GALLERY TEXTS ENG GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR CAFÉ THE SHIPPING LINE 9 1 ALWAYS ON THE MOVE 19 2 THE KEY WITNESSES 23 3 THE DEPARTURE 25 4 THE TRAIN JOURNEY 31 5 STAYING IN ANTWERP 35 6 GROUND FLOOR SHOWERS AND DISINFECTION 49 7 THE DOCTOR’S VISIT 55 8 FIRST FLOOR TRAVELLING STEERAGE 59 9 LIFE ON BOARD 65 10 ARRIVING IN AMERICA 73 11 THE AMERICAN DREAM 79 12 AN OPEN ENDING 87 13 ANTWERP TODAY 89 14 DANCE, HANS OP DE BEECK 91 15 AN OPEN HOUSE 93 16 PASSENGER LISTS 97 17 CAFÉ 7 1 2 3 3 4 5 4 6 7 8 9 ELEVATOR 10 11 12 13 1 14 2 15 16 17 THE SHIPPING LINE 1 GROUND 2 3 FLOOR 4 7 1 11 12 13 14 1 1 17 7 THE SHIPPING LINE 1 2 3 4 7 ELEVATOR 1 11 12 13 1 14 1 1 17 THE 1 1 2 3 SHIPPING 4 5 LINE 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 THE SHIPPING LINE 1·1 THE HISTORY OF THE RED STAR LINE Philadelphia In 1871 Peter Wright & Sons, a company of Phil- adelphia-based shipbrokers, founded the Inter- national Navigation Company, with the aim of operating a transatlantic steam line under foreign 1 flag. Ships and crews were quite expensive in the 2 United States. 3 Peter Wright & Sons specialised in oil exports 4 and it was their intention to export oil from the 5 United States to Europe and to ferry migrants 6 from Europe to America on the way back. Clement Acton Griscom, who was one of the partners at 7 Peter Wright & Sons, was appointed president of 8 the new company. 9 The Pennsylvania Railroad Company provided 10 the funds given that the new shipping line also 11 created new prospects for it as the company’s 12 trains would transport the passengers and cargo arriving in Philadelphia to other destinations in 13 the US. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company built 14 new docks and terminals in the port of Philadel- phia, as well as a train station, a loading quay 15 and grain silos. 16 17 1 THE SHIPPING LINE Antwerp In 1872 Griscom travelled to Antwerp, in search of a European port for his shipping line. Since the 1860s Antwerp was an important port for Ameri- can oil exports. Peter Wright & Sons had good trade contacts there, including with the promi- nent ship owner, Jules-Bernard von der Becke and his brother-in-law, William-Edward Marsily. Griscom started negotiations with King Leopold II and the Antwerp town council, which led to the 1 establishment of the “Société Anonyme de Navi- 2 gation Belgo-Américaine” or SANBA, a subsidi- 3 ary of the International Navigation Company, in September 1872. Von der Becke and Marsily 4 were appointed as directors, receiving 10% of 5 the shares. The ships sailed under the name Red 6 Star Line. 7 In 1877 the Belgian state granted the monopoly 8 on all mail transport to the United States to 9 SANBA and the City of Antwerp exempted it from mooring and pilotage fees. 10 11 So the line had everything going for it, except 12 one thing: the American government prohibited all combined transports of oil and passengers. As 13 a result the Red Star Line never transported oil. 14 New York 15 Soon the Red Star Line also turned its sights on 16 New York, the biggest port on the East Coast of 17 11 THE SHIPPING LINE the United States. The Belgian Government grant- ed a 100,000 dollar subsidy to anyone providing a fortnightly, regular connection between Antwerp and New York. On 12 March, 1874 the Red Star Line’s first ship, Cybele, sailed for New York. In the 1880s the shipping line annually transport- ed about 25,000 steerage or third-class passen- gers to New York, a figure which would rise in the 1 next few decades until 1913, when the Red Star 2 Line transported no fewer than 117,000 passen- 3 gers to and from America including about 70,000 passengers in second and third class. 4 5 From 1902 the Red Star Line became part of the 6 International Mercantile Marine Company, an American trust. There were no longer any Belgian 7 shareholders. The Red Star Line also made agree- 8 ments with other trans-Atlantic lines about ticket 9 pricing and the distribution of the migrants. The North Atlantic Shipping Conference, which had 10 been established in 1908 by all the major British 11 and continental shipping lines, allocated 9.71% of 12 all immigrant traffic to the Red Star Line. From 1903 onwards ships bound for Philadelphia 13 also called at Boston and Baltimore (from 1904), 14 where they mainly unloaded cargo. 