Halfway to America: The Tragic Sinking of the William Nelson

By Jeff Wright

"Halfway to America" describes the plight of emigrants who sailed to America in the 1860s, usually in the steerage deck – where the conditions were cramped, lacked privacy, and had only the bare necessities. This book follows Heinrich Dirkes and his son Johannes from the time they leave their village in Bauler, Bitburg-Prüm, Prussia. While traveling from Antwerp, Belgium, to New York in 1865, the ship William Nelson caught fire when buckets of hot tar spilled. Tragic and horrifying, more than 400 poor emigrants died. The lucky survived. This book describes the details.

Nearly all of the emigrants were poor, and were making the trip for a better life in America. Also on board were 30 crew members including the captain, plus about 30 passengers traveling in cabin rooms that cost much more than steerage. Once the American Consulate in Havre, France learned of the tragedy, it quickly set about limiting the liability of the ship owner and the captain. The Swiss government in particular was outraged at the lack of accountability in the US because only 16 of its citizens survived from the 176 on board.

The tragic details of the burning of the ship William Nelson is an important chapter in immigration history that should not be forgotten. This book will interest historians, educators, and those who are looking to learn more about American history and their ancestry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667828404

Jeff Wright

Mr. Jeff Wright, Born 1957 in the state of Michigan. Served in the United States Navy as Chief Master At Arms during peace time and war. Father of three great kids - Jeff Justin and Jaci. People always say. When did you start writing. Have you ever seen that long stare someone gives when thinking. Mine is even longer when someone asks that question.

Book preview

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The Author

Jeff Wright is a retired financial analyst. He spent his career gathering and analyzing financial records to determine company profitability and value. He has been researching his family genealogy since 2000, and has focused in recent years on his German ancestors.

© 2022 Cordura Books

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, or by any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written consent of the publisher. This restriction does not include brief noncommercial uses, such as those permitted by copyright law. Reproduction of brief portions is allowed for review and academic purposes. For permission requests, contact Cordura Books, 10645 N. Tatum Blvd. Suite 200-304, Phoenix, Arizona 85028. Or contact www.halfwaytoamerica.com.

This book is based on the true story of the sinking of the William Nelson in 1865, but portions are creative non-fiction where actual details could not be determined or verified. Some names of minor characters were changed where verification was not possible at the time of publishing. The genre narrative non-fiction does not allow facts to be changed.

First Edition: 2022. Manufactured in the United States of America. Available through major book retailers, and through www.halfwaytoamerica.com.

ISBN (Print): 978-1-66782-839-8

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-66782-840-4

Cover Photo: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, August 5, 1865. "Appalling Calamity – Burning of the Ship William Nelson, Off the Banks of Newfoundland, Monday, June 26 – Loss of over Four Hundred Lives."

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Please Come to America

Chapter 2 The Last Spring at Home

Chapter 3 Setting Sail

Chapter 4 Fire

Chapter 5 Praying for Rescue

Chapter 6 Prayers Answered

Chapter 7 The Survivors Recover

Chapter 8 For the Defense

Chapter 9 My New Country

Author’s Note

Sources

Acknowledgments

In our family history, it has been known for some time that my mother’s great grandparents, with the surname Dirkes, were from Prussia. According to vague recollections, they probably died in a ship disaster coming to America in the mid-1860s. Their given names, Heinrich and Magdalena, were not clearly identified in family ancestry records. As I began researching my family’s genealogy years ago, I did not find Heinrich (or, Henrici) and Magdalena Dirkes. All I had was a surname, and a possible ship disaster. The other part of the ship story was that their youngest son Johannes might have been on the same ship, and records show he arrived in America during the summer of 1865. That was not much information to go on, but I was determined to flesh out the best possible picture of my ancestors. I searched the Internet for ‘ship disasters in the Atlantic Ocean 1865.’ One of the first results was the William Nelson, sinking on June 27, 1865, about 330 miles south of Newfoundland. This seemed like a good candidate for research, and to my surprise I did not find many alternatives. I had assumed that ship disasters were frequent in the 1800s, and it would be like finding a needle in a haystack to find my ancestors. Various Internet sources reported that about 500 passengers were on the William Nelson, and they were mostly from Prussia and other German-speaking states, and also from Switzerland. (Prussia and other German-speaking states in Europe later would be combined to create the nation of Germany.) Were Heinrich, Magdalena, and their son Johannes on that ship? Most passenger records online (that I was aware of) are based on arrivals in the US. The William Nelson never arrived.

The research might have slowed to a stop there if not for the great work of genealogist Peter Eyckerman who lives in a suburb of Antwerp, Belgium. I contacted Peter to see what records he might be able to find because the William Nelson originally embarked from Antwerp. He explained that Antwerp passenger lists from that time were nearly all destroyed. He suggested a couple of other possibilities, such as registrations of foreign visitors to the city, but it would be a long shot. He asked for some time, and he would do the best he could. After two weeks, Peter reported back with an absolute treasure of information. He researched articles in European newspapers from that summer and found descriptions of the tragedy. He even found the names of survivors who made it back to Havre (now Le Havre) aboard ships that made rescues. In the meantime, I found the Shipwreck Passenger Book by Frank Biebel of New York, which is terrific. I now had information that only Heinrich and Johannes Dirkes were on the ship. Genealogist Claudia Stock in Lüneburg, Germany determined that Magdalena had died at their home in Bauler, Bitburg-Prüm, Prussia during November 1862. Therefore, only Heinrich and Johannes were going to America.

