Port of Hamburg

Irish–Danish–German Heritage

[Image: Germanic Gothic script; Text: Hamburger Hafen (Port of Hamburg)]

The Port of Hamburg (Hamburger Hafen) is on the Elbe river in Hamburg city and state (Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg) in northern Germany. It was the home port of the Hamburg America Line.

Relevant emigrants:

Johann Georg Barthmann [George Barthman]
K. Barbara (Müller) Barthmann [Barbara Barthman]

Relevant ship: SS Suevia

[Image: Horse-drawn cart and electric trolley along Hamburg harbor] — Hamburg. Landungsbrücken & Hafen bei St. Pauli [Hamburg. Landing Stages & Harbor in St. Pauli].

[Image: Close-up of harbor sign] — Hamburg. Landungsbrücken & Hafen bei St. Pauli [Hamburg. Landing Stages & Harbor in St. Pauli].

[Image: Map of Germany] — Map of Germany highlighting Hamburg city and state

Interactive map of Port of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

[Image: Crowd of German emigrants and belongings at port] — From the Old to the New World—German emigrants for New York embarking on a Hamburg steamer.

[Image: Close-up of German emigrants boarding ship and waving goodbye with handkerchiefs] — From the Old to the New World—German emigrants for New York embarking on a Hamburg steamer.

Hamburg, a free imperial city of Germany, situated on the River Elbe, about 75 miles from its mouth. It contains 410,127 inhabitants. […]

It is the first commercial port of Germany. […] Upward of 5000 vessels annually enter and quit the harbor, and from 25,000 to 30,000 emigrants embark here annually, most of them going to the United States.

One of the most successful lines which cross the Atlantic is the Hamburg American Packet Company, sailing between Hamburg and New York, and vice versa, weekly; also from Havre to New York. These strong, safe, and powerfully built steamships leave New York every Thursday at noon, Hamburg every Wednesday morning, and Havre every Saturday morning. The ships are all commanded by men of the highest maritime ability, and the cuisine does justice to Hamburg, whose cooks for centuries have been proverbial.

Emigrants conveyed from Hamburg to transatlantic ports since 1846.
Year.	Direct, by—		Total direct.	Indirect.	Grand total.
Year.	Emigrant vessels.	Other vessels.	Total direct.	Indirect.	Grand total.
Source: Reprinted from table, “Emigrants Conveyed from Hamburg to Transatlantic Ports Since 1846,” in Lang 1887, 192.
1846	4,857	—	4,857	—	4,857
1847	7,628	—	7,628	—	7,628
1848	6,585	—	6,585	—	6,585
1849	5,620	—	5,620	—	5,620
1850	7,295	135	7,430	—	7,430
1851	12,095	184	12,279	—	12,279
1852	21,345	571	21,916	7,119	29,035
1853	18,585	384	18,969	10,511	29,480
1854	31,753	557	32,310	18,509	50,819
1855	15,226	437	15,663	2,989	18,652
1856	23,822	464	24,286	1,917	26,203
1857	28,568	326	28,894	2,672	31,566
1858	18,473	349	18,8[2]2	977	19,799
1859	12,534	219	12,753	489	13,242
1860	14,690	223	14,913	1,302	16,215
1861	13,540	184	13,724	675	14,399
1862	18,373	187	18,560	1,517	20,077
1863	21,866	194	22,060	2,621	24,681
1864	19,744	213	19,957	5,098	25,055
1865	36,878	334	37,212	5,672	42,884
1866	38,627	413	39,040	5,740	44,780
1867	37,872	298	38,170	4,675	42,845
1868	43,505	123	43,628	6,442 [sic; 6,422]	50,050
1869	41,217	207	41,424	5,870	47,294
1870	27,392	50	27,442	5,114	32,556
1871	34,639	504	35,143	7,081	42,224
1872	52,828	395	53,223	21,183	74,406
1873	44,278	300	44,578	24,598	69,176
1874	30,152	473	30,625	12,818	43,443
1875	21,561	377	21,938	9,872	31,810
1876	20,615	564	21,179	7,554	28,733
1877	18,573	427	19,000	3,570	22,570
1878	19,932	514	20,446	4,357	24,803
1879	17,030	775	17,805	7,059	24,864
1880	48,359	741	49,100	19,787	68,887
1881	74,400	1,119	75,519	47,612	123,131
1882	80,993	1,100	82,093	31,128	113,221
1883	75,141	1,059	76,200	13,265	89,465
1884	74,103	1,161	75,264	16,339	91,603
Total	1,140,694	15,561	1,156,225 [sic; 1,156,255]	316,112	1,472,367

Number of German overseas emigrants via the Port of Hamburg, 1871–1902
Year	Via Port of Hamburg	Via all ports
Source: Data from and calculated from table, “German Emigration Statistics: 1.—Statement Showing the Number of Over-sea German Emigrants During the Years 1871–1902, and the Ports from Which They Sailed,” in Mason 1904, 41. Note [abbreviated from the original]: Table compiled by Consul-General O[liver] J. D. Hughes, of Coburg, Germany.
1871	30,254	76,224
1872	57,615	128,152
1873	51,432	110,438
1874	24,093	47,671
1875	15,826	32,329
1876	12,706	29,644
1877	10,725	22,898
1878	11,827	25,627
1879	13,165	35,888
1880	42,787	117,097
1881	84,425	220,902
1882	71,164	203,585
1883	55,666	173,616
1884	49,985	149,065
1885	35,335	110,119
1886	25,714	83,225
1887	22,648	104,787
1888	25,402	103,951
1889	22,963	96,070
1890	24,907	97,103
1891	31,581	120,089
1892	28,072	116,339
1893	30,510	87,677
1894	16,297	40,964
1895	13,997	37,498
1896	12,324	33,824
1897	8,802	24,631
1898	8,170	22,221
1899	10,660	24,323
1900	7,617	22,309
1901	7,324	22,073
1902	9,570	32,098
Total	873,563	2,552,437
Percentage	34.22%	100%

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Reference list

Fetridge, W[illiam] Pembroke. 1889. Hand-Book for Travellers in Europe and the East. 28th year, Vol. 2, Germany, Italy, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Greece. New York: Fetridge & Co., https://books.google.com/books?id=r4wtWJC6jikC [title page for vol. 2 erroneously lists countries covered in vol. 1].
Lang, William W. 1887. “Hamburg: Report of Consul Lang,” Emigration and Immigration: Reports of the Consular Officers of the United States, issue 157 of 49th Congress, 2nd session. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 182–193, https://books.google.com/books?id=kn6UTFzwr2IC&pg=PA182.
Mason, Frank H. 1904. “Germany,” Special Consular Reports, vol. 30, Emigration to the United States. Ed. Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, https://books.google.com/books?id=fqpLAAAAYAAJ.

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