memoirs of the sailors, histories of the shipping companies emphasise their great achievements. A history of Shaw Savill, for instance, cited the companys claim that the steerage quarters of one of its ships were fitted up in a style of the greatest comfort and convenience. It also emphasised the claim that regulations governing the provisions and fittings of all migrant ships were carried out in a spirit of fairness.