An Emigrant Journey Across the

Atlantic in 1880

Introduction

During the period beginning in 1850 and ending in 1930 about 1,249,800 Swedes emigrated from Sweden to North America. Roughly 200,000 of these emigrants returned back to Sweden. The journey to the USA could be very grueling. The early emigrants had to organize the journey to the United States by themselves. There were no passenger ships across the Atlantic at this time. Instead these emigrants had to travel as “ballast” aboard the cargo sailing ships carrying iron. In other words they had to stay in the cargo storage areas. This was not a comfortable way of traveling, the conditions were very bad and the journey could take from 6 weeks to 3 months. From the 1860’s there were pure passenger sailing ships and from the 1880’s fast steam ships where the comforts of the passengers were in focus. The traveling time was reduced to between 16 to 24 days. There was no direct passenger traffic between Sweden and North America during the era of the mass emigration. Instead the Swedish emigrants had to travel by ship from Gothenburg to England and from there on passenger ships to the United States. The first direct line from Sweden to the United States opened in 1915; the Swedish American Line (SAL). From the 1860’s and up to 1915 the Swedish emigrants had first to travel via England. The journey from Gothenburg was undertaken by smaller passenger ships, often by the Wilson Line, across the North Sea to Hull on the English east coast. This journey took 2 days. In 1850 the Wilson Line received the rights to postal traffic from Sweden. The Wilson Line’s ships were green and had all a name ending on the letter ”o”, like Rollo, Hero, Ariosto and Romeo. The Wilson Line had two ships built for the Gothenburg route; Orlando (1870) and Rollo (1870). They held 800-900 passengers each. The image to the right shows the Wilson Line’s passenger ship the SS Orlando 1870. The emigrant in the travel book below sailed on the SS Orlando from Gothenburg to Hull in 1880. Image Wikipedia. The conditions in steerage were very primitive and criticized. A naval officer, who had made the journey traveling first class, wrote in 1888: “Alongside the walls of the cargo space in the bows were bunks nailed to the walls where the poor steerage passengers had their sleeping quarters; one next to the other; men, women and children higgledy-piggledy. When these peoples’ seasickness began, an indescribable stench and filth arose. Beside the hatch leading up to deck, which was supplying the steerage travelers with fresh air, were cattle tethered in cribs.”. Source: Wikipedia. In England the emigrants had to go by train from Hull to any of the major ports of departure; Liverpool, Southampton or possibly Glasgow. Here they boarded the big transatlantic liners with destinations of New York or Boston in the United States or Quebec and Halifax in Canada. New York was however the major port of arrival for the emigrants. Shipping lines that brought emigrants from England to the United States were Inman Line, Cunard Line, White Star Line, Allan Line and Guion Line. The Wilson Line was the major shipping line on the route from Gothenburg to England. Liverpool with Pier Head was the major port of emigration for most of the European emigrants.

The Emigrant Agents

The many emigrant agents made it easier to emigrate and their services were an important reason to the increasing emigration. The agents helped the emigrants with all practical arrangements necessary for the journey to the United States. They were in other words a kind of travel agency. The agents commonly worked together with one or more emigrant shipping lines. The different shipping lines usually had a general agent in Sweden. Each general agent in turn had several subagents all around Sweden. The subagents had representatives in most parishes. The emigrant agents simply made it easier to emigrate to the United States. The agents’ representatives handed out leaflets and posted up placards. The image to the right shows a so- called America advertisement, published in the Swedish newspaper Falköpings Tidning on 1882-03-24.

Newspaper Article from 1880

The Swedish Sollentuna Genealogy Society’s member paper An-tecknat had in the January 2019 issue an article which in detail described an emigrants journey across the Atlantic in 1880. The name of the article was ”En färd öfver Atlanten” (A Journey Across the Atlantic) and was transcribed by Agneta Berghem. The article was originally published in the Swedish newspaper Härnösandsposten on 27 October 1880 and is a travel book describing a journey from Gothenburg in Sweden to New York via via Hull and Glasgow in the UK in 1880. Agneta has condensed the original article a little bit. The Härnösandsposten was published in the city of Härnösand, Västernorrland between 1842 and 1951. Agneta’s transcription is published on my website with her consent.

