Steerage Class Passage Contracts and Tickets
All Steerage Class Passage Contracts and Tickets available at the GG Archives. These unique contracts represent primary source documents of the voyage of many immigrants. Our collection includes a variety of types and classes and provides an invaluable account of the cost of passage.
A steerage contract over years old, for one adult going from Le Havre to New York on the clipper ship "Admiral" of the Vanderbilt European Steamship Line dated 4 May 1854. Printed in French and German, a synopsis of the terms and conditions along with the contract information have been translated in English.
SS Admiral Steerage Passage Contract - 4 May 1854
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 4 May 1854
- Steamship Line: Vanderbilt European Steamship
- Steamship: Clipper Ship "Admiral"
- Route: Le Havre to New York
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Naber Vinceut
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): French
- Contract Terms: Translated from French to English
- Cost of Ticket: Not Stated
A Memorandum of a Draft like the one shown below from 1880 was used as a receipt - often for funds sent to immigrants still in the Old Country waiting to come to America.
PARTIES DESIRING to send for their friends from the OLD COUNTRY, can obtain Ticket, etc. by the WHITE STAR LINE on application at the Company's Offices, or any of the Company's Agents throughout the United States and Canada.
Includes Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
RMS Britannic Passage Ticket - 29 May 1880
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 29 May 1880
- Steamship Line: White Star Line
- Steamship: SS Britannic
- Route: Queenstown (Cobh) to New York
- Ticket Type: Memorandum of Draft (Prepaid)
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Mrs. Frank (Ellen) McGuire
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): Irish
- Contract Terms: Limited
- Cost of Ticket: £3-0-0 / £305.30 in 2021 GBP
Agent's Record for a Prepaid passage on a White Star Line Steamship for passage from Cardiff, Whales, UK to Scranton PA via Steerage class in 1880.
Includes Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
RMS Germanic Agent's Record - 29 May 1880
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 29 May 1880
- Steamship Line: White Star Line
- Steamship: SS Germanic
- Route: Cardiff, Whales, UK to Scranton PA
- Ticket Type: Agent's Record (Prepaid)
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: John Price
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): British
- Contract Terms: Unknown
- Cost of Ticket: $32.00 / $836.00 in 2021 USD
Superb example of a passenger contract for a Swedish emigrant, traveling from Gothenburg to Boston via Hull and Liverpool on a Cunard steamship in Steerage class.
Includes Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
Cunard Line Passage Contract - 4 June 1880
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 4 June 1880
- Steamship Line: Cunard Line
- Steamship: Unknown
- Route: Gothenburg to Boston
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Luders Engström
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): Swedish
- Contract Terms: Limited Translation from Swedish
- Cost of Ticket: $ 30.00 / $783.00 in 2020 USD
Steamship Ticket Contract for the passage of Bealle Nutchen and party, as one in steerage of one of the Steamers of the North German Lloyd from Bremen to New York.
Includes notes on Provenance and Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
North German Lloyd Prepaid Passage Certificate - 17 February 1883
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 17 February 1883
- Steamship Line: North German Lloyd
- Steamship: Not Stated
- Route: Bremen to New York
- Ticket Type: Prepaid Certificate
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Bealle Nutchen + Four
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): German
- Contract Terms: Limited Translation from German
- Cost of Ticket: $72.00 / $1,920.00 in 2020 USD
Original steamship ticket contract for Heinrich Hermes, 21, of Germany who arrived in New York on 8 June 1895 aboard the Cunard Steamship Lucania (for the Liverpool to New York via Queenstown portion of his journey.) He was processed as an immigrant through Ellis Island. He was a Laborer and his intended destination was New York.
Includes Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
RMS Lucania Passage Contract - 29 May 1895
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 29 May 1895
- Steamship Line: Cunard Line
- Steamship: RMS Lucania
- Route: Rotterdam to New York via Liverpool
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Heinrich Hermes
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): German
- Contract Terms: Translated from German
- Cost of Ticket: M. 100 or about $23.62 in 1899 USD / $751.00 in 2020 USD
Steamship steerage passage contract for a 25 year-old Swedish servant, immigrating to America from Gothenburg, Sweden on 7 April 1897. She took a small coastal steamer from Gothenburg to Grimsby, England, a train from Hull to Liverpool and boarded the Cunard steamship Campania for the voyage to New York arriving on 17 April 1897.
RMS Campania Passage Contract - 7 April 1897
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 7 April 1897
- Steamship Line: Cunard Steamship Company
- Steamship: RMS Campania
- Route: Gothenburg to New York via Hull and Liverpool
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Augusta Collin
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): Swedish
- Contract Terms: Translated from Swedish
- Cost of Ticket: Not Stated
Original Steamship Ticket Contract from Gothenburg, Sweden to New York, 3rd Class Steerage Immigrant Ester Hilma Maria Magnuson of Stockholm on the White Star Line.
