Hi everyone I noticed some talk about typing German characters. For those of you who use Macintoshes it's even easier. No need for ASCI codes and the like. To get u with an umlaut type u with the option key held down, then let go and type u again. The other letters work the same way. For an a with an umlaut type u with the option key held down, then let go and type a. For o with an umlaut type u with the option key held down, then let go and type o. Option and s will give you the German double s. Remember, however, that sending by e-mail on any platform will sometimes garble these. On Web pages you can ungarble accented characters in many cases in Netscape by going to the character encoding choice in (I think) the Options Menu and being sure that it is set to Western (or something like that)--usually the first choice. Hope this helps. Colin Talcroft (researching HEINIG and KRATZSCH from around Langenleuba-Niederhain (near Chemnitz and Altenburg) and MOLDENHAUER and STEHLING (from Berlin). Anybody know anything about a ship called the "President Smidt"? Ancestors (Kratzsch) arrived on this ship from Bremen in New York in July 1854. Also, anybody know anything general about ship ROUTES? I have a HEINIG that left Bremen 1861 and arrived in Baltimore in the same year but is supposed to have been shipwrecked on "Sandy Island" Only thing that makes sense is Sanday Isle in northern Scotland, but would boats have gone to America NORTH of the British Isles? Any thoughts appreciated.