A tragically typical example of a coffin ship crossing was that of the Immigrants taking a meal aboard a crowded ship bound for America, circa 1870s. Record numbers of 19-century immigrants arrived in American port cities from the UK and Western Europe following the Disease thrived in the squalid conditions of steerage travel, where, depending on the size of a ship, a few hundred to 1,000 people could be crammed into tight quarters. Steerage was enormously profitable for steamship companies. The conditions were so crowded, so dismally dark, so unsanitary and so foul-smelling, that they were the single most important cause of America’s early immigration laws. Ships were examined from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Principal shipping lines had hundreds of agencies in the United States and freelance ticket agents traveled through parts of Europe, moving from village to village, selling tickets. The next group of doctors were the dreaded “eye men.” They were looking for symptoms of trachoma, an eye disease that caused blindness and even death.
The stench was unbearable and the spread of deadly diseases like typhoid, cholera and smallpox spread unabated. As late as 1911, in a report to President William H. Taft, the United States Immigration Commission said: “About this we stood in circles six deep waiting for a chance to rinse our platters. Children younger than 12 had to be accompanied by a parent. Finally! Even though the average cost of a ticket was only $30, larger ships could hold from 1,500 to 2,000 immigrants, netting a profit of $45,000 to $60,000 for a single, one-way voyage.
There, with a ship’s manifest number pinned to their clothes, they queued up by the thousands to enter the intimidating Immigration Station with its 4 domed towers. There were rehearsals for answering the immigration inspectors’ questions and hour upon hour was spent learning the strange new language. Only steerage passengers were processed at Ellis Island. Steamship companies were required by the governments to watch over prospective passengers and, at most ports, the travelers were housed in private boardinghouses.
Often those who arrived first would send a prepaid ticket back home to the next family member. Sometimes the father would come alone—to see if the streets really were paved with the gold of opportunity—before sending for his wife and family. Men, women and children in bunks between decks on board an immigrant ship in the mid 19th century.Since the only bathrooms were located above deck, passengers trapped below during stormy weather were forced to urinate and defecate (and get seasick) in buckets, which would overturn in the churning waves. The first person to go through immigration processing at the Ellis Island station was a 15-year-old girl named Annie Moore. A 15-year-old girl was the first Ellis Island immigrant. Immigrants could wait in areas marked for each independent railroad line in the ferry terminal.
Here six cashiers exchanged gold, silver and paper money, from countries all over Europe, for American dollars, based on the day’s official rates, which were posted on a blackboard.
Should an immigrant be suspected of mental defects, an X was marked high on the front of the right shoulder; an X within a circle meant some definite symptom had been detected.
In spite of the miserable conditions, the immigrants had faith in the future. With admittance cards, railroad or ferry passes and box lunches in hand, the immigrants’ journey to and through Ellis Island was complete. They were now in steerage, which was to be their prison for the rest of their ocean journey. It wasn’t until 1855 that the U.S. Congress passed far more comprehensive regulations of the passenger vessels. During the same year, 800,000 steerage passengers were examined at the island. First- and second-class passengers were quickly and courteously “inspected” onboard the ship before being transferred to New York. Each wore a name tag with the individual’s manifest number written in large figures. Interpreters led groups through the main doorway and directed them up a steep stairway to the Registry Room.
Some ships required passengers to bring their own meager provisions, while others provided only minimum rations meant to keep passengers from starving. After 1900, in addition to a ticket, however, immigrants had to secure a passport from officials in their home country. Since each “primary line” inspector had only about two minutes in which to decide whether each immigrant was “clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to land,” most of the immigrants received curt nods of approval and were allowed to pass. Sometimes whole groups would be made to bathe with disinfectant solutions before being cleared—not too surprising, considering how many were unable to bathe during the crossing. For most immigrants, especially early arrivals, the experience of steerage was like a nightmare (at one time, the average passenger mortality rate was 10 percent per voyage). Yet, even with the shores of a new world looming before their eyes, and even with tears of relief streaming down their faces, their journey was not at an end. If an immigrant was marked, he or she continued with the process and then was directed to rooms set aside for further examination. Their patience and skill frequently helped save an immigrant from deportation. Congress professed to respond to these inhumane conditions with the Steerage Act of 1819, which was supposed to set minimum standards for cross-Atlantic travel.
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