Hamburg Passenger Lists – 1881-1952

View of a Portion of the Free Port of Hamburg ca. 1912. GGA Image ID # 1755d2cb84

Hamburg is a major transport hub in Northern Germany and is one of the most affluent cities in Europe. Hamburg became a city-state within the North German Confederation (1866–71), the German Empire (1871–1918) and during the period of the Weimar Republic (1919–33).

The entrance to the port is affected by utilizing the Elbe River. A vessel approaching the mouth of the river will first sight, in order, the four light vessels, Elbe I or outer light vessel, Elbe II, Elbe III, and Elbe IV, all of which are painted red with their names on their sides. These lights indicate the channel between the Scharhorn Riff, Neuwerker Watt, Kleiner Vogelsang, and Steilsand on the south side of the entrance and the Grosser Vogel, Gelbsand, and Hakensand on the north side.

The river, which almost forms a figure S between Cuxhaven and Hamburg, is easy to navigate. The channel is well marked with the uniform German system of red spar buoys with letters on the starboard and black conical buoys with numbers on the port.

Between the sea and Cuxhaven, the river has a navigable depth of about 37 feet at high water neap tides and about 26 feet at low water spring tides. Between Cuxhaven and Hamburg, the minimum depth is 25 1/2 feet at low-water spring tides, rising from 7 1/2 to 11 feet. The channel is now being deepened to 40 feet at mean high water. The width of the channel ranges from 660 to 1,300 feet.

The maintenance of the river was under the German government's control, which relieved the port of Hamburg of that responsibility in 1921 after the port had spent approximately $40,000,000 on improvements.

Another Busy Scene at the Hamburg Docks ca. Early 1900s. GGA Image ID # 17566841a5

Note: Typically, only the origination and final destination ports are listed in each link. Other intermediary ports of call are not listed.

Quick Links to Decades:

1880s | 1890s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1950s

Hamburg American Line / Hamburg Amerika Linie (HAPAG)

• 1881-08-24 SS Lessing - Hamburg to New York
• 1883-11-04 SS Silesia - Hamburg to New York
• 1885-05-31 SS Westphalia - Hamburg to Prague

Hamburg American Line / Hamburg Amerika Linie (HAPAG)

• 1897-08-26 SS Auguste Victoria - Hamburg to New York

Hamburg American Line / Hamburg Amerika Linie (HAPAG)

• 1900-08-09 SS Fürst Bismarck - Hamburg to New York
• 1900-10-07 SS Patricia - Hamburg to New York
• 1901-07-28 SS Pretoria - Hamburg to New York
• 1902-04-22 SS Pennsylvania - New York to Hamburg
• 1902-06-21 SS Pennsylvania - Hamburg to New York
• 1903-08-22 SS Pretoria - Hamburg to New York
• 1903-08-27 SS Fürst Bismarck - Hamburg to New York
• 1905-07-29 SS Graf Waldersee - Hamburg to New York
• 1905-09-14 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1905-11-11 SS Pennsylvania - Hamburg to New York
• 1906-08-04 SS Pennsylvania - Hamburg to New York
• 1907-05-04 SS Meteor - Genoa to Hamburg
• 1907-06-01 SS Batavia - New York to Hamburg
• 1907-08-08 SS Amerika - Hamburg to New York
• 1908-11-12 SS Amerika - Hamburg to New York
• 1909-10-07 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York

Hamburg American Line / Hamburg Amerika Linie (HAPAG)

• 1910-06-30 SS Cincinnati - Hamburg to New York
• 1910-07-24 SS President Lincoln - Hamburg to New York
• 1910-09-08 SS Cincinnati - Hamburg to New York
• 1911-05-24 SS Graf Waldersee - Philadelphia to Hamburg
• 1912-08-03 SS Cincinnati - Hamburg to New York
• 1912-09-28 SS Patricia - Hamburg to New York
• 1912-11-01 SS President Lincoln - Hamburg to New York
• 1913-10-25 SS Pretoria - Hamburg to New York
• 1914-03-11 SS Imperator - Hamburg to New York

Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskap

• 1912-08-07 SS Kong Harald - Hamburg to Spitsbergen

American Line

• 1921-11-12 SS Mongolia - Hamburg to New York
• 1923-06-21 SS Kroonland - New York to Hamburg
• 1923-06-28 SS Manchuria - New York to Hamburg
• 1924-08-30 SS Mongolia - Hamburg to New York

Canadian Pacific Line

• 1924-08-14 SS Empress of Scotland - Hamburg to Québec

Cunard Line

• 1925-05-06 RMS Andania - Hamburg to Halifax and New York

Hamburg American Line / Hamburg Amerika Linie (HAPAG)

• 1926-01-28 SS Albert Ballin - Hamburg to New York
• 1926-07-30 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York
• 1926-08-18 SS Westphalia - Hamburg to Boston and New York
• 1926-08-27 SS Albert Ballin - Hamburg to New York
• 1926-12-10 SS Cleveland - Hamburg to New York
• 1927-07-06 SS Albert Ballin - New York to Hamburg
• 1927-07-30 SS Reliance - Hamburg to New York
• 1927-08-12 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York
• 1927-08-16 SS Resolute - Hamburg to New York
• 1927-09-14 SS Thuringia - Hamburg to New York
• 1927-09-23 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York
• 1928-10-12 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York
• 1929-01-16 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1929-03-15 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1929-04-05 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1929-04-19 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1929-10-17 SS Cleveland - Hamburg to Boston and New York

Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (R.M.S.P.)

• 1921-10-22 SS Orbita - Hamburg to New York
• 1922-03-31 SS Orbita - New York to Hamburg
• 1923-03-27 SS Orduña - Hamburg to Bermuda and New York
• 1923-08-01 SS Orbita - Hamburg to New York
• 1923-08-29 SS Ohio - Hamburg to New York
• 1923-12-19 SS Orca - Hamburg to New York
• 1924-07-06 SS Orca - Hamburg to Québec and New York
• 1924-07-22 SS Ohio - Hamburg to New York
• 1924-07-29 SS Orbita - Hamburg to New York
• 1924-10-08 SS Orbita - Hamburg to New York

United American Lines (Harriman Line)

• 1922-09-05 SS Resolute - Hamburg to New York
• 1922-11-15 SS Reliance - Hamburg to New York
• 1923-07-10 SS Reliance - Hamburg for New York
• 1923-07-24 SS Resolute - Hamburg to New York
• 1923-10-21 SS Cleveland - Hamburg to New York
• 1925-05-08 SS Cleveland - Hamburg to New York
• 1925-05-19 SS Resolute - Hamburg to New York
• 1925-06-30 SS Resolute - New York to Hamburg
• 1925-07-14 SS Reliance - New York to Hamburg
• 1925-09-08 SS Resolute - Hamburg to New York

White Star Line

• 1924-05-22 SS Pittsburgh - Hamburg to New York
• 1924-09-04 SS Pittsburgh - Hamburg to New York
• 1924-09-18 RMS Arabic - Hamburg to New York

The Free Port Section of Hamburg. A Photograph Taken From an Airplane Provides an Excellent Impression of the Docking and Warehouse Facilities, and Shows Part of the Reiherstieg Ship-Repairing Establishment in the Right Foreground. Photo by British Agents, Aerofilms, Ltd. (The Syren and Shipping, 15 August 1928) | GGA Image ID # 22849726eb

Baltimore Mail Line

• 1932-01-29 SS City of Hamburg - Hamburg to Norfolk and Baltimore
• 1932-06-24 SS City Of Hamburg - Hamburg to Norfolk and Baltimore
• 1934-03-17 SS City of Hamburg - Hamburg to Norfolk and Baltimore
• 1935-01-12 SS City Of Newport News - Hamburg to Norfolk and Baltimore
• 1936-07-11 SS City of Norfolk - Hamburg to Norfolk and Baltimore
• 1937-07-24 SS City Of Baltimore - Hamburg to Norfolk and Baltimore

Canadian Pacific Line

• 1932-10-15 SS Montrose - Hamburg to Québec

Hamburg America Line / Hamburg-Amerika Linie (HAPAG)

