the 1850s and 1860s, packet steamers designed for the emigrant trade replaced the often irregular sailing vessels; the steamships shuttled the Atlantic on regular sche dules.5 When the Dutch emigration began in earnest in the mid-1840s, more than one-half crossed in groups of ten or more. In 1846-1847 several groups, including the Zeeland congregation of Dominie Cornelius van der Meulen, numbered several hundreds. Leaders divided the very large groups into smaller contingents because of the limited carrying capacity of the sailing vessels and for the practical reason that smaller par ties were easier to manage and to obtain decent travel accommodations. The Zeelanders divided into three groups, led by Van der Meulen. Jannes van de Luijster, and Jan Steketee. Passage in large groups was the exception rather than the rule.6 Dutch, English, Belgian, French and German shipping companies dominated the northern European passenger trade in the mid-nineteenth century. For the Dutch, Rotterdam had the advantageous position astride the Rhine delta.7 In the 1840s, when large Seceder groups departed, 62 percent of all Dutch emigrants sailed for America directly from Rotterdam; only 15 percent went from Amsterdam. In the 1860s, howe ver, Liverpool and London surpassed the premier Dutch harbor, carrying 4,200 Dutch, compared to only 1,600 at Rotterdam. Liverpool gained a larger share of the Dutch traffic only because of their lower fares.8 Poorer emigrants were willing to tole rate the inconveniences of transshipping via England in order to garner the savings on the transoceanic ticket. More than twice as many day laborers traveled over Liverpool than went directly to America from Rotterdam. In the 1870s, however, the Holland- American Steamship Company (Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij, NASM) began regular passenger and freight service and by 1890 the 'Holland-America Line' had 2,000 agents throughout the Netherlands recruiting emi grants and offering free lodging in Rotterdam.9 Table IPort of Embarkation by Decade, Dutch Immigrants, 1820-1880 Port 1820-29 1830-39 1840-49 1850-59 1860-69 1870-80 1820-80 N N N N N N N Netherlands: Amsterdam 179 42 328 33 1897 15 842 6 57 1 I 0 3304 6 Rotterdam 13 3 85 9 7964 62 7138 48 1585 19 8475 52 25260 47 England: Liverpool 34 8 36 4 165 1 2200 15 2217 26 5380 33 10032 18 London 7 2 33 3 348 3 337 2 2038 24 244 2 3007 6 Glasgow 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 539 6 457 3 999 2 Other Atlantic: Antwerp 39 9 21 2 951 7 2526 17 1286 15 1361 8 6184 11 Le Havre 94 22 286 29 872 7 1651 11 175 2 63 0 3141 6 Other 2 0 1 2 294 2 0 0 4 0 18 1 319 1 Baltic: Bremen 1 0 130 13 286 2 211 2 484 6 163 1 275 2 Hamburg 5 1 9 1 4 0 51 0 90 1 47 0 206 0 Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0 0 0 14 0 Source: Data file: Dutch Immigrants in U.S. Ship Passenger Manifests. 1820-1880 20 ZEEUWSE EMIGRATIE NAAR AMERIKA 1840-1920

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Nehalennia | 1997 | | pagina 22