As we know Michael Schochenmaier arrived in Baltimore (Maryland) on May 4, 1887, from Bremen (Germany). Among the copies of the passangers' list, I found the main page contaning the name of the ship:
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The ship was called "SS America" and as well as "Aller" of Jacob Schochenmaier, it belonged to North German Lloyd Company.
The main page of the passanger list is looking like follows:
Several pages after that, you can see the names of Michael Schochenmaier (28 y., 1859-1937), his wife Christine Schochenmaier (30 y., née Winkler, 1858-1926), Cathrine (3 y., 1884-1966, married to Johann Klien) and Wilchelmine (10 months, 1886-1963, married later to Christian Odenbach):
Another scan with wider frames:
Well, let's go to the ship:
| The AMERICA 1863-1894The AMERICA was on the Bremen to New York Route from 1863 to 1894. The German Lloyds new steamship AMERICA sailed from Southampton on the 27th of May, 1863 arrived June 7, 1863. AMERICA / ORAZIO 1862 The AMERICA was a 2752 gross ton ship, length 318ft x beam 40ft, clipper bows, one funnel, three masts (rigged for sails), iron hull, single screw and a speed of 11 knots. Accommodation for 76-1st, 107-2nd and 480-steerage class passengers. Built by Caird & Co, Greenock, she was launched for North German Lloyd, Bremen in Nov.1862. Her maiden voyage started on 25th May 1863 when she left Bremen for Southampton and New York. In 1871 she was fitted with new engines and on 27th Jan.1894 commenced her last round voyage from Bremen to New York and Baltimore. Sold to Italy in 1894, she was renamed ORAZIO and was scrapped the following year. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.2,p.545] | ||
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S. S. America 1863 (year of construction) North German Lloyd, image from Peabody Museum of Salem In the photo: 1873: Arrived Steam-ship America (Ger.), Bussins, Bremen March 13, Southampton 16th with mdse and 304 passengers to Oelirich & co, March 29, 1873 (NYT) Or, from here:
25 May 1863, maiden voyage, Bremen-Southampton-New York, with 216 passengers and 300 tons of freight. 1864, briefly under the Russian flag during the Prussian war with Denmark. 1872, engines compounded by Day, Summers & Co, Southampton. 1882, engines rebuilt in Bremerhaven. 27 January 1894, last voyage, Bremen-New York-Baltimore. 29 June 1894, sold to F. Fratelli & Co, La Spezia, and renamed ORAZIO; re-sold to S. Repetto, Genoa. 9 September 1894, sold to La Spezia for scrapping. 1895, scrapped at La Spezia. Sources: Edwin Drechsel, Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen, 1857-1970; History, Fleet, Ship Mails, vol. 1 (Vancouver: Cordillera Pub. Co., c1994), p. 18, no. 12; Arnold Kludas, Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd, Bd. 1: 1857 bis 1919 (Herford: Koehler, c1991), pp. 12-13 (picture); Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway; An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (2nd ed.; Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications), vol. 2 (1978), p. 545. Michael J. Anuta, Ships of Our Ancestors (Menominee, MI: Ships of Our Ancestors, 1983), p. 6, reproduces what purports to be a photograph of the AMERICA, courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. |
At that time the Baltimore port can be seen on these photos:
Thank you for sharing this detailed account of travel to the US on the Norddeutscher Lloyd SS America. I, too, have been studying SS America passenger lists, and have found that by 1886, the SS America was off-loading over 1,000 passengers per transit in Baltimore (Michael Schochenmaier appears to be listed as passenger 937). The North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, however, indicates capacity of the SS America as 663: "Accommodation for 76-1st, 107-2nd and 480-steerage class passengers". Are you aware of modifications to the SS America, or travel conditions, that might account for this increased capacity post 1886?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I didn't check the capacity. Do you think it's important? Maybe it was a way to earn a bit money for the ship crew?
DeleteWhen I first saw SS America passenger lists reporting landing counts significantly higher than its 663 design capacity, I was concerned that the ship was not correctly identified. After my original post, I looked through the Norddeutscher Lloyd SS America transits from Bremen to Baltimore, for the years 1878 to 1888, in the Baltimore, Passenger Lists, 1820-1964 database. During this decade, I found 49 transits by the SS America, with a minimum landing count of 179, a maximum landing count of 1,373, and a median landing count of 602; all reasonably well linked to the Norddeutscher Lloyd SS America through common name, port, tonnage, and masters. During this decade, I found 11 transits with over 1,000 passengers, 6 of which were in the two years 1886-1887. On these over 1,000 passenger transits, “crowded” would seem to be an understatement of the conditions in steerage. Your photograph, just below the “Port of Baltimore c. 1875”, may begin to demonstrate this high passenger density.
ReplyDeleteI obtained the landing counts from the recapitulation summaries provided at the end of each passenger list. For the 4 May 1887 transit, the master’s attestation at the beginning of the scanned record is dated 4 May 1887, but the recapitulation summary at the end of the attached passenger list is dated 17 Oct 1887. Is it possible that the 17 Oct 1887 passenger list was incorrectly scanned into the 4 May 1887 record? If so, this may affect the Schochenmaier date of arrival.