Search for a ship
Maybe you’re living in Europe and you are searching information about an ancestor immigrated to America. Or maybe you live in America and you would like to know in what vessel your ancestor arrived to your country. The date of arrival and the name of the ship in which your ancestor immigrated are real landmarks of your genealogical research.
This browser looks for information about ships transporting passengers immigrating to several countries in specific websites about immigration. Websites in different languages giving information about ships with immigrants: pictures, history of ships, navigation routes, ports of entry, and so on. You can read the information in English, French, Spanish or Italian.
Type here the name of the ship you are interested in:
Archive Websites Containing Information About Ships
Here we propose a list of websites that contain information and images related to the large ships that transported immigrants. Some of these sites are no longer online, but an archived copy of them can be consulted.
- The Ship Search on the Ellis Island Website – You will need to register to access the ship’s image, but it is free.
- Palmer List of Merchant Vessels – This site, developed by Michael Palmer, offers a catalog of merchant vessels, detailing name changes and owners over time. In some cases, photographs are also included. The list is organized alphabetically (available in the Oocities archive).
- Magellan – The Ships Encyclopedia – By clicking on a letter listed in the left frame of the page, a list of all ship names that begin with the selected letter will be displayed. Alongside the names, various icons usually indicate the available information, such as the ship’s description, photographs, manifests, and/or travel records. If this information is available, selecting the name of a specific ship will show the dates of the trips made. To see the details of each trip, including different stops and the final destination port, you must click on each one.
- Immigrant Ships – A compilation of ship descriptions organized alphabetically by Lou Alfano. Although it does not include photos, it provides links within some descriptions to obtain them, as well as other related links.
- Ships Arriving in the US during 1890-1930 – A list of ships that arrived in the United States. By selecting a name, a table will be displayed with the following details: ship’s name, arrival date, ports of call, arrival port, and the name of the ship-owning company.
- French Lines (in French) – The archives of the French companies Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Messageries Maritimes, and Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée are preserved by the Frenchlines association. In an older version of their website, the Index des navires link offered images of many ships belonging to the companies mentioned above, as well as images of ships that belonged to this company.
- Old Ships Picture Galleries -Images, photos, postcards, and paintings of old ships, ports, and other historical maritime images.