There are two main articles:

• November 1868 titled “Return of an emigrant ship.” This is very short.
• January 1869 titled “Misadventures of an emigrant ship.” Death and destruction and pernicious material, and almost sinking, but yeah let’s call it misadventures.

The ship ended up in Plymouth (no not Massachusetts!), and the articles are transcribed here. The January article is one big block of text, but I have broken it up into paragraphs.

Return of an emigrant ship. (November 1868)

The iron four-masted North German ship Palmerston, from Hamburg, with a general cargo, and four hundred and thirty-seven emigrants, men, women, and children, for New-York, was towed into Plymough Sound yesterday morning by the steam-tug Secret, after being out six weeks. The Palmerston sprung a leak 300 miles west of Scilly, and on Saturday night dropped anchor near the Eddystone. For six days she was in jeopardy, the passengers, both men and women, being compelled to take their turn at the pumps.

Misadventures of an emigrant ship. (January 1869)

Early in November last the ship Palmerston, of and from Hamburg, bound to New York, with 425 emigrants, arrived in Plymouth in a deplorably leaky state, having been six weeks at sea. She made the passage round by way of the North Sea, but on arriving off the West Coast of Ireland had become so leaky that all hands, including passengers, had been for several days and nights working at the pumps, and she had been in imminent danger of foundering.

Previous to her arrival some deaths had occurred on board, and on her arrival at Plymouth, typhoid fever having broken out, her emigrants were transferred to the Pique, Government hulk, lent for the purpose, and moored in Catwater, the Palmerston going for repairs into the Great Western Docks.

It appears that no report of the state of the vessel was made to the Hamburg Consul, although the Prussian Consul was acting as agent for the ship, nor were any effective measures taken for landing or properly treating the sick. The result was that sickness and death continued to spread on board the Pique, and fourteen more of the passengers died and were buried in the Plymouth Cemetery.

Captain Stoll, R.N., the Government emigration officer at Plymouth, hearing incidentally of the condition of affairs, made inquiries, and, although being foreigners the emigrants were not under his official care, he reported the facts, as was his duty, to her Majesty’s Emigration Commission, in London, who in turn communicated with the Foreign-office, and the Prussion Ambassador was apprised of the case. The Prussian Consul-General, and captain of the Prussian navy, immediately came to Plymouth, and after tendering their thanks to Captain Stoll made a preliminary investigation, which resulted in the speedy arrival at Plymouth of a Commissary of Police and one of the four district sanitary officers of Hamburg. By these authorities an investigation was made, and active steps were taken.

Further cases of Typhoid fever exhibited themselves on board the Pique, and the sick and their families were, by the advice of Captain Stoll, transferred to the old emigrant depot at Lambhay. The medical officer of the Palmerston was dismissed, the occupants of the Pique were placed under the care of Mr. Eccles, inspecting medical officer of the Government Emigration Board, Mr. May, surgeon, who had previously been in attendance, continuing his services.

The Prussian authorities have caused alterations to be made in the Palmerston for the purpose of securing better ventilation and cleanliness, and have also caused to be landed about 200 bales of unwashed horsehair, which most pernicious material formed part of the cargo of the emigrant ship.

The emigrants have been frequently visited, and their comfort increased by Mdme. Gabbes, a German lady, residing in Plymouth, who has conversed and read with them, and thus and by other means greatly enhanced their comforts.

The activity of the Hamburg authorities in the case, when they had once received information, reflects great credit on that State. Unhappily the disease has not yet been effectually checked. One death has occurred at the temporary hospital at Lambhay, and one or two other patients are in a precarious state. In all there have been twenty-one deaths since the ship left Hamburg, but some of these were infants, and others died of exhaustion. On board the Palmerston, to which the healthy passengers had been re-transferred, three fresh cases have broken out, and it has now been determined to land the whole of the passengers, and have the ship thoroughly cleansed and fumigated. The Hamburg officials still remain at Plymouth, and are indefatigable in their care of their unfortunate fellow-countrymen.

End.

What a horrendous ordeal. We are lucky our ancestors made it to this country after all that!

There was only one more news item about the Palmerston that I could find, and unfortunately it was in the last column of the page and the right edge was chopped off the scan. There are only two sentences, and the gist of the article shows that the passengers left Plymouth on a “special train of six carriages” bound for Southampton to embark in a new ship. From what it seems to say, they put the passengers on a train to Southampton where they boarded the ship Deutschland which sailed first to Bremen and then New York, or they boarded some other ship in Southampton that sailed to Bremen where they then boarded the ship Deutschland for New York.

Hard to imagine the conditions aboard those ships, and think about the fact that their entire journey took almost four months (normally about two months), where nowadays we can board a plane and fly from Bremen to New York in only a few hours. We certainly have it easy now.