Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T22:29:29.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Transition from Sail to Steam in Immigration to the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2005

RAYMOND L. COHN
RAYMOND L. COHN
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Economics, Campus Box 4200, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4200. E-mail: rlcohn@ilstu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The transition from sailing ship to steamship is analyzed for European immigrants arriving at New York City. Based on information taken from the U.S. Passenger Lists, new estimates of the timing and length of the transition are provided. Though the accepted model suggests the changeover from sail to steam could occur in only a few years, it actually took about 15 years in the Europe to New York immigrant trade. The slow transition is found to be due to slow construction of new steamships given uncertainty concerning immigrant volume and new steamship technology.

The most important change in nineteenth century emigrant transportation was that from sail to steam.

Gunter MoltmannMoltmann, “Steamship Transport,” p. 311.

…the transition from sail to steam in the transatlantic immigrant trade was an event of enormous significance for the history of immigration.

Maldwyn Allen JonesJones, American Immigration, p. 157.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , June 2005 , pp. 469 - 495
Copyright
© 2005 The Economic History Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams John. 1993. Ocean Steamers: A History of Ocean-going Passenger Steamships, 1820–1970. London: New Cavendish Books,
Albion Robert Greenhalgh. 1984 The Rise of New York Port (1815–1860). Boston: Northeastern University Press, (reprint of 1939 edition).
Bonsor N. R. P. 1975. North Atlantic Seaway. 3 volumes. New York: Arco Publishing Co.,
Bowen Frank C. 1930. A Century of Atlantic Travel, 1830–1930. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.,
Brattne Berit. 1976. “The Importance of the Transport Sector for Mass Emigration.” In From Sweden to America: A History of the Migration, edited by Harald Runblom and Hans Norman, 176– 200. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
Bromwell William J. 1969 History of Immigration to the United States. New York: Arno Press, (reprint of 1856 edition).
Cohn Raymond L. 1992: “Transatlantic U.S. Passenger Travel at the Dawn of the Steamship Era.” International Journal of Maritime History 4, no. 1 43– 64.Google Scholar
Cohn Raymond L. 2000: “Nativism and the End of the Mass Migration of the 1840s and 1850s.” This JOURNAL 60, no. 2 361– 83.Google Scholar
Coleman Terry. 1972. Going to America. New York: Pantheon Books,
Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York. 1861. Annual Reports of the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York from the Organization of the Commission, May 5, 1847, to 1860. New York,
Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York. 1873 Emigration Report of the State of New York, 1873. New York,
Cowan Helen I. 1961 British Emigration to British North America: The First Hundred Years. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, (revised and enlarged edition).
Davies Peter. 1977. “The Development of the Liner Trades.” In Ships and Shipbuilding in the North Atlantic Region, edited by K. Matthews and G. Panting, 175– 206. St. John's: Maritime History Group, University of Newfoundland,
Dyos H. J., and Aldcroft D. H. 1969. British Transport: An Economic Survey from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth. Leicester: Leicester University Press,
Fry Henry. 1896. The History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, and Co.,
Gardiner Robert, ed. 1993. The Advent of Steam: The Merchant Steamship before 1900. Washington, DC: Naval Institute Press,
Gould J. D. : “European Inter-Continental Emigration, 1815–1914: Patterns and Causes.” Journal of European Economic History 8, no. 3 593– 679.
Gould John H. 1891. “Ocean Passenger Travel.” In Ocean Steamships: A Popular Account of their Construction, Development, Management, and Appliances, edited by F. E. Chadwick, et al, 112– 48. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons,
