Germans by the Shipload Slide 1

Date: 13 Sep 1750 to 6 Sep 1752
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia GERMANS BY THE SHIPLOAD

SLIDE 1

This is a study of several different variables from ten ships of Palatine German emigrants that arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1750, the purpose of which was to see which of the variables was most closely linked with the high death rate.

This page examines whether the number of passengers, by itself, would have a causal relationship with the worst outcomes.

Palatine Ships to Nova Scotia¹—Ordered by Passenger Load—Top Five (Highest)

	Passenger Counts				Departure	Departure	Arrival	Arrival
Names of Ships	Start	End	Deaths	Loss%	(Calendar)	(Ordinal)	(Calendar)	(Ordinal)	Crossing Days
(1) ANN	322	305	17	5.3%	7/1/1750	(183)	9/13/1750	(256)	74
(2) MURDOCK	298	269	29	9.7%	6/25/1751	(176)	10/1/17512	(274)	98
(3) SPEEDWELL2	276	263	13	4.7%	4/30/1752	(121-L)3	7/14/1752	(196-L)	75
(4) PEARL1	264	232	32	12.1%	6/30/1751	(181)	9/24/1751	(267)	86
(5) SALLY	258	218	40	15.5%	5/9/1752	(130-L)	9/6/1752	(250-L)	120
Averages	283.6	257.4	26.2	9.24%	June 7th	(158)	Sep 6th	(248)	91

Palatine Ships to Nova Scotia¹—Ordered by Passenger Load—Bottom Five (Lowest)

	Passenger Counts				Departure	Departure	Arrival	Arrival
Names of Ships	Start	End	Deaths	Loss%	(Calendar)	(Ordinal)	(Calendar)	(Ordinal)	Crossing Days
(6) PEARL2	251	212	39	15.5%	5/23/1752	(144-L)	8/21/1752	(234-L)	90
(7) GALE2	249	220	29	11.6%	5/19/1752	(140-L)	9/6/1752	(250-L)	110
(8) SPEEDWELL1	229	212	17	7.4%	5/6/1751	(126)	7/21/1751	(202)	76
(9) GALE1	214	205	9	4.2%	5/30/1751	(150)	8/8/1751	(220)	70
(10) BETTY	161	154	7	4.3%	4/30/1752	(121-L)	7/14/1752	(196-L)	75
Averages	220.8	200.6	20.2	9.15%	May 16th	(136)	Aug 8th	(220)	84

Comparison of Data Ranked By Passenger Load

Averages For Top Five Highest Loaded.........................	June 7th – Sep 6th (91 days)	283.6 passengers (9.24% loss)
Averages For The Five Lowest Loaded..........................	May 16th – Aug 8th (84 days)	220.8 passengers (9.15% loss)

Analysis of Results
The reader can immediately see that there is very little difference between these two groups of data. Although the ships began—and finished—their crossings of the North Atlantic at different points, the two crossings were of quite similar lengths: 91 versus 84 days, so only 7 days difference between the two crossing lengths. The two loss percentages are similar as well: 9.24 versus 9.15 percent, so within 0.09 percent of each other—that's zero point oh nine percent, a negligible difference.

The Next Variable
Mr. John Dick seemed to be blaming the weather—speaking at various times about adverse winds and such things, and stating that losses many times just couldn't be avoided. Therefore, it seemed logical that we should also compare the late crossers of the North Atlantic with the earliest ones. Surely this would show a big difference in outcomes. (Right? )

To do the study by crossing date, we need to reorder the above list from latest to earliest crossing date.

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Footnotes
(1) For this study, two ships (Alderney and Nancy) were eliminated due to lack of passenger counts which makes it impossible to do comparisons.
(2) Arrival date for the Murdock was incorrectly said to be September 31st, which has been changed to October 1st.
(3) "-L" signifies that it was a Leap year.

Sources
The History of Nova Scotia: Landry, Peter. The Lion and the Lily. Part 5: "The Intermission." Chapters 6 ("Immigrants by the Shipload") and 8 ("The Settlement of Lunenburg"). Also the table titled, "Twelve Immigrant Ships: The Arrivals at Halifax, 1750-52," linked from the text in Chapter 6. These materials, along with the list of ships and their data, were freely available online at at a website called BluePete.com, which I visited on various dates in Feb 2023. This book is available from various booksellers.