Once people had agreed to emigrate to Nova Scotia, how to get them there?
The Autobahn had not yet been constructed,
so they had to use the only “highways” available:
the rivers connected to the Rhine River.
The emigrants presumably collected together their worldly goods,
packed them onto barges, and
floated down the rivers to the ocean at Rotterdam, Holland.
En route, they would have passed toll “booths’ where they would be taxed.
If they could not pay, they may have had to sell off some of their goods.
In Rotterdam, they rendezvoused with John Dick
and boarded their ships for the long voyage to Halifax.
This map shows how far they had to travel.
Their accommodations were not luxurious.
This painting by Nova Scotian marine artist Franklyn Lloyd Wright
is his rendition of one of the ships:
the Gale entering Halifax Harbour in 1752.
From the scale of those standing on deck,
you can see that these were not big ships.
They would have been on board for about a week before embarking in June.
The “cruise” lasted from 9 to 15 weeks and
they may have had to remain with their ship for several weeks after arrival.
Presumably they got to know each other by the time they arrived in Halifax.
The conditions at sea must have been dreadful,
especially since mortality en route ranged up to 16%, or one in six.
The young and old were at greatest risk.
Passage was not free.
Adult fare was about the equivalent of $1800,
children 4-14 paid half fare, and those younger were free.
Many of the families could not afford to pay,
presumably due to having had to pay river tolls.
They were loaned the fares by the British,
with the promise of repayment after arrival in Halifax
by providing labour in the building of fortifications and houses.
They had to sign for the indebtedness;
signatures of over 800 men are available.
The records of amounts owing were very useful
in determining the sizes of the various families.
The following signatures are those of some of my ancestors.
Presumably, the JUNG families were reasonably well off -
there is no record of them having to borrow the cost of the passage.
This map shows the relative locations of Halifax and Lunenburg.
Charlottetown is notable as being the place of my birth
and Sackville is where I grew up.
Halifax was chosen as the capital
because it had a deep harbour protected by outer islands.
It was also protected by a high hill
upon which a well defended citadel was built.
This shows the inner harbour with the location in the city
where the JUNG family lived for three years.
The lots were not large.
In this picture, the lots would have been
the width of the parking lot and stretch halfway up the block.
Andreas’ lot was the second on the street
and that presently occupied by the house.
Germany 1728-1750 | Getting to Halifax | Getting to Lunenburg| Out Onto the Land | Andreas JUNG at work | My Ancestors | Fishing for Cod | Lunenburg Architecture| Headstones |
European Adventure Home Page
(Memoirs of two weeks in Germany, Montbeliard, France and Northern Switzerland
on a Genealogical trek to discover roots.)