First home   Carl de Haas, Richard McMillan’s great-grandfather, emigrated to Calumet, Wisconsin, in 1847. This image of his first homestead comes from Winke fur Auswanderer, his book of advice for emigrants, widely sold in Germany.

Winke für Auswanderer: Hints for Emigrants
II. In Havre and Cherbourg

Their ship would not leave from Havre as promised, but from Cherbourg — and nearly a month late. They boarded the Union after three weeks in Cherbourg and were appalled at dreadful accommodations far below what they had been promised. Carl, who spoke some French, led a delegation ashore to confront the agents Herout & de Handel with their complaints. It was evening, time was short, they did what they could but did not succeed.

Our first business in Havre was to find the office of Messrs. Herout & de Handel, directors of the transoceanic steamer line. Here we learned to our horror, that the steamer frigate Union (first christened the Christopher Columbus) was not at Havre at all, but about 20 German miles away in the military harbor of Cherbourg, and would sail from there on May 31st, not on the 25th. On May 28th we sailed from Havre to Cherbourg. But before I tell about that, I must say a few things about our stay in Havre.

Havre itself is a very beautiful city, and its situation is one of the most beautiful imaginable. Anyone who can spare the time should not miss climbing the hill in the north of the city and looking down over the ocean, the Seine, the city, and the land. I am convinced that everyone would be glad to have made the small effort. The French are extremely polite and obliging, and we saw little of the greediness in Havre (and Cherbourg) that had made itself so evident in Rotterdam. The people were satisfied with a little, and the things we bought were cheap. Instead of greediness, however, the arch-fault of the French —their irresponsibility (frivolity) — showed up very clearly. They let us wait for days in the burning sun, first, to look for our baggage in the chaos of the unloaded chests and trunks, and then again to superintend its transportation to the Cherbourg steamer Colibri. The workers and drivers were very rough with the baggage, much was broken, locks torn off, and everything thrown helter-skelter without mercy. It was fortunate that our things were so carefully packed. Some emigrants, who were to sail with the packet-boats, had brought all sorts of edibles, even baskets of eggs. When they, weeping, opened their boxes, one could see that not very much was left whole. We were permitted to take clothing and food from our luggage in the presence of the customs’ officials. Watching this, I could not avoid the regrettable observation that most of the chests were extremely unclean. The oldest rags had been thrown dirty into the chests, and shoes could be seen that had surely not been cleaned in a year. We were very glad that after the baggage of the emigrants sailing on packet-boats had been separated, the owners of the baggage remaining for the steam frigate seemed at least outwardly to be clean and presentable people.

The packet passengers were mostly divided between the mail packet Argo sailing for New York and another ship of about the same size heading for New Orleans. I saw both ships before their departure, and I must confess, that for a person at all accustomed to cleanliness and comfort, it would be a torture to be shut up for 30 to 90 days in such a place as the steerage of these boats. I had never been able to understand how 300 to 400 people could be squeezed into a ship 90 to 100 feet long and 30 to 40 feet wide. Now that became clear, but it was also very clear that the latest law of the Congress in Washington, which gives each passenger about one-third more space than formerly, brings this inhuman treatment just about to the border of humanity. So it seemed to me and my companions, and yet the two ships we visited were among the finest and largest we saw on the whole trip.

In such a steerage air and light enter only from above, through two holes where the stairways are located. There is no opening at all on the sides, for these are equipped all around with beds of lathwork attached to the wall, close together and placed one above another. In the center are placed the chests, which serve as tables and chairs; foods and utensils are piled up around them. One can easily imagine how it would look after three or four weeks. I can believe that many people might not find it too hard to bear patiently the discomforts of such a trip, but not everyone is cut out for it. The saying “Whoever cannot stand every discomfort is not suited for America” is pure nonsense. The discomforts facing the emigrant in the New World are of quite another sort than the disgusting aspects of such a steerage trip to America.

When we presented our contracts at the office of Herout & de Handel, Mr. de Handel remarked that Dr. Strecker was not their agent, but that they would honor our contracts as a special favor. (On the side they tried in many ways to cast suspicion on Dr. Strecker.) Accordingly, we received two sets of tickets, one for the sailing to New York, without any indication however of the date, and the other for the steamer Colibri to Cherbourg. On May 28th after we had embarked on the latter, and after the signal for sailing had sounded and we had been read off before two gendarmes, it was announced that something was out of order in the engine, and we would not sail until the next morning. We had no choice except to go to the nearest inn and return the next morning, when, after a repetition of the reading-off, we started on the slowest snail’s journey I have ever experienced. I shall say nothing more of this trip nor of our stay in Cherbourg, than that both instances were excellent examples of French irresponsibility. In Germany, where the Rhein is so much less dangerous than the Norman coastal waters, one would never have permitted human lives to be risked in such an ancient and unseaworthy vessel as our Colibri.

The steam frigate Union was not in Cherbourg; from day to day they let us hope for her arrival. A hundred times we went to the shore and watched longingly, but no ship was to be seen. We spent four full weeks of the most terrible boredom, for, when the Union finally landed June 14th, the preparations and loading lasted until June 22nd. We received three francs per day compensation from June 1st until June 22nd. Since the later French steamers surely sail more regularly and the stay in Havre is cheaper and more pleasant than in Cherbourg, I advise those who come later to stay as long as possible in Havre. From next year on, the steamers are to sail direct from Havre.

The Union lay in the roads about half an hour out of Cherbourg. It could not enter the municipal harbor because of its draught, and it was not permitted to enter the military harbor. We were gradually taken over to the ship in boats; our number had increased to about a hundred. From the boat the steamer appeared as an enormous wooden colossus with three towering masts and a wide chimney half as high as the masts. The length of the ship was 220 feet; the width about 60. This warship (for the Union was first intended for such, under the name Canada) elevated and impressed us with its great size. But how different a story when we, having boarded it, were taken to the room where we were to stay. This was two flights down in the fore part of the ship, about 40 feet wide and 45 feet long and arranged as sleeping-quarters for 100 persons. Except for a passage in the middle, the floor was covered with chests and trunks. Hooks were attached to the ceiling for our hammocks, for we were to sleep in these. The hammock consists of a gray canvas tube about two feet wide, six feet long with cords attached to the narrow sides, which all end in an iron ring. The tube is hung on two hooks in the rafters of the ship by its iron rings, A sort of mattress is put into the tube, a woolen scarf serves as a cover. One sleeps well in a hammock, and since it swings with the ship’s motion, one notices very little of the latter. Most passengers maintain they sleep better in them than in beds.

One can reckon from the dimensions given above, how close together the hammocks were, noting also that an opening with two stairways that crossed, took away considerable space. Besides this one opening two flights in depth, four side-windows about three or four inches wide let light into our room. These were however fitted with such thick glass, that only a little light could get through, and the heights of the deck opening was so considerable that the poor illumination was very little increased by it.

Air was brought to us by a wind-bag which hung in the opening, for the small windows mentioned above could not be opened during the entire trip because of the waves. Only one flight below deck, but in the very nose of the ship was the room for the women and children. It was very small, but lighter and airier than the men’s room. But it soon turned out, that the windows which let in light and air also let in the water of the stormy waves. The women and children were also supposed to sleep in hammocks, but this was unfeasible on account of the children. Most families had their own bedding with them and used that as best they could, spreading it out on the floor. But soon the beds were swimming in water. Boards had to brought in to raise the floor and draw out the water at intervals.

When we occupants of the third class first went down into our Tartarus, a just rage filled us all. For what did we see fulfilled here of the promises made to us in Germany? According to these promises, we were to have bedrooms for two with beds, and were to have service and two main meals a day. Instead of that, we had to fetch our own hammocks and hang them, and had to sleep in the room described above; we were divided in companies of eight men, and in each company one was appointed the “getter.” The latter received, in a large tin vessel, a soup which few of us could drink, and with it a piece of beef and bread. With it they gave out a tin jug with a good quantity of red wine, one cup, eight spoons and one meat plate. The eight men had to eat meat from the one plate and soup from the one kettle. No knives and forks were given out, likewise there was no thought of table and chairs. At first we planned to use our chests for this purpose, but it was too dark in our subterranean Tartarus to eat there, and we found it most convenient to carry on this activity which recurred three times daily, on some chest, stairway or other elevation of the deck. Because of the great number of companies, we found ourselves usually forced to choose the bare floor of the deck for table as well as for chairs.

But I must return to the evening of our embarkation, to convince the reader that we did our best to show the frivolous French that we were by no means minded to endure so patiently this flagrant breach of the contract made by their agent in Germany — as one might otherwise expect from Germans. On that evening, the moment my fellow-travelers threw the unappetizing soup overboard, I stepped among them and challenged them not to take meekly this scurrilous treatment. My words had their effect. A deputation was appointed to go ashore immediately and declare to Mr. Herout, then in Cherbourg, that all passengers of the third class demanded to be taken off the ship in order to enter a complaint against him and his company for breach of contract. A Jew and I, the only two who knew any French, were to be interpreters.

I explained our intention and request to the captain. He had us put ashore at once and willingly. Unfortunately, it was already dark when we arrived in Cherbourg. After we had negotiated in vain with Mr. Herout, who opposed us with a cold, ironic manner as we demanded improved conditions or to be taken off the ship, none of the higher police officials was to be found to whom we could go in Cherbourg. We ran around until 11 o’clock, from one dwelling to another. The captain sent us word,that he had to sail at five in the morning. Several of our deputation had wives and children on board; I had a brother and nephew. We had no other choice than to convey our threats and curses to Mr. Herout once again and then to return with the comforting sense of having done all that was in our power. The captain showed himself from the very first to be an obliging, friendly man, and we resolved to make no trouble for him after our departure by our discontent or spite. What enraged us was the infamous dishonesty of the company; if they had not promised us much more than they intended to do, we should have fitted ourselves patiently into the discomforts of the new life, and indeed we did adapt ourselves much faster after our departure than we had expected.

One of the passengers, who had been a Bavarian army cook took over the cooking at the request of the captain, who wanted to satisfy us. From that time on we had good coffee with cognac, bread and butter (instead of bread, we had ship’s zwieback the last days of the trip) for breakfast, and for the noon meal we had bean or pea soup, once even Bavarian dumplings, once dried cod, with a piece of fresh or salted beef; we had salt pork three times. In the evening we had bread and meat. Wine was served with the noon and evening meals. The portion of wine became smaller and smaller in the course of the first week. We complained of this to the captain, who had the matter investigated by the second captain. It soon came out that our complaint was well founded, and the manager was put on the deck in foot-irons for one day for embezzlement.

I. Leaving Germany      Top of File      III. Arrival in New York