I've been reading all the Age of Sail info I can get my hands on, but I've had trouble nailing down the practical details of passenger travel from the United States to Europe around the turn of the 19th century.
I know that mass passenger travel wasn't quite A Thing yet, and that most travelers would have looked for a spot on a merchant ship. I know immigrants and indentured servants were coming over from Europe around this time, and under horrible conditions. But surely ships must have had some way of accommodating wealthier passengers who were making the journey to Europe for politics, business, etc. -- right?
So if I were a decently well-off person traveling from New York to Europe in the very late 1700s/early 1800s, and willing to pay extra not to be miserable, what would my accommodations have been like? Would I have slept in a hammock or a bunk? How would I have eaten? Did merchant ships ever reserve or improvise areas for substantial numbers of paying passengers? Did U.S. Navy ships ever carry paying passengers? How often did passengers cross the Atlantic in this direction, anyway?
Thanks for reading -- I've had a hell of a time figuring this out!
(edited for missing word)
Your intuition is correct that passenger travel wasn't quite A Thing, but there were regular sets of ships that would sail out to certain destinations (Britain to India, for example) and back and would carry passengers as part of their freight. The number of young women traveling to India in search of a husband was large enough that the convoys became known as the "fishing fleet," and there is in fact an entertaining though not historically rigorous book of the same name that you may find interesting.
Anyhow, on to the accommodations: Very upper-class folks might be able to pay for a cabin, even the captain's cabin, in which there would be room to sling a hammock or a hanging bed and put one or two pieces of furniture and a chamber-pot. Less fortunates might find themselves in very small cabins around the ship's wardrooms, or carved out of the sailors' living spaces at the front of the ship. (Merchant ships carried far smaller crews than the warships I'm more familiar with, so though I'm not completely familiar with their arrangements, there would have been room for cabins in the forecastle or forepeak.)
Would I have slept in a hammock or a bunk?
Most ships would have accommodated passengers with a hanging bed, but a hammock wouldn't be unusual.
How would I have eaten?
Richer passengers could go in together on a "mess" and buy their own provisions, but there's a limit to how long fresh food would last and most would be reduced to ship's biscuit and salt meat in the end.
Did merchant ships ever reserve or improvise areas for substantial numbers of paying passengers?
Yes, the British East India Company ships had cabins for passengers as part of their normal architecture.
Did U.S. Navy ships ever carry paying passengers?
I have not seen references to this; any passengers would likely be family of officials traveling overseas. But keep in mind that the American navy was tiny before the War of 1812 (and for some time after that, for that matter).
How often did passengers cross the Atlantic in this direction, anyway?
This, I am unfamiliar with, unfortunately.