Thanks for the information re the distance and method to go from Bohmte to
Bremen. Could you give me a estimate of the distance from Bremen to
Bremenhaven? Thanks Frank Jurenka
The distance between Bremen and Bremerhaven is about 50 km or 18 miles.
I found this notice:
One great problem was the transportation of the emigrants from Bremen to the ships in Bremerhaven. The first steam ship sailed on the Lower Weser as early as 1819, but for the majority of the emigrants, steamships were still too expensive at that time. Therefore they traveled on so-called Weser skiffs, which were small, open river barges with one sail. They were originally intended for the transportation of goods. These skiffs were mostly overfilled, since the cost of transport to Bremerhaven had to be paid by the agencies. Friedrich Gerstacker, a well known contemporary writer, wrote in his diary of 1837 that about 60 passengers plus baggage had to be accommodated on his "barely 25 pace boat." The journey lasted at best only one day, but as a rule it took two to three days. With the exception of the so-called "Bremen Switzerland," a sandy landscape bordering the Weser around Vegesack and Blumenthal, the journey passed through flat marshland, meadows, and fields, their monotony not yet interrupted by industrial development. Insufficient food, rough treatment by the barge captains, frequent delays because of getting stranded on sandbanks, as well as the fact that they were permanently exposed to all manner of weather made the journey very taxing on the passengers. In the 1850s steam tugs shortened the journey to one day and in 1862 transport to Bremenhaven was entirely by rail.
I wish: "Frohe Ostern",
Werner