Swedish American Genealogist

Volume 33 | Number 4 Article 2

12-1-2013 A disaster at sea in 1858 Inge Sjögren

Elisabeth Thorsell

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Recommended Citation Sjögren, Inge and Thorsell, Elisabeth (2013) "A disaster at sea in 1858," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 33 : No. 4 , Article 2. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol33/iss4/2

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swedish American Genealogist by an authorized editor of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A disaster at sea in 1858

This fearful accident has been forgotten, but has now been found again in a family history

BY INGE SJOGREN

TRANSLATION: ELISABETH THORSELL

S/S Austria was a steamship of the After a cancelled British govern- tember, a decision was made to Hamburg America Line which sank ment charter, she went into service fumigate steerage by dipping a red- on 13 September 1858, in one of the with the Hamburg America Line on hot chain into a bucket of tar; the worst transatlantic maritime disas- 1 May 1858 on the Hamburg-New chain became too hot for the boat- ters of the nineteenth century, claim- York route. swain to hold, and it was dropped ing the lives of 449 passengers and On 1 September 1858, S/S Aust- onto the deck, which immediately crew. ria captained by F. A. Heydtmann burst into flames; although the ship The Austria was built by Caird sailed from Hamburg on her third was traveling at only half speed it & Co. of Greenock, Scotland, and was voyage to New York City. There were was impossible to stop the engines launched on 23 June 1857. She was 60 passengers in 1st class, 120 in 2nd as the engine crew had become 318 ft and 2,684 BRT, with three class, and 450 in steerage, and a crew asphyxiated. masts and single screw propeller of 80. When the helmsman abandoned propulsion. At approximately noon, on 13 Sep- the wheel, the ship swung into the

The Austria was engulfed in flames almost immediately. Swedish American Genealogist 2013:4 wind, spreading the flames down the length of the ship, racing through the mahogany veneer and varnished bulkheads, as passengers jumped in- to the sea. The passing barque, Maurice of France, rescued most of the sur- vivors, and the Catarina of Norway picked up more the next morning. As the blackened hulk was left to sink, all but 65 of 538 passengers were lost.

