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From: "Gary W. Kaucher" <>
Subject: Re: Death at Sea-1854-Info?
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 06:46:33 GMT


Michael-

Thank you very much for the information you provided. I will be contacting the

museums you referenced in an attempt to find out more about the ultimate fate
of
the SARTELLE, and/or any remaining logbooks. Your reference to the SARTELLE as

belonging to the Nelson line at the time of the voyage (Oct. 29 to Dec. 18,
1854,
Antwerp/New York) partially cleared up one thing for me. In the Maritime
Intelligence section of the December 18, 1854 issue of the New York Times I
found
the following entry in the "Arrived" section:

Ship Sartelle, Cole, Antwerp Oct. 29, with mdse. and 201
passengers to W.F. Schmidt & Co., vessel to W. Nelson.
Had 1 death on the passage.

Now I know what W. Nelson was. When I first read this a couple of months
prior to
receiving the copy of the ship's manifest from NARA I never suspected that my
gggrandfather was the 1 in 201 that would have died on the passage!

Was W.F Schmidt & Co. some kind of "halfway house" for passengers prior to the

advent of Castle Garden or just a location on the dock?

Thanks for all your assistance. I still suspect there is something "unnatural"

about his death (suicide maybe?), but skepticism is my nature! Many of the
reports of vessels in the Marine Intelligence section for the couple of months

that I looked at reported gale force winds, torn up masts, overturned ships
and
all kinds of havoc. The last two weeks of the voyage could have "added insult
to
injury." Who knows! :-)

Thanks again!

Gary Kaucher
Riegelsville, PA 18077

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