Hello everyone! Now for my third and final (serious) AU at this point in time. Basically, I tried to follow some stricter rules, by using real islands rather than creating fictional islands. As I looked around for some islands, I was inspired by Adam's New Saxe Weimar Eisenach and decided to create a scenario similar to that. And thus was born, New Cotha and Goburg. Essentially, the story revolves around Prince Albert and Queen Victoria's fictional 9th child, Prince Edgar (Princess Beatrice is now the 10th child). More information is in the history below.
For the islands, I chose the Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Islands, Amsterdam and St. Paul Island, and Heard Island and McDonald Islands. The first three island sets were bought by Edgar from the French in 1877. Heard Island and McDonald Islands were claimed by New Coburg Gotha in 1901.
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/m0y04bjqmwq8x7v/1055px-Kerguelen_Map.png?dl=0)
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/x5akrj5hc5sho9e/800px-Crozet_Map.png?dl=0)
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/gcvmh4vrmrdu9ib/536px-AmsterdamIsl_Map.png?dl=0)
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/hwe09hakmy03mgf/464px-StPaul_Map.png?dl=0)
Because I'm still trying to update my Denton map, it'll be a while until I can pixelate the new maps, so I've been using Google Earth, not only for where to put the cities, but also in where to put the railroad. As it's my only map at this time, I'm linking my Google Earth file for y'all to look over.
New Coburg Gotha Google Earth File
Born in September of 1854, Prince Edgar was the ninth and youngest son of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. Fifth-in-line to the British throne, Edgar chose to invest himself in the politics of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Upon the creation on the German Empire in 1871, Edgar was not particularly receptive to the concept. He had strong feelings toward Saxe-Coburg and Gotha becoming it's own independent state and, while a very radical viewpoint, he had amassed a small band of supporters. Edgar fought his case in the Landtag but he was quickly dismissed as an eccentric. Utterly humiliated, he traveled home to Britain, keeping a low profile and staying out of the public eye. On his time in Britain, he took up an interest in surveying and learned of a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, the Kerguelen Islands. He grew heavily interested in them and, inspired by King Friedrich who had bought and settled the Pepys Islands in the 1850s, Edgar collected some money and traveled to France.
1877 was an important year for Edgar. He traveled to France and bought the Kerguelen Islands, as well as the Crozet Islands and Amsterdam and St. Paul Islands. The only requirement of buying the islands was to allow French fishermen to base their ships on the islands. Edgar agreed and he had the land to start his new country. The next hurdle was how in the world he was going to get him, his 700 odd colonists, equipment, building materials, and enough food to last until greenhouses were built.
The first ship Edgar acquired was a 1151 ton Blackwall Frigate named Clyde. The second ship he bought was a 3000 ton 356ft Steamship with a barquentine assisted sail plan named Hephaestus.
The Hephaestus was equipped to carry about 900 passengers in steerage and first class, while the Clyde was fitted to carry just under 200. Edgar, the new government officials, and other engineers and planners would live in first class on Hephaestus. The rest of colonists were distributed between the two ships.
The ships were due to depart from London on August 19th, 1877. The total count of colonists that were on board equaled 1173 people, with 197 on Clyde and 976 on Hephaestus. There were no issues while sailing to the new territory, aside from the cramped conditions. The two ships made a stop in Cape Town on September 28-29th, 1877, to top off the coal bunkers and food before departing for the Crozet Islands. On October 7th, early in the morning, the look-out sighted land and eager colonists flocked to the decks to see the first three islands, Apostles, Hog, and Penguin. Later the same day, around dinner, the ships stopped near Possession Island, where a small group of colonists were eager to get off. The Clyde continued on towards Kerguelen, while Hephaestus anchored in American Bay to offload 34 colonists and enough food and supplies to last them for a month, as well as a steam pinnace and several boats.
Hephaestus continued onward to Kerguelen reaching Royal Sound on October 13th. Clyde had reached Foundry Arm a day prior, thanks in part due to the winds of the Roaring Forties.
The Hephaestus anchored in the Morbihan Gulf and acted as the floating city until structures were built for the colonists. Edgar stayed on Hephaestus well after all the colonists were off. It wasn't until it needed to make it's first port call in Saarbrucken (Denton) that Edgar got off. The Clyde anchored in Weather Haven, just off Foundry Arm and offloaded most of its supplies and colonists in order to make a trip back to Possession Island. The colonists that were aboard Clyde created the settlement of Coburg, while the colonists aboard Hephaestus created the settlement of Gotha, the beginnings of New Coburg and Gotha, of which Edgar was the Grand Prince (a testament to his eccentricity. He felt that grand prince sounded better than king and this made New Coburg Gotha a Grand Principality).
In November of 1877, the Hephaestus traveled to Saarbrucken, in Denton, with the first Diplomatic Appointee to establish the first diplomatic relation of NCG. While there, efforts were made to buy materials, equipment, and animals to take back to NCG. As well, another ship was being contracted to transport more equipment donated by the Denton government and Dentonite (im)migrant workers to help NCG build up it's settlement and eventually it's transport network. An agreement was made to provide 3 steam shovels and 11 steam tractors to begin work on grading a rail system between Gotha and Coburg, where work would start in March of 1878. It was definitely a successful first diplomatic trip.
Gotha quickly sprang up into a sizable new city. The quaternary deposits east of the city, as well as the basaltic formations west made ideal building materials which were used for foundations and brick walls. The city quickly grew from the 943 original colonists to over 5700 people in just under a year, mostly immigrant and migrant Dentonite workers. The success of NCG in the barren and cold environment had inspired another group of immigrants from Europe to travel to Gotha for a new start. Coburg was growing steadily as well, but it's isolation from Gotha and it's lack of truly suitable port facilities made it less populous than Gotha, reaching about 1200 people, from the original 197 colonists. Possession Island received migrant workers from Denton as well, bringing the population from 35 to 120, but it was expected to grow with the Gotha-Coburg-American Bay shuttle that operated every 3 weeks by Clyde.
Amsterdam Island was finally visited and settled in mid-1878, with the Clyde transporting about 80 settlers and 90 workers. Amsterdam Island did not afford much shelter from wind nor waves, so it was important to get shelters up as quickly as possible. St. Paul was not settled until 1907.
The railroad quickly made headway, after the first line from Gotha to Coburg was graded and laid. A rail gauge of 3'6" was decided, as it was able to conform to the mountainous terrain than standard gauge, and it was also compatible with Denton's western narrow gauge lines. Land was set aside at key junction points, as well as on flat parcels, and the railroad was built to connect those new settlements. Gotha, which by 1884 had reached 15,000 people, was expanding outwards, but people still wanted to be in more isolated and quiet spots, which the new railroad offered. Sand Valley, the end of the Audierne Mainline was reached in 1885. It's large expanse of flat land in a remote (and wet and windy) location helped it grow. Thomson and Port Navalo (on the Thomson Peninsula) were established in 1886, with the biggest advantage being the close vicinity to Gotha. A passenger ferry line was created in 1887 for commuting workers to Gotha. The Northern Lands were a different case. Whale Bay was finally reached in 1886 and the Cumberland Settlement did not receive rail transport until 1889. It wasn't an issue of feasibility, but rather manpower. Gotha was growing at an alarming rate, with new structures, industries, and the Port of Gotha being constructed, which took most of the manpower away from other projects.
I have several drawings in the works right now, with two ready to go and another three or so waiting to be started, so I'll post them when I get finished.
![[ img ]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ho6a9alqbb1b2qq/New_Coburg_Gotha_Rock_Barge.png?dl=0)