Steerage

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title: "Steerage" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["shipbuilding", "nautical-terminology", "passenger-ships", "ship-compartments"] description: "Class of passenger accommodation in a ship" topic_path: "general/shipbuilding" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steerage" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Class of passenger accommodation in a ship ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Alfred_Stieglitz_-The_Steerage-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" caption="''[[The Steerage]]'' by Alfred Stieglitz. Taken in 1907 on the ''Kaiser Wilhelm II'' The middle-class passengers on the upper deck are looking down on steerage passengers below."] ::

Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases the Americas and Australia. Many of those people were destitute in their homeland and had only the minimum of resources to procure transportation. The term later widened to imply the lowest category of accommodation on a passenger vessel.

Steerage class travel

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/"Steerage_Emigrants"_(The_Graphic)_MET_MM15333.jpg" caption="''Steerage Emigrants'', print after [[Arthur Boyd Houghton"] ::

Steerage refers to the lowest possible category of long-distance steamer travel. It was available to very poor people, usually emigrants seeking a new life in the New World, chiefly North America and Australia. In many cases, these people had no financial resources and were attempting to escape destitution at home. Consequently, they needed transportation at an absolute minimum cost. In many cases they provided their own bedding and food. Steerage was very cramped and there was hardly any room for fresh air to get there. The poor conditions and the very long voyages could contribute to en route deaths of passengers in steerage. The word likely comes from the fact that these accommodations were originally located near the ship's rudder.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Chinese_steerage_passengers,_on_board_the_S._S._China_en_route_to_Hawai'i_in_1901,eating_their_meals_on_deck.jpg" caption="access-date=2017-04-05}}"] ::

Beds were often long rows of large shared bunks with straw mattresses and no bed linens.

A commentator described conditions in steerage aboard the in 1906:

References

References

1. ''Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus'', HarperCOllins Publishers, Glasgow, 1993, reprinted 2010, ISBN 978 0 00 780782 6
2. Gjenvick, Paul K.. "Steerage Class - Immigrant's Journey {{!}} GG Archives".
3. Solem, Børge. "Steerage Passengers - Emigrants Between Decks".
4. (1906). "On the Trail of The Immigrant". Fleming H. Revell Company.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::