The Swedish connection As the Austria started out from Ham- burg in Germany it might not have been supposed to have had any Charles Rosene (Rosen) and his son in the Hamburg passenger lists (Ancestry.com. Swedes on board, but so was not the Hamburg passenger lists, Direkt Band 012, 1858 Mar-Nov, page 279). case. Family historian Inge Sjogren of at age 26 to America. In America he Hamburg and took the steamer Kalmar, Sweden, was tracing his settled in Richmond, VA, and became Austria on the 1st inst. Charles great-great-grandfather (farmor's a well-known music teacher there. He mentions the name of a Mr. Ling- morfar) Theodor Rosen's family in married Eliza Frances Tower, born stein, of California, who was a pas- Kalmar, when he found that Theodor 1816 in Massachusetts, and they had senger in the second cabin. On the had had a brother who went to Amer- three children, Charles Folke (Falk) day of the burning he was sitting ica. This brother was Carl Folke Ro- (b. 1843), August W, (b. 1847), and abaft the engine with his father. He sen, born 1812 Sep. 12 in Kalmar Theodore Oscar (b. 1850). first saw the fire coming up through S tads forsamling, son of the merchant In 1858 Carl (who was by then the ventilators, from which the wind- Folke Rosen and his wife Anna Chris- Americanized to Charles) decided to sails had been taken only a short tina Swarss. go home to Sweden and visit his old time before. Instantly as the passen- In 1830 Sep. 27 Carl Folke left for father, who was then 80 years old. His gers saw the flames they all began Karlskrona, where he supposedly mother had died in 1850. Charles was to cry, "Fire!" "The ship is on fire" and accompanied by his son Charles F, ran about the ship in the wildest con- continued his education.2 According to a Rosen Family Tree on Ancest- who was then 15 years old. fusion. He says: "My father and I ran ry.com, he immigrated in about 1838, It is not known when they came to forward to escape the fire and were Sweden, possibly in the early sum- followed by the other passengers. I mer, and spent the time with their saw the fire pouring out through the relatives. And then they started the sky-lights. In ten or fifteen minutes return to the U.S. more the cry ran fore and aft, "To the On 1858 Sept. 1 they left the port boats !" All hands then crowded into of Hamburg on the S/S Austria for the boats, which had been hanging New York, in the company of hun- inboard, but were now swung out by dreds of other travellers. On Sept. 4 the davits. The first mate mounted the ship picked up more passengers the rail near the forward boat on the in Southampton, England.3 port side, in which they were sitting What happened next will be told with a large crowd of other passen- by Charles Rosene, Jr. gers. He ordered all of us to get out of the boat, so that it could be lower- Statement of Charles F. ed. But as fast as one set got out others rushed into their places, and V, Rosene we also went back to our first seat. Newark Daily Advertiser4 The first mate then took a sailor's Charles F. V. Rosene, Jr., of Richmond, knife and cut the tackle, and the boat Va., aged 15 years, was a passenger fell into the water. Falling some on board the Austria with his father, twenty-five feet the boat filled and A daguerreotype of Charles Rosene, wife who had been on a visit to his aged sunk, and all the people were was- Eliza, sons Charles and August, maybe parent in Sweden. They left New York hed out. I came up under the bottom in 1849, and sent to the Swedish family. in June by the Ariel, for Bremen. of the boat, but I found my way out (Inge Sjogren collection). After their visit they returned to and clambered into the boat. Swedish American Genealogist 2013:4 There were five or six oars lashed cutting the buoy in two. This made personal safety. The fire was at first together, and they floated out. My fa- two good bailers. The mate then 'told so small that it might have been ther came up within reach of these, us if we wished to he saved, we must covered with a man's hat, but for and seized hold of them with five or now all get overboard except the some reason it suddenly spread six others. He saw me in the boat, and young woman and let two persons re- throughout the lower part of the ship, called out to me, "Oh, my boy, we are main in and bail out the boat. We which was instantly filled with dense, all lost!" In a short time one end of obeyed the order, and all got over- suffocating smoke. the oar drifted near the boat and I board. In a few minutes the boat was Many were unable to leave their caught hold of it, to haul him in. I freed of water, and we all got in, rooms at all. One man was seen with also asked a passenger near to assist observing great caution, so as not to his head thrust through a port hole, me to save my father. We pulled to- overset her again. The mate then unable to get further, while the gether, but there were so many cling- took the steering oar, and with the sheets of fire ran bursting over all ing to the oars we could not move four others we soon pulled up to the parts of the ship, all around him. them. The gentleman said "It is no French bark Maurice. As the passen- The first, second, and third officers use, we cannot move them." He then gers stepped over the rail they all are said to have been saved; all the drifted along near us, still clinging embraced the captain, and all of them others perished. to the oars. In this way he held on shed tears of gratitude for their de- Several men were hauled up out for nearly four hours. liverance. The captain received us all of the second cabin and reported that I could not bear to look at him, and with great kindness. He rigged an many then were already smothered. we drifted in silence. There was noth- awning amidships, and laid a plat- Before the survivors left, they ing in the boat to throw to him. form for us to lay down upon, giving think, that all who were below deck During this time the boat rolled over us all the loose sails he could raise must have expired. The heat was several times, and many were drown- as bedding. We all lay down in our from the first intense. ed each time. I was so exhausted I wet clothing, but too much chilled to The flames spread like lightning, could not get into the boat. I asked sleep. The young lady who was saved overtaking those who tried to escape. one of the passengers to assist me, in our boat was taken into the cabin Those who took refuge in the chains, and he kindly drew me into the boat. and her wounds dressed. The captain as many as could gain a foothold, We drifted between two and three remained up through the whole were soon driven off by the heat. The miles astern of the steamer, and could night, attending to the wounded, communication between the fore and only see the flames rising above the assisted by Jean Polekrusky. aft was cut off entirely within five deck. There was no conversation, minutes from the time the fire broke except an occasional request by the Later from the rescued out. first mate that the passengers would The survivors have very faint sit still, so as to not capsize the boat. passengers hopes as to any more having been My father by this time had drifted so Serious complaints against saved than has been reported. They near the boat, that he caught hold of the captain and officers say all that could be found were tak- the stern. I was at the bow and could en off by their ship. not reach him. Mr. John F. Cox said, Fearful particulars of the conflagration "Charley, your father has hold of the Statement of Henry A. Smith stern of the boat, and can get in." I (From the New York Post).5 said, "Oh! I am so glad that he is safe." The rescued passengers