Graham Gerald S. : “The Ascendancy of the Sailing Ship, 1850–85.” The Economic History Review 9, no. 1 74– 88.
Greenhill Basil. 1968. The Great Migration: Crossing the Atlantic Under Sail. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office,
Guillet Edwin C. 1963 The Great Migration: The Atlantic Crossing by Sailing-Ship Since 1770. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, (second edition).
Harcourt Freda. : “British Oceanic Mail Contracts in the Age of Steam, 1838–1914.” Journal of Transport History 9, no. 4 1– 18.
Harley C. Knick. 1971. “The Shift from Sailing Ships to Steamships, 1850–1890: A Study in Technological Change and its Diffusion.” In Essays on a Mature Economy: Britain after 1840, edited by Donald N. McCloskey, 215– 34. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
Harley C. Knick. 1985. “Aspects of the Economics of Shipping, 1850–1913.” In Change and Adaptation in Maritime History: The North Atlantic Fleets in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Lewis R. Fischer and Gerald E. Panting, 167– 86. St. John's, Newfoundland: Maritime History Group,
Harley C. Knick. 1988: “Ocean Freight Rates and Productivity, 1740–1913: The Primacy of Mechanical Invention Reaffirmed.” This JOURNAL 48, no. 4 851– 76.Google Scholar
Headrick Daniel R. 1988. The Tentacles of Progress: Technology Transfer in the Age of Imperialism, 1850–1940. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
Hutchins John G. B. 1969 The American Maritime Industries and Public Policy, 1789–1914. New York: Russell and Russell, (reissue of 1941 edition).
Hyde Francis E. 1975. Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840–1973. London: Macmillan,
Jones Maldwyn Allen. 1960 American Immigration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, (second edition).
Keeling Drew. 1999. “The Transportation Revolution and Transatlantic Migration, 1850–1914.” In Research in Economic History, vol. 19, edited by Alexander J. Field, 39– 74. Stanford, CT: JAI Press,
Maber John M. 1967. North Star to Southern Cross. Prescott, UK: Stephenson,
Maginnis Arthur J. 1892. The Atlantic Ferry: Its Ships, Men, and Working. London: Whittaker and Co.,
McLellan R. S. 1956. The Anchor Line, 1856–1956. Glasgow: Anchor Line Limited,
Moltmann Gunter. 1989. “Steamship Transport of Emigrants from Europe to the United States, 1850–1914: Social, Commercial and Legislative Aspects.” In Maritime Aspects of Migration, edited by Klaus Friedland, 309– 20. Cologne: Böhlau Verlag,
Page Thomas W. : “The Transportation of Immigrants and Reception Arrangements in the Nineteenth Century.” The Journal of Political Economy 19, no. 9 732– 49.
Palmer Sarah. 1985. “The British Shipping Industry, 1850–1914.” In Change and Adaptation in Maritime History: The North Atlantic Fleets in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Lewis R. Fischer and Gerald E. Panting, 89– 114. St. John's, Newfoundland: Maritime History Group,
Pettersen Lauritz. 1989. “From Sail to Steam in Norwegian Emigration.” In Maritime Aspects of Migration, edited by Klaus Friedland, 125– 31. Cologne: Böhlau Verlag,
Rowland K. T. 1970. Steam at Sea: A History of Steam Navigation. New York: Praeger Publishers,
Slaven A. 1980. “The Shipbuilding Industry.” In The Dynamics of Victorian Business: Problems and Perspectives to the 1870s, edited by Roy Church, 107– 25. London: George Allen & Unwin,
Smith Edgar C. 1937. A Short History of Naval and Marine Engineering. Cambridge: Babcock and Wilcox,
Taylor Philip. 1971. The Distant Magnet. New York: Harper & Row,
Thomas Brinley. 1973 Migration and Economic Growth: A Study of Great Britain and the Atlantic Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (second edition).
Thornton R. H. 1959. British Shipping. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
Tyler David Budlong. 1972 Steam Conquers the Atlantic. New York, Arno Press, (reprint of 1939 edition).
United States Department of the Census. 1976. Historical Statistics of the United States. Washington, DC: GPO,
United States Treasury, Bureau of Statistics. 1893. Arrivals of Alien Passengers and Immigrants in the United States from 1820 to 1892. Washington, DC: GPO,