In November 1876 the Passengers Line advertised their ships, including the Bebington, as first-rate passenger packets, fitted and equipped up on plans founded on long experience. The ships of this line convey private passengers only, and no
Government emigrants.
G'day. After the voyage of 1872 took much longer than other vessels and the high mortality rate, an enquiry was held here in NZ - 16 children between the age of 7 weeks and 2 years died and this was found to be unacceptable. The result of the enquiry laid blame on a few points - the lower decks should have had 14 - 18 portholes on each side of the midship compartment between decks - the Bebington had 3 either side. The stairways/laddders were poorly constructed and inhibited movement of people, especially young ones who would need to go on deck resulting in them being below decks for days at a time, not getting the necessary fresh air or sunlight. The ships galley was too small for the cook to be able to feed everyone, evidence provided shows that getting the childrens' food cooked at regular intervals didn't happen. The single womans cabin had no ventilation at all. The conclusion in broad terms, is that the children were insufficiently fed and had a deficiency of light and ventilation. Added to all this - food that was provided or budgeted for the children, was often stolen either by ship staff or passengers working in the store rooms - the milk budgeted for was actually done on the basis of the number of adults on board - no children were taken into account and so there was a shortage before they began. To round it off, the ship set sail with insufficient medicines - confirmed by the ships doctor who had a roughtime looking after his passengers without the proper treatments.
I would think that it was a poorly planned voyage and a dismal mess. The agents who 'engaged' the emigrants had an agreement with them to work in return for passage, for a period of two years on the railways, in New Zealand. However, once they arrived, they found there to be no contractual work available, it having all been allocated. The agents (deducting one fifth of their wages for passage costs) then said they were to take work with sub-contractors but.... the sub contractors also wanted to make a one fifth deduction. You can imagine the objections. And so the agreement between agent and passenger was deemed to be broken. The passengers were then left to find employment and housing where they could and to this end, the population absorbed them into their own, helping them settle and making sure they had work and a home.
A great deal was learned from the voyage for afterwards, the Bebington was improved and had a much cleaner and more successful run of voyages, coming back a few times under a different captain.
I should say its just amazing to find out about their voyages so many years later - I am rather enjoying the journey so to speak! It makes interesting reading.....
I'm off to feed my calves - farm jobs are waiting!
Have a great day.
regards
Kelly