Customer Reviews

Ships of Our Ancestors

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book does provide pictures of probably all of the immigrant ships used, however, there is nothing else besides postcard-size pictures. They are arranged alphabetically, 3 per page, and provide a name, date, and steamship line. I was able to find the ship that my grandmother remembered traveling on her voyage to America, but no other information was available. I believe that the title is deceiving. The description stated that pictures were available, but no mention was made of "all pictures and no text". I believe that it is overpriced for a collection of pictures that I later found for free on the internet.

Yes, it is true that this book contains no detailed information about the ships that are pictured in it's pages. Yes, the photos are of indifferent quality and some are of relatively small size....... So what! This book is in my experience the only widely distributed source for photographs of emigration ships from the late 19th and early 20th century. I was able to find no less then five of the "boats" that my German ancestors came on during the 19th century. Most of the Bremen and Hamburg ships from the Steam power era seem to be present in this book. The only ships I couldn't locate were the earlier "Bark's" (sailing vessels), which probably were never photographed in the first place. There are several web sites including "Magellan - The Ships Encyclopedia" that give lots of raw data on these ships and some history to go alone with your photograph. If you need it and it's not at the library, this is probably the book that will have a picture of your ancestors ship.

I could feel the vibration going thru me as to how my parents felt, thought, lived, how they ate, how they were dressed, how they communicated with each other of other ethnic groups. I NOW can envision myself in my parents places coming in on the SS FREDERIC DER GROSSE and the SS GROSSE KURFURTZ.

These pixs brought me a little closer to my parents.

This book is an excellent collection of pictures of ships that brought immigrants to America. It is this type of resource that brings more life and "realness" into the dates and facts collected by genealogists.

This book has hundreds of postcard sized photos of passenger ships. The quality varies but they are never excellent. The binding, printing and packaging are all adequate but inexpensive. Surprising for a $35 softcover.

This is an outstanding resource for identifying a basic photo and the barest of vitals on almost any ship of its era. But better photos can be had from various musuems and online.

The ships are in alphabetical order, which makes the index somewhat redundant, but it does save flipping through a few pages. It has a lot of pictures. Only drawback - all pictures are dated, but I would prefer to have the from - to dates that the ship was in operation.