Information Included in Passenger Lists

There was considerable variance in the amount of information provided within each passenger lists. The German steamship lines typically issued some of the most informative and substantive passenger lists while other lines did little more than list names of Passengers and the Captain.

Common features included information for Passengers (Meal times, services, regulations, etc.), advertisements for future sailings, information about the steamship or steamship company, fleet lists, track charts, memorandum of log, photographs or illustrations of the ship and / or accommodations, Senior Officers and Staff, etc.

Every traveler may have at least one interesting souvenir of the voyage across the Atlantic. The names of the passengers, and in some cases their home addresses, are neatly printed upon folios along with a blank chart for recording the progress of the voyage, and more or less information about the company, the vessel, and the fleet of which it is a member.

A sufficient number of these passenger lists are printed to assure one at least for every cabin passenger, and the lists are usually distributed in the saloon soon after the vessel leaves her dock.

They are not only prized as souvenirs, but they are invaluable in assisting one to make acquaintances—or avoid them, for that matter. It is the custom of some of the lines to distribute passenger lists at the gang-plank just previous to the sailing of the vessel, so that friends of passengers may carry away a token of the great journey, and speculate as to how companionable this or another person will prove to the party in which they are especially interested.

On nearly all the larger vessels there is a miniature newspaper printed by the ship’s printer, which gives the usual amount of “local” gossip and happenings peculiar to the surroundings; artides are contributed by the passengers, and sometimes there is a good deal of talent on board. Reports of concerts and domestic entertainments, etc., are given.

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