With the help of Peter and Claudia, my research finally got some real traction and was supported with information on the major genealogy websites. The Limburg Emigrant Page operated by Irma Lommen-Salden also was very helpful, including a translation of a letter by one of the survivors of the sunken ship. That letter by Peter Joseph Schaps describes the disaster first hand. Although Peter Eyckerman translated some of the European newspaper articles into English for me, I could not read the others. My reading comprehension of the German language dates back 55 years ago to college, and my reading of French is now limited to restaurant survival skills. Next, major help in the research came from archives of British newspapers at Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. It is a great resource of contemporaneous accounts of the disaster in the British press. Other sources of information that helped the research come together are listed at the end of the book in Sources.

After I assembled a basic picture of the calamity, further information was scarce. I did find the Swiss government’s demand letter for an investigation into the deaths of more than 160 of its citizens, and evidence that the US State Department opened a file on the matter. Essential help with document translations came from Kim Kujawski at the French-Canadian Genealogist in Vancouver, BC, and Yvonne Hausheer at myswisspast.ch. Margarete Handl in Waltenhofen, Bayern (Bavaria) provided good translations of Old German script. Research of the US response after the sinking was particularly difficult because of the Covid restrictions on visiting National Archives sites, but researcher Karen Needles was tenacious in her pursuit.

Also very important to this project were my Dirkes relatives who have pursued their own genealogy work, and now collaborated with me. My third cousin Dirkes Rolston had been compiling family information for years, including at family reunions. He worked hard building a great database of the Dirkes descendants well before Ancestry.com or MyHeritage or the others were widely used. Dirk did excellent work that provided either a foundation for, or corroboration of, many records that I found. Thank you Dirk. Neil Schuler helped me understand a full view of the family of Heinrich and Magdalena, with details and clear organization that were badly needed. He also has a treasure chest of family photos. Neil took the time and made the effort to preserve them in honor of his grandmother and great grandmother. Karen De Groot provided valuable input that I did not have about several of our ancestors. The other Dirkes descendants that chipped in were Mary Mathis, Ruth Hursman, Kim Schnackenburg, and Meghan Dirkes. Thanks to each of you for your part in understanding our family history.

Once the fundamental story was written about Heinrich and Johannes on the William Nelson, I had editorial help from Kayla LeFevre and Leah Pickett. They cleaned up the worst parts of my writing in early drafts and got me going in a better direction. After I found more information and added it to the almost final draft, editor Terry Crowley took on the project, smoothing the manuscript and the additions that I had plugged in after Kayla and Leah had done their work. Terry made some great suggestions to make it more readable.

As you see, the final published story is the result of a group effort with input from many people. I hope that historians and others find it interesting, and that those who are descendants of emigrants on that ship gain more insight. This event is a part of history that is important. The event and the people should not be forgotten.

This story is creative nonfiction. Narrative is created to stitch together the true facts where gaps in information exist. It is written in the form of a novella.

Chapter 1

Please Come to America

When John Baptiste Dirkes came over from Europe in July 1863, the United States was in turmoil, mired in a bloody civil war with no end in sight. Yet he was determined to make a better life in his new country. He was not concerned about America’s war – he had lived with wars and conflict his whole life in Prussia. He was confident that things would be much better in America. John came to join two brothers who had already started new lives in the land of opportunity, and now he wanted his father and his younger brother, Johannes, to join them. He knew once his father and brother arrived in New York, they should have no trouble continuing on to Aurora, Illinois. He was, however, worried for their safety on the long and difficult voyage across the sea. Everyone knew it could be dangerous. Of course, John had no way of knowing they would be involved in one of the most horrific ship disasters ever in the Atlantic Ocean.

Since arriving in America, John had written letters back home to his father and brother still living in Bauler imploring them to come to America. Prussia, which later would become Germany when joined with other nearby states, had been embroiled in European wars throughout its history. John told his father that the trip would not be too difficult – though this was wishful thinking, as he had made the journey across the Atlantic just months earlier and knew how grueling it really was. He realized it would be hard to sell his father, Heinrich, on the idea of making the trip, partly because of the danger and partly because it would mean the elderly man would have to leave his beloved homeland. Heinrich was content among the beautiful rolling hills along the border with Luxembourg. He had been tending to sheep all his life there, just like his father and grandfather before him. But John looked realistically at his father’s future in Germany, and he hoped his promises would convince the aging shepherd to come to America.

Younger brother Johannes, on the other hand, needed no coaxing to leave the Rhineland. He would pack and be ready to go in thirty minutes if he got the word. Johannes was young and thoroughly