Account of a Swedish Emigrant’s

Journey Across the Atlantic 1880

Observations and travel impressions of a Swedish emigrant (from the new magazine Svenska Arbetaren). Those who expect to read about a joyful and pleasant voyage like in the “Dreams of the Ocean” will be immensely disappointed. This article will give an account of the grim reality, and therefore I will mention also the groaning, distress and misery. It won’t hurt if my fellow countrymen in Sweden understand what they risk when they leave their native country in delightful hopes of better days. I don’t think anyone would travel steerage out of free will if they had known what such a journey is like. If they had known I suspect they would rather have waited until they could raise the 85 kronor (crowns) needed for a 2nd class ticket. In 2nd class you are treated with respect, in steerage you are treated like a despised animal.

The Account of the Journey

On Friday afternoon at 3:30 about 900 passengers began a voyage from Gothenburg in Sweden to Hull in England, with the passenger steamer SS Orlando. Already after 2 hours’ sail people predisposed to seasickness began showing appreciable signs of queasiness. The ship was rolling much more than a bigger ship would have done, waves were washing over the upper deck where many passengers were holding up, avoiding the dark, cramped and stinking saloon below with 900 passengers living closely together. At 6:00 in the afternoon we were issued tea in the tin cups we brought with us. Each passenger was assigned ½ a “kvarter” [which is about 16 cl (about 5.4 fl. oz)] without milk and with so little sugar that one could doubt if there even was any sugar at all. Only the cook would have known when this tea was made. Together with the tea we were also served a sandwich known as “anchor stock sandwich” with butter that had turned rancid. However, the little quantity of butter on the sandwiches spared us from any discomfort. This was all we were served that first day. Those who brought no provisions of their own and whose appetite wasn’t spoiled by seasickness had to spend the night in hunger. Otherwise, during the first day our only intake was drinking water; everyone had to drink water out of the same tin cup chained to the water barrel on deck. The barrel’s contents were really stinking. In the morning we were given coffee and a sandwich, with the difference that the coffee was denser and less tasteful than yesterday’s tea. At one o’clock we received dinner consisting of half a ladle of unsalted pea gruel and a piece of fresh chewy meat. The meal was handed out on deck where each of us was issued our rations. However, we had to eat below deck, surrounded by all sorts of filth. Each of us sat on our bunks eating. The pea gruel brought the predicted effect, coming back, landing on the floor, from the ones who had been consuming the meal. At 6 in the evening we were again issued tea. This routine continued until we arrived in Hull, England. Without having anything to eat other than the issued anchor stock sandwich we arrived on Sunday afternoon in Hull. However, we had to wait at sea for high tide; from 11:30 in the morning until 11 at night before the ship could dock in the harbor. During this time, we were issued the same type of meals as yesterday. At 4:00 the following morning we were ordered to get up and pack our belongings and told to be ready at 5:00. However, we weren’t allowed to go ashore until 7:00. The heavy baggage was then transported to the railroad station, while the steerage passengers were, with the assistance of respective shipping company’s agents, pushed ahead through the streets of Hull like a herd of cattle. It was a long way to walk and a lot to carry, soaking wet in the pouring rain. Finally, we were allowed into a so- called “emigrant house” where we were sheltered from the rain. We were all crowded in a very small room sitting on our bags. At 3:00 in the afternoon our train left Hull for Glasgow, Scotland. We were traveling in the 3rd class compartments. We slept two by two in the three-storied bunk beds. For the first time since we left Gothenburg, we were able to undress. We spent three inactive days here. Our hope for a quick departure was continuously thwarted. Finally, when we departed Glasgow, the ship stopped after only 10 to 15 minutes. Apparently, the ship was overloaded, and we had to return back to port to have the cargo reloaded. Sunday morning the ship