arrived too Henry A. Smith, of Chelsea, Massa- But he was so exhausted that he held late to enable us to publish their full chusetts, thus told his story: I got on on only about five minutes, and then statements today. They all seem to the third boat, as it was cut down sunk. Just before he let go he said to be imbued with a sense of horror in from the davits. It fell twenty-five Mr. Cox, "If my boy is safe, I am remembering the terrible sufferings feet and was swamped. In that fall satisfied." and dangers they have passed. They ten or twelve people were drowned, We saw a man some three hundred say they can add little or nothing to and then the boat capsized at the yards off swimming with a large tin the full and accurate reports which same time, and, in the endeavor to life-buoy, which could be used to bail have already been published, which right her, ten more were drowned. out the boat. We told him to swim to would be calculated to throw light on At last she righted, and I got in with us and we would take him in. He the horrible disaster. twenty-three others, and after being came towards us, and was received All concur in stating that there twenty-five hours in the boat we into the boat. He had been swimming was gross mismanagement in those were picked up by the brig Maurice. about four hours, and was greatly who had charge of the steamer. The fatigued. It was now after sunset. His captain, from the first, gave up in Statement of Mr. Rosene name was Hogquist. despair, and the helmsman aban- Charles F. V. Rosene, of Richmond, The first mate borrowed a knife doned the wheel. Va., aged 15 says: I was saved in the from a passenger and succeeded Every one seemed to seek only his same boat as Mr. Smith, whose state- Swedish American Genealogist 2013:4 ment you have just got; my father tain it, and assisted some in getting We have endeavored to ascertain was in the boat at the time she was on board the boat, or otherwise help- what became of the boats. One of the cut loose from the davits, and he was ing them to hold to the gunwales. quarter boats, which the captain and one of those who fell out of her; he Three of the boats of the ship were fourth officer attempted to launch, then got the oars and floated on them rendered unserviceable, or could not was crushed by the screw, and the for a considerable time. Meanwhile I be used, from the fact that the flames inmates drowned or hauled up on got into the boat with the others, and prevented them being cut away or board again. A second boat, let down after much struggling my father got launched. from the starboard side of the ship up to her and caught hold of the When I was getting into the boat, was likewise swamped by the crowd stern, but being unable to hold on, and before I left the deck, I saw about of people. Mr. Brew escaped in a third he immediately sank. I saw him thirty passengers, I should think, in boat, which was swamped when he drowned myself, am now without a the hold, trying to get air, by the port got into it; one of the wooden boats father. lights. These were told by one of the over the midshiprail was burned. I was rescued by the brig Mau- officers of the ship that if they came Four boats are thus accounted for. rice,but, although I wished to jump up they would he smothered by the The first officer and some thirty out and try to save my father I would smoke or burned by the fire. They people escaped in the fifth, a metalic not be permitted, and he was lost. probably all remained, and were thus boat, and after being capsized several burned to death in the hold. If the times, by which about ten lives were Statement of Mr. Peterson engines had been stopped soon after- lost, reached the brig Maurice safely. I was one of the steerage passengers the fire broke out, a good many would Prof. Glaubensklee, Mr. Vezin, and of the Austria, and am from Lanser- have been saved who were crushed others saw a sixth boat some miles in the boat by the screw, which was astern, with six or eight people in her. una, (?) Switzerland.6 The fire was discovered about two running like a windmill. The chief en- This boat was supposed to be one of or three o'clock on the 13th Septem- gineer, Morganstein, went down to the white boats from the port quarter, ber, in the after part of the steerage. shut off the steam from the engine, which has not yet been reported as Immediately after the smoke became but was unable to do so from the picked up. Only six boats were very dense, and the flames spread up, great heat and smoke coming from launched, as the flames amidships from the hold, enveloping the ship the lower deck. Passengers were, all prevented the people from reaching from stem to stern. We immediately the time I was near the ship, jumping the others. We are informed that endeavored to save ourselves by off the stern into the water and get- these boats were slung from the means of the boats, of which there ting what assistance they could from davits and instead of being secured were eight; five of these we en- the broken boats and floating articles to the ship's side with a piece of hem- deavored to launch from the side, but in the water. Two vessels were seen pen seizing, which could easily be cut they were cut adrift and went past on the starboard beam, one of which when the boats are required to be the ship. One was swamped and cut came to our assistance, while the launched in an emergency like this, in three pieces by the screw, and an- other stood on her course. The con- they were set in chocks or wooden other, the one I was in, hung by the fusion was very great, and the pas- bearings, from which they had to be bow tackle until filled with passen- sengers and crew seemed to have lost lifted before they could be lowered to gers. Then we cut her loose at the all control of themselves, and the lat- the water. suggestion of the occupants, there ter to be under no discipline from the The crowd in them, in most instan- being a large number on the tackle officers of the steamer. ces, prevented this, and hence so who remonstrated against our cut- many of the boats were lost in get- ting the rope. If all had got in, the The Boats ting them into the water. The white boat would have gone down with the (From the New York Tribune). boat, described above, may yet be immense weight. We dragged with It has been stated that there were heard from. It is also possible that the steamer at least half an hour eight Francis's Metallic Lifeboats and some of those persons who were still before the boat was cut adrift, and several ship's launches on board. This clinging to the vessel at nightfall, then hung on as well as we could. I is not true. There were only eight on when the captain of the Maurice was on the outside of the boat, and board in all - which would not, at the desisted from sending his boats, were hung on by the gunwales, as I was a outside, accommodate more than half able to hold on through the night, and good swimmer. I was so much ex- of the people on board. These were were picked up next morning by the hausted that I could not have hung hung on davits, four on each side of Norwegian brig. on another hour. We were then picked the ship. The four forward boats were It is difficult to understand why up by the barque Maurice; those in of metal, the other four were clinker- the boats of the French brig could not the water around us clung to me, and built wooden boats. Two of the boats, have continued to save people from I was in danger of losing my hold those hung on the starboard and port the burning steamer during the several times, but managed to main- quarters, were painted white. night. The light from the steamer illuminated the sector a long dis-

