Maritime Monday: The Volturno

My great grandfather, Panko Hruszczak, arrived in Ellis Island on Thursday, 20 April 1911 on the Volturno. He boarded the Volturno in Rotterdam, traveling by himself. He was just 18 years old. My twins are 16 and I still get nervous when they cross the highway and Panko's parents saw their son off as he traveled across the Atlantic by himself to a new country where he was to meet his uncle.

Did he know anyone else on board? There were 1,024 passengers. There were 24 in first class and 1000 in third class. He listed that his final destination was Coatesville, PA to see his uncle Onifer Romanko.

The ship was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Glasgow, Scotland in 1906. It was built for New York & Continental Line, British flag. The year before my great grandfather boarded it, in 1910, she was sold to the Uranium Line, British flag. According to the Ellis Island site, the ship weighed 3,602 gross tons and measured 340 feet long and 43 feet wide. It used Steam Triple Expansion engines with a twin screw. She sailed between the Dutch port of Rotterdam and New York City. On the westbound trips, she would stop Halifax. The complete circuit would take about four weeks. Therefore, my great grandfather, and many others, spent two weeks on board.

In October of 1913, she was destroyed by fire while in the North Atlantic.

Maritime Monday is a genealogy prompt of GeneaBloggers.

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