I was wondering if any one ever heard of Immigrant Ships being 'hijacked' or 'pirated'. I have a family legend about a ship from Germany around 1884 that was boarded and all of the men except for some of the crew were tossed over board allowing the women to resume their voyage. I am specifically looking for a family by the name of Schroeder. If any one knows where I can obtain such information I would be delighted.
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While it is possible I would venture to speculate that the type of men who would do such a thing would not allow the ship be to make port later or that any woman were spared any unpleasantantries. But if it was allowed and you are looking for a family then the wife and children would still be on a passenger manifest at the port they ship went to. There should also be some newspapers or government accounts of such a horrendous event. The ship may have gone to a nearest port or back to port of origin, instead of the planned destination.
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I am inclined to agree with DecMay - this sounds like a "romantic" family story to me. However, first of all which flag was the ship sailing under - this is not necessarily the same as the last country she sailed from - i.e. she was not necessarily a German ship. I would start by making enquiries at Lloyds - it seems to me that if such a dramatic incident did occur it is unlikely it was not reported at Lloyds. Or enquire at, for example, Hamburg, their port records would be bound to have some report if it was a sailing under the German flag. At that date such an incident would be widely known about especially if a boatload of ladies arrived in some port as witnesses. Good luck.
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This is just speculation but back then men were more chivalrous and didn't feel women were a threat either. Look at titanic Women and children only. Pirates I'm not sure they'd be too worried about being recognised as in international seas not sure who would prosecute No personal cameras So to me could be true. Newspapers from ports nearby should have an account of the incident
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Pirate ships, as all ships, need/needed fuel, food and water - i.e.they needed a base so where was a pirate who was attacking a ship between Germany and North America based? No secret islands in the middle of the Atlantic to my knowledge. Liverpool, Queenstown (Cobh), Baltimore, New York? In addition pirates attacked ships for some sort of profit - what profit would they have gained from killing all the men and sending the women on their way. As a general rule pirates sank ships when they had got what they wanted - just to make sure there was no evidence left behind. By the 1880s most of the European powers had powerful navies which would soon have searched them out.
Men were no more chivalrous at that time than they have ever been. Titanic - do read up the facts. Whether you were saved or not depended far more on which class you were than sex or age - and as for chivalry - well if it really had been "women and children first" Bruce Ismay would never have needed to kill himself because of the opprobrium poured on him after he had made sure he was safe regardless of the hundreds still on board and Duff Gordon who was saved in a lifeboat carrying only 12 people when it had room for 40 would not have had to bribe the coxswain (he always denied this - but he would, wouldn't he?) to row away instead of picking up those in the water because he thought they might upset or swamp the boat. A total of 1517 people perished - 61% of 1st class passengers survived while only 24% of 3rd class passengers made it.
For anyone who knows anything about the sea the story is simply not credible.
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