4 Swedish American Genealogist 2013:4 tance, and the French brig kept her lous tones, "I am here, but it was God lights burning. The weather was who saved me." pleasant, the sea calm and unruffled, (End of newspaper accounts) and a pull of three-quarters of a mile after nightfall, under these circum- What happened next? stances, when there were precious The passengers that were picked up lives to save, would not have deterred by the French brig Maurice were tak- a green landsman of ordinary pluck. en to Fayal on the Azores in the Mid- Why did not Hahn, the mate of the Atlantic. Next they were sent to Hal- steamer, when he reached the brig, ifax on the bark Lotos, and then from with his sailor-crew in the six-oared there to New York by the Prince Al- life boat, go after them? It is evident bert. from his acts and expressions, as well Except those already mentioned, as his recklessness in casting his boat these also came on the Prince Albert: adrift, that he was afraid to risk his Philip Berry of Hackensack, NJ; cowardly carcass on such an errand Henry A. Smith of Chelsea, MA; Al- of mercy. The conduct of this man fred Vezin of Philadelphia, PA; and should be rigidly investigated. . professor Theodore Glaubensklee of the Free Academy, NY. Incidents after arrival of the sufferers Charles Rosene, J r. Six of the survivors of the calamity He went back home to his mother who arrived by the Prince Albert yes- and brothers in Richmond, where he Charles Falk (Folke) Rosene (1843-1910). terday went to the Shakespeare is listed in the 1860 U.S. Census. Sometime later he moved to New Hotel, corner of Dunne and William Endnotes: streets, where they took dinner and York, and started a successful career saw some of their friends. Their as an actor. In the 1870 U.S. Census7 1) Kalmar Stadsforsamling C:7, page names are Frederick Thompson, a he is listed as C. Rosene, and seems 297 (Arkiv Digital). German, Swen Peterson, Swede, to live at some boarding house, with 2) Kalmar Stadsforsamling AI:21, Chas. Hogquist, Swede, Herman many people from Ireland, Denmark, page 131 (Arkiv Digital). Randel, Swede, Chas. F. V. Rosene, Germany, and many from New York 3) Shipping News, Boston Post (Bos- American, and John Palicrusca, and other states. He is now 27 years ton, MA) 1858 Sept. 23 (Genea- Austrian. It becoming known outside old and established as an actor. logyBank). that some of the survivors were He was first married to Julia Jar- 4) Newark Daily Advertiser (New- ark, NJ) 1858 Sept. 30, (Genea- there, many persons crowded in to vis, who died in 1879.8 They had see them and to interrogate them in children Frances (b. 1875), Ada (b. logyBank). regard to the calamity. 1876), and Charles Morton (b. 1878). 5) Albany Evening Journal (Albany, One gentleman went from one to In 1880 Jan. 25 he married in New NY) 1858 Sept. 30, 1858 (Gene- alogyBank). another in an excited manner, York9 to Augusta Jane Hammond, (b. anxiously inquiring of them if they 1860). They had children Ellen (b. 6) Possibly from Landskrona, Swe- had seen on the Austria the original 1881), August (b. 1882), Edward (b. den, as he is later described as a of a daguerreotype of an elderly lady 1889), and Adeline (b. 1893). Swede [Ed:s note]. which he held in his hand; but none By 1900 Charles is listed as being 7) His mother and brothers are still had seen her. One of the passengers retired, and he died in 1910 in New in Richmond, but indexed with last told him that there were so many York. name Rosiri(l). faces on board it was impossible for During 2013 Inge Sjogren made 8)Rosene Family Tree (http:// him to recollect whether he had seen contact with Mrs. Jeri Hawkins, nee trees.ancestry.com/tree/39499988/ that countenance before. There was Rosene, a direct descendant of Char- person/19376821038). an expression of anguish in the les F. Rosene. Mrs. Hawkins will vis- 9) New York Marriage Indexes 1866— countenance of the stranger as he left it Sweden next summer. 1937 (Ancestry.com). the room. One of the sufferers who lost Inge Sjogren lives at everything he possessed by the fire, Norra Langgatan 13 Internet links to this article are found met an old friend in a saloon in S-39232 Kalmar, Sweden on p. 30 Trayon Row, and he was so affected E-mail: at the meeting that he embraced and agneta_sj ogren@hotmail. com kissed his friend, uttering in tremu- Swedish American Genealogist 2013:4