arrived in Laine, Ireland, where more cargo was loaded and Irishmen boarded the ocean liner. At last, on Monday morning, we left Ireland with the destination New York. Aboard the ocean liner, those of us traveling steerage, were residing 16 to 18 people in each cabin. These cabins weren’t any bigger than a cabin for two on a Swedish ship. We were only 180 Swedes on the voyage, half of them children. The meals were better on the ocean liner. However, people without their own provisions were starved, I was one of them. Each morning at 7:00 we were served black and watery mashed potatoes, half a ladle for each of us; ½ “kvarter” [16 cl or 5.4 fl. Oz] of the similar type of coffee as aboard the SS Orlando and a piece of bread. At midday, around 1:00, each of us was issued ½ a ladle of soup; a piece of chewy meat and 2 – 3 potatoes. At 5:00 in the afternoon, tea and bread with a pinch of rancid butter. This was the type of meal we were given during our 14-day voyage. The food was very salty and access to fresh water slight. We received drinking water only twice a day; at 7:00 in the morning and at 4:00 in the afternoon. We received water in our own mugs; Those without their own mug had to thirst or beg of others. Salty seawater was used for your own hygiene and your washing was done on deck. During the voyage we were exposed to a storm for 11 days and it is easy to imagine what that meant for our personal hygiene. He who hasn’t been on an emigrant liner would find it impossible to imagine what it is like on such a ship in rainy and stormy weather. The night’s rest was constantly disturbed by the children’s howling and there were women who didn’t leave their cabins once between Glasgow and New York; some didn’t even get up from their bunks. It is impossible to conceive such a repulsive scenario. The terrible stench made me sick and the windows couldn’t be opened due to the high waves. Finally, Friday morning after 14 days at sea, the ocean liner anchored in Upper New York Bay. The liner was stationary for several hours then cruised the bay for about an hour; then anchored again. We were then examined by a doctor and at 2:00 in the afternoon we arrived in New York. Our baggage was inspected and loaded onto a small ship which brought us and the baggage to Castle Garden, on the southern tip of Manhattan, where we arrived at 8:30 [probably the following morning]. Our trunks had been handled carelessly during the voyage and many were broken or smashed up. Mine was in bad shape; without straps and open when I received it. It is unscrupulous to treat poor emigrants to the conditions we were subjected to and had to endure. After we had been called up by name and passed through the immigrant inspection; at 9:00 in the evening we could grab a meal. This was the first meal for me and many others that day. The journey from Gothenburg took three weeks and one day. However, the journey could have been halved with better planning and consideration of us passengers. What I particularly complain about is this unnecessary prolonging of the traveling time; the filth that makes everything a misery; the unworthy treatment of us emigrants like despised animals. From Glasgow to New York we never undressed, we slept with our clothes on. This travelogue has been translated into English by me, Hans Högman. Special thanks to Agneta Berghem, Sollentuna Genealogy Society, who transcribed the article. The article is published on my website with her consent.

Castle Garden

Castle Garden is located at the southernmost tip of Manhattan, New York. From August 1, 1855, Castle Garden became the Emigrant Landing Depot functioning as the New York State immigrant processing facility (the nation's first such entity). Between 1855 and 1892 Castle Garden received more than 8 million immigrants. The immigrant station was operated by New York State until April 18, 1890, when the Federal Government took over control of immigration processing. On 1 January 1892 Ellis Island, in the Upper New York Bay, replaced the undersized Castle Garden as an immigrant processing facility.

The Duration of the Journey

The above article contains information about the number of days spent during the different stages of the journey. The duration of the journey from Gothenburg to New York is listed as 3 weeks and one day or 22 days. Below is a chart showing the different stages of the journey:

Source References

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