Hinrich Hellmers’ first stop in New Orleans was in 1847. He may have used this date when he later applied for citizenship on 18 February 1864. The naturalization certificate says that he “arrived here in 1847 under 18 years of age.” (In early 1847, when the ship Leontine arrived in New Orleans, he would have been 18 years old.)
In 1852, Hinrich made his second and last stop in New Orleans. The Bremen seamen’s records indicated that he deserted [“desertirt”] from the ship Olbers and noted that “the evening before [deserting] he entered the cabin in order to extort money from the Captain by threat” [“war Abends vorher in die Kajüte gedrungen um unter Drohung vom Captain Geld zu erpressen”].
Below is a sample page from the Musterungslisten der Schiffe, geführt vom Bremer Wasserschout 1837 Juli – 1873 Mai, FS 5364-5368; Seemannsamt Bremen, Record Group 4,24-E.7; Staatsarchiv Bremen, Germany.
The entry for Hinrich Hellmers is in the upper left:
