Hell Ship Docks at the Potato Shed
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Hell Ship Docks at the Potato Shed

Hell Ship – the Journey of the Ticonderoga, is the one-man play, written and performed by Michael Veitch which details one of the most dramatic, yet now-forgotten chapters of Australia’s early maritime history.
In 1852, the emigrant vessel Ticonderoga limped into Port Phillip Bay after a nightmare voyage from England in which a quarter of her nearly 800 passengers and crew had died from typhus. When news of the ‘fever ship’ reached Melbourne, the city went into a panic.
Forbidden to come into port, Ticonderoga was instead forced to anchor near Portsea where her remaining passengers were either nursed back to health, or allowed to die.
The saga is largely forgotten as has the story of one of its heroes, the young ship’s surgeon who bravely nursed many of the sick passengers back to health. This man was Michael Veitch’s great-great grandfather, James William Henry Veitch.
One show only Friday September 7 at The Potato Shed.