DE DANSKE THE DANISH DAMPSKIBSLINJER STEAMSHIP LINES At krydse Atlanterhavet i de gamle træskibe betød en rej- Crossing the Atlantic in the old wooden ships meant a journey se på flere uger, hvis ikke måneder, alt afhængig af vejret. of several weeks, if not months, depending on the weather. Da dampkraft og stål blev en del af skibsbyggeriet, blev den Introducing steam and steel as standard in shipbuilding, samme rejse med tiden reduceret helt ned til 10 dage. Den- meant that the same journey was reduced over time to as ne udvikling, og den konstante forøgelse af dampskibenes little as 10 days. These developments, and the progressive størrelse, var nødvendig for, at man kunne holde trit med de growth in size of steamships, was necessary in order to keep millioner af mennesker, der emigrede fra Europa i denne pe- up with the millions of people emigrating from Europe in this riode. period. I 1860 var der ingen direkte linjer fra Skandinavien og over In 1860 there were no direct lines across the Atlantic from Atlanterhavet, så for at komme ombord på et skib til Amerika Scandinavia, so most Danes had to travel to ports in either måtte de fleste danskere rejse til havne i enten England eller England or Germany in order to board a ship to America. But Tyskland. Danske skibsredere indså dog hurtigt, at der kun- Danish shipping magnates soon realised, though, that there ne være et marked for en dansk linje. I 1879 introduceredes could be a market for a Danish Line. In 1879, the Thingvalla Thingvalla Linjen, der tilbød en direkte overfart fra Køben- Line was created. It offered direct passage from Copenhagen havn til New York, og den blev hurtigt en stærk konkurrent til to New York, and the Line quickly became a strong competitor de tyske og engelske dampskibslinjer. to the German and British steamship lines. Selvom den direkte rute og dens skandinaviske besætnin- Although the direct route and the Scandinavian crews were ger var en fordel for linjen, var skibene overordnet set meget an advantage to the line, the ships were generally a lot smaller mindre end konkurrenternes. I 1898 blev Thingvalla Linjen than those of the other lines. In 1898, the Thingvalla Line købt af DFDS og omdøbt til Skandinavien-Amerika Linjen, was bought by DFDS and became the Scandinavian-America men den havde stadig kun begrænset succes. Til trods for at Line, but still the line continued with only moderate success. Skandinavien-Amerika Linjen kæmpede en hård kamp for at Despite putting up a hard fight for a share of the market for få sin del af markedet for transport af emigranter, blev ru- emigration transportation, the Scandinavian-America Line ten indstillet i takt med, at bølgen af emigranter ebbede ud i ended with the fading of the emigration wave in the 1930s. 1930’erne. S/S Thingvalla var Thingvalla linjens flagskib gennem hele den periode, sel- skabet fragtede emigranter over Atlanterhavet. Skibet var involveret i flere uheldige situatione. Den værste var nok kollisionen med S/S Geiser fra sam- me rederi. S/S Thingvalla was the flagship of the Thingvalla Line during the time it con- veyed emigrants across the Atlantic. The ship was involved in some rather unfortunate incidents, the most serious being the collision in 1888 with S/S Geiser, also a Thingvalla Line ship. I denne bygning i New York havde Skandinavien-Amerika Linien deres hoved- kontor. This building was home to the main office of the Scandinavian-American Line in New York. S/S Frederik VIII var den største damper som sejlede for Skandinavien – Ame- rika Linien. Skibet transporterede emigranter fra Danmark til Amerika i peri- oden 1914-1935. S/S Frederik VIII was the largest steamship to sail under the flag of the Scan- dinvian-American Line. The ship transported emigrants from Denmark to America from 1914 to 1935. 9.