In my search of the archives for information on the Commodore Perry which sailed in 1855 bringing my German ancestor to Australia, I came across this message and thought I would add to the message for anyone who may be interested. A more complete article reads: A curious circumstance in connection with the emigration of the last year is that about 31,600 German emigrants sailed from Liverpool in preference to sailing from Hamburg, Bremen, Rotterdam, or Antwerp. The arrangements are now so complete that they find it cheaper and more expeditious to cross over to England by steamer, and make their way to Liverpool rather than to ship at the ports of their own country, or those of Ireland or Belgium. The greater part of the German emigrants who sailed from Liverpool in 1852, were from the duchy of Baden and the kingdom of Wurtemberg; and there were also 2,000 emigrants from Switzerland. They all came down the Rhine, and most of them reached Liverpool by way of Rotterdam and Hull, though some came by the Cork Company's steamers directly from Rotterdam, and others by sea from Hamburgh...(Source: Reynolds's Newspaper, February 6, 1853, p.3) There are passenger lists for those Germans leaving through Hamburg, but virtually no records exist if they left through other ports. Many may have left Germany through unofficial means and so there may be no records of their leaving other than possibly those that may be in their village records. Helen, in Australia ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re: [TSL] FROM GERMANY TO AUSTRALIA VIA ENGLAND 1854/5 Sue Swiggum <[email protected]> on 17/05/2003 Hi Carol, You might be interested in this interesting tid-bit posted to this list in February this year. The lister who posted this, found it in the Glasgow Herald. Unfortunately it doesn't go into detail of how they reached England. 150 YEARS AGO A CURIOUS circumstance in connection with the emigration of the last year is that about 31,600 German emigrants sailed from Liverpool in preference to sailing from Hamburg, Bremen, Rotterdam, or Antwerp. The arrangements are now so complete that they find it cheaper to cross to England and make their way to Liverpool. The greater part of the German emigrants who sailed in 1852 were from the Duchy of Baden and the Kingdom of Wurtemberg. ________________________________________ Sue -- At 04:29 PM 2003-05-17 +1000, Carol Foulger wrote: >Hi everyone, > >I have another query: > >Church records indicate my SOMMER family left Untereisesheim near >Heilbronn (in the southern part of Germany) on 18th December 1854. > >We know they sailed from Liverpool on the Commodore Perry on 12th January >1855 (her maiden voyage). > >I can guess that they travelled down the Rhine perhaps part of the way, >and went from Hamburg to a port on the east coast of England, but are >there records which will tell me? > >It must have been some journey at that time of the year, with 3 children, >the youngest a baby of 6 weeks, who, like a lot of others, "died on >voyage". > >TIA > >Carol in Australia