The Atlantic crossing

When I started my search for the details of the Pequegnat family emigration, I consulted the book series, "Germans to America," by Ira A. Glazier and P. Wm. Filby.  Volume 20 showed that Francois Pequegnat made the trip to America ahead of his wife, Pauline.  He traveled on the ship Bellona and arrived in New York on Sept. 23, 1867.  It is interesting to note that there were sixteen other emigrants from Switzerland on this same ship.

Volume 22 of this same book series shows the ship Westphalia.  Pauline Pequegnat is listed among the passengers, along with her brother, Adolph, her sister, Melanie, and children Emma and Anne (this should be Ami).  The Westphalia left the port of Hamburg, Germany on April 29, 1869 and arrived in New York on May 11, 1869.

By doing more research, I learned that the Westphalia was built in 1868 for the Hamburg America Line. She was a 3,158 gross ton ship, length 339.9 ft. x beam 40 ft.  She had one funnel, two masts, iron construction, single screw and a speed of 12 knots.  There was accommodation for 90 first, 130 second, and 520 third class passengers.  I found a picture of this ship, and it is hard to imagine a total of 740 people packed into such a small space.

The ship's manifest shows that the Pequegnat family was "below decks".  You can bet they were packed in like sardines.  The books I consulted gave graphic details of the horrible conditions emigrants had to endure during the crossing.