Monday, September 26, 2011

Maritime Monday: Gyorgy Mika arrives on the S.S. Belgravia

The Belgravia was built in 1899 for the Hamburg America Line.   She sailed primarily between Hamburg and New York until 1905 when she was sold to the Russian navy and renamed Riga.  She was later renamed Transbalt and served as a hospital ship from 1920-1923.   On June 13, 1945, she was mistaken for a Japanese ship and was torpedoed and sunk in the La Perouse Strait by the U.S. submarine Spadefish.

S. S. Belgravia

Gyorgy Mika sailed on the S.S. Belgravia on 05 December 1903 from Hamburg and arrived in New York on 22 December 1903.  He was a 20-year-old single laborer who could not read or write.  His nationality was listed as Hungarian and his race as Slovak.  His last residence was Parahuzocy [sic] and his final destination was Allegheny, PA.  He did not have a ticket to Allegheny when he arrived but he paid his own passage on the ship.  He had $15 or $16 in his possession on landing and this was his first time in the United States.  He stated he was going to join his brother Fedor Mika in Allegheny, PA. He was never previously in prison, or an almshouse or an institution for the insane, nor was he supported by charity.  He was not a polygamist or an anarchist  His health was good and he was not crippled or deformed.  He is shown on line 3 on the passenger list.

(cluck to enlarge)


Information on the Belgravia from http://www.theshiplist.com/, accessed 26 Sep 2011.
Ship image and passenger list accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/ on 26 Sep 2011.

1 comment:

TCasteel said...

Welcome to the Geneabloggers family. You're off to a great start (great minds think alike) :-)
Regards,
Theresa (Tangled Trees)