With the generous help of my friend, Jim Anderson, antique bookseller in Winnipeg, Manitoba, I have been able to copy a rare passenger line brochure intended for immigrants. It’s later than the time period when Icelanders were leaving Iceland to escape economic and social conditions. Still, it provides an interesting insight into part of the immigration process. These passengers aren’t being shut in the bowels of the ship with a herd of horses.

You had to get to Liverpool, of course, and that could be quite a journey. In the summer, you had a choice of destination: Quebec City or Montreal. In winter, you could land at Halifax or Portland. The White Star-Dominion Line provided this small brochure to prepare you for Canada.

First class was, of course, very exclusive, and expensive. If you’ve seen the movie, The Titanic, you’ll have some idea of the luxury that came with a first class ticket. Then there was second class, still, not bad at all, then there was steerage. None of my people in my Icelandic family came first or second class. They were down there with the horses, or crammed there with other immigrants, as many as could be jammed into one spaces. The trick was to survive the fetid atmosphere, the food, the seasickness. Remember that most of these people had never been to sea. Often, nearly everyone was seasick. First person accounts quite frequently say things like, “I was the only person who ate breakfast today.”

I believe that my Irish grandmother came second class.