Nine Weeks on the Bark "Erna"

At the docks of Bremerhaven, a port about 30 miles from the town of Bremen by train, on October 25, 1870, the noise was loud and overwhelming. Ships came in and out, and passengers jostled among merchants, dock hands, and ship crews. Many passengers lined up with their few belongings to board ships. One man, his wife, and their children were part of this crowd: Martin Zapalač (42), his wife, Marianna [Mary] (39), and their children, Johann [John] (7), Rosara [Rosalie] (3), and Johann (age not stated). From the small village or hamlet of Neu Hrozenkau [Novy Hrozenkov], then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of the Czech Republic), they left behind their family, relatives, friends, and the life they had known. First, they crossed the border into what was becoming the North German Confederation, and then into the free city-state of Bremen. Wealthier emigrants came by train or coach; poorer ones walked. ^[1]

They must have been overwhelmed by the thousands of people milling around. They stood in line to board the ship Bark Erna, a three-masted ship whose tallest mast rose as high as a nine- or ten-storied building. The crossing to Galveston, Texas, would take nine weeks. Within a few years, these ships would be replaced by steamships, and the passage would take only a few days. We can only guess what they went through to reach this boarding line: questions from the brusque emigrant officers, sour looks at the country-style clothing they wore and the bundles they carried.

As steerage passengers, they generally occupied a communal “between-deck” below the weather deck. Closely arranged wooden berths, but limited under Bremen regulations to two tiers, accommodated adults and children. The compartment also functioned as their principal living space during the crossing. ^[2] During this passage, they lost Johann (age not stated), perhaps just an infant, or possibly born during this time. ^[3] We will never know whether the crowded, unsanitary conditions were to blame. Where there had been hope, there was now despair and further suffering for the parents.

Once they arrived in the port of Galveston, they were herded into immigrant arrival buildings along the wharf, questioned again by stern-faced men who spoke their language and compared the passenger list names to match the names recorded at Bremerhaven. Before they were allowed to leave, they were asked more questions about their health, finances, ability to support themselves, and destination. ^[4] Outside they would have seen something new to them. Slavery had only ended five years before, and Martin and his family may have been struck by all the African-descended workers at the docks. This new land was a different world from what they had left behind. How the Zapalačs got to the little town of Dubina is unknown. They may have walked or hired a wagon to transport them. But they, like other Czech families, had hopes and dreams for themselves and their children in this new country.

1. Linda Schaitberger, Early American History: Rigors of the Journey Made by German Emigrants to the U.S. (https://www.revisionist.net/hysteria/german-exodus.html : accessed 21 September 2026).↩︎
2. “Emigration Vessel—Between Decks,” Illustrated London News, May 10, 1851, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/2004670977/ : accessed 23 September 2026).↩︎
3. Galveston Immigration Foundation, database, Galveston Immigration Database (https://ghf.destinationnext.com/immigration/Search.aspx : accessed 22 September 2026); Family: Zapalac, Arrival Date: December 28, 1870, Vessel: Erna.↩︎
4. Ibid.↩︎