In Hamburg, fifty-three-year old Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, his forty-six-year old wife Julianne, and their children Doretta (22), Heinrich (19), Minna (17), Wilhelm (15), Hermann (12), Albert (9) and Anna (7) board the three-mast propellor steamer “Helena Sloman”, sharing the steerage with 224 other passengers. Under the command of Captain P.N. Paulson, the ship departs to her maiden voyage to New York.