Includes conversion from SEK to GBP and Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
RMS Celtic Contract Ticket - 14 November 1902
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 14 November 1902
- Steamship Line: White Star Line
- Steamship: RMS Celtic
- Route: Gothenburg to New York via Hull and Liverpool
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Ester Helbana Magnuson (Ester H Maria Magnuson)
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): Swedish
- Contract Terms: Translated from Swedish
- Cost of Ticket: 118.00 SEK / £721.00 GBP in 2021
His passage took him from Frederikshavn to Liverpool by steamship; Liverpool to Boston in the Cunard Steamship Saxonia; and train fare from Boston to West Branch, PA.
The Bottom half of the Passage Contract is missing but contained the terms of the voyage. I suspect the this passenger traveled in Steerage.
Includes conversion of DKK to USD and Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
RMS Saxonia Voyage Contract - 21 April 1903
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 21 April 1903
- Steamship Line: Cunard Line
- Steamship: SS Saxonia
- Route: Frederikshavn to Boston via Liverpool
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage?
- Name on Contract: Kristian Johannes Janson Sogen
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): Danish
- Contract Terms: Not Stated
- Cost of Ticket: 195 DKK / $1,570.00 USD in 2020
Steamship Ticket Record - Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, Limited - Counterpart of Steerage Passenger's Contract Ticket, RMS Arundel Castle, Southampton to Cape Town dated 8 October 1904.
Includes Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
SS Arundel Castle Contract Ticket - 8 October 1904
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 8 October 1904
- Steamship Line: Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, Limited
- Steamship: RMS Arundel Castle
- Route: Southampton to Capetown
- Ticket Type: Passage Record
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Wm. G. Parker and Herbert Kerr
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): British or South African
- Contract Terms: Limited
- Cost of Ticket: £ 33 : 12s : 0d / £3,701.00 GBP in 2020
Original Steerage Passenger's Steamship Ticket Contract for a 27 year old man from Southampton, England for passage to Natal, South Africa in 1906. It provides rich details of the requirements of the steamship company in terms of food, water and other items supplied.
Includes Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
SS Halmer Castle Passage Contract - 17 November 1906
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 17 November 1906
- Steamship Line: Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co., Ltd
- Steamship: RMS Halmer Castle
- Route: Southampton to Natal, South Africa
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Walter Bayley
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): British or South African
- Contract Terms: In English -- Transcribed
- Cost of Ticket: £ 19 : 19s : 0d / £2,194.00 GBP in 2020
Steerage Prepaid Passage Contract issued by the Hamburg America Line for passage from Hamburg, Germany to New York and a Train from New York to Ellsworth, Minnesota for a German Immigrant Family.
Arrival Records for the Weise Family and Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations are included.
SS President Lincoln Prepaid Passage Contract - 20 November 1907
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 20 November 1907
- Steamship Line: Hamburg America Line
- Steamship: President Lincoln
- Route: Hamburg (Cuxhaven) to Ellsworth, MN via New York
- Ticket Type: Prepaid Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Heinrich Weise and Family
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): German
- Contract Terms: Not Stated
- Cost of Ticket: $150.92 / $4,290.00 USD in 2020
Steamship Ticket Receipt for the purchase of passage from Hamburg to New York via the Hamburg America Line with inland passage to McFreesport, Pennsylvania dated 13 January 1913.
Includes Record of Passage to America under this Contract, Information about Purchaser of Steerage Passage, and Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
SS President Lincoln Prepaid Passage Contract - 13 January 1912
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 13 January 1912
- Steamship Line: Hamburg America Line
- Steamship: SS President Lincoln
- Route: Hamburg to McKeesport, PA via New York
- Ticket Type: Prepaid Passage Contract
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Matthäus Florek
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): German
- Contract Terms: Transcribed
- Cost of Ticket: $53.00 / $1,460.00 USD in 2020
Very rare receipt for Emigrant Tickets purchased for travel on the Great Western Railway from F. C. Cooper & Co., Stourbridge, for Steerage Passengers Mr. and Mrs. Asbury from Kidderminster to Paddington Station in London to board the RMS Arawa bound for New Zealand.
Great Western Railway Emigrant Ticket - 14 August 1912
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 14 August 1912
- Steamship Line: Great Western Railway
- Steamship: N/A
- Route: Kidderminster to Paddington Station in London
- Ticket Type: Railway Ticket
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Mr. & Mrs. Asbury
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): New Zealanders
- Contract Terms: Not Stated
- Cost of Ticket: Not Stated
Rare Steamship Ticket / Passenger Manifest / Passage Contract for the 22 June 1921 Voyage on board the SS Hudson of the United States Mail Steamship Company, Inc. from Bremen to New York for Yugoslavian Immigrant Theresia Floc.
Includes SS Hudson Ship Information, Arrival Records, and Relative Cost of Passage Ticket in Today's Currency Value calculations.
SS Hudson Passage Contract Manifest - 22 June 1921
- Date of Purchase / Voyage: 22 June 1921
- Steamship Line: United States Mail Steamship Company, Inc. (USL)
- Steamship: SS Hudson
- Route: Bremen to New York
- Ticket Type: Passage Contract Manifest
- Voyage Class: Steerage
- Name on Contract: Theresia Floc
- Etnicity of Passenger(s): Yugoslavian
- Contract Terms: Transcribed
- Cost of Ticket: $165.00 / $2,390.00 USD in 2020