• 1930-06-07 SS Cleveland - New York and Boston to Hamburg
• 1930-08-22 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York
• 1930-08-29 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1931-05-21 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1931-10-08 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1932-07-16 SS Resolute - Hamburg to Scotland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, and Norway
• 1932-09-18 SS Milwaukee - Hamburg to New York
• 1933-07-27 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1933-08-24 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1933-12-20 SS Albert Ballin - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-08-02 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-08-09 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-08-30 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-09-06 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1935-07-11 SS Hamburg - New York to Hamburg
• 1935-08-15 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York
• 1935-08-21 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1936-05-28 SS New York - New York to Hamburg
• 1936-06-04 SS Hamburg - New York to Hamburg
• 1936-07-02 SS Hamburg - New York to Hamburg
• 1936-08-27 SS Deutschland - Hamburg to New York
• 1937-09-02 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1937-09-14 SS Stuttgart - Hamburg to New York
• 1938-08-04 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1938-11-03 SS New York - Hamburg to New York
• 1939-04-20 SS Hamburg - Hamburg to New York
• 1939-05-11 SS New York - New York to Hamburg
• 1939-06-08 SS New York - New York to Hamburg

United States Lines

• 1930-08-05 SS George Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1930-09-08 SS America - Hamburg to New York
• 1930-09-17 SS President Harding - Hamburg to New York
• 1930-09-25 SS George Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1931-07-28 SS America - Hamburg to New York
• 1931-09-08 SS George Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1932-08-24 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1932-10-19 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1933-05-24 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1933-12-29 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-05-23 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-07-18 SS Manhattan - New York to Hamburg
• 1934-08-01 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-08-15 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-10-24 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1934-11-07 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1935-04-10 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1935-05-28 SS President Roosevelt - Hamburg to New York
• 1935-07-31 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1936-03-11 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1936-07-29 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1936-09-09 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1936-10-21 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1937-09-01 SS President Harding - Hamburg to New York
• 1938-04-20 SS Manhattan - New York to Hamburg
• 1938-04-20 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York
• 1938-06-29 SS Manhattan - Hamburg to New York
• 1938-08-31 SS President Roosevelt - Hamburg to New York
• 1938-09-14 SS President Harding - Hamburg to New York
• 1939-03-10 SS Manhattan - New York to Hamburg
• 1939-08-22 SS Washington - Hamburg to New York

Home Lines

• 1952-10-20 MS Italia - New York to Cuxhaven (Hamburg)

United States Lines

• 1951-01-10 SS Washington - New York to Bremerhaven and Hamburg

Note: Typically, only the origination and final destination ports are listed in each link. Other intermediary ports of call are not listed.

View of Hamburg Harbour ca. Early 1900s. GGA Image ID # 175607cbeb

Hamburg is the port of arrival and departure for steamers of the Hamburg-American Line. First and second class passengers by these steamers are landed at Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the River Elbe, about 2 1/2 or 3 hours' journey by a special train that leaves on steamer's arrival passengers to the Venloer station in Hamburg.

The Customs officials pass all baggage of such passengers in the steamship company's waiting room at Cuxhaven. The Bahnhof (railway station) at Hamburg is situated about a mile from the Alster, on the banks of which the top hotels are located.

Busy Scene in Hamburg Harbour ca. Early 1900s. GGA Image ID # 1756329d8d

The Hamburg America Line built a large ocean liner terminal at Cuxhaven in 1900. Connected directly to Hamburg by a dedicated railway line and station, it served as the major departure point for German and European emigrants until 1969 when ocean liner travel ceased.

Hamburg experienced its fastest growth during the second half of the 19th century, when its population more than quadrupled to 800,000 as the growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's second largest port.

With Albert Ballin as its director, the Hamburg-America Line became the world's largest transatlantic shipping company around the start of the 20th century. Shipping companies sailing to South America, Africa, India and East Asia were based in the city.

Hamburg was the departure port for most Germans and Eastern Europeans to emigrate to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Trading communities from all over the world established themselves here.