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June 27, 2009

Historical Perspective: Francis T. Hulman: Founder of Hulman & Co. (Part III)

By Mike McCormick

TERRE HAUTE — Though transatlantic ocean voyages were rather common when Francis T. Hulman and his family chose to visit Germany in 1858, they were still considered dangerous.

Between 1841 and 1857, no fewer than 15 passenger steamships wrecked or were lost in the North Atlantic. Eight of those calamities resulted in death to passengers or crew.

Indeed, the SS President — heralded as the largest passenger ship in the world and the first steamship to a attempt a transatlantic run — disappeared after its inaugural voyage from New York on March 11, 1841, with 136 passengers and crew on board.

The City of Glasgow, the first steamship to transport passengers from Scotland to New York, departed Liverpool for Philadelphia on Jan. 1, 1854 and was never heard from again. As many as 480 people, passengers and crew, were on board.

The steamship Pacific — which set a transatlantic speed record in 1850 — met a similar fate with approximately 240 on board after leaving Liverpool Jan. 23, 1856. Wreckage from that ship was found in the Irish Sea off the coast of Wales in 1991.

The British steamer Tempest disappeared after departing New York on Feb. 26, 1857 with passengers and crew totaling about 150.

A tremendous gale off Cape Hatteras wrecked the steamship Central America on Sept. 13, 1857, precisely one year prior to the catastrophe involving the Austria and the Hulman family. About 400 of the 600 people on board drowned.

From Sept. 18, 1858, the day the Austria was expected to reach New York, until the final list of survivors was published many weeks later, there was little that Herman, Diedrich or Theodore Hulman could do in Terre Haute except wait and pray.

They may have read survivors’ statements. The first news, released Sept. 27, was from the captain of the Arabia, a bark that came within 100 yards of a burning steamship on Sept. 15. The statement was taken upon his arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sept. 25.

Though Capt. Shaw could not identify the smoldering ship by name, his description left little doubt that it was the Austria.

“Her upper works were destroyed,” Shaw related. “And the woodwork above and below were all consumed. Her masts were gone and her sides were falling in. She was supposed to have been burning 48 hours. We circled but could not find a name and there were no lifeboats or signs of sufferers.

“We saw a brig about four miles in the distance.”

On Sept. 28, the New York Times published extensive interviews with several of the twelve survivors rescued by the French fishing vessel Maurice. The passengers arrived at Halifax on board the Prince Albert after spending several days on the Lotus, a small bark.

Chartres Brew, a British diplomat, and Theodore G. Glaubensklee, professor of German at the New York Free Academy, were oft-quoted passengers. The men strongly disagreed about the behavior of Capt. Franz A. Heydtmann of the Austria.

Brew condemned the captain’s actions. Glaubensklee refuted that claim, declaring that Capt. Heydtmann “exerted himself to get out lifeboats and to preserve order among the distracted passengers.”

“Never in my life have I met with a better set of officers than I met on the Austria,” the professor asserted. “As far as I could see, the discipline on the vessel was excellent. The only fault I could find was that some of the food was bad.”

Phillip Berry of Hackensack, N.J., another passenger on the Lotus, sided with Brew:

“The discipline on board the Austria resembled an old-fashioned Fourth of July training, if I am any judge of order.

“When I speak of the captain of the Austria leaving the steamer, I wish it explicitly understood that he did not fall into the water, but deliberately as he could … passed down a rope by the side of the steamer, attempting to get in the lifeboat.

“I was the only one among the rescued who saw him leave the vessel and go down under the wave.”

Berry also was critical of Capt. Renaud of the Maurice for not saving more lives.

“I heard him declare his intention but did not see him carry it out,” Berry said. “I heard the captain say, ‘Good heavens, mate, there are yet 20 lives on board that steamer. Do not let them remain any longer in their agony.’

“He excused himself from rescuing additional passengers by noting that a Norwegian bark was bearing down on the steamship. With the circumstances of the wind and the sea, she could not have reached it until after midnight.”

Professor Glaubensklee responded to Berry’s remarks by supporting Capt. Renaud and the crew of the Maurice:

“I did not hear any cries in the water during the night,” Glaubensklee said, “except at 8 p.m., being the cries of the second officer, who was rescued. The captain chose not to continue rescue operations after dark for fear of jeopardizing his crew’s safety.”

The Norwegian ship Catarina arrived in Quebec on Oct. 3 with 22 survivors — 16 passengers and six crewmen — from the Austria, picked up in the open sea after the Maurice departed.

Herman, Diedrich and Theodore Hulman surely read those reports, probably devoting most of their attention to seeking to identify Francis or Eleanora among poignant but anonymous tales of rescue and loss. The Hulman name did not surface among the many published lists of those saved and lost through the end of 1858.

Having served a three-year wholesale grocery apprenticeship in Germany before joining his older half-brother in the U.S., Herman managed the business for at least four months while Francis was gone with help from Theodore.

Nevertheless, there was a group of Terre Haute businessmen who questioned Herman’s ability to successfully manage the firm Francis had founded over the long haul. As history recounts, he was up to the task.

Perhaps his greatest challenge was convincing 29-year old Antonia Riefenstahl to make a transatlantic voyage from Germany to become his wife.

After many written pleas she apparently overcame whatever fears she may have had and the couple was married in New York City on Oct. 9, 1862.

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