Source Information

Ancestry.com. New York Port, Ship Images, 1851-1891 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2004. Original data: Ship images obtained from and reproduced courtesy of Mystic Seaport.

About New York Port, Ship Images, 1851-1891

This database is an index to images (photographs and artistic renderings) of ships that arrived from foreign ports at the port of New York from 1851-1891. Information contained in the index includes the given name, surname, age, and gender of passengers along with their arrival date, port of departure and ship name. The arrival date, port of departure and ship name are the items used to link passengers to the ship photos. Each of these items may be used to search the index in the search template provided.

Additional ship information includes the ship photo, build date, shipping line, tonnage, mast/funnels, and route. It is important to note that some ships were reconfigured after their initial build out. Therefore, a photo of a ship may not always completely match the description of it. Also, in some cases a photo of a sister ship has been substituted in place of an actual photo of a ship. A sister ship is exactly the same except for the ship's name, so it's as if the photo is of the actual ship.

It is important to note that the port of departure listed on the passenger lists is not always the original port of departure for many of the individuals on the list. A ship could make several voyages throughout the year, making several stops along way. Oft times the port of departure found on these lists is the most recent port the ship was located at prior to arriving at the port of New York. Therefore, if your ancestors emigrated to the U.S. from Germany, they could be found on a passenger list coming from Liverpool, England (if, in this case, the ship left from Bremen, Germany then continued on to Liverpool, England before arriving in New York).

The ship photos in this database have been arranged chronologically by arrival date of vessel. If you do not wish to search this database using the search template above, the images may be browsed following the chronological arrangement provided. To browse the photographs first select the "Year" in which you would like to search, followed by the "Month", and finally the "Ship Name".