The time for leaving for the train depot having arrived, the baggage having been transferred to the agent, who usually takes care of the tickets, having put your small change in a vest pocket, or a money belt next to the body, you board your train on time. Customarily the agent accompanies the emigrants as far as the port of embarcation when the numbers justify it, and he sometimes asks 12 marks per head for this, to which he is not entitled, since the company pays for his fare. The services of the St. Raphael Society’s spokesman are free, and it would be good to write ahead to him advising when they will reach the boarding place.
The agent takes care of baggage and of its loading board the steamer. Otherwise this will be done by the spokesman, if asked. If this is not the case, make sure yourself that every piece of baggage is transferred from the railroad to the boat and in plenty of time.
Here should be addressed a special consideration, so that no trunks or baggage be left behind. It has to do with overcharges due on baggage. The contract stipulates how many cubic feet of baggage each emigrant is entitled to have on board. Follow the exact specifications and put no credence in any oral agreements. One can appeal the written contract, but not an oral one. The emigrant travels in the best hands if he has recourse directly to the St. Raphael’s Society spokesman. Their card serves as a passport, and much eases the concern over baggage and lodgings.
If you have not fulfilled your christian duties at home, here is yet time to do so. Upon consultation, the spokesman, whom one can recognize by the golden cross and anchor he wears on his breast, will point out for the immigrant suitable lodgings, where he may obtain proper shelter; and not pay too much for it.
In the ports of Embarcation be on guard especially against pushy people. Be watchful over your money, which you should not show any more than necessary. Almost everytime a robbery is committed, it seems the money was being openly spent. The immigrant should take care to stay in his quarters at night, to stay indoors in the evenings, if he must lay over a day or two. If he has the opportunity, he can attend Mass in the morning.
Finally everyone is on board. The signal for departure is given, the anchor chain clatters. The machinery rumbles to life. The steamer begins to tremble, faster spins the propeller, the boat comes on course, and leaving the harbor, enters the billowing ocean, first slowly, then faster. Finally you are on the high sea, the coast dissolved in the eye.
From this time on, when the anchor is weighed until it is dropped into the landing port, all on board are under the care, as well as the dominion, of the caption and his officer’s. Every passenger has his rights, as well as obligations.
If you have money with you, you give it to the captain in exchange for a receipt. Be on guard, as has been mentioned, on board ship as well as in port against those that offer to exchange European currency for American, as a result of which, as a rule, the travelers gets fleeced or swindled. It is not rare to have counterfeit American coins and bills foisted upon the unwary travelers by such rogues. Everyone can get his good European money exchanged by the purser on board the steam boat, or in New York at the Castle Garden at current rates.
On German steamers in appropriate places below decks the following instructions are posted:
Regulations for Steerage Passengers
Smoking in steerage and in passageways is forbidden. Matches must never be used, and any passenger who has in his possession matches, gunpowder or such dangerous inflammable materials is required, of himself, to surrender these to the captain for safe-keeping. Passengers are requested, in their own interest, to report to the captain anyone violating this ordinance.
It is not permitted to buy food or drink from the crew, nor to give or sell same to them. Also, no one is allowed to bring wine, beer, or such beverages along. Such may be purchased on the steamship at firmly fixed taxed prices.
Gambling is forbidden.
Passengers are responsible, following orders from watch officers, for the cleaning of the steerage quarters.
Merchandise or trade goods must under no circumstances be included in baggage. Such items must be packed separately, and a bill of lading drawn up for them. If, however, it is discovered in inspection by customs officers that these descriptions are fraudulent, the owner is not only subject to confiscation and prosecutions for smuggling, but also answerable to the ship owners to the amount of a $400 fine. Only actually used personal effects of the passenger are duty free; completely new items are liable to the ordinary entry customs, and these must be declared before sailing to the captain, so that he may have them entered in the manifest.
Monies, valuable papers, or other objects of worth may be handed over to the captain for safe keeping during the voyage, provided that they are sealed, marked clearly and completely with the name of the owner, and without additional liabilities on the part of the company.
No passengers shall bring packages, sealed letters or documents for forwarding, but they shall also be turned in on board, or else deposited in mail boxes found there.
