2025 – AI generated photorealistic image showing the steamer Saxonia which served from 1857 to 1878 on the transatlantic route between Europe and New York, operated by HAPAG. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo:ChatGPT
The story behind the image
Over the past couple of years I’ve been actively researching my family tree. Several relatives emigrated from Europe to the United States of America. The typical way was to board a steamship in Hamburg or Bremen and sail to New York City, via Southampton.
My picture shows a photorealistic AI rendering of the steamer Saxonia, one of the first HAPAG passenger ships on the North Atlantic route, serving the route between 1857 and 1878. On this ship, my great-great-uncle, Detlev Hinrich Utermöhl, travelled to the U.S. at the age of 44 years, joined by his wife, Luise Margaretha Henrietta, née Teckenburg (31), and their four children Johannes Ludwig (7), Gustav Heinrich (5), Marie Louise (3), and Heinrich Wilhelm (6 months.) The family boarded the steamer in Hamburg, Germany, on 24th June 1868 and reached New York City two weeks later, on the 8th July 1868.
Once the immigration paperwork was done, they moved directly to Fountain City, Buffalo, Wisconsin, where they settled. Detlev became a farmer.
The AI rendering is based on a lithography of the Saxonia by Gustav W. Seitz, Hamburg, Germany that has been created around 1873. Sadly, the lithography has aged significantly over the decades, showing a yellow stain (which is acceptable) and many large brown spots (which is quite irritating.) It perfectly illustrates that the passage was not luxury travel by any means. What’s more, it was deadly dangerous. The Austria, a sister ship of the Saxonia was put in service in 1857 as well, serving the same route. Tragically, the Austria sunk in 1858 in the Atlantic Ocean near Newfoundland causing 400+ deaths.
So, it was a long, dangerous, and expensive trip into uncertainty. But still, this family was full of hope and energy and took the risk, and I whole-heartedly admire their brave decision. I strongly believe, that the hundreds of thousands of families with similar stories were the foundation for the unique American spirit that still shines brightly over the country today and truly made it “the land of the free and the home of the brave”.
P.S.: The bravery of the Utermöhls paid off, by the way, and they were pretty successful in Wisconsin and Minnesota. But that’s an entirely different story. 🙂
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Creation Date | 14-DEC-2025 |
| Creator | Mark Zanzig using ChatGPT, based on a 1873 lithography by Artist. Anstalt Gustav W. Seitz, Hamburg |
| Digital Image Source | ChatGPT |
| Digital Image Source Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4649 x 2877 Pixels |
| Copyright | © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: ChatGPT |
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