Travelling England to Australia by Sea in 1916

[Feliss]

I have a relative who travelled with her son on the 'Osterley', leaving London on 20 November 1915 and arriving in Sydney on 2 January 1916. Their names were Rosalie Bent and Norman Bent.

I have their passenger records but I'm interested in more general info about sea voyages between England and Australia during WWI. I have an old novel written just after the war which draws on the experiences of the author who travelled Melbourne-London by ship but I'd like more info. Was it common? Was it hard to arrange? What records exist of the voyages? Are they accessible online?

I'm an experienced researcher but have been unable to find anything about this. Does anyone have any ideas as to where I could look?

Many thanks,
Felicity

[cupoflife]

Does this help? https://museumsvictoria.com.au/longform/journeys-to-australia

[shanreagh]

Do you know which way they came?

Here in NZ we hear about german raiders, Emden & Graf Spee etc  and from this wiki entry you might find which German ships were harassing at the time and where.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_commerce_raiders_in_World_War_I

[Ruskie]

This is a link to the Qld State Library website
http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/immigration-shipping
but there is general information included which may be of interest.

The more eventful the voyage the more you may find written about it, such as medical reports if there were many deaths on the journey. By 1915 conditons are likely to have improved somewhat.

[majm]

 

Following on from all those great ideas posted by other RChatters :

Yes, the Great War certainly curtailed civil voyages to and from UK – threat of being sunk by enemy was not the only issue – ships were needed to transport AIF and NZEF troops, horses and supplies from Australia and New Zealand to the front.  And, the ships needed to be converted from carrying civilian passengers. 
May I suggest : try manipulating the database at naa.gov.au …. http://naa.gov.au/collection/search/  (Record Search, then to Passenger arrivals) So at passenger arrivals, enter  ‘1915’ for year of arrival and ‘London’ for Port of embarkation, and nothing else ...  I think this may be useful  as it gives names of ships (click on the heading ship/aircraft name) and then you can seek out info about other voyages around the same time as your Osterley arriving Fremantle 23 December 1915.

So, from my armchair,  I can see the following:

Medina, 1 Feb 1916
Star of England, 23 Jan 1916
Karmala, 5 Jan 1916
Osterley, 23 Dec 1915
Maloja, 6 Dec 1915

Aeneas, 30 Nov  1915
Omrah, 27 Nov  1915
Mooltan, 20 Nov  1915
Kanowna, 14 Nov  1915
Malwa, 5 Nov  1915

I have not looked further, as I assume you  have your own reliable resources at hand, and of course you would go through Trove for any cuttings and shipping news for those vessels.   Likely you are familiar with Nicholson’s Log of Logs https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1458167

Fingers crossed

JM

[Feliss]

Thanks everyone. This is all very helpful! I really appreciate it.

[rosball]

Here a passenger describes part of the voyage of the Osterley arriving in Jan, 1916.

She describes the cruisers which accompanied the ship and the action when a submarine periscope was seen etc.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page24425798

Ros

[Feliss]

Wow, thank you Ros!

That's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for.

Many thanks,

Felicity