New York, 4 May 1874.
Dear Father, Brothers and Sister-in-Law!
I am happily announcing herewith , that we arrived safe
and sound on Sunday the 3rd at 4:30 - 5:00 in the morning. We had to stay on board ship all day
Sunday, since nobody works here on Sundays. This morning we were taken by tender from the big ship to
New York. Upon arrival at Castle Garden, we had to declare to which state we were traveling. This
took several hours, and there were many people from different inns, and who took us to the hotel. You
can see from the envelope where we are staying. Tomorrow we will continue by train and will write to
you as soon as we get there so that you have our address. All the passengers of the ship “Neckar”
arrived here safe and sound, except for one woman who jumped ship one night and drowned. One person
saw it and was able to catch her by the dress. But the dress tore, and she drowned. She left
3 small children behind on the ship, ages 3, 2 and 15 years. We had been on the way for
15 days and had head-wind constantly, and at times the wind was so strong that the ship was
pitching and tossing. Once, when I was standing at the very front of the deck, because I wanted to
experience the movement of the ship to the fullest, a sudden wave hit us and Clemens was almost
completely soaked.
The “Graf Bismark” left Bremen April 15th and has
not yet arrived in New York. One does not have to fear anything on the ship, like drowning etc., but
all the same it is not a very pleasant journey, since the quarters are so tight and a plain straw
mattress and blanket do not make a comfortable bed. The food, on the whole, was also very bad. On
Sunday, the 26th, we had a storm. The sea was very rough and at night one was tossed to the other
side of the bed. But the thought of the ship sinking did not occur to us. Here in New York,
everything goes splendidly, as far as I could tell. I thought I had seen impressive cities and
things, but something the likes of this I have not seen before. All the buildings are 5-6 stories
high and more and have flat roofs.
They cross the city here by rail. Such a train is
about 20 feet above street level. There is only one track, standing on iron pillars. On it are
the tracks and nothing but the tracks. No banister and nothing. When it derails, the carriages will
tumble down to the street. For the most part, there are only two or three carriages in a row.
I will close for now, because time does not permit more.
It is time for bed, and I am really looking forward to a well-deserved, comfortable bed, after having
been deprived of it for 14 days.
My greetings to all our relatives and friends. Please
let them know that I arrived safe and sound. Greetings to all: father, brothers, sister-in-law,
little Wilhelm and Therese, who will have recovered by now. Greetings also to Bernard Huenck.
[Signed] Clemens Diekämper.Translated by Dori
