Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild

Nautical Poems and Musings

	They were BIG ships, larger than anything 
	people had seen in their entire lifetime. 
	and they actually moved....slow...lumbering
	...unstopable. The Dreadnaughts plowed the 
	wild Irish sea and ordinary men stood at the
	rail and dreamed about having a farm, their 
	OWN farm. America, in the 1850s was a place 
	of free-land giveaway's, of homesteads and 
	hearths.... and all you had to do was get 
	there.

	and get there they did, in great waves of 
	humanity, millions and millions of them.

	And it all started with ships.

	There was a bubbling mass of energy and 
	excitement in America in the 1850s, most 
	of it brought on by the invention of 
	technology. Indeed, the Columbia Exposition 
	of 1890 was a showcase of technology for the
	masses. There was a steam engine on display 
	as big as a 4 story building, it  worked! 
	and it dazzled everyone. But just as impressive 
	was the electric light, the telephone, and 
	the telegraph. It was an age of possibilities, 
	of things that =could= be done, of dreams that 
	seemed reachable, BIG dreams that matched a 
	big, brave new world, a world where anything 
	and everything was possible, a world where 
	streets were paved with gold. It was a new 
	start, a new beginning, and it started with 
	the words "We're Going To America"

	and it started with ships.

	Before Ellis island there was Castle Garden, 
	a big old barn of a building pictured as 
	being shingled....they got off the boat 
	en masse' and walked (1st class rode in 
	horse carriages) to the processing center 
	under the watchful eye of many guards.... 
	inside the processing center they sat on 
	wooden bench's awaiting their name to be 
	called for a physical exam and again for 
	an INS interview, one tried not to cough 
	too much... the central hall was a hodge-
	podge of noise, kids crying and different 
	languages being spoken.... they huddled on 
	the bench's saying prayers and hoping against 
	hope they would be acceptable....it was faith 
	and hope that got them this far.... they had 
	braved wind tossed seas on so-called 
	'cattle-boats' with  poor food, drinking 
	water and sanitation.

	After the INS interview, several hours later, 
	if they were accepted, they gathered up 
	their meager belongings, the old suitcase 
	and the box's and went through the 'out' 
	door onto the street......where they were 
	pounced on by a multitude of thieves, union 
	army recruiters, salvation army evangelists, 
	ethnic organization representatives, and 
	hawker's of all sorts...If the inside of 
	the building was a mass of confusion the 
	outside street was pandemonium and a circus 
	all at once.

	If it was raining they got wet, and many 
	ships arrived in the dead of winter... the 
	immigrant was on their own to find help or 
	directions. Bewildered, poorly clothed for 
	the miserable New York weather, and often 
	alone in a strange new world, they somehow 
	made their way to a new life...

	though many did not...there was a public 
	outcry in the 1860s over  the "deplorable" 
	conditions on the docks where newly arrived  
	immigrants were often robbed and killed.

	Our ancestors did for themselves...and 
	their children, they made it through the 
	rain and got a point of view....They gave  
	to us the gift of life in a new world, a 
	new beginning, and a remembrance of times 
	past when life held little or no hope... 
	...They did it on faith alone (and the 
	echo's of the shipping line boy's who ran 
	through the streets back in the old country 
	extolling the glory's of the new world, 
	of America, where men lived free, where 
	land was given to all who wanted it...
	simply for the asking...) ...They did it 
	because they wanted better....and they 
	left to you and me a legacy that yearns 
	to breath free, a circle of people, events, 
	and promise that somehow strains to be 
	known....It is, to this knowledge, that 
	we all work with diligence and patience 
	in seeking out our family  history....
	and somewhere along the way of our search
	we too have hope....hope that they, as 
	yet unnamed and unknown, will know that 
	we remembered, that their struggle was 
	not in vain, that we know and appreciate 
	what they did....which was, after all, 
	done for us.

Paul was a large contributor to TheShipsList and extremely helpful to so many researching ships for their ancestors. The piece above was written and shared freely, as was Paul's style, with anyone who wanted it. In June, 1999 Paul took the voyage we will all have to take one day. He is missed.