Zebra (ship)

Zebra (ship)

The Zebra was a three-masted ship, built in 1818 and displacing 350 tonnes. On 12 August 1838, the Zebra, captained by Dirk Meinhertz Hahn, departed from Altona, Hamburg for its voyage to Port Misery, South Australia. The ship arrived at its destination on 28 December 1838. On board was a crew of 16 and 188 passengers with their belongings. In addition, the ship carried 100 barrels of pork, 100 barrels of flour, 65 barrels of fresh water, 17 hogsheads of beer and vinegar, 14 barrels of herrings, two boxes of boots and 40,924 bricks.

Two passengers died before the journey began. Furthermore, some passengers were on board several weeks prior to departure, leading to an additional two that perished before reaching open sea. For the time, a relatively low number of passengers, 12, died during the journey at sea. This brought the number of passengers down from 199 leaving Germany to 188 arriving in Adelaide. The last corpse was buried at sea while approaching Kangaroo Island. Due to a low tide, the passengers were stuck onboard until 2 January 1839.

The Zebra was the third ship after the Bengalee and Prince George that brought Prussian Lutheran migrants to South Australia. The founders of Hahndorf, South Australia came from these three ships, many from the Zebra. On arrival and inspection, the migrants were very pleased and impressed with their newly-acquired land and, despite many offers of employment whilst shipboard, stayed together and sought farming land.

Hahndorf was named after Captain Hahn in honour of his efforts in securing good land, his superb interpersonal skills which settled many arguments on ship and his care of his passengers. Today, some German tourists are somewhat bemused by the name, to the confusion of local residents. This is apparently due to the most literal translation of the town's name being "rooster-village".