We’ve all heard of the ships of the emigration but how many of us have actually seen a travel schedule for those ships? These were real ships, real crews, with fares to be collected, schedules to be met. These are the ships that took you to your destination in Iceland or, if you were leaving Iceland, took you away to the distant shores of your dreams. 

Here is one of the posters your ancestors would have seen and studied closely.

Think how intently they would have read the information, the dates, the cost, the accommodation. 

If they were thinking of leaving Iceland, taking young children, how important would be the length of the voyage to Scotland? If they had carefully saved their rigs dollars, had them hoarded in a sock under their pillow, they would have memorized the cost of the fares and, at night, counted their coins once again to see if there were enough silver there to buy a passage and, if there weren’t, they’d have lain in the dark, thinking about how they might get the rest. 

These posters held people’s futures. Ameríka. Ameríka. The land of dreams and opportunity. 

In Independent People Laxness has the fare of the youngest of Bjartur’s sons paid for by a relative already in Amerika. That youngest son later sends money so that one of his brothers can follow him to Amerika but the brother squanders the money on a horse because he has become infatuated with a girl who is above his social station. There will be no Amerika for him. In Paradise Reclaimed, the main character, Steinar of Hliðar, does go to Amerika where he eats turkey and porridge but only at the ruination of his family. He eventually sends money so that they may join him in Utah.

The well-to-do farm owners were opposed and tried to keep information about Amerika and how to get there from reaching their workers. In one instance, an agent who was to give a talk in Reykjavik about the opportunities in Amerika was unable to do so because a group was organized to make so much noise that he could not be heard. In spite of the actions of the farmers, word did spread, small-holders who had sheep and land to sell, often could raise the money necessary. However, many were unable to take their entire family so some children were left behind, sometimes wives were left behind, but with a promise that when there was money to pay for their passage, the family members would be brought to Amerika.

Some families sold everything, travelled to the ports to meet the ships that would take them to England or Scotland only to have the ships come so late that the potential emigrants having had to spend their money for room and board could no longer could pay for a ticket. There are also many stories of individuals borrowing money from friends and family and, when they arrived in Amerika, making their first priority paying off their debt.

The emigrants seldom had large dreams. The poverty in which they lived was such that they often just hoped that life would be improved. In Amerika,  a woman could get a job at five dollars a month with board and room. Five dollars, for some farm workers, was the equivalent of two year’s wages. Ameríka, where the letters said, there was lots of food and it was good. Where a man didn’t have to be worth four hundreds (the equivalent of the value of four cows) before he could legally marry. Ameríka. Where your employer didn’t have the right to beat you with a rod or a tree root. And the first giant step to having your own land was a voyage to Scotland.

Surprisingly, although many North Americans of Icelandic descent can say in what year their langi afi or amma came to Amerika, few have any idea of what conditions were like. This original poster will provide a lot of information about what those great grandparents had to pay and what the voyage was like. Think of them seeing this poster and how it must have affected them.

(image from The Home of the Eddas, Charles G. Warnford Lock, 1872. A somewhat shorter version of this article originally appeared in Logberg-Heimskringla. Consider subscribing.)