OHIO / AMAZZONE / RIO SANTA CRUZ 1868
The steamship OHIO was built by Caird & Co, (yard #148) Greenock in 1868 for (Norddeutscher Lloyd) North German Lloyd of Bremen, Baltimore service. This was a 2,394 gross ton ship, (92,05 x 12,02 meters) length 290ft x beam 39ft, clipper stem, one funnel, two masts (rigged for sails), iron construction, single screw, single-expansion engine, and a service speed of 10 knots. There was accommodation for 84-1st class and 717 in steerage (“Zwischendeck”); crew of 79, (Conflicting sources state only 600-3rd class passengers). Launched December 18, 1868, she sailed her maiden voyage from Bremen in March 8, 1869 on her maiden voyage to Southampton and Baltimore.
On 6th September 1871, the OHIO started her first Bremen - Southampton - New York voyage and made 11 round voyages on this route, the last in 1883. Between 1880-81 her engines were compounded by AG Vulvan, Stettin, and she commenced her last Bremen - Baltimore voyage on 3rd Oct.1883. On 24th Mar.1884 she was transferred to the Bremen - South America service and started her last voyage on this route on 25th Nov.1893. Sold in 1894 to Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co (shipbuilders) in part payment for two new ships, she then went to the Argentine Government and was renamed AMAZZONE. She was again renamed in 1897 to RIO SANTA CRUZ and was hulked in 1903. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.2,p.546-7]
SS OHIO
Winter 1876/77, forward cabin replaced with a cargo hatch. 1881, engines compounded by AG Vulcan, Stettin; service speed 11-12 knots. 3 October 1883, last voyage, Bremen-Baltimore. 24 March 1884, first voyage, Bremen-South America. 25 November 1893, last voyage, Bremen-South America. 1894, with steamship FRANKFURT, traded to Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co, in part payment for the steamships PFALZ and MARK; resold to Italian interests, renamed AMAZZONE, and placed in service to Argentina; seized by Argentine authorities in Buenos Aires for an unpaid debt of the new owners. 7 April 1896, auctioned to the Argentine Navy for £30,000, and renamed RIO SANTA CRUZ. 17 May 1896, first voyage to Patagonia. 1898, single voyage to La Spezia, Marseilles, and Birkenhead to land crew for completed Argentine warships. Returned to Patagonia service. 1904, hulked and struck from the Register. According to Roberto Andres Delu, she served as a floating prison after several revolutionary uprisings.
The steamship OHIO was built for Norddeutscher Lloyd by Caird & Co, Greenock (yard #148), and was launched on 18 December 1868. 2,393 tons; 92,05 x 12,02 meters (length x breadth); clipper bow, 1 funnel, 2 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion, single-expansion engine, service speed 10 knots; accommodation for 84 passengers in 1st class, and 717 in steerage; crew of 79.
The majority of passengers on the ship were from Germany. But there were also many citizens of the United States returning home, and non-citizens described as traveling from Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary (representing the growing next great wave of emigrants from the Central European countries), as well as a few from Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
In steerage, the men were usually bunked separately from the women and small children. All in steerage traveled under the most minimal and crowded conditions. The food and water provided by the steamship company would be merely adequate, yet this offering represented a huge improvement over earlier decades when travelers brought and prepared their own provisions throughout the voyage or were forced to endure the inadequate, unhealthy, and unpleasant nourishment provided onboard the ship.
In steerage, the men were usually bunked separately from the women and small children. All in steerage traveled under the most minimal and crowded conditions. The food and water provided by the steamship company would be merely adequate, yet this offering represented a huge improvement over earlier decades when travelers brought and prepared their own provisions throughout the voyage or were forced to endure the inadequate, unhealthy, and unpleasant nourishment provided onboard the ship.
Still, space and privacy would have been scant. The trip was a trial, even as it was an adventure. We can only imagine the passage they shared—when the seas were calm and the weather fair, what conversations went on above and below decks; perhaps there was even dancing and music-making—and when the seas were stormy and rough, what misery they must have endured. It would be a life-changing experience for every emigrant onboard, a personal landmark they would never forget for as long as they lived.
Sources: Arnold Kludas, Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd, Bd. 1: 1857 bis 1919 (Herford: Koehler, c1991), inside front cover (photograph) and p. 18; Edwin Drechsel, Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen, 1857-1970; History, Fleet, Ship Mails, vol. 1 (Vancouver: Cordillera Pub. Co., c1994), p. 49, no. 22; Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway; An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (2nd ed.; Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications), vol. 2 (1978), pp. 546-547. Source: Palmer List of Merchant Vessels
Web site: http://www.geocities.com/mppraetorius/com-oh.htm, http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=ohio2
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