15 Liverpool 16 The First World War started in 1914 and Germa- 17 ny promptly invaded Belgium leading to the 12 THE SHIPPING LINE evacuation of the Red Star Line’s fleet from Antwerp. Almost all of the line’s ships now sailed under British flag and the European headquarters were moved to Liverpool. The ships were used as hospital ships or to transport Canadian and Amer- ican troops, as well as cargo and emergency aid from America to Belgium, via the Netherlands. All migrant traffic from Antwerp had ground to a complete halt. 1 Antwerp 2 From the autumn of 1919 onwards the Red Star 3 Line sailed from Antwerp again, reprising its activities at its pre-war level. In the early Twen- 4 ties the shipping line tested new departure ports 5 for migrants, including Libau in Russia, Danzig 6 in Poland and Hamburg in Germany. Halifax in Canada was selected as a new destination on the 7 other side of the ocean. 8 9 In 1921, however, the United States decided to cut down on immigration, leading to an immedi- 10 ate drop in the numbers of immigrants. Never- 11 theless, in 1923, the Red Star Line marked its 12 fiftieth anniversary with several festivities. The new Belgenland, the fleet’s biggest ship, made a 13 triumphant entry into the port of Antwerp. 14 In order to counter the consequences of the 15 reduced immigrant traffic the Red Star Line 16 among others started to focus on tourism and 17 13 THE SHIPPING LINE car transport from the United States but this did not prove to be as profitable as expected. Hamburg The crash of the stock market in New York dealt the final blow. In 1934 the Red Star Line trans- ported a paltry 4,000 passengers. Under the protectionist policy of the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, American shipping 1 lines were forced to stop all foreign operations 2 during the Great Depression. By the end of 1934 3 the International Mercantile Marine Company liquidated the Société Anonyme de Navigation 4 Belgo-Américaine. A German ship owner, Arnold 5 Bernstein, who was based in Hamburg, acquired 6 the Red Star Line name as well as buying Penn- land and Westernland and continuing to use the 7 facilities in Rijnkaai. 8 9 Rotterdam Arnold Bernstein was Jewish. As a result he was 10 imprisoned in 1937 by the Nazis, who accused 11 him of smuggling currency and forgery. During 12 his absence the Red Star Line continued to amass arrears, leading to the seizure of all the line’s 13 assets by the bank. In June 1939 the German 14 government sold the shipping line to the Holland- America Line, which was based in Rotterdam but 15 which continued to operate a Red Star Line route 16 between Antwerp and New York until the Fifties. 17 14 THE SHIPPING LINE 1·2 VADERLAND On 20 January, 1873 the Vaderland departed on her maiden voyage from Antwerp, with Captain Theodore vander Heyden at the helm. The ship was bound for Philadelphia via Falmouth in Great Britain. The journey was quite difficult. As a result of the heavy storms in the Atlantic the ship ran out of coal earlier than expected and was forced to call at Halifax in Canada for more coal. On 17 1 February, 1873 the Vaderland finally sailed into 2 the port of Philadelphia. 3 She was the Red Star Line’s first ship and its first 4 steam-powered oil tanker. The oil could be direct- 5 ly pumped into the hermetically sealed compart- 6 ments. Up until then barrels were used for this, or larger free-standing tanks. The ship was easy 7 to recognise: the engine room and chimney were 8 at the back, near the prow. 9 Following the American ban on the combined 10 transport of oil and passengers the ship ulti- 11 mately only carried passengers and dry cargo. 12 13 14 15 16 17 1 THE SHIPPING LINE 1·3 RIJNKAAI From the start the Red Star Line’s moorings were in Rijnkaai (Rhine Quay). In 1873 Rijnkaai was still situated quite far out of the city centre, in the north of the port, near Rijn Station, which facili- tated the loading of goods straight onto trains. The Red Star Line wanted to import flammable oil but the town decreed that the oil could only 1 be unloaded here, far from the city centre, given 2 that there already were two oil depots as well as 3 plans for a pipeline. 4 The American authorities thought that the 5 combined transport of oil and passengers was too 6 dangerous, however, which is why they banned it.