Travelling

Catalogue Reference:(NMM) N19706

This picture was taken at the Prince of Wales pier in Dover on board the German ship Deutschland in July 1906. (The white cliffs of Dover can be seen in the background.) It shows steerage passengers on the crowded upper deck, perched on lockers and leaning on the rails of the wooden vessel. Travelling steerage was the cheapest form of passenger travel at sea providing very basic living conditions. Although this ship is in fact bound for America from Hamburg, it has been included here as it provides a photographic record of migrants on board ship and is typical of the journeys made by many Jewish people to England.