Unfinished journal of a voyage on the steamship La Savoie from New York to Le Havre in France has been preserved.     In the 19th century, sailing ships were replaced by steamships, which at the turn of the century gained enormous extension and tonnage. That is why Slovenes called them “castles on sea”. For the majority of Slovene emigrants, their first contact with the sea and steamboats was at their arrival on the Atlantic coast. Before that, they knew both only by description and increasingly more often from picture postcards and photographs in newspapers. For the journey from Le Havre to New York sailing ships needed 40 days in the middle of the 19th century, while the modern steamship France passed the same route in five days and 19 hours in 1912. The majority of emigrants travelled in the third class. However, the comfort for passengers of all classes was constantly improving, which was a consequence of strong competition among shipping companies.

La Gascogne (1886).   La Touraine (1891).   La Savoie (1901).   La Provence (1905).           Rochambeau (1911).   La France (1912).   Paris (French Line).   A receipt from the contract on buying a ticket, which an 18 years old Maksimilijan Semič from Carniola made with the agent Edvard Šmarda in Ljubljana for the journey by steamship Niagara from Le Havre. The journey was to start on March 8th but it actually started on March 11th, which is seen from the health inspection certificate.               The front side of the health inspection certificate of the company Compagnie Générale Transatlantique in Le Havre which Maksimilian Semich received before embarking the steamship Niagara in Le Havre. Date of departure is March 11, 1913 and the date of arrival to Ellis Island in new York is March 24.   The back side of the certificate.                       S. S. Alice.   Advertising list of this company with lines from Trieste to New York, Canada and South America, dated March 22nd 1913.                   Olympic (1911).   Titanic (1912).   Homeric (1920).   S. S. Pittsburgh (1922).                 White Star Line (plakat).                       Amerika (1905).   Imperator (1913).   Deutschland.   Deutschland.                 Corcovado.                             Advertising postcard.                           Potsdam (1900).   Rotterdam (1908).

© Institute for Slovenian Emigration Studies, Slovenian Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana | Ljubljana, Slovenia | 2007 | All rights reserved.