In order to search the Ellis Island database by ship name, you must spell the ship name exactly as it was spelled when the search key for it was created. It doesn't matter how the ship name is really spelled. And it doesn't matter how the ship name is spelled on the passenger record that the Ellis Island server displays. Unless you use the ship spelling that appears in the search key, you will not find any matches. Unfortunately that spelling is never displayed to you.

For example, the "Presidente Wilson" is owned by a ship company in Trieste, and that explains why there is an "e" at the end of Presidente. However the search key for this ship in the Ellis Island database is "President Wilson", and therefore you must search for it without the final "e".

To help you determine how the ship name might have been spelled on the search key, I have compiled a list of ship names for which users of my site have reported doing successful searches. This is far from being a complete list. If you find your ship on this list, you should use that spelling when filling in my search form. If you have a ship that is not on the list, and you can assure me that you've done a successful search using your spelling of it, e-mail me and I'll add it to the list.

You must copy the ship spelling exactly. That includes doing the capitilization exactly as indicated. And it means not adding any extra characters, such as SS in front of the ship name.

To make matters worse, some ships have been entered into the database with multiple ship search keys as if they were different ships. For example, some passengers who came over on the steamship St. Louis can be found by using the spelling "St. Louis", others with "St Louis" (no period), and still others with "Saint Louis". I never said this was going to be easy.

A more extensive list of ships (for European ports at least) can be found in the Morton Allan Ship Directory. But even that list does not purport to be complete.

-- Steve Morse