SOCIAL STUDIES – Find out the similarities and differences among the classes traveling on steamships in Life On Board – Passengers.
Objective:
Students will learn about immigration to the United States via steamship travel. They will be able to discuss what the experience was like for the three main classes of passenger travel on board — steerage (third class), cabin (second class). and first class. After reading the descriptions below, students will submit short answer questions found at the bottom of this page.
Remote Learning:
This lesson can be utilized for homeschool or remote learning. Simply share the link to this lesson and student can submit their answers via email or on google classroom.
Extension Activity:
Have your students read these lessons in addition to the one below. Students will write a longer response paper (you can choose the length appropriate for their grade level) with a suggested length of 5 pages. Students should cite these articles as resources and reflect on the reading by comparing and contrasting steamship travel for people of difference socioeconomic classes, coming up with their own thesis statement.
- An overview of immigration via steamships
- Italian Immigration to Providence on board the Fabre Line
- Immigration and Disease
- Ventilation and AC on board ships
“In steerage there are males and females; in the second cabin, ladies and gentlemen.”
What was life life for passengers traveling by sea? Well, it depends on a lot of factors like ship type, weather, and time of year. One of the most important factors though, was what kind of ticket you could afford to purchase. Travel across the Atlantic became faster when the move from sail to steam power took place. But weather and the violent seas of the North Atlantic often left passengers’ bags flying around their staterooms. Passengers held onto rails hoping that seasickness would pass.
Inventors attempted to solve the problem of seas sickness. Henry Bessemer, inventor of the blast furnace, decided to try to cure seasickness with an elaborate invention called the Bessemer Saloon in 1873. The main cabin of the ship was suspended so that it could remain stationary while the hull rolled. His experiment failed when the saloon rolled worse than the ship!
One early passenger claimed that it was impossible to flirt because, “Alas! All the young girls are sick–devilishly sick.” Sea sickness was often worse in the lower holds of the ship reserved for the people who purchased the cheapest tickets: many of whom were poor immigrants seeking a new life in America.
Steerage Passengers
Emigrants journeyed to the port cities for their departure often staying in miserable penny-a-night lodgings, sometimes the first introduction to urban life. One Queenstown captain reported:
“They all seemed glad to leave their native land. We hardly got outside the harbor before diddles and concertinas would be produced, and they would be dancing away on the foredeck.”
The joy of the journey did not last long. In the early days, former slave ships carried emigrants, packed into suffocating holds. One historian wrote:
“Between decks was like a loathsome dungeon. When the hatchways were opened under which the people were stowed, the steam rose, and the stench was like that for a pen of pigs.”
Conditions later improved with William Inman, who first offered cheap steamship passage to emigrants in 1850. Until then, steamships mostly carried first-class passengers and express cargo. Although conditions improved, steerage quarters remained crowded and noisy with minimal privacy. Even as late as 1890, oftentimes shipowners would transport cattle in the same space as their human cargo on the return journey from America to Europe. Another person who improved conditions for steerage passengers was Albert Ballin, President of Hamburg American Line. Watch the video below to learn more about him and about cabin class passengers.
First Class Passengers
First-class passengers were able to take their time to say their good-byes. For steerage ticket holders, they had to arrive early to secure the best bunk. First-class passengers would sometimes tour the lower decks, but steerage passengers could not go up to the first-class deck. In 1906, on the maiden voyage of the French Line’s La Provence, 422 first-class passengers found luxurious accommodations like a gilded dining saloon. On the White Star Line’s steamship, the Teutonic, one could find a beautiful Victorian interior, leather covered walls, mahogany woodwork, mirrors and murals, and plush settees.
One first-class traveler noted:
“the domestic architect was called into service, entrusted to dispel the idea that one was really on board ship, in favor of the illusion that one was really living in a luxurious hotel.”
Short Answer Questions
- What were living conditions like for passengers in first-class compared to steerage-class?
- How did conditions change for the better for steerage passengers over time? What still needed improvement?
- What was middle class travel like? Why do you think it is often overlooked when talking about immigration?
Education Standards
National Council for Social Studies
Quotes from Byron S. Miller, Sail, Steam, and Splendour: A Picture History of Life Aboard the Transatlantic Liners (New York: Times Books, 1977).
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