The passengers are requested not to interfere with the ship’s crew in the performance of their duties while at work by engaging them in conversation or by other means. It is especially not allowed for you to speak to officers and crew who are on watch.
Steerage passengers most not stray beyond that area of deck assigned to them. During stormy weather or whenever the captain orders for the safety of the passengers or the ship, the passengers must quickly and unquestioningly leave the deck.
Any disagreements occurring between passengers, or with the crew shall be referred to the captain, who will take pains to restore harmony.
Passengers are requested not to carve their names or other graffiti on either the ship or any parts of it, or to inflict any other damage upon it.
Firearms and other weapons are to be given to the captain for safekeeping during the passage
In summary, the Passengers will be subject to all orders issued by Officers on watch, and the Purser.
The regulations on the steamers of the French “Compagnie Tranatlantique” are not very different from the foregoing.
Adherence to these regulations is to be strictly observed. The physician will visit the passengers in steerage twice a day. In doing so, he will observe closely whether any among them are suffering from and communicable disease. Such person are the be immediately segregated and taken to the hospital, which is on board. Passengers who have not been vaccinated at the time of leaving or shortly before, in their home villages can be vaccinated on board and receive a certificate for it, which must be produced on demand in New York. Some foresight would allow one to have a vaccination certificate from home made out before the trip.
Meals in steerage are as follows: There will be served at breakfast: Coffee with milk and sugar, white bread and rye bread with butter. Noon meal at 12 o’clock: Soup with vegetables in it, along with meat and potatoes. Afternoons at 3 o’clock: Tea or coffee with milk and sugar, white bread and rye bread with butter. Because this ship’s fare is usually very poor, having something appetizing from home is a good idea.
Because there is generally a very mixed company on emigrant ships, it is well to keep your compatriots together. If there are older people there, they should follow the appropriate directions. Don’t irritate or tease these strangers and so avoid bickering and quarrels. Most importantly, unattached young females must be on their guard and avoid associating with officers and sailors. The moral dangers on board the ship are very great, and the proximity of young and old, acquaintances with strangers does not bode well for the preservation of virtue.
The maintenance of order and discipline on board the ship is a fundamental prerequisite for the security and well-being of all the passengers, and it is everyone’s duty to the best of their ability to conform their actions to the regulations on board. A specific service that each passenger can perform is to take great pains to maintain the most careful personal hygiene, a scrupulous dally routine, performed as much as possible in a protected part of the deck. Shipboard associations seldom lead to life-long friendships; try to be friendly with everyone, find diversion in conversation, but avoid those who want more than conversation, are too forward, or seek to become confidantes in monetary concerns.
As a postscript to the recommendation concerning the preparation of the emigrant for the sea-voyage, a word of advice should follow here on bearing up under the pain and unpleasantness of sea-sickness. With few exceptions, this afflicts everyone who first ventures on the ocean, mostly to women and young, infirm persons. Usually one will become used to the movement of the ship after a few days, and the ailment will abate, in other cases the illness will last as long as one finds oneself on the open seas. Distraction, concentration on a fixed object, strong will, staying on deck etc. can alleviate the indisposition of the sickness. After the sea sickness, the appetite improves, the digestion recovers, and the zest for living returns. There is no known means of preventing or quickly ameliorating sea sickness. The numerous and expensive secret remedies offered for the symptoms have never proven effective. Frequent imbibing of brandy and water will reduce the pain of the spasmodic convulsions of the stomach.
Nevertheless, the severest case of sea sickness will vanish when America comes in sight and the steamer’s crew clears the passenger for landing in New York harbor. Finally the pilot arrives to guide the ship into the berth. While the cabin-passengers disembark from all the European ships with their baggage, and disperse individually, the authorities take the steerage passengers, who constitute by far the largest proportion of the vast army of emigrants on tow and show the new comers in a friendly way, the arrangements at Castle-Garden, and the fine set-up on Ward’s island. A similar service is performed at Philadelphia by the Railroad companies, although not elsewhere in the State. Recently a sort of Castle Garden has been set up by Baltimore.
Here we will leave off with our own recommendations, and, in our place, let the current spokesman for the St. Raphael’s Society in New York, Rev. Jos. Neuland speak. Following are the guideposts which he published soon after taking this office.