Ocean liners of old: What exactly was 'steerage'?

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

We all know that steerage was the cheapest class of service aboard ocean liners. But what exactly was it? How awful was it? Did single passengers, couples, and families have their own cabins, as ship passengers do today, or did everyone have to sleep in a communal room? Were meals provided for these passengers, or did they have to bring their own food along for the journey? And how much did they have to pay? Groucho Marx recorded in his memoirs that he and his mother traveled to Germany when he was five years old, or around 1900. This was a family that struggled to make ends meet each month, yet they managed to afford the trip, so I’m curious.

[Kent_Clark]

Steerage, from what my grandparents told us, was a large dormitory-style room below the main deck (no portholes). People slept on bunks with no privacy. Not really that much different from the typical barracks shown in old war movies.

Since my gp’s didn’t travel by steerage, they couldn’t say whether the dorms were separated by sex, or what the eating arrangements were.

[UncleBeer]

A pretty good description of the “steerage decks” on the ocean steamers of old can be found at the official Ellis Island website - specifically, this page:
http://www.ellisisland.com/passage.html

A more complete description of the immigrant’s experiences can be had by starting on this page and navigating through the end
http://www.ellisisland.com/indexHistory.html

[spingears]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

We all know that steerage was the cheapest class of service aboard ocean liners. But what exactly was it? How awful was it? Did single passengers, couples, and families have their own cabins, as ship passengers do today, or did everyone have to sleep in a communal room? Were meals provided for these passengers, or did they have to bring their own food along for the journey? And how much did they have to pay? Groucho Marx recorded in his memoirs that he and his mother traveled to Germany when he was five years old, or around 1900. This was a family that struggled to make ends meet each month, yet they managed to afford the trip, so I’m curious.

I wasn’t on the Mayflower but steerage would have beat those accomodations!

Sort of like red eye coach from NY to LA, bleacher seats at Wrigley Park, and/or a 49 VW in a world of SUV’s.

** Steerage Accomodations Vary with the Shipping Line and/or Ship **

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@kunilou

Steerage, from what my grandparents told us, was a large dormitory-style room below the main deck .

I assume you mean ‘dormitory’ in the British school sense, as a largish room with a number of beds in it, rather than in the American university sense of a building housing students, usually one or two to a room?

[DrFidelius]

On old sailing vessels the ropes and or mechanisms that connected the wheel with the rudder ran through the lowest dry part of the bilge.

Thus the term “steerage” for that part of the hull.

[Kent_Clark]

@Spectre of Pithecanthropus

I assume you mean ‘dormitory’ in the British school sense, as a largish room with a number of beds in it, rather than in the American university sense of a building housing students, usually one or two to a room?

Correct.