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
