The Cruise from Hell

My family and I are getting ready to go on a cruise during our son’s summer break.  I’ve cruised before and I already have visions of laying poolside with a good book in my hand and a drink with a little umbrella on the deck beside me.  I’m looking forward to the midnight buffet with all the food and the gorgeous ice sculptures. (Which is odd for me considering my bedtime is usually 9pm.)  I’m already planning out my shore excursions with an emphasis on shopping.  After a day of sun and fun, I’ll have a delicious, luxurious dinner in the main dining room with my husband and son, and eventually settle into our cabin where I can stretch out, take a long shower and slip into the king-sized bed for a good night’s sleep.

If you have an immigrant ancestor in your line, their experience ‘crossing the pond’ probably didn’t include many fond memories.  They either came to America to start a new, hopefully better, life; or they were brought here through the slave trade.  Their journey here wasn’t luxurious, or relaxing.  It was The Cruise from Hell.

Let’s look at what they had to go through after making the decision to come to America.  First, the decision they made had to be heart-wrenching.  They are leaving the only home many of them knew, leaving family and friends, to go to a place they had never seen and knew very little about.  Their decision might have been based on politics, war, famine, disease, lack of farm land, hope for a better life or just adventure.  Whatever the reason, the decision was just the beginning.

The cost of passage for an average family in steerage was 1/3 of their annual income.  They had to scrimp and save, sometimes for years before ever making the journey.  If they needed to leave their homeland before they had the fare, they would often have to agree to be an indentured servant once they arrived.  This servitude could last months, or years. 

They had to pack minimally.  There was not a lot of room to store baggage, so they took only the essentials; clothing, the family Bible, and basic provisions for the trip.  Their bunks had a basic mattress, blanket and pillow.  The bunks themselves were 6 feet long and 2 feet wide and there was just enough room between them to walk.

When the emigrants (emigrant is someone who is leaving – immigrant is someone who is arriving.  So Uncle Ralph emigrated from Germany and immigrated to America.) had to go through a series of physical exams to make sure they were not ill and especially not contagious before boarding the ship.  Quarters were so tight and cramped that a contagious illness would infect everyone within days.

Okay, so your ancestor is finally on board.  They faced very primitive living

 conditions for the month or so they were on board (the average voyage was 43 days).  There was no privacy, food was inadequate (basic food such as biscuits, water, oatmeal and molasses was distributed a couple times a week to the steerage), seasickness was rampant.  Sometimes the waves were so bad, they couldn’t stand up and were thrown from their beds because of the rocking of the ship.  There are records of passengers starving to death on board because they were so seasick they couldn’t keep any food down.  If they encountered storms along the way, the hatch to the upper deck would have to be closed to keep the rain from getting into steerage.  That would cut off any fresh air or sunlight that the passengers had.  The stagnant air would become unbearable after a while.

Ships were sometimes lost at sea.  In one year alone, 17 ships were lost.  Illness, no matter how hard they tried to stop it before boarding, claimed more passengers than anything else.  Because of the unsanitary conditions aboard ship, Typhus, dysentery and cholera were the main concerns.  In 1853, 10% of Irish immigrants died at sea due to cholera alone.

With all that said, we know that some of the immigrants arrived in America, or you and I wouldn’t be here.  If they landed at the Port of New York, they

would either go to Castle Gardens or Ellis Island (depending on when they arrived).  They would report their names and their destinations.  They could purchase train tickets and exchange their money for U.S. currency.  They could get their bearings and head out for their new lives, new jobs, new chances.  Looking back at history, we know that they still faced many obstacles and hardships once they were settled.

No, it wasn’t a cruise; it wasn’t luxurious, it was downright horrendous.  Our ancestors must have really wanted to get that fresh start, to escape, to spread their wings, to put up with what they had to.  They endured hunger, sickness and cramped living conditions to follow a dream.  I’ll think about my family from Germany and England when I’m sipping that Pina Colada on board my luxury vacation this summer and thank them for their sacrifices.

Until later,

Happy Hunting!