Caronia's Passenger Lists - Page 1
One piece of ephemera that still has its uses, even today, is the Passenger List. At the time the list would become part of the ship's manifest, giving brief details of travellers aboard. A copy was distributed to every cabin, usually within hours of the ship having left its departure port.
For passengers the list was useful in knowing who fellow travellers were, and would often become cherished keepsakes. To this end, there was usually a page for collecting autographs. The booklets themselves were often quite lavish for their size and function.
Because preparing the printing plates for these lists was literally done by hand, and as such was a time-consuming process, the main body of the booklet would probably be produced ashore. Then, following the embarkation, the on-board print shop would produce an addendum that would often be “tipped in”, i.e. affixed as an extra page usually within the back cover.
These days, the Passenger List is scrutinised closely as proof of travel for people who emigrated, confirming a date of arrival in a far off land. However, it should be noted that published lists without their addendum attached are not definitive for this purpose. Because the published lists were prepared in advance it's probable that some listed passengers did not embark and